The Night Watches | "I meditate on You during the night watches… I will rejoice in the shadow of Your wings." Ps. 63:6-7

August 4, 2014
by julie
Comments Off on Nazareth Vs. Capernaum

Nazareth Vs. Capernaum

Next up, Luke 4:31-44. Here, Jesus goes back to Capernaum, the place where he had been doing miracles that the people in Nazareth wanted done in Nazareth, and… He does more miracles.

The parallels here seem pretty obvious. Jesus goes to the synagogue, on a Sabbath, and stands up to teach. It doesn’t say what His message was, but “they were astonished at His teaching because His message had authority.” And no negative remarks, apparently! This message that Jesus had authority is consistent through the Gospels and a real encouragement to me of His divinity and truth—even his enemies acknowledged that He was actually accomplishing things.

Anyway, so He’s in the synagogue. In Nazareth, they asked for a miracle, and in Capernaum, He actually did one: a man with a demonic spirit interrupted and accused Jesus of being a Nazarene and of being the Holy One of God. And then Jesus does the miracle: he tells the demon to be quiet and come out. And the demon comes out, without hurting him.

The people are all amazed and have ears for… his “message”. They recognize the authority over demons, and it builds their interest in his teaching. And news spreads. So the opposite of Nazareth in every way.

Then there was more. He leaves the synagogue and goes to see Peter, whose mother-in-law was sick, and He showed His authority over sickness, and she responds by… serving. She gets up and gets to work. Then all the sick of Capernaum come, and He heals them all, and casts out more demons, but forbids them to tell that He is the Messiah.

I’m not sure here why he forbids them to tell, except that it seems a bad message to be heralded by demons, of all people, but it is interesting and confirming that they recognized Him right away.

Finally, He bids farewell to Capernaum, over the objections of the people. They tried to stop Him leaving, but He says, “I must proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because I was sent for this purpose.”

This too seems to clearly echo His words in Nazareth, of being anointed “to preach good news to the poor”, “to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus came with a message, the Gospel. The same Gospel that was preached to Abraham, and the same Gospel Christians preach today. He preached it even in Nazareth where it was rejected, and He preached it in Capernaum where the people accepted it eagerly. The good, liberating, healing, enriching news of the kingdom of God, that God’s favor was at hand.

August 3, 2014
by julie
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Propostions on Faith

Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory, Book 1, ch. 3

A life of godliness is our living unto God as God, as being absolutely addicted to him.
A life of faith is a living upon the unseen, everlasting happiness as purchased for us by Christ, with all the necessaries thereto, and freely given us by God.
The contrary life of sense and unbelief, is a living, in the prevalency of sense or flesh, to this present world, for want of such believing apprehensions of a better, as should elevate the soul thereto, and conquer the fleshly inclination to things present.
Though man in innocency, needing no Redeemer, might live to God without faith in a Redeemer; yet lapsed man is not only unable to redeem himself, but also unable to live to God without the grace of the Redeemer. It was not only necessary that he satisfy God’s justice for us, that he may pardon and save us without any wrong to his holiness, wisdom, or government; but also that he be our teacher by his doctrine and his life, and that he reveal from heaven the Father’s will, and that objectively in him we may see the wonderful condescending love and goodness of a reconciled God and Father, and that effectually he illuminate, sanctify, and quicken us by the operations of his word and Spirit, and that he protect and govern, justify and glorify us; and be the Head of restored man, as Adam was the root of lapsed man, and as the lapsed spirits had their head: and therefore we must wholly live upon him as the Mediator between God and man, and the only Saviour by merit and by efficacy.
Faith is a knowledge by certain credible testimony or revelation from God by means supernatural or extraordinary.
The knowledge of things naturally revealed (as the cause by the effect, &c.) is in order before the knowledge or belief of things revealed supernaturally.
It is matter of natural revelation that there is a God; that he is infinite in his immensity and eternity, in his power, wisdom, and goodness; that he is the First Cause and ultimate End of all things; that he is the Preserver and overruling Disposer of all things, and the supreme Governor of the rational world, and the great Benefactor of all mankind, and the special favourer and rewarder of such as truly love him, seek him, and obey him: also that the soul of man is immortal; and that there is a life of reward or punishment to come, and that this life is but preparatory unto that: that man is bound to love God his Maker, and serve him, with all his heart and might; and to believe that this labour is not vain: that we must do our best to know God’s will, that we may do it. This, with much more, (of which some part was mentioned, chap. 1,) is of natural revelation, which infidels may know.
There is so admirable a concord and correspondency of natural divinity with supernatural, the natural leading towards the supernatural, and the supernatural falling in so meet where the natural endeth, or falls short, or is defective, that it greatly advantageth us in the belief of supernatural divinity. Nay, as the law of nature was exactly fitted to man in his natural innocent state; so the law and way of grace in Christ is so admirably and exactly fitted to the state of lapsed man for his recovery and salvation, that the experience which man hath of his sin and misery, may greatly prepare him to perceive and believe this most suitable gospel or doctrine of recovery. And though it may not be called natural, as if it were fitted to innocent nature, or as if it were revealed by natural ordinary means, yet it may be so called, as it is exactly suited to the restoration of lapsed miserable nature; even as Lazarus his restored soul, though supernaturally restored, was the most natural associate of his body; or as bread, or milk, or wine, though it should fall from heaven, is in itself the most natural food for man.
The same things in divinity which are revealed naturally to all, are again revealed supernaturally in the gospel; and therefore may and must be the matter both of natural knowledge and of faith.
When the malicious tempter casteth in doubts of a Deity, or other points of natural certainty, it so much discrediteth his suggestions, as may help us much to reject them when withal he tempteth us to doubt of the truth of the gospel.
There are many needful appurtenances [accessories] to the objects of a divine faith, which are the matter of a human faith. (Of which more anon.)
Christ, as Mediator, is the way, or principal means to God, as coming to restore man to his Maker. And so faith in Christ is but the means to bring us to the love of God, though in time they are connexed.
Knowledge and faith are the eye of the new creature, and love is the heart; there is no more spiritual wisdom, than there is faith; and there is no more life, or acceptable qualification, or amiableness, than there is love to God.
All truths in divinity are revealed in order to a holy life; both faith and love are the principles and springs of practice.
Practice affordeth such experience to a believing soul, as may confirm him greatly in the belief of those supernatural revelations, which he before received without that help.
The everlasting fruition of God in glory being the end of all religion, must be next the heart, and most in our eye, and must objectively animate our whole religion, and actuate us in every duty.
The pleasing of God being also our end, and both of these (enjoying him and pleasing him) being in some small foretastes attainable in this life, the endeavour of our souls and lives must be by faith to exercise love and obedience; for thus God is pleased and enjoyed.
All things in religion are fitted to the good of man, and nothing to his hurt: God doth not command us to honour him by any thing which would make us miserable; but by closing with and magnifying his love and grace.
But yet it is his own revelation by which we must judge what is finally for our good or hurt; and we may not imagine that our shallow or deceivable wit is sufficient to discern without his word, what is best or worst for us; nor can we rationally argue from any present temporal adversity or unpleasing bitterness in the means, that “This is worst for us, and therefore it is not from the goodness of God:” but we must argue in such cases, “This is from the goodness and love of God, and therefore it is best.”
The grand impediment to all religion and our salvation, which hindereth both our believing, loving, and obeying, is the inordinate sensual inclination to carnal self and present transitory things, cunningly proposed by the tempter to insnare us, and divert and steal away our hearts from God and the life to come.

The understanding of these propositions will much help you in discerning the nature and reason of religion.

August 3, 2014
by julie
Comments Off on Miracles: Not for everyone.

Miracles: Not for everyone.

So, my next goal for reading is to read through Jesus’s “sermons” as set out in the book of Luke. It struck me on my last read-through (which was rapid) that there was an enormous amount of meat in only a handful of verses—over, and over, and over again—and that to really get at what Jesus was saying was going to take some time. I want to try to write it out here to make myself pay attention!

So, beginning in Luke 4:16-30.

The first thing I notice here is the sovereignty of God. Jesus didn’t ask for Isaiah, for a Messianic passage; rather, it “was given to him.” So Jesus picks out this prophecy of Himself, reads it, and sits down.

And the crowd is amazed at his graciousness and pleased with him, except not so pleased because—wait, isn’t this Joseph’s son?

Jesus rebukes them. They’re just interested in His miracles, He asserts, referencing Capernaum. But He cuts them off: pointing out starkly the many widows of Israel who starved in the days of Elijah, yet Elijah only went to one; and of the many lepers of Israel who were not healed in the days of Elisha, yet only one.

The people are enraged, and try to kill Him.

Many things in Jesus’s sermonette. 1) The divinity of the text and power of the Spirit in providing it. 2) Jesus compares himself to Elijah and Elisha, which is obviously enraging all by itself. 3) Jesus points out that the greatest prophets were not even called to all of Israel—a hint, I think, of the “not all Israel is Israel” that Paul would later make explicit in Romans 9:6… and an indicator that it’s been that way, and understood by the faithful, from the beginning. Elijah and Elisha’s blessings were only bestowed on a few, though they were in the midst of the entire nation; the nation was in rebellion (Ahab, Jezebel, and their children), and the mercies—the ministry, the miracles—were only directed to a handful. Lastly, 4) if we consider not just Nazareth, but the kingdom of Israel as Jesus’ “hometown,” this echoes His rejection by political Israel as well, from the very earliest days of His ministry.

July 14, 2014
by julie
Comments Off on Practical Helps Against Anger

Practical Helps Against Anger

Richard Baxter

Direct I. The principal help against sinful anger is, in the right habituating of the soul, that you live as under the government of God, with the sense of his authority still upon your hearts, and in the sense of that mercy that hath forgiven you, and forbeareth you, and under the power of his healing and assisting grace, and in the life of charity to God and man. Such a heart is continually fortified, and carrieth its preservatives within itself, as a wrathful man carrieth his incentives still within him: there is the main cause of wrath or meekness.

Direct. II. Be sure that you keep a humbled soul, that over-valueth not itself; for humility is patient and aggravateth not injuries: but a proud man takes all things as heinous or intolerable that are said or done against him. He that thinks meanly of himself, thinks meanly of all that is said or doneagainst himself. But he that magnifieth himself, doth magnify his provocations. Pride is a most impatient sin: there is no pleasing a proud person, without a great deal of wit, and care, and diligence. You must come about them as you do about straw or gunpowder with a candle. Prov. xiii. 10, “Only by pride cometh contention.” Prov. xxviii. 25, “He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife.” Prov. xxi. 24, “Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.” Psal. xxxi. 18, ” Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.” Humility, and meekness, and patience live and die together.

Direct. III. Take heed of a worldly, covetous mind; for that setteth so much by earthly things, that every loss, or cross, or injury will be able todisquiet him, and inflame his passion. Neither neighbour, nor child, nor servant can please a covetous man; every little trespass, or crossing his commodity, toucheth him to the quick, and maketh him impatient.

Direct. IV. Stop your passion in the beginning, before it go too far. It is easiest moderated at first. Watch against the first stirrings of your wrath, and presently command it down: reason and will can do much if you will but use them according to their power. A spark is sooner quenched than a flame; and this serpent is easiliest crushed in the spawn.

Direct. V. Command your tongue, and hand, and countenance, if you cannot presently quiet or command your passion. And so you will avoid the greatest of the sin, and the passion itself will quickly be stifled for want of vent. You cannot say that it is not in your power to hold your tongue or hands if you will. Do not only avoid that swearing and cursing which are the marks of the profane, but avoid many words till you are fitter to use them, and avoid expostulations, and contending, and, bitter, opprobrious, cutting speeches, which tend to stir up the wrath of others. And use a mild and gentle speech, which savoureth of love, and tendeth to assuage the heat that is kindled. Prov. xv. 1, “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” And that which mollifieth and appeaseth another, will much conduce to the appeasing of yourselves.

Direct. VI. At least command yourself into quietness till reason be heard speak, and while you deliberate. Be not so hasty as not to think what you say or do. A little delay will abate the fury, and give reason time to do its office. Prov. xxv. 15, “By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft answer breaketh the bone.” Patience will lenify another’s wrath; and if you use it but so long, as a little to stay yourselves, till reason be awake,it will lenify your own. And he is a fury, and not a man, that cannot stop while he considereth.

Direct. VII. If you cannot easilier quiet or restrain yourselves, go away from the place and company. And then you will not be heated by contending words, nor exasperate others by your contending. When you are alone the fire will assuage. Prov. xiv. 7, ” Go away from the presence of a foolish man when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.” You will not stand still and stir in a wasp’s nest when you have enraged them.

Direct. VIII. Yea, ordinarily avoid much talk, or disputes, or business with angry men, as far as you can without avoiding your duty: and avoid all other occasions and temptations to the sin. A man that is in danger of a fever, must avoid that which kindleth it. Come not among the infected, if you fear the plague; stand not in the sun, if you are too hot already. Keep as far as you can from that which most provoketh you.”

Direct. IX. Meditate not on injuries or provoking things when you are alone; suffer not your thoughts to feed upon them. Else you will be devils to yourselves, and tempt yourselves when you have none else to tempt you and will make your solitude as provoking as if you were in company;and you will be angering yourselves by your own imaginations.

Direct. X. Keep upon your minds the lively thoughts of the exemplary meekness and patience of Jesus Christ; who calleth you to learn of him to be “meek and lowly,” Matt. xi. 29. “Who being reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not; leaving us an example that we should follow his steps,” I Pet ii. 21, 23. Who hath pronounced a special ” blessing” on the ” meek,” that ” they shall inherit the earth,” Matt, v. 5.

Direct. XI. Live as in God’s presence; and when your passions grow bold repress them with the reverend name of God, and bid them remember that God and his holy angels see you.

Direct. XII. Look on others in their passion, and see how unlovely they make themselves, with frowning countenances, and flaming eyes, and threatening, devouring looks, and hurtful inclinations; and think with yourselves, whether these are your most desirable patterns.

Direct. XIII. Without any delay confess the sin to those that stand by (if easier means will not repress it); and presently take the shame to yourselves, and shame the sin and honour God. This means is in your power if you will; and it will be an excellent, effectual means. Say to those that you are angry with, I find a sinful anger kindling in me, and I begin to forget God’s presence and my duty, and am tempted to speak provoking words to you, which I know God hath forbidden me to do. Such a present opening of your temptation will break the force of it; and such a speedy confession will stop the fire that it go no further; for it will be an engagement upon you in point of honour, even the reputation of your wit and honesty, which will both suffer by it, if you go on in the sin just when you have thus opened it by confession. I know there is prudence to be used in this, that you do it not so as may make you ridiculous, or harden others in their sinful provocations. But with prudence and due caution it is an excellent remedy, which you can use if you are not unwilling.

Direct. XIV. If you have let your passion break out to the offence or wrong of any, by word or deed, freely and speedily confess it to them, and ask them forgiveness, and warn them to take heed of the like sin by your example. This will do much to clear your consciences, to preserve your brother,to cure the hurt, and to engage you against the sin hereafter: if you are so proud that you will not do this, say no more you cannot help it, but that you will not. A good heart will not think this too dear a remedy against any sin.

Direct. XV. Go presently (in the manner that the place alloweth you) to prayer to God for pardon and grace against the sin. Sin will not endure prayer and God’s presence. Tell him how apt your peevish hearts are to be kindled into sinful wrath, and entreat him to help you by his sufficient grace, and engage Christ in the cause, who is your Head and Advocate; and then your souls will grow obedient and calm. Even as Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 7—9, when he had the prick in the flesh, prayed thrice, (as Christ did in his agony,) so you must pray, and pray again and again, till you find God’s grace sufficient for you.

Direct. XVI. Covenant with some faithful friend that is with you to watch over you and rebuke your passions as soon as they begin to appear;and promise them to take it thankfully and in good part; and perform that promise, that you discourage them not. Either you are so far weary of your sin and willing to be rid of it, as to be willing to do what you can against it, or you are not: if you are, you can do this much if you please: if you are not, pretend not to repent, and to be willing to be delivered from your sin upon any lawful terms, when it is not so. Remember still, the mischievous effects of it do make it to be no contemptible sin. EccL vii. 9, ” Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.” Prov. xvi. 32, ” He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.” Prov. xv. 18, “A wrathful man stirreth up strife, but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.” Prov. xix. 11, “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.”

July 13, 2014
by julie
Comments Off on Richard Baxter on Anger

Richard Baxter on Anger

Anger is good when it is thus used to its appointed end, in a right manner and measure: but it is sinful,

When it riseth up against God or any good, as if it were evil to us: as wicked men are angry at those that would convert and save them, and that tell them of their sins, and that hinder them from their desires.
When it disturbeth reason, and hindereth our judging of things aright.
When it casteth us into any unseemly carriage, or causeth or disposeth to any sinful words or actions: when it inclineth us to wrong another by word or deed, and to do as we would not be done by.
When it is mistaken, and without just cause.
When it is greater in measure than the cause alloweth.
When it unfitteth us for our duty to God or man.
When it tendeth to the abatement of love and brotherly kindness, and the hindering of any good which we should do for others: much more when it breedeth malice, and revenge, and contentions, and unpeaceableness in societies, oppression of inferiors, or dishonouring of superiors.
When it stayeth too long, and ceaseth not when its lawful work is done.
When it is selfish and carnal, stirred up upon the account of some carnal interest, and used but as a means to a selfish, carnal, sinful end: as to be angry with men only for crossing your pride, or profit, or sports, or any other fleshly will.

In all these it is sinful.

Consider how much other sin immoderate anger doth incline men to. It is the great crime of drunkenness, that a man having not the government of himself, is made liable by it to any wickedness: and so it is with immoderate anger. How many oaths and curses doth it cause every day! How many rash and sinful actions! What villany hath not anger done! It hath slandered, railed, reproached, falsely accused, and injured many a thousand. It hath murdered and ruined families, cities, and states. It hath made parents kill their children, and children dishonour their parents. It hath made kings oppress and murder their subjects, and subjects rebel and murder kings. What a world of sin is committed by sinful anger throughout all the world! How endless would it be to give you instances! David himself was once drawn by it to purpose the murdering of all the family of Nabal. Its effects should make it odious to us.

And it is much the worse in that it suffereth not a man to sin alone, but stirreth up others to do the like. Wrath kindleth wrath, as fire kindleth fire. It is two to one but when you are angry you will make others angry, or discontented, or troubled by your words or deeds. And you have not the power of moderating them in it, when you have done. You know not what sin it may draw them to. It is the devil’s bellows to kindle men’s corruptions; and sets hearts, and families, and kingdoms in a flame.

–Richard Baxter, from A Christian Directory

May 23, 2014
by julie
Comments Off on Further Thoughts on the Broken Covenant

Further Thoughts on the Broken Covenant

I have found some more places where it was prophesied that the covenant would be broken if Israel disobeyed.

1 Kings 9:6-7, after dedicating Solomon’s Temple, Yahweh appears to Solomon and tells him:

If you or your sons turn away from following Me and do not keep My commands—My statutes that I have set before you—and if you go and serve other gods and worship them, I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them, and I will reject the temple I have sanctified for My name. Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.

Moses prophesied that because of their failure to keep the covenant, God would “provoke” Israel with a people “who are not a people (Deuteronomy 32:21, ESV):

They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

God covenanted with the house of Levi forever, but when they disobeyed (1 Samuel 2:30):

Although I said
your family and your ancestral house
would walk before Me forever,
the Lord now says, “No longer!”
I will honor those who honor Me,
but those who despise Me will be disgraced.

And further, He said their iniquity “will never be wiped out by either sacrifice or offering” (1 Samuel 3:14).

Samuel warned that if Israel continued to do what was evil, “both you and your king will be swept away” (1 Samuel 12:25).

Like Moses, Joshua warned that the covenant would not be able to be kept (Joshua 24:19-20,27, hcsb):

But Joshua told the people, “You will not be able to worship Yahweh, because He is a holy God. He is a jealous God;He will not remove your transgressions and sins. If you abandon the Lord and worship foreign gods, He will turn against you, harm you, and completely destroy you, after He has been good to you.”

May 23, 2014
by julie
Comments Off on Calvinism in the Old Testament

Calvinism in the Old Testament

Isaiah 64:4-7, ESV:

From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.
You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.

Deuteronomy 32:39:

See now that I alone am He;
there is no God but Me.
I bring death and I give life;
I wound and I heal.
No one can rescue anyone from My hand.

1 Kings 8:46 says:

When they sin against You—
for there is no one who does not sin

1 Kings 8:58 says our obedience is at God’s will:

so that He causes us to be devoted to Him, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commands, statutes, and ordinances, which He commanded our ancestors

And indeed David says our disobedience is also at God’s will (2 Samuel 16:10, hcsb):

He curses me this way because the Lord told him, ‘Curse David!’

David also gives God full credit for David’s own righteousness (2 Samuel 22:29-37, hcsb), which David had just finished discussing earlier in this song, and then turns to discuss who gets the glory for it:

Lord, You are my lamp;
the Lord illuminates my darkness.
With You I can attack a barrier,
and with my God I can leap over a wall.
God—His way is perfect;
the word of the Lord is pure.
..
God is my strong refuge;
He makes my way perfect.
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer
and sets me securely on the heights.
He trains my hands for war;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
You have given me the shield of Your salvation; Your help exalts me.
You widen a place beneath me for my steps,
and my ankles do not give way.

Job speaks in Job 9:2-3,15-16,20 (hcsb):

but how can a person be justified before God?
If one wanted to take Him to court,
he could not answer God once in a thousand times.

[…]
Even if I were in the right, I could not answer.
I could only beg my Judge for mercy.
If I summoned Him and He answered me,
I do not believe He would pay attention to what I said.
Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.

And again in Job 12 (hcsb):

Wisdom and strength belong to God;
counsel and understanding are His.
¹⁴Whatever He tears down cannot be rebuilt;
whoever He imprisons cannot be released.
¹⁵When He withholds the waters, everything dries up,
and when He releases them, they destroy the land.
¹⁶True wisdom and power belong to Him.
The deceived and the deceiver are His.
¹⁷He leads counselors away barefoot
and makes judges go mad.
¹⁸He releases the bonds put on by kings
and fastens a belt around their waists.
¹⁹He leads priests away barefoot
and overthrows established leaders.
²⁰He deprives trusted advisers of speech
and takes away the elders’ good judgment.
²¹He pours out contempt on nobles
and disarms^[ad] the strong.
²²He reveals mysteries from the darkness
and brings the deepest darkness into the light.
²³He makes nations great, then destroys them;
He enlarges nations, then leads them away.
²⁴He deprives the world’s leaders of reason,
and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.
²⁵They grope around in darkness without light;
He makes them stagger like drunken men

Job, Job 23 (hcsb):

But He is unchangeable; who can oppose Him?
He does what He desires.
¹⁴He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me,
and He has many more things like these in mind
¹⁵Therefore I am terrified in His presence;
when I consider this, I am afraid of Him.
¹⁶God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me.

Elihu, Job 33 (hcsb):

For God speaks time and again,
but a person may not notice it.
¹⁵In a dream, a vision in the night,
when deep sleep falls on people
as they slumber on their beds,
¹⁶He uncovers their ears at that time
and terrifies them with warnings,
¹⁷in order to turn a person from his actions
and suppress his pride
¹⁸God spares his soul from the Pit,
his life from crossing the river of death.
¹⁹A person may be disciplined on his bed with pain
and constant distress in his bones,
²⁰so that he detests bread,
and his soul despises his favorite food.
²¹His flesh wastes away to nothing,
and his unseen bones stick out.
²²He draws near to the Pit,
and his life to the executioners.
²³If there is an angel on his side,
one mediator out of a thousand,
to tell a person what is right for him
²⁴and to be gracious to him and say,
“Spare him from going down to the Pit;
I have found a ransom,”
²⁵then his flesh will be healthier than in his youth,
and he will return to the days of his youthful vigor.
²⁶He will pray to God, and God will delight in him.
That man will see His face with a shout of joy,
and God will restore his righteousness to him.
²⁷He will look at men and say,
“I have sinned and perverted what was right;
yet I did not get what I deserved.
²⁸He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,
and I will continue to see the light.”
²⁹God certainly does all these things
two or three times to a man
³⁰in order to turn him back from the Pit,
so he may shine with the light of life.

Elihu, Job 35:

Do you think it is just when you say,
“I am righteous before God”?
³For you ask, “What does it profit You,
and what benefit comes to me, if I do not sin?”

Elihu, Job 37:

Teach us what we should say to Him;
we cannot prepare our case because of our darkness.
²⁰Should He be told that I want to speak?
Can a man speak when he is confused?

Job, after God tells him his righteousness is unsufficient (Job 42):

I had heard rumors about You,
but now my eyes have seen You.
⁶Therefore I take back my words
and repent in dust and ashes.

Psalm 14:1-3, hcsb:

The fool says in his heart, “God does not exist.”
They are corrupt; they do vile deeds.
There is no one who does good.
²The Lord looks down from heaven on the human race
to see if there is one who is wise,
one who seeks God.
³All have turned away;
all alike have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good,
not even one.

Psalm 25:7-14,hcsb:

Do not remember the sins of my youth
or my acts of rebellion;
in keeping with Your faithful love, remember me
because of Your goodness, Lord.

The Lord is good and upright;
therefore He shows sinners the way.
⁹He leads the humble in what is right
and teaches them His way.
¹⁰All the Lord’s ways show faithful love and truth
to those who keep His covenant and decrees.
¹¹Because of Your name, Yahweh,
forgive my sin, for it is great.

¹²Who is the man who fears the Lord?
He will show him the way he should choose.
¹³He will live a good life,
and his descendants will inherit the land.^[d]
¹⁴The secret counsel of the Lord
is for those who fear Him,
and He reveals His covenant to them.

Psalm 51, hcsb:

Wash away my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.
³For I am conscious of my rebellion,
and my sin is always before me.
⁴Against You—You alone—I have sinned
and done this evil in Your sight.
So You are right when You pass sentence;
You are blameless when You judge.
⁵Indeed, I was guilty when I was born;
I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

16 You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it;
You are not pleased with a burnt offering.
¹⁷The sacrifice pleasing to God is^[z] a broken spirit.
God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart.

Psalm 53, hcsb:

God looks down from heaven on the human race
to see if there is one who is wise,
one who seeks God.
³All have turned away;
all alike have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good,
not even one.

Psalm 58:3:

The wicked go astray from the womb;
liars err from birth.

Psalm 80:19:

Restore us, Yahweh, the God of Hosts;
look on us with favor, and we will be saved.

Jeremiah 9:25-26, esv:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh— ²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert who cut the corners of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”

May 22, 2014
by julie
Comments Off on How King David responds to persecution

How King David responds to persecution

I thought this was interesting; while David is in exile from Jerusalem while Absalom is usurping (2 Samuel 16, HCSB):

When King David got to Bahurim, a man belonging to the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he was yelling curses as he approached. 6 He threw stones at David and at all the royal[af]servants, the people and the warriors on David’s right and left. 7 Shimei said as he cursed: “Get out, get out, you worthless murderer! 8 The Lord has paid you back for all the blood of the house of Saul in whose place you became king, and the Lord has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. Look, you are in trouble because you’re a murderer!”
9 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut his head off!”
10 The king replied, “Sons of Zeruiah, do we agree on anything? He curses me this way because the Lord[ag] told him, ‘Curse David!’ Therefore, who can say, ‘Why did you do that?’” 11 Then David said to Abishai and all his servants, “Look, my own son, my own flesh and blood,[ah] intends to take my life—how much more now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone and let him curse me; the Lord has told him to. 12 Perhaps the Lord will see my affliction[ai] and restore goodness to me instead of Shimei’s curses today.” 13 So David and his men proceeded along the road as Shimei was going along the ridge of the hill opposite him. As Shimei went, he cursed David, and threw stones and dirt at him. 14 Finally, the king and all the people with him arrived[aj] exhausted, so they rested there.

Gill’s commentary:

because the Lord hath said unto him, curse David; not by way of command, or a precept of his; for to curse the ruler of the people is contrary to the word and law of God, Exo_22:28, nor by any operation of his spirit moving and exciting him to it; for the operations of the Spirit are to holiness, and not to sin; but by the secret providence of God ordering, directing, and overruling all circumstances relative to this affair. Shimei had conceived enmity and hatred to David; God left him to the power of this corruption in his breast, opened a way in Providence, and gave him an opportunity of exercising it on him: it was not a bare permission of God that Shimei should curse David; but it was his will, and he ordered it so in Providence, that he should do it; which action was attended with the predetermined concourse of divine Providence, so far as it was an action; though, as a sinful action, it was of Shimei, sprung from his own heart, instigated by Satan; but as a correction and chastisement of David, it was by the will, order, and appointment of God, and as such David considered it, and quietly submitted to it.

So in short, here’s this guy, one of David’s enemies, who’s cursing him and throwing stones at him—the king of Israel and God’s anointed—and David’s response is not to cut off his head as his commanders would like, but, “The Lord told him to, so who can say, don’t do that.” And I think Gill is right, David is speaking of God’s sovereignty here, not an actual command, that this guy Shimei was just so lost in his selfishness, in God’s allowance, that David recognized the best course of action was just to let it go. Even though the persecution continued and it was exhausting, just to accept it as the providence of God and that perhaps God would bless him for it.

April 14, 2014
by julie
Comments Off on Hope for Christian Parenting

Hope for Christian Parenting

One of the giant incongruities of being a credobaptist in a Presbyterian church is all this talk of covenant children. I’m still not entirely sure what they mean, but we reject the idea that our children are in any way born participants in the covenant of Christ. They are born depraved and lost.

Which is depressing.

But also inspiring. Because the Bible speaks to Christian parents, credo or paedobaptist, in two large subheadings: responsibilities of Christian parents, and promises for Christian parents.

Responsibilities of Christian Parents

If I look at all the verses to do with parenting in Scripture, I see three main themes emerge:

1. Train them in the way they should go.

“Train up a child in the way he should go…” (Proverbs 22:6a)
“…a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.” (Proverbs 29:15b)
“Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” (Proverbs 13:24)
“Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.” (Proverbs 23:13)
“Discipline your son…” (Proverbs 29:17)
“Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death.” (Proverbs 19:18)
“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11)

Further, we see disobedient children are in the group of condemned people who will appear in the latter days:

“For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,” (2 Timothy 3:2)

Disobedience is a profoundly serious thing. In Deuteronomy “stubborn and rebellious” children who would not relent from their rebellion were taken out by their parents to the elders of the city and stoned (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).

2. Teach them diligently, formally, informally, and by example.

“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,” (Titus 2:7)
“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.“ (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)
“…from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus…” (2 Timothy 3:15)
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)

3. Treat them rightly.

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)
“Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” (Colossians 3:21)
“It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, “(Matthew 20:26-27)

Promises for Christian parents

They will bring you delight:

“…and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart. “(Proverbs 29:17)
“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” (Psalm 127:3)

They will be wise:

“The rod and reproof give wisdom…” (Proverbs 29:15a)

they will be saved from death:

“Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death.” (Proverbs 19:18)
“Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.” (Proverbs 23:13)

They will continue in the way of the Lord:

“…even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6b)
“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11)
“…from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus…” (2 Timothy 3:15)

April 12, 2014
by julie
Comments Off on The Mosaic Covenant Is Broken.

The Mosaic Covenant Is Broken.

The theology of the covenants is something I’ve been thinking about a lot. I should preface this, since it’s on the internet, with the fact that I’m no theologian or authority. But I wanted to try to encapsulate what I find in Scripture on the subject, at the moment, about the reality that the Mosaic Covenant is broken.

To begin with: Jeremiah 11:10 and Ezekiel 44:7:

The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers. (Jeremiah 11:10 ESV)

You have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations. (Ezekiel 44:7 ESV)

This language is only used 1) in the later prophets, which was after profound and prolonged corporate idolatry on the part of Israel, 2) in Genesis 17:14 a person who has broken the covenant of circumcision is cast out from the people forever, and 3) in Isaiah 24:5 (yet unfulfilled) the whole world is punished and judged for breaking the “everlasting” covenant.

Nowhere is this language used as an invitation to restore the covenant, in other words.

Further, the punishment entailed by this covenant-breaking, and if it holds out hope for restoration:

“Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult? The LORD once called you ‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ But with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed. The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.” (Jeremiah 11:14-17 ESV)

Key things here: God will not listen when they call, Israel has no right in His house, and even offering sacrifices will do no good. Jeremiah 12:7-8 says, “I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my heritage; I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies… I hate her.”

Lastly, the words of Malachi, the final prophet recognized by Israel:

Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. But you profane it…d

Stark words. God won’t accept your sacrifices, Israel, but His name will be great among the nations.

Malachi 2: “You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.”

Does it fit with the promise?

But God obviously does not go back on His word. So can the covenant really be broken? In Leviticus God promised He would do if Israel persisted in breaking the covenant. Among many horrible things (like cannibalism), we find these lines:

And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you. And I will lay your cities waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing aromas. And I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it. And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste. (Leviticus 26:30-33 ESV)

Here we have again, sacrifices and praise are worthless. Israel is to be scattered. This is the ultimate punishment for those who have broken the covenant. God is not listening.

There are many more places where it was prophesied what would happen if Israel broke the covenant, and even that the covenant would be broken, by prophets like Moses, Samuel, and Joshua. I am compiling them in a separate post here.

But Redemption.

The Leviticus threat is followed with a beautiful promise:

“But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 26:40-45 ESV)

So, when Israel repents in their hearts, God will remember His covenant with Abraham; but even while they are in punishment, He will remember the covenant with Moses (and so not destroy them utterly, but leave them in punishment and exile). The Mosaic covenant was a blessing and a curse. The Abrahamic covenant was a blessing and unilateral.

Similarly, in Malachi, we see the promise of John the Baptist and Christ himself (Malachi 3:1), but that coming “who can endure” (Mal 3:2) and new offerings are accepted, especially by the priests who accept the new covenant (notably Acts 6:7 accounts for a large group of priests converting). We understand these offerings in the context of the new covenant and Romans 12:1 as spiritual offerings, as indeed the remnant who accepted Christ as the Messiah (including Paul who wrote Romans) must have understood them.

In Jeremiah, too, there’s the promise of ultimate redemption, in words that echo so clear to us the Church:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34 ESV)

So here the Mosaic covenant is being explicitly replaced, the blessing-and-curse replaced with hearts with God’s law written on them, and all will know God, and God will forgive sin. This exact same pattern of redemption is shown in Ezekiel 36:16-37, where, not for the sake of Israel, but for God’s holy name—which Israel profaned among the nations in which they were scattered (Ezekiel 36:22-23):

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezekiel 36:25-27 ESV)

The New Covenant

This is exactly what Christ accomplished by being the ultimate sacrifice once for all. He took the curse of the Law upon Himself (Galatians 3:13). And thus He fulfilled the Law. And then God made a New Covenant, and with it forgiveness for sins.

God’s goal was never the sacrifices:

In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. (Psalm 40:6 ESV)

“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22 ESV)

And so “He does away with the first in order to establish the second, and by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:9-10).

The followers of the Mosaic Covenant have “a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:3-4 ESV)

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-5 ESV)

This is the New Covenant, the law written on hearts instead of on stone. Now we can walk in the Spirit. The Mosaic Law itself could not make people walk in the Spirit, because it was external, not internal. But in the New Covenant, the law is written on our hearts and “although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:10) And we can by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh.

The New Covenant is for Israel

“And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD. (Isaiah 59:20 ESV)

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. (John 4:22 ESV)

God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. … at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace…. Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened. (Romans 11:2-7 ESV)

It’s confusing, coming out of a dispensationalist background, to make sense of the prophecies which refer to Israel, but I think Paul makes it clear. The New Covenant was with Israel, is with Israel, “true Israel” (Romans 9:6). And God called out a remnant of Israel to be that, the Israelites who accepted Christ and founded the church. The elect of Israel accepted the promises, in other words, and the rest were hardened (Romans 11:7), which remains (Romans 11:25) until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, which was prophesied in Jeremiah 12:16 that the Gentiles would be “built up with” Israel, and explained in Romans 11:17-24 how the Gentiles are grafted into the tree of Israel. We are not a new tree; “salvation is from the Jews.” The non-elect of Israel are blinded, but ultimately “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29) and so I think there is a future hope there, because “God has the power to graft them in again” “if they do not continue in their unbelief” (Romans 11:23).

Conclusion

So God foretold in Leviticus what would happen if Israel broke the covenant—a curse—and we see in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, among others, that coming to pass. But everywhere God also promised redemption and hope for repentance and restoration, and in Jeremiah He described what that would be: a New Covenant, explicitly not like the Mosaic Covenant. Then Jesus took the curse of the Law upon Himself for all, and in so doing, abrogated the Old Covenant and ushered in the promised New, and also fulfilled the Leviticus promise that the covenant with Abraham would be remembered, as it is answered in all whom God grafts into the tree (Romans 9:8).