Does this resemble the Gospel as you hear it at most evangelistic events?

The Gospel…. Can a person be too obsessed with it?

Well, if the Apostle Peter was correct – “And there is salvation in no one else [but Jesus Christ alone], for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4.12, ESV) - and if the Gospel is the Good News of Jesus Christ, then it is impossible to be too obsessed with it. In fact, I would venture to say that it is wrong not to be obsessed with it! After all, as the Apostle Paul taught, we never get past it! The whole of the Christian life is Gospel oriented from start-to-finish: “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the Word I preached to you – unless you believed in vain” (1 Corinthians 15.1-2, ESV).

But there is a tragic heresy propagated in many evangelistic presentations today, even by those whom many consider to be the most devout Christians (and very well may be): an incomplete gospel is preached, which saves no one, has no power, and is therefore false! The gospel that is preached by many today tells of “trying Jesus,” finding the peace you’ve always been looking for (thereby making peace the goal, not God), getting all your needs met, and possibly getting rich along the way. Even the better presentations that speak of belief in Jesus often lack crucial elements such as the holiness and justice of God, repentance, and biblical faith. The word belief - while good and true – has become ineffective in our culture because we fail to recognize what biblical belief entails.

We must do better! If there is only one Gospel that is believed and gives life, and to get it wrong leaves one in condemnation and holding to a false gospel, then this is the crucial question of any age: What is the Gospel? That is why I’m obsessed with the Gospel – along with every biblical believer – and that is why I’m always searching for better ways to present it to those who either don’t know it, or who know it incompletely.

This video by Pastor Paul Washer of HeartCry Missionary Society is one of the best I’ve come across, which is why I’ve posted it to my sidebar, to be easily accessed at all times. It’s worth the 10 minutes, and I pray you find it deeply beneficial to yourself and others!

image obtained from http://www.focusfoundation.org.uk/

Redefining Marriage?

image obtained from http://egnorance.blogspot.com/

My State is on the brink of joining the few and the proud that have legalized same-sex marriage. Our Governor – Christine Gregoire – called for nothing less than the abolition of “discrimination,” “inequality,” and “injustice.” This is interesting, however, since the very crux of her argumentation rests on objective moral absolutes – absolutes that she cannot defend. (For a more thorough address of the issue of the “right” regarding same-sex marriage legalization, please read my article, “An historic night for love and our families?” And for a treatment of a philosophical understanding of right and wrong, see my “Normalizing the Inconceivable: A Philosophical Problem?”)

I am in wholehearted agreement with our Governor that we should fight to abolish discrimination, inequality, and injustice. However, the issue of same-sex marriage is not one of discrimination, but destruction of the good, the true, and the beautiful – which God has instituted and governs. It is not an issue of inequality, but moral irresponsibility. It is not an issue of injustice, but immoral importunity.

Unfortunately, those who believe that there is a God Who has instituted marriage for our good and for His glory – and that this institution does not make same-sex marriage viable – are pegged as bigots and medieval barbarians who are heinous at base, and unloving. (I have actually been charged with similar accusation.) Sadly, we live in an age where the clear and unapologetic proclamation of the moral absolutes given by the absolutely sovereign, supreme, and magnificent God is scoffed at, diminished, and attacked. And the arguments of such accusers are brilliantly cloaked in claims of love, equality, and justice. It is that subtle twisting of the truth that has always led down the slope of slavery to sin.

I implore those who are able to see past the smokescreen raised by those who would “redefine marriage” in the State of Washington to write to or call their Representatives, Senators, and Governor. All the information you need is at the Family Policy Institute of Washington. Below is my letter to the Governor, my Senator, and Representatives:

Dear Senator:

I have become aware of an effort in the legislature to redefine marriage for the entire State, and that this proposal is close to being passed. Many of the objections I have heard to maintaining marriage as between one man and one woman regards the equality of benefits for those who elect to bind themselves to each other. My understanding is that such benefits are available to those who opt out of marriage or are homosexual via legal domestic partnership, and that only 0.26% of the State has even taken steps to form a domestic partnership (whether hetero- or homosexual).

In light of the very serious budget and employment issues that Washington is facing, I do not understand the decision to make a very divisive social issue like this the focus of the legislative session. Once those problems are fixed, it might make more sense to deal with an issue affecting a very, very small percentage of the State. Same-sex couples have all the same rights and benefits of married couples, so it cannot be said that they do not have equal rights.

I know that you, as our elected leader, want to do what is best for Washington, and are not interested in veering off-course. Unfortunately, I cannot see how the issue of redefining marriage is anything but the personal agenda of a few taking center stage for the whole, when an issue of injustice is not involved.

It makes sense to me that some consider the fact that same-sex marriages cannot be formed to be an issue of injustice. However, the burden of proof lies with those persons to demonstrate that the institution of marriage is something that can actually accommodate same-sex unions. As this is not an objectively sustainable sentiment, it must necessarily turn the direction is has, in redefining marriage altogether. This is a grave mistake, the ramifications of which will be untold, rippling far and wide for years to come. As a therapist and a pastor, I assure you that the redefinition of marriage is an illegitimate option, and I beg of you not to do this thing.

Whatever we say, marriage is a moral matter, which is why redefinition is being pursued as the “right” thing to do (a moral distinction). Where – the question is raised – do we come by our conception of the “right?” We cannot claim that it is objective unless we are willing to concede that there is One Who is altogether other than us, in reference to Whom we understand what is “right.” As famous law professor, Arthur Allen Leff, pointed out in his “Unspeakable Ethics, Unnatural Law,” only an unjudged Judge… an uncreated Creator… an unruled Lawgiver – in other words, God – could be the basis for such moral knowledge (from which proponents of this legislation are claiming to act). [The funny thing is, Leff came to this conclusion as an atheist!] And if we are unwilling to acknowledge such a One (God), then we are left with little more than our subjective opinions, both private and public, which historically change over time. And when we travel the road of legislating our opinions, the scary conclusion at which we arrive is that the majority opinion – whatever its value or lack of value, goodness or evil (whatever those mean apart from God) – takes the day. In other words, might makes right.

Please take the high-road and save our already fragile State from having to spend the entire year dealing with this debate. Please act honorably and refuse to redefine what cannot be redefined, since marriage has been given to us as a gift that cannot be tampered with, whatever our legislation may be.

Please – I beg of you – do not redefine marriage.

Thank you for the work that you do for our State and its citizens.

Blessings on you,

Rick Witmer

I think that the way I concluded my last article on same-sex marriage is the most fitting way to conclude this post as well:

Homosexuality is not the “sin of sins,” as some people would make it out to be. It is not the unpardonable sin that is too great for God to forgive. It is a lifestyle choice – along with lifestyles of idolatry, thievery, greed, drunkenness, etc. – that is a symptom of the universal reality that the perfect and holy Creator God cannot be bound in unity with unholy rebel-sinners. God created all people, and therefore has exclusive right of rulership over all people, regardless of whether they swear allegiance to Him or not (Psalm 24.1-2). He has declared what is right, and no amount of pandering around with arguments of false fairness or equality will change that. We are all under the condemnation of the wrath of God that we deserve, and the only way that a person has ever been reconciled to Him is through the perfect life, substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. All those who cling to Him in faith (believing that He and He alone paid the penalty that we deserve) and repentance (renouncing a life of rebellion toward God) are granted life! And the nature of such life is this:

“Whoever says he abides in [Jesus] ought to walk in the same way in which He walked…. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 2.6, 3.9-10, ESV)

It is an impossibility for a person to live in a willful state of rebellion to the things of God (which homosexuality unqualifiedly is) and be in Christ. However, for those who would cling to Him in faith, there is hope of a truly abundant life!

It is God Who promises His Holy Spirit’s help to overcome the natural depravity from which we each suffer, should we humbly and joyfully take Jesus Christ as our Master and Treasure, in true faith and repentance. Every sinner who turns to Him, no matter the nature of the sins from which they need deliverance unto true, obedient worship of their Savior, will find His promised forgiveness and help. Let this be the victory of the day in the homosexual and political community of New York State and abroad. Let this be the deliverance that is granted to a President that actively seeks to destroy that which has been sacred from the foundations of the world. And let this be the repentance that is experienced by those who profess to believe the Bible and yet find no problem legalizing that for which their professed Savior was crucified.

May we ever pursue the good, the true, and the beautiful, which has its bearing in Christ, and Christ alone!

Normalizing the Inconceivable: Follow the Logic to Its End

My wife shared a video with me that touches on so many of the issues for which this Website was created – ethics, morality, biblical thought and philosophy, logical coherence, etc. It is a fitting way to revisit the crucial subject to which many of 2011′s articles were devoted in “Normalizing the Inconceivable.” I’ll let the video speak for itself, and may it be of value in prompting cogent thought and life regarding one of the greatest atrocities of all time.

For a fairly exhaustive treatment of this subject, click on the link below the image to be taken to what is arguably the most comprehensive and well-documented Website available:

abort73.com

HeartCry on Gospel Reductionism: The Greatest Danger in Missions

image obtained from http://vimeo.com/heartcrymedia

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so important that the Apostle Paul wrote, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached ot you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1.8-9, ESV). In biblical terms – to boil it down – that’s about as serious a thing as the Apostle could have said!

Only one Gospel has been given for us to either believe (and be saved) or disbelieve (and remain under God’s wrath), because there is only One Name under heaven by which we must be saved: Jesus Christ (Acts 4.12)! Unfortunately, it becomes so easy to assume the Gospel, because we’ve heard it so many times. It becomes “routine,” and therefore it becomes ignored, overlooked, and minimized in favor of “deeper things.”

But there are no deeper things, because – according to God – we never get past the Gospel! Listen to what God says through the pen of the Apostle once again: “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to teh word I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15.1-4, ESV). That is the Gospel, and it has been said that the key to not overlooking or minimizing it is to “preach it to yourself every day.” (One of my favorite ways to do that, by the way, is revisiting the video I have posted on the sidebar, which you can also view here: Life in 6 Words: G.O.S.P.E.L.)

The work of missions is the work of the Gospel. In fact, without the Gospel, there is no missions. But the scary thing is that today the Gospel is at risk in missions! Pastor Paul Washer, long-time missionary and founder of Heartcry Missionary Society, shared in the most recent edition of Heartcry Magazine a quote from Walter Chantry’s book, Today’s Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic? May it encourage you to stay the course of the true Gospel:

“Those who believe in God’s Word have been grasping at the same superficial solutions that liberalism has adopted. Relevance, respectability (whether intellectual or social), and especially unity have become the aims of God’s people with the hope that these will revitalize a weakened church. ‘If only all Bible-believing people join together, the world will sit up and listen,’ thinks the church. Let’s merge our mission boards to pool our funds and our personnel. Let’s join giant evangelistic projects. If every evangelical joins in a common organization, we can have greater depth of evangelism. Thus organizational unity becomes the aim of gospel churches. Having accepted the theory that unity is all-important for world evangelism, both the church and the individual must lower their estimate of the value of truth. In a large congress on evangelism we could not insist on a truth of God’s Word that would offend any brother evangelical. Thus we must find the lowest common denominator to which all born-again Christians hold. The rest of the Bible will be labeled ‘unessential’ for missions. After all, unity (among Christians) is more essential than doctrinal preciseness. It is just for this reason that mission societies have been unwilling carefully to examine the root problem in preaching. Mission boards are hesitant to answer the question, ‘What is the gospel?’ Thoroughly to answer that would condemn what many of their own missionaries preach. It would destroy the mission society, which is a federation of churches who have differing answers to that question. To adopt the position of one church would be to lose the support of five others. The whole system built on unity and generality would crumble. The local church may not get too specific about truth either. It may affect its harmony with the denomination or association. To define the gospel carefully will bring conflict with the organizations working with teenagers. It will prompt irritating problems with mission boards and embarrassing disagreement with missionaries supported for years. It may condemn the whole Sunday School programme. Giving too much attention to the content of the Gospel will mean friction with other evangelicals. And unity is the key to success.”

written for Sacred Metamorphosis on January 1, 2012

Dear Church, we cannot afford not to reason in an unreasonable age.

Dear Church,

We cannot afford not to reason in an unreasonable age.

Consider this thesis:

“Most Christian young people are ill-prepared to meet the attacks on their faith that they will encounter as adults in the world, and especially in college…. What a person believes about God, the world, the human soul, and the afterlife are the most important beliefs he holds. These foundational convictions create his viewpoint of the world and therefore affect every other belief he has, eventually giving rise to his choices and behavior…. Aggressive atheists and postmoderns relativists are among those watering at the mouth to get hold of the minds and hearts of today’s teens, and lead them down destructive paths…. opposite the way of Christ.” (Steven B. Cowan; Jason Dollar and Bradley Pinkerton, Contend: A Survey of Christian Apologetics on a High School Level, Aventine Press, 2009, 5, 7)

Would it disturb you, Christian, if I told you that the Church is losing its young people when they go off to college at alarming rates, with conservative estimates ranging between 50-70%? This is reality, and a critical contribution to this reality is that the Church is simply not equipping its people (especially its youngest generations) to be vibrant, biblical, Christ-centered, Holy Spirit-dependent thinkers. According to author and editor Sean MacDowell,

“Presently, most teens who enter adulthood claiming to be Christians will walk away from the church and put their emotional commitment to Christ on the shelf within ten years. A young person may walk away from God for many reasons, but one significant reason is intellectual doubt. According to the National Study on Youth and Religion, the most common answer nonreligious teens offered for why they left their faith was intellectual skepticism.” (Apologetics for a New Generation: A Biblical and Culturally Relevant Approach to Talking About God, Harvest House, 2009, 18)

This is a problem.

Deep, God-centered, biblical,faith-filled, intentional and persistent thinking is inseparable from the Christian life, though from the modern Evangelical climate you would not discern this. The Apostle Paul, in his transition from the “theology” portion of Romans to the “application” section, begins, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (12.1-2, ESV, emphasis added). Did you catch that? The Spirit-transformed mind is the means by which we are able to test and discern the will of God. Reflecting on his observations of the Western Evangelical Church in light of this biblical truth, Dr. John Patrick of Augustine College in Ottawa, Canada wrote:

“Evangelical Christians have largely given up on the practice of careful thought because they have not had it impressed upon them that they have a duty to transform the way they think with the help of the Holy Spirit. It is a problem which was first recognized in the forties but it is coming to its full fruition only now. Here is how CS Lewis puts it in the Screwtape letters. (In these letters Lewis uses the device of letting us read the correspondence of our tempters to give us insight into our own defects.) In the first letter from Screwtape to his underling Wormwood, Screwtape writes:

My Dear Wormwood,

I note what you say about guiding your patient’s reading and taking care that he sees a good deal of his materialist friend. But are you not being a trifle naïf? It sounds as if you supposed that argument was the way to keep him out of the Enemy’s clutches. That might have been so if he had lived a few centuries earlier. At that time the humans still knew pretty well when a thing was proved and when it was not; and if it was proved they really believed it. They still connected thinking with doing and were prepared to alter their way of life as the result of a chain of reasoning. But… with [the media]… we have largely altered that. Your man has been accustomed, ever since he was a boy, to have a dozen incompatible philosophies dancing around in his head. He doesn’t think of doctrines as primarily “true ” or “false” but as “academic” or “practical”, “outworn” or “contemporary”, “conventional” or “ruthless”. Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church …The trouble about argument is that it moves the whole struggle onto the Enemy’s own ground…. By the very act of arguing you awake the patient’s reason; and once it is awake who can foresee the result?” (John Patrick, “Nine Questions Everyone Must Face”)

The plain fact – as I think that anyone familiar with modern education can attest – is that sound thinking, proper philosophy, and sincere rhetoric are systematically ignored. The result is the modern relativistic landscape of “what’s good for you is good for you, and what’s good for me is good for me.” You’ve heard the argument before.

This landscape includes the mass exodus of emerging adults from the Church, as referenced earlier. A contemporary generation of life-long churchgoers was taught growing up that they were to take the Bible on faith. (This is not awful, by the way, as faith is the assurance of things hoped for, as well as the means through which – by grace – we are saved in Christ, and without which we cannot please Him [Heb 11.1, 6; Eph 2.8]. The Bible must be taken on faith, as must everything else, at base – including a belief in such “scientific” theories as evolution! But that is another matter I will not deal with here.) Unfortunately, this teaching is too often coupled with either: (1) explicit discouragement when it comes to questions about the Bible; or (2) an inadequate and basically unintelligent response to legitimate questions that are posed. Neither option will suffice.

We must do better! We – the Church – who have more reason than anyone to reason well, must do better. Remember the teachings?

“The LORD possessed me [wisdom] at the beginning of His work, / the first of His acts of old. / Ages ago I was set up, / at the first, before the beginning of the earth…. / The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, / and knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” (Proverbs 8.22-23, 9.10, ESV)

“And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory…. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2.4-7, 14, ESV)

God is the Founder, Sustainer, and Giver of true understanding. The Bible contains true philosophy. If you are in Christ, then you have more reason to engage your mind in true knowledge and understanding than anyone. How are you doing with that? Drawing on the brilliant C. S. Lewis again:

image obtained from http://thegospelcoalition.org/

“If all the world were Christian, it might not matter if all the world were uneducated. But, as it is, a cultural life will exist outside the Church whether it exists inside or not. To be ignorant and simple now – not to be able to meet enemies on their own ground – would be to throw down our weapons, and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defence but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen. Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered. The cool intellect must work not only against cool intellect on the other side, but against the muddy heathen mysticisms which deny intellect altogether. Most of all, perhaps, we need intimate knowledge of the past. Not that the past has any magic about it, but because we cannot study the future, and yet need something to set against the present, to remind us that the basic assumptions have been quite different in different periods and that much which seems certain to the uneducated is merely temporary fashion. A man who has lived in many places is not likely to be deceived by the local errors of his native village: the scholar has lived in many times and is therefore in some degree immune from the great cataract of nonsense that pours from the press and the microphone of his own age.

The learned life then is, for some, a duty.” (The Weight of Glory, ”Learning in War-Time,” Williams Collins Sons and Co, 1939, 28-29).

While the learned life is the duty of some, as Lewis aptly argues, I would also argue that (based on what we have seen) the relentless pursuit of biblical philosophy, true logic, and sound thinking is the duty of the Church. Unfortunately, we (the Church) are largely ignoring it. We claim the domain of biblical teaching (though the modern poverty of expositional preaching rightly brings this claim into question), while we relegate the responsibility of right thinking to the academy – as if right thinking and biblical teaching could be separated, or truly right thinking committed to an academy driven by a world-system fundamentally opposed to God! Yet to the extent that we disregard this plain fact, the world system takes our students “captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col 2.8, ESV).

How, then, shall we think about these things? What, then, shall we do? Dr. Patrick has founded Augustine College in Ottawa, Canada as a biblically academic response to the increasing threats of thoughtless postmodernism upon Evangelicalism. Our church has committed itself to the historical and biblical practice of expository preaching, teaching and preaching verse-by-verse, rather than according to the whimsical trend of topical preaching found in most pulpits today. (After all, if God is the Originator and Propagator of true wisdom and philosophy, then teaching and preaching His Word as He has given it will inherently impart right thinking, which is a gift He gives His people in order to know Him rightly, Who is the true Treasure in all of life, to Whom all right reason leads us!) Moreover, I have recently announced the advent of the Shadowlands Society, which is a monthly two-hour gathering of students dedicated to learning how to think critically according to Scriptures, reason well and soundly about the Faith, and study the Bible via the literal-grammatical-historical method by which we arrive at a proper understanding of the Text.

What, then, will you do?

NOTE: For those who enjoy C. S. Lewis, here’s a very fascinating talk from John Piper on the inestimable value of Lewis’s thought and writings in spite of the numerous major problems of his theological leanings:

The Gospel According to David: An Expository Sermon on Psalm 24

One of the greatest, undeserved, and humbling privileges of which I am aware is to be called upon to preach the written Word of God to His people. I had that privilege at this Sunday’s corporate worship, and I hope that offering the sermon text here will be helpful to some in their preparation this Advent season and beyond. 

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO DAVID

The Psalms

Sometimes the Old Testament startles me. Sometimes it startles me because it seems like it speaks a different language than I’m used to. Through years of interacting with the New Testament it seems like I’ve learned to speak New Testament pretty well, but Old Testament almost seems like another dialect of “God-speak,” you know? What I mean is that we believe in something called the plenary inspiration of Scripture, meaning that we believe that God gave us each part of His Word with equal inspiration, so that the genealogies of Chronicles are not less inspired than the Epistles of Paul, or the Gospels. God spoke His Word in various ways and at different times, and we have the Bible. But it seems a lot of times like the Old Testament speaks differently, so it’s a lot easier for us to avoid it because we just don’t get it. You ever feel that way?

Think about this, though: When Jesus taught His disciples about Himself, He spoke from the Scriptures. They didn’t have the New Testament at that time, so He was speaking from our Old Testament. When Paul taught from the Scriptures during his missionary journeys, he taught from our Old Testament about Jesus, and that’s why his letters are filled with Scripture quotations. The early church theologian Augustine said this about the Bible as a whole: “The New is in the Old contained; the Old is by the New explained.”

And more importantly, Jesus Himself said to the Jews of His day regarding the Old Testament, “‘You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life.’” So the Bible is like the human body in that when you zoom into any one part, you find the DNA of the whole. Jesus doesn’t just show up in the New Testament, but He’s active and centrally present from Genesis 1.1.

Today we’re going to look at the book of Psalms, and Psalm 24 in particular. Just to give a little background on the Psalms, they are – as our Dennis Smith points out every time he gets up to read a Psalm – the canonical hymnbook of the Bible. That is, they are the songs that God gave His people to sing when He was forming their worship in the Promised Land. It is the Bible’s book of praise, which at the same time is both richly theological and deeply emotional. It is all the proof we need to combat the modern day lie that in order to worship God from the heart, we need to not focus so much on doctrine. Rather, to worship the true God rightly, with the full experience of the human heart turned toward God in truth, we must begin with doctrine. Without a right understanding of the God we worship – which is what doctrine teaches us – we worship an idol. The book of Psalms helps us understand the God-ordained fusion of the human heart and the human mind.

The Church has always understood what we saw just a second ago, that the Bible points in every part to Christ, the One for Whom everything was created. It is fitting that on this first Sunday of Advent – the season of anticipating Christ’s coming – we look at one of the greatest psalms anticipating Christ: Psalm 24.

Psalm 24

Most interpreters believe that Psalm 24 was written by King David for the occasion of the Ark of the Testimony’s entrance into Jerusalem. For years the Ark of God had been moved. For a while the Philistines had it, then Israel got it back. For two decades during the reign of Saul it was at the house of a man named Abinadab, and also moved around with the Israelite army at times. But during the reign of David, he went and got the Ark and brought it up to Jerusalem.

image obtained from http://markblord.wordpress.com/ (copyright Crossway Bibles)

It was an amazing time in the life of Israel. Try to imagine this; pretend you’re an ancient Israelite, and try to imagine this: The Ark was a chest of acacia wood covered in gold, and seated on top of the Ark is something called the Mercy Seat. God talks about the Mercy Seat in Exodus 25.21-22: “‘And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel’” (ESV). As an Israelite, the Ark is the revealed Presence of God to you, and represents your hope, your identity, your distinction. After all, you’re God’s chosen people, sent among the nations as His ambassadors and representatives. You’re the nation within whom God’s Presence dwells.

And after years of the Ark of God being all over the place, you’re bringing the Ark to the center of the nation – Jerusalem. And for such an occasion, the poet-king of Israel, David, has written a psalm. It was written antiphonally, which is to say that it was written for responsive singing. Now, we’re not going to sing it, however I would like us to read it together in a way that’s perhaps representative of the way it would have been experienced originally. As the psalm is projected on the screen, I’m going to read the portion in plain text. ST has agreed to read the questions that are italicized. You are going to corporately read the portions bolded and underlined. Let’s get a feel for this highly emotional moment in the life of Israel.

Psalm 24 (ESV)

A Psalm of David

The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,

the world and those who dwell therein,

for He has founded it upon the seas

and established it upon the rivers.

 

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?

            And who shall stand in His holy place?

 

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

            who does not lift up his soul to what is false

            and does not swear deceitfully.

He will receive blessing from the LORD

            and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Such is the generation of those who seek Him,

            who seek the face of the God of Jacob.                        Selah

 

Lift up your heads, O gates!

And be lifted up, O ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.

 

Who is this King of glory?

 

The LORD, strong and mighty,

            the LORD, mighty in battle!

 

Lift up your heads, O gates!

And lift them up, O ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.

 

Who is this King of glory?

 

The LORD of hosts,

            He is the King of glory!                        Selah

 

Father, You are the God Whose holiness is all-pervasive. You are the God Who has eternally purposed to redeem a people for Yourself, that Your Name and Your renown might be magnified to the uttermost. You are the God Who has eternally purposed to send Jesus, the King of glory, that it might be so. You are the God Who may only be approached by those with clean hands and pure hearts. Please, according to Your promises in Jesus, may we be a people who may ascend Your holy hill – not by our merits, but by the merits of the King of glory! As we approach You in Your Word now, please, Holy Spirit, do that which only You can do: Open the eyes of our hearts, that with spiritual understanding we may grasp those things which You have written for Your people, that we may know You more fully and pursue You with greater devotion, until the day when the King of glory will again return. In His Name – the Name of Jesus Christ – we pray. Amen.

I. Creator (vv 1-2)

The very first place that anything begins is, of course, with its origin. Everything that is not a creator is, by definition, created. And on the flipside, everything that is not created is, by definition, a creator. When it comes to the universe, there has always been and will always be only one Creator – God. Everything that is not God is by definition part of His creation, and by virtue of its being created by Him, is subject to His lordship. That is, everything is subject to the exclusive and sovereign rule of God. And that’s where David begins this psalm, by recognizing that plain fact.

The nation of Israel historically had a problem. As God’s chosen people, they let themselves become prideful and exclusivistic, even though God had chosen them out of the peoples of the earth to be a missionary nation who displayed His nature and glory to the world! So it’s not insignificant that we begin this psalm with a declaration of the universal reign of God the Creator. He’s not a nationalistic God Who is biased against Middle Easterners or Americans or Mexicans or Africans or Asians. He is the LORD of all the earth, and everything and everyone in the world is under His reign. God is biased against no nation and no people, but is the impartial Judge of all. Who are you biased against? Do you find that in the hidden corners of your heart you feel that certain classes or races of people are of lesser status? How would you defend such sentiments to the God Whose earth those same people inhabit as you do? You are not any more in God’s favor because you are of a certain race or class or profession than anyone else. You are God’s subject simply because He created you! How are you acting toward your Creator?

You see, not only in the Psalms, but all over Scripture sets forth God’s sovereign creativity as one of the primary reasons we owe Him worship, allegiance, and obedience. Let’s look at a very small sampling:

The story of Job’s sufferings is famous. Though he was a righteous man, God allowed Job to undergo severe torment at the hands of Satan, and when he questioned His Creator, this was the beginning of God’s response: “‘Dress for action like a man; / I will question you, and you make it known to Me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? / Tell me, if you have understanding. / Who determined its measurements – surely you know! / Or who stretched the line upon it? … / Have you commanded the morning since your days began, / and caused the dawn to know its place…?’” (Job 38.2-5, 12, ESV) God is the Creator – end of story.

The Apostle Paul, when responding to an oft-cited rebuttal to God’s sovereignty in salvation, says, “So then [God] has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills. You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who can resist His will?’ But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?’” (Romans 9.18-21, ESV)

And when presenting one of the most magnificent pictures of the nature and majesty of Christ in all of the Bible, Paul writes, “For by [Jesus] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1.16-17, ESV)

Lastly, we open on one of my favorite scenes in Scripture, as the majesty of God in heaven is shown in the worship of the fantastic creatures and elders in Revelation 4. The 24 elders never cease to fall down before the Throne of God and worship, saying, “‘Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created.’” (Revelation 4.11, ESV)

So when we really do our homework, we find that it’s pretty hard to resist the reality that God, as sovereign Creator, is indescribably worthy of all the homage and worship that all of creation can bring to Him. Which means that He’s indescribably worthy of all your homage and worship. You owe God your allegiance and I owe God my allegiance. But it’s not enough to just know this. We’ve caught a glimpse of Who God is, but what kind of person can approach Him to pay Him homage and give Him the worship He deserves? This is precisely the question to which the poet turns his attention.

II. Creation (vv 3-6)

Why do you think that week-in and week-out our liturgical worship begins with heart preparation by declaring and witnessing the majesty of God? Because without an understanding of Who God is, as we’ve already seen, we lapse so naturally into idolatry. Anyone with even the smallest degree of honest self-awareness can see this. King David, who was one of the most renowned self-examiners in Scripture, does so again on the heels of having declared the sovereign creativity of God. (This, by the way, is how come we enter a time of confession after we exalt God and examine His Law together.)

A quick word about the way the Psalms are written that will help us understand what we’re reading here: It would be inappropriate for us to read the Psalms the same way we do one of Paul’s letters, because they’re written in completely different genres with different rules for interpretation. When Paul tells us to forgive each other because in Christ we have been forgiven, we can’t really weasel our way out of the command. We can ignore it, but we’re not sitting around debating whether or not we’re actually obligated to forgive. However, when the poet in Psalm 119 writes, “How sweet are Your Words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” I don’t see anyone ripping a page out of their Bible when they want dessert. Why?  Because you know that the psalmist is writing poetry, meant to convey a point and using literary technique.

All of the Psalms are written using a literary technique known as parallelism. In Psalm 24, we see two forms of parallelism at work: synonymous parallelism and synthetic parallelism. Synonymous parallelism is where two lines of poetry are saying the same thing, but using different language to do it, so that we get a more rounded understanding of the same basic idea. This is what happens in verse 3: “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? / And who shall stand in His holy place?” So the hill of the LORD is synonymous with God’s holy place – it’s talking about His Presence, where His worshiping people appear before Him. This verse communicates something else to us, as well. It says that to approach God is to ascend, that is, to go higher up than we are naturally.

We’re not creatures who are on par with God – nowhere near, in fact! So to approach Him, we must go higher up than our naturally sinful state. We have a majestic Creator, as we saw in verse 1 and 2, and to approach Him is to ascend. And second, we know that not everyone can ascend to God’s Presence, but only a specific type of person, which is the type of person that David is interested in here. Do you wonder if you are such a person? Is there some nagging curiosity whether or not you are the type of person who is welcomed into the courts of God? The answer comes in the form of synthetic parallelism in the next few lines of verse 4.

Synthetic parallelism is a poetic form in which lines build upon and enrich each other, rather than simply saying the same thing. They don’t contradict each other, but they also contribute something unique to the subject that is being discussed. Look at verse 4: “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, / who does not lift up his soul to what is false / and does not sweat deceitfully.” We find out that it’s the person with clean hands and a pure heart who is able to enter God’s Presence in a special way. But what does it mean to have clean hands and a pure heart? That’s where the parallelism helps us. It means that such a person worships the one true God Whose Presence she seeks to enter – she doesn’t have an idol. And she also speaks truthfully.

Do you remember what Jesus said to a lawyer was testing Him about what the greatest commandment is? “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matthew 22.37-40, ESV). So it comes as no surprise to us that here, when David is describing the person who can approach God, what he says falls into these two categories of loving God and loving people.

Who is it that loves God with his whole heart? It makes sense that it would be someone who doesn’t lift his soul to an idol, doesn’t it? Worship the one true God, and Him alone with all your life. For the sake of being honest and thorough, we must recognize, lest we become to comfortable, that if we ever find ourselves feeling more satisfied by something of this world, then we’re lifting up our souls to what is false. Even something that are not inherently wrong, such as our spouses, children, jobs, retirements, sports, knitting, movies, or whatever. Sorry to be a downer, but we don’t need a golden family altar in our homes to be guilty here.

And who is it that loves her neighbor as herself? According to David, it’s the one who doesn’t swear deceitfully, who tells the truth and lives in that tension of honor toward others. Keeping your finger in Psalm 24, flip a few pages back to Psalm 15. If you read through this Psalm, the parallels between this and Psalm 24 – both written by King David – are too obvious to be ignored. Here, David’s concerned with the same question about who can approach God. And expounding on this idea of a truthful tongue, he gives us a more detailed explanation in verses 2-4: “He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; / who does not slander with his tongue / and does no evil to his neighbor, / nor takes up a reproach against his friend;… / who swears to his own hurt and does not change….” To burst the bubble of our self-confidence here, we need to recognize that it’s those who always deal honestly with others – not gossiping, slandering, lying, or hurting with the tongue, who is in the clear. But if we take the Apostle James seriously, then we’re not so comfortable. He says, “For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body” (James 3.2).

Do you see the problem? I do. I’m guessing my problem’s the same as yours: I don’t have clean hands and a pure heart. I don’t love the Lord my God with all my heart and soul and mind, and I definitely don’t love my neighbor as myself (which is simply the natural overflow of loving God the way I should). That’s heavy! I think that’s why there’s a “Selah” after verse 6. It means, “Take a moment. Sit on this one. Reflect before moving on. Bask in your problem.”

Did you know that there is One Who has ascended the hill of the Lord, Who has clean hands and a pure heart and all that that entails? There’s such and abrupt transition from verse 6 to verse 7 that some interpreters believe that verses 7-10 were added later. And I can see how that makes sense… if you don’t know Whom verses 7-10 are talking about.

III. Christ (vv 7-10)

If, as most interpreters suppose, Psalm 24 was written for the occasion of King David bringing the Ark of the Testimony into Jerusalem, then it makes perfect sense why the Psalm would transition here to focusing on the King of glory. The King of glory is not David, but rather the One Who ascended the hill of the Lord with clean hands and a pure heart – Who is the God-given Answer to the problem of His people, who don’t have clean hands and pure hearts.

Even if David did not pen this song for the occasion of the Ark’s entrance into Jerusalem, it makes no matter for our interpretation. However, if – as we may responsibly suppose – it was for this occasion, it enriches our understanding. You see, the Ark of the Testimony is what’s known as a type. That is, it is a physical picture of a spiritual reality. As we saw earlier, the Ark was covered by the Mercy Seat, where God met with His people. The holy God of all creation cannot be approached by impure and filthy people, and what we find to be our problem is the same problem that the ancient Israelites had – they were unholy people with unclean hands and impure hearts. And the Mercy Seat was their lifeline.

It was called the Mercy Seat for a reason. Mercy is the waylaying of the judgment we deserve – it is the undeserved forgiveness of our sins. And it was at the Mercy Seat that God met with people who deserved His wrath but instead were given His Presence. And who is discussed in this psalm? It’s the person who would meet with God – who would truly seek His Presence. It was at the Mercy Seat of the Ark where God manifested His Presence to His people, and it pointed to Christ.

It pointed to Christ because it’s only ever been through Christ that wrath-deserving sinners have been able to stand in the Presence of God! Romans 3 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith” (vv 23-25a, ESV). The Mercy Seat has always been about Christ, because it’s only in Christ that mercy has ever been extended by God.

As the Ark of the Testimony was being brought up to the gates of Jerusalem, the people of God were proclaiming that the King of glory was entering! But that wasn’t the last time this was to happen. Jewish literature records that Psalm 24 was sung every first day of the week, which is our Sunday – this would have been sung the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The King of glory riding up to the ancient gates of Jerusalem. The Ark of the Testimony – the Presence of the great I AM with His people – was celebrated as it entered into Jerusalem. But centuries later the same King of glory entered the gates yet again, and though celebrated by the lips of ardent citizens of that ancient city, He was less than a week later crucified by them. The King of glory slain.

Psalm 24 is a psalm of victory celebration, as the conquering King of glory enters the ancient gates. The literal translation of the word we see here as “ancient” is “everlasting,” and it is not insignificant. Think about what happened after Christ won the greatest battle of history, when He overcame sin at the cross, and death at His resurrection. After 40 days, in victory the King of glory ascended to the everlasting and ancient doors of the heavenly City of God, where He was received as the LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. This LORD of hosts – the LORD of the armies of heaven – He is the King of glory.

“‘You search the Scriptures,’” Jesus said to the Jews, “‘because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life.’” Based on Jesus’ words, it’s truly magnificent to realize that even as King David celebrated the arrival of the Ark into Jerusalem by penning this psalm, the Gospel was coming into clear view: Our Creator God is the holy One of heaven, majestic and worthy to be worshiped beyond our wildest imagination! He cannot commune with those who trample His holiness underfoot, which poses a problem for each one of us.

We are the creation of God, yet we snubbed Him in rebellion by declaring that our ways are better than His, and that we are more worthy of our own adoration and attentions than He is. We declare each and every day that we know best, and there’s not a man, woman, or child in the world who has clean hands and a pure heart. So we cannot possibly stand in His holy place, but rather are under the condemnation of His wrath.

But there is a King of glory. Seeing our problem, and knowing that there is no perfect person who can bridge the unbridgeable chasm between God and His people, God sent Himself in Jesus Christ, Who went to the mat for us. He lived the perfect life none could live, died the death that we deserve, bearing the full weight of the wrath of God. He paid a check with His life for the price of His people, and the check cleared at His resurrection, proving that the funds of His righteousness were sufficient. And He ascended into heaven, the King of glory received in victory by the ancient gates.

The Gospel according to David just so happens to be the Gospel according to God, the Good News revealed all throughout the Scriptures. Holy Creator, rebellious creation, perfect Christ. But there’s a fourth “C” to the equation, as the Gospel grips us and shakes us from the slumber of our souls. For the Good News to be good news for me, it requires my Commitment.

IV. Commitment

Perhaps the clearest statement of the commitment required of those who would ascend the hill of the Lord is from the lips of Jesus in Mark 1.14-15: “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel’” (ESV). Repent and believe. Faith and repentance. Turning from sin and trusting that Jesus, and Jesus alone, fully and completely paid the price for our sinfulness. Repent and believe. These aren’t just one time occurrences. They’re something that happen at a definite point in the life of the believer when they’re converted, and Scripture tells us that if repentance and faith are genuine, then they will be continuous happenings throughout the believer’s life on earth.

It’s the person who rests fully and only in the One with clean hands and a pure heart, Jesus Christ, who experiences the glory of Psalm 24.5: “He will receive blessing from the LORD / and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” It’s never been about the blessings and righteousness that we bring to God as we approach Him in worship. If we bring our own merits, He rejects them as the most disgusting blasphemy, thinking that we could bring anything to Him worthy of His acceptance! But we receive blessing and righteousness from God if we come to Him in the blessing and righteousness of Christ.

“For our sake He made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5.21, ESV). To turn that verse slightly in the light of the Advent season we have just entered, it would be accurate to say that for our sake God sent Christ, Who knew no sin, into a dark and sinful world, that by being born to die and then rise, we might become the righteousness of God. This is the Advent purpose. This is the reason for the season. It’s not the gifts or the decorations or the food, great as those may be. It’s the coming King of glory Who went to the mat for us and emerged victorious. It’s the King of glory, Who after His victorious resurrection was received by the ancient gates in glory. It’s the King of glory, Who the Apostle John says will return once again for a final battle to consummate the victory He’s already won:

“Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The One sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a Name written that no one knows but Himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the Name by which He is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On His robe and on His thigh He has a Name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” (Revelation 19.11-16, ESV)

Israel rejected this King of glory when He came to them. They sang Psalm 24 as He rode into Jerusalem, and then they crucified Him. What about you? Will you prepare your heart this Advent and beyond for His coming. Will the gates of your heart be opened for Him? And if you say the gates of your heart are open, is that the lens through which you evaluate your daily choices and lifestyle? The King of glory came and will come again. Are you seeking Him?

The Paper Trail: A Primer on the Canon

(Laboring under the conviction that the Bible is the direct, propositional, objective written revelation of God to His people, I recently put together a scavenger hunt for the student ministries at our church. It is called the “Paper Trail,” and was designed to be a fun, high-energy introduction to the formation, content, reliability, inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture. Leaving out the clues and gaming instructions, I thought that the short lessons from each clue would be a helpful and concise primer on the Canon. Much debt is owed to Josh McDowell’s New Evidence That Demands A Verdict, which is a magnificent compilation of apologetic resources that sets out a deep and broad foundation for these and other matters. May it be a helpful and encouraging aid!)

THE PAPER TRAIL

The Bible – it began in the heart of God; He decided to reveal Himself to mankind. No book has been the source of more controversy and argument than the Bible. The Bible is like no other book, not only because of what it teaches, the stories it tells, and the claims that it makes, but because no other book has been preserved the way that the Bible has, with the amazing miracles that have taken place to ensure that the Bible we have today is the Bible that we were meant to have.

Wars have been fought over the message of the Bible. Families have been divided. Tears have been shed. Lives have been lost. It has also been the source of unspeakable joy. Peace has been made because of the message of the Bible. Families have been united with greater love than anyone could imagine. Lives have been saved.

Why is this?

What is it about the collection of 66 books that we know as the Holy Bible that makes it at the same time a source of so much unity and yet so much division… so much joy and so much argument… so much hope and so much anger? What kind of book does that, and why does it do that? As you follow the paper trail, you will find out more and more about how come the Bible has caused so many different reactions throughout the ages, and what it’s all about.

image obtained from http://datinggod.org/

Some Basics

The Bible was written by more than 40 authors. These authors couldn’t have been more different from each other: They were kings, military leaders, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, tax collectors, poets, musicians, politicians, teachers, and shepherds. But they had one thing in common – their faith in the one true God.

But Who is this God in Whom they put their faith?

Well, from cover-to-cover, the Bible tells us that this is the one God Who has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is what the Bible reveals through all of the 66 books written by all those different authors. What’s even more incredible is that these authors’ writings were written over the span of 1,500 years in three different languages – Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek – and scattered over Asia, Africa, and Europe. Many of these authors never met each other.

And yet they were saying the same thing….

Living by the [Manu]Script

A lot of people take shots at the Bible, trying to prove that it isn’t reliable. They look at the fact that the Old Testament was completed almost 2,500 years ago, with some parts that are over 4,000 years old, and they say that we couldn’t possibly have any idea what it really said. They consider that the New Testament is 2,000 years old and then call it crazy to think that the Bible’s words have been preserved correctly all that time.

The fact of the matter is, there is no book in history that has more evidence in its favor. For example, while we don’t have any of the original writings in our possession, we have tremendous evidence to show that the Bible we have today is the Bible that was written all those thousands of years ago.

For example, ancient scribes copied the Old Testament books on scrolls in such a detailed way that the copies were essentially free from error. They would count the number of times per book that a particular letter occurred, and if a scribe’s copy didn’t have the exact number of that one letter, they’d throw the whole thing out. They also counted all the letters from the front and the back to see what letter was in the very middle, and if a copy didn’t have that letter at the very middle, it’d be thrown out. And for the New Testament alone, we have over 5,000 fragments and copies in Greek, and 20,000 in other early translations. The MANUSCRIPT EVIDENCE for the Bible is untouched by any other book in the history of the world.

Thank you, Dr. (Indiana) Jones!

image obtained from http://historeo.com/

When you talk about the stories of the Bible – like Noah’s ark, the Tower of Babel, the facts of Israelite history, and even the resurrection of Jesus – there will always be people who want to discount them as untrue fictions. However, what we find from those who have actually done their researched and done responsible archaeology is summarized in these quotes:

“It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever [contradicted] a biblical reference… The… incredibly accurate historical memory of the Bible [is amazing], and particularly so when it is fortified by archaeological fact.” (Nelson Glueck)

 “Archaeological discoveries of the past generation in Egypt, Syria, and Palestine have gone far to establish the uniqueness of early Christianity as an historical phenomenon.” (W. F. Albright)

The point is that the ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE in history continues to show the reliability of every fact that the Bible records. For example, in 1947 a group of scrolls (over 47,000 whole and partial scrolls) called the Dead Sea Scrolls was found in caves in the Middle East. An example of the reliability of the Old Testament passed down through the ages is that a scroll of the Bible book Isaiah was almost word-for-word the same as the copies of Isaiah that were from 1,000 years after that scroll had been written.

Profitting from the Prophets

One of the most incredible things that we can realize about the Bible is Who the Main Character is.

Any guesses?

Let’s just say that from Genesis chapter one we see this Character in action. Here’s what Colossians – which is toward the back of the Bible – says about Him: “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through Him and for Him” (1.16, ESV).

The Old Testament alone contains almost 300 specific prophecies about this Person. When He showed up in human Form at the beginning of the New Testament in Jesus Christ, it turns out that He fulfilled every single one of them.

Some critics and enemies of the Bible say that these prophecies could have been added after He showed up on the scene, to match the life that He had already lived. However, this couldn’t possibly be true, because these prophecies had already been translated from Hebrew into Greek (the Septuagint translation) 250 years before Christ showed up. The cold hard fact is that the PREDICTIVE PROPHECIES of the Bible leave us no doubt that they were inspired by God through and through.

image obtained from http://wordincarnate.wordpress.com/

Statistically Speaking…

So far we’ve seen that a simple word – “MAP” – reminds us of the reliability and the incredible gift from God that is the Bible. “M” stands for manuscript evidence that shows that the Bible is uniquely reliable, more reliable than any other book ever written. “A” shows us that the archeological research that has been done has always confirmed the Bible’s teachings and fact records (where it is done responsibly), and “P” reminds us of the incredible predictive prophecies about Jesus that all came true. There’s one more letter we need to add, though, and that is “S,” which stands for statistical probability that the predictions about Christ could come true unless He was, in fact, God, as He claimed to be.

There was a man named Peter Stoner, who scientifically figured out the likelihood that Jesus would fulfill just eight of the prophecies that no human could have controlled, such as the time of His birth, the manner of His death, people’s reactions to His teaching, etc. Listen to this quote about this man’s research in the book Science Speaks:

 “We find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is…(10 to the 17^th power). That would be 1 in 100 quadrillion…. In order to help us comprehend this staggering probability, Stoner illustrates it by supposing that we take 10 to the 17^th power silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time.”

Canon

We understand now that the Bible is reliable and has proven to be a miraculous Book – in fact, there’s no other book like it. The Bible describes itself as living and active. God Himself gave it using human authors. And even though the Bible was written by human authors, God wrote it through them in such a way that their personalities and writing styles stayed the same, but they were kept from writing anything that was either untrue or inaccurate.

The whole Bible is made up of a series of books. When it was originally written, some of the books were combined, so that books like 1 and 2 Chronicles were actually just “Chronicles.” But the books were the same, and the whole Bible as a whole is known as the “Canon.” The word canon came from the root word reed, or cane in English. It gives the idea of a measuring stick, or a standard. Therefore, the Bible is the “officially accepted list of books” that is the standard for our lives, and contains the truth about God and ourselves.

In history, the Church has been the living Body of Christ that has recognized what belonged in the Canon and what did not. The Church has had tests to recognize whether a book belongs or not – this is known as the test for canonicitiy. For a book to be included in the Canon, it had to be written by a Prophet or Apostle, or under their authority. The writer was generally confirmed to be from God by miracles, and the book had to tell the truth about God in every word, because nothing in the Bible is ever able to contradict itself.

It is important to realize that because the Church didn’t write the Bible (God did), therefore the Church is not the one to decide what the Canon is. Rather, the Church simply recognized what God had already decided was in the Canon.

Old School

Most of the Bible is what we call the Old Testament. This large portion of Scripture was the Bible that the Jewish people had, and was the Bible from which Jesus and the Apostles read. It is made up of different kinds of writing, though each bit of writing is centered on Jesus Christ. As professors Norman Geisler and William Nix pointed out in their book, A General Introduction to the Bible:

The Old Testament Law of Moses – the first five books of the Bible – provide the foundation for Christ, because the way that ancient Israel was commanded to live and worship pointed totally to Christ.

The historical Old Testament books – which include the books of Chronicles, Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, just to name a few – show preparation for Christ’s coming.

The poetry books – Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon – aspire to Christ. That means that they hold Him up as supreme, and He is the fulfillment of all that they proclaim as true, good, and beautiful.

The Prophets expect Christ, pointing to Him through their prophecies, as we saw earlier.

A lot of people get the wrong idea about the Old Testament. They think that it is a dry collection of Jewish history that became no longer relevant when Christ came. If you ask most Christians, I’m afraid that you might find that they largely ignore the Old Testament. But think about it in the terms that Jesus used: “‘You search the Scriptures [the Old Testament] because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me…’” (John 5.39, ESV). Why would we not read such a magnificent collection of the living words of God?!

A Continuation

The most recent part of the Bible – which is still 2,000 years old – is called the New Testament. This portion of Scripture is what people mistakenly call the “Christian Scriptures.” This is only partially true because, as we just saw with the Old Testament, all of the Bible is Christian Scripture, because all the Bible reveals and is about Jesus! But let’s take a quick look at the way the New Testament continues what the Old Testament started:

The Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – reveal Jesus. While we see Jesus in action in creation and all throughout the Old Testament, the Gospels are the writings that record the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of His people.

The Acts of the Apostles shows the continuation of Jesus’ work in the Church, as He builds His people and triumphantly keeps the Gospel going, even through thick and nasty opposition.

The Epistles, or letters, include Romans through Jude, and makes up most of the New Testament as far as the number of books that they include. The Epistles interpret Jesus to His people, discussing the meaning of His life, death, and resurrection, with specific instructions for how we are to live in light of those things.

Finally, the book of Revelation shows the consummation of Christ’s work, including His physical return to earth in triumph to judge the living and the dead. His people will be joined with Him in eternal life, while all those who do not treasure Him as Master will receive the just penalty for their rebellion against Him in hell forever.

So you see, from start-to-finish, the Bible is about Jesus!

It was meant to get personal.

Hopefully by now you realize what an amazing treasure the Bible is. It began in the heart of God, and it is a gift to His people to lead them to the all-surpassing Treasure of Jesus Christ. His written Word leads us to His Living Word!

The Bible is beautiful and complex, yet it’s also simple. It’s at the same time challenging to understand in parts, but the message is so easy to get that a lot of people miss it. You can be the most educated biblical scholar in the world, but if you miss the point of personally giving your life to Jesus Christ, then it’s all for nothing! That means that you have to trust that He lived the perfect life you should have, died under the full wrath of God that you deserve, rose victorious from the dead, and reigns forever. If you believe this, then you will say “No!” to sin and “Yes!” to a life pursuing Jesus.

To turn away from sin (repentance) in trust to Jesus Christ for what He accomplished (faith) is what the Bible refers to as true belief. True belief involves faith and repentance, pure and simple. Do you truly believe?

If you do not truly believe, please click here.

If you do truly believe, then you are forever a part of Christ’s Body on the earth, which is known as His Church. The Church is God’s plan for keeping the Gospel going in the world, telling people about Christ and being the center for His people’s worship of Him. That’s why it’s so important to keep meeting together as the Church. In fact, it’s a command for our greatest joy and our greatest good: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day [of Christ’s return] approaching” (Hebrews 10.25, NIV). So may you – as a person of the Book, a worshiper of the Living Word – continue in committed fellowship to your local Church, that Christ may be most magnified through you. If you have not committed to a local fellowship, then visit these links for help finding one that is solid: The Gospel Coalition / 9Marks of a Healthy Church.

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He Who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5.23-24, ESV)

An Ignored Imperative

Living in the Western world, it is all too easy to live one’s entire life without contemplating the realities of the life experience of the billions of other people around the globe. I heard tell in recent years that there are a billion chronically hungry people on the planet. A billion. There are a billion people who on a regular basis do not have enough to eat, if anything at all, and yet in the United States alone there is currently enough food to feed Earth’s entire population more than twice!

I’m currently leading a group of people from our church as we join countless other churches in Compassion International‘s One Meal, One Day initiative. Essentially, this effort will feed countless malnourished children in developing countries on an ongoing basis, all in Name of Jesus Christ. (I.e., the Gospel is central and explicit.) I invite you to join. Just click here: One Meal, One Day.

Among the downtrodden, overlooked, and victimized of the world there is a group of people that, so far as I can see, are among the most oppressed and the most honorable: the persecuted Church. This mass is being actively targeted, not passively ignored. This group of people are dying en masse daily. God’s heart for His suffering saints is evident:

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.” (Psalm 116.15, ESV)

image obtained from http://www.odnite.com/

Yet even among the Western Church, how much do we actually remember, act, and give as though we considered them our actual brothers and sisters? Seriously, think about it: If your closest biological relatives were being wrongfully imprisoned, tortured, and put on death row, what would you do?

Would you pray? Hopefully.

Would you act on their behalf via petition or financial aid of those who could help them? Presumably.

Unfortunately, much less than this is even crossing the minds of most Westernized Christians today, and it is a far cry from the succinct and simple command of the God we say we love in response to this global tyranny:

“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” (Hebrews 13.3, ESV)

The first step toward walking in this way is awareness. Willingly choose to face the reality of Christian persecution and martyrdom in the face – uncomfortable as it may be – and pray. Act. Love. One superb way to do this is to keep up with and support the global ministry to persecuted Christians that is Voice of the Martyrs. I close with a link to one of the most impact-full short videos I’ve ever seen, in hopes that Christians may increasingly live as the brothers and sisters that they are through their Savior. And if you have read this and are not devoted to Jesus Christ, I would ask you to watch the video and seriously consider why these men and women are giving their lives. Click the link below to view the video:

Christian Persecution: The World Was Not Worthy of Them

“Basic” Christian Doctrine

I run into more people than I can count who – when embarking upon a discussion of Christian doctrine – cripple themselves from the joys and pleasures of the things of God by saying (and believing), “Well, I’m just not built to understand those things,” or, “I just want to stick to the basics.”

image obtained from http://www.thirdage.com/

It’s like a man with two working (though out of use) legs walking on crutches and then, when asked to take a jog around the track, saying, “You don’t understand, I have crutches.”

The answer is, “Yes, you do have crutches, but you don’t need them. We’ll take it slow – one step at a time. You’ll be amazed at how quickly we’re jogging.”

There is an increasingly disturbing trend in modern Evangelicalism of self-imposed ignorance regarding basic doctrine and logical thought, which is a part of the reason that we’re losing our teenagers when they go to university, learn how to think, and then look back to an intellectually and theologically impoverished church raising and abandoning the whole thing altogether (research-validated estimates of this mass exodus usually falls in the range of 50-70%).

What is to be done? Well, the answer of the Church throughout history has been basically simple (but not simplistic): Read the Bible, preach the Bible, pray the Bible, sing the Bible, see the Bible (J Ligon Duncan, III). It is amazing what happens when pastors stand in the pulpit week-after-week and open the Bible to a specific passage and simply preach what God’s point in that passage means. (This is the difference between expositional preaching  versus topical preaching, which is the gold standard of the American pulpit today.) It is amazing what happens when God’s people, because they love Him and accept His Word as the treasure it is, decide that God never intended us to have the entirety of the inspired Bible at our fingertips and just stick to the “basics.” The whole Word of God is profitable (2 Tim 3.16-17). It is meant for all, and almost all have the mental and reasoning capacities to delve into the pleasures  of God in His Word, with the community of the Church.

Let’s say for the sake of argument that we stick to the “basics.” The sad thing is that what is seen today as “basic” is a far cry from what was seen as basic by the Church even 100 years ago. We’ve distilled it so much that what we have now is a poverty of understanding about even crucial elements of the Gospel (which no one that I’m aware of could argue is anything but “basic”).

One way to combat this in the life of the Church is by pointing people to easy-to-read books that actually do cover basic Christian doctrine that the Church has always espoused, as a rule, and helping people understand that the Word of God is meant for all, not just the elite. Here are a couple books I highly recommend. The first is very short and contains something like 90 two-page articles summarizing basic Christian beliefs, and the second is more in-depth, though intended for the layperson, as well as the teachers of the Church:

Concise Theology by J. I. Packer

image obtained from http://www.springhillpres.com/

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine by Wayne Grudem

image obtained from http://stustation.wordpress.com/

There is an encouraging movement among biblically-commited hip-hop artists today to combat this doctrinal poverty among the people. It’s called “lyrical theology,” which takes the medium of appealing hip-hop music and fills it in with theological teaching that’s accessible to all, easy-to-understand, and solid. I’d like to conclude this post with a short video that does this well. Enjoy!

What is the process of healing after an abortion?

David Powlison; image obtained from http://www.worshipmatters.com/

While researching a particular issue from the biblical counseling perspective, I came across a video from one of biblical counseling’s leading experts, David Powlison. He is on the faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary, as well as the faculty of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation. It is an apt follow-up to the series of posts in “Normalizing the Inconceivable,” dealing with abortion. He addresses the question, “What is the process of healing after an abortion?” I hope you find it helpful.

Click on this link to be taken to the video: “What is the process of healing after an abortion?”