Month: April 2020

Devotional Insights #5

On April 27, 2020

Ps. 73: 16-17, “But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.”

Today, we might say that the Psalmist is dealing with mental health issues. He is processing a lopsided world. He looks around and sees that the wicked are rewarded for their wickedness. Their bellies are fat, and they die in peace. They find power and riches through their oppression of the righteous. The Psalmist, in turn, feels that his faithfulness is vanity. He will not speak that way because that would betray the saints. Yet, he still does not understand what the Lord is doing. It is a wearisome task.

The plight of the Psalmist is often in the face of the success of the wicked. The wicked conspire against the righteous, or the anointed one of God, or the poor, or those who are free. The Psalmist’s distress often comes from the success of their conspiracy.

It’s, for this reason, I believe that today there are conspiracies against the church, the poor, and the freedom of the people in general. Men gather together an make plans to crush the poor, take power for themselves, and, especially, to attack the church. They attack the church because the message of the church, the declaration in the gospel that Christ is king, is an insult to their power. A careful study of history will reveal various conspiracies throughout history. It’s hard to imagine that these types of things do not happen today. It’s for this reason that I do not write off so-called “conspiracy theories,” even though I remain skeptical of any particular theory.

At the same time, I am not afraid. In the short term, a conspiracy may be successful, but God remains in charge.

Like the Psalmist, however, fear remains a temptation. I am tempted to focus on the power and the wealth of the wicked. I wonder at what wickedness they will accomplish. What suffering will they cause? In this way, I am like the Psalmist. In facing the evil of men who hold positions of power in our society, my feet almost slip. I grow envious of the arrogant and the prosperity of the wicked. The problem: I am caught focussing on what is earthly, rather than what is heavenly.

But then: I approach the house of God, I approach the word of God, I come into the courts of Mt. Zion by the power of the Spirit. And there, I see who is really in charge; Jesus Christ. He reigns. We can worry about micro-chips, forced vaccinations, new tyrannical powers in the time of Covid-19. The specter of technocracy or the rule of science is an imminent threat. These are legitimate worries, but these fears should not rule us. God is King. God has exalted Jesus Christ over all powers and principalities. Because he is a righteous king, we know that he will punish the wicked for their evil deeds. Even if they die with “no pangs in their death,” according to the Psalmist, their final end is certain.

God sets the wicked in slippery places; both physically and spiritually. Power and money easily slip away. Power and money that are taken by the sword or by fraud are susceptible to being taken by the sword or by fraud. The Psalms remind us that wicked men turn on each other. Evil men grow suspicious and envious of one another. According to Psalm 9: 15, the nations sink into their own pit; they are snared in their own net. The destruction of the wicked is not necessarily due to smart resistance of the righteous, but the self-destructive nature of wickedness. The nations may rage, but Christ is king.

And in all this, I am confident of my end. “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

(A further note on conspiracy: with the attitude of distrust in our society today toward other groups and toward the elite, we must be very careful about bringing false witness against particular individuals. That is what I mean when I say that I am fairly confident that conspiracies exist against the church and against freedom in general, but I am much more skeptical of particular theories. A look at various quotes from prominent individuals in influential organizations should warn us that men are actively warring against the righteousness of Christ. Over the years I’ve seen statements from UN officials, from the WHO, and from members of the government of Canada that display an unhealthy attitude toward freedom and righteousness.

However, to jump from that to accusing individuals, in the civil government or otherwise, of wrongdoing with insufficient proof is highly offensive to our God in whom there is no lie. We must also remember the call of God to be patient with the weaknesses of those who rule over us. So let’s not be quick to accuse individuals of conspiracy.

It is also a big leap to go from that to a thorough condemnation of the whole government. The government is made up of a huge variety of different people with a variety of influences coming from every direction. Nobody can really control what “the government” does. Often a big part of their decision making relies on “the people” in general. For a great deal of “the government’s” foolishness, we only have ourselves to blame. Let us be very careful and thoughtful in dealing with things we know very little about. Particularly, as Christians who are called to value the truth)

Devotional Insights #4

By James

On April 18, 2020

In Devotional, education

Job 38-41: “Do you know?” “Where you there?” “Have you searched out?” “Look at Behemoth!” “Can you draw out Leviathan?”

God is demonstrating his incomprehensibility. Even as Job cannot fully grasp the answers to the questions that God gives him, so he cannot fully understand God.

In Job 38-39, God goes through the various aspects of his creation and asks Job: “How does the world hold together?” “How does wind work?” “How do the animals get their food?” “Hasn’t God given the things of this world, wisdom to live upon the earth?”

In Job 40 and 41, God goes into a detailed description of two mighty creatures that used to roam the earth in the days of Job, the Behemoth and the Leviathan. We don’t know what these are. Some guess they may have been dinosaurs, but ultimately they may not be animals we are aware of today. God invites Job to study these things to understand how great God is. The God who created such creatures is far beyond the mind of Job.

Job recognizes the challenge that God has given him in chapter 42 and admits that he has forgotten how far the ways of God are beyond him. God used to speak to Job from a distance. No, God has given Job the privilege of talking to himself face to face. In knowing God in this new way, Job recognizes all the more that he is lacking in his understanding of God. He repents in dust and ashes.

But there is something more here as well. Job is, after all a wisdom book. Job is invited to look into the questions that God gives. Why? Because all of these things point to the wisdom and almighty power of God. Paul may be thinking of this section of Job when he says the wisdom and the almighty power of God are clearly known to all men. God’s invitation to Job to ponder on these thing is more than merely saying that he is incomprehensible.

It is by pondering on these things that Job may grow in understanding the incomprehensibility of God. God’s words to Job are an invitation to what we call science. And many Christian scientists have heard the call of God to wonder at his creation in these passages. But this is science, which is done in a particular mode. This science never claims comprehensive knowledge of who God is or even of what creation is. We may discover that “Gravity” determines that things fall at a specific rate, but we cannot understand the forces behind it. Even if someday we do have a better understanding of that, we still will lack understanding of what is going on. God invites Job to science that delights in its limitations.

It is the same with the “science” of theology. Job’s friends think they have God figured out. Job doesn’t necessarily think he has God figured out, but he forgets that truth in his self-defense. The study of scripture and theology is a gradual realization of what we don’t know, which is the wisdom of humility.

The more we learn, the less we know. Wisdom is not merely the knowledge of things, but it is discovering the limits of our knowledge. We become like the Psalmist in Psalm 131 before God. “I do not occupy myself with things too great and marvelous for me. 0But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.” So God invites Job to be the scientist so that he may grow in wonder and awe at the creator of all things. And in growing in knowledge, Job also becomes humble before his God.

God desires that we delight in his creation. He wants us to take delight in the good that he has given us. On the other hand, pain and suffering often come from the thought that we are somehow in control of our lives. Too often we look to knowledge as a way to control other people. God wants us to discover the knowledge of him and the things he has made through a joyful humility. We should approach creation and wisdom with a child-like joy in discovery; without frustration over what we are unable to discover. God wants us to learn patience in uncovering the mysteries of the universe.

We should have the same approach to God and his word. We are children in God’s garden and we patiently wait upon to him to reveal himself more and more in the pages of scripture.

Finally, as Job had to learn, God calls us to be patient as we discern what he is doing in my experience. Whatever God brings is from his hand and is meant for my good. This is something we take on faith, not by sight. Our suffering can look meaningless but we trust that God has a purpose. And God invites us to discern that purpose.

This process of discovery is not so easy in a world where our fleshly pride is constantly creeping into what we do so that even the righteous Job must repent in dust and ashes. But in Jesus Christ, we have the Spirit of God, and that gives us the patience we need as we seek to grow in the knowledge of our Father.

Devotional Insights #3

By James

On April 14, 2020

In Devotional, eschatology

Revelation 22:7: “Behold I am coming soon: Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

Understanding the text

Christ says, “I am coming soon.” But it’s been two thousand years since John wrote down the things he saw on a particular Sunday in the first century. The final day of judgement has not come. Unless… is Christ talking about the final day of judgment here?

One of the major failures in conservative interpretation of the apocalyptic sections in scripture is ignoring the time markers in the text. They use passages like “to the Lord, a day is like a thousand years,” to supplement their view that these God gave these passages from his time-perspective rather than speaking with man’s notion of time. Or they lift these time markers out of their original contexts and argue that God’s people have to have the attitude that Christ’s coming is always near. They, then, are guilty of abstracting the time markers from their original context.

On the other hand, Liberal text-critics have long argued that the early church believed in an imminent coming. Christ’s final judgment was coming within the 1^st or 2^nd generation of Christians. Christ himself says, “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matthew 24:34). We can think of a passage like Romans 13, “For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” Also, 1^st Thessalonians 5, where Paul encourages the Thessalonians to watch out for the Day of the Lord.

Of course, the problem with the liberal interpretation is their belief that the church was wrong to believe that Christ was coming soon. If Paul and Christ were mistaken about the coming of Christ, how are we to trust in the other promises of God?

There is a third option: Christ did come soon, but not in the way we think of the coming of Christ. We are reading the final coming of Christ into this text. The truth is a lot of the apocalyptic sections in scripture refer to the imminent judgment of God upon the city of Jerusalem. Christ came to call his own to himself, but his own did not receive him. Many continued to reject God, when through his church, God called upon them to repent of their hard hearts and believe in the one they had crucified (Acts 2:36). Further, they persecuted the church of Christ. God is now coming in judgment. In Revelation, God prepares the church for the trials that are coming.

Christ’s coming in 70 A. D. in no way undermines the truth that he is finally coming again to judge the living and the dead. In 1 Corinthians 15 and Revelation 20:11-15, Christ promises that the final judgment is still coming. The judgment upon Jerusalem is a foretaste of that judgment.

This view doesn’t answer every question we might have, but it is by far more satisfactory than any other view. The scripture proves its own integrity. It is hard to argue that there is no sense in the New Testament of the coming of Christ. Here we have confirmation that the scripture means what it says. Just as day means day in Genesis 1, so soon means soon in Revelation 22:7.

However, those who are used to the view that we ought to expect Christ’s final return tomorrow are often left wondering how to apply Christ’s words here to their own lives. How is it a comfort to us today that Christ came upon the clouds to judge Jerusalem in 70 A.D?

The comfort of the text

Christ proved his Lordship by fulfilling his promise to judge Jerusalem. Just as God provides proofs of the cross and the resurrection, so he provides proof of the ascension of Christ. God vindicates those who believe in his name, by destroying the temple, the other institution that claims God’s name. Christ also proves that he continues to be with the church. He preserves her through the terrible persecutions of the Jews and the Romans. Even though she experienced great tribulation, Christ proved that he would protect her to the end. God comforts the church today with the knowledge that he has vindicated his church. He will vindicate her again, even until the final day.

God gives us a perspective on how he works through the church in history. “In history” is the important word here. We are not merely a small group of elect travelling through this world in order to get to heaven, we are on the mission of Christ to reconcile the world to himself. If we abstract the words “I am coming soon” from the text and see this as a reference to final judgment instead of Christ’ active coming in history, we can lose the importance of the work Christ is doing through the church to reconcile the nations to himself.

Through the fall of the Roman Empire, God demonstrated that his church was bigger than the Roman Empire. In the Reformation, God proved that he could save a church that had forgotten the centrality of Christ. Through the modern age, God has expanded his church, despite the predictions of the death of Christianity. God is using the war on terror. God is using failing governments. And God is using the Covid-19 crisis for the sake of his church. God does not wait until the last day to vindicate his church, but he is actively at work in history.

We can think of the vision in Daniel 2. The stone, Christ, that God uses to tumble over the nations of this world, becomes the foundation for a mighty mountain. God is working in history through the suffering of his saints to vindicate his saints. God in Christ is convicting the world of sin and calling all men to repentance.

Revelation reveals a cycle of contraction and expansion. Through the generations Christ brings the saints into various tribulations. At the same time, Christ uses those tribulations to purify his church, but more, to witness to his work. Christ brings his saints through tribulation so he might vindicate them. Once God has vindicated the saints, there is a new outpouring of blessing. This new blessing is followed by a new desire among the nations to serve God. We can think of the vindication of the Jews in the book of Esther. Many convert to Judaism at that moment.

In this way, God comforts us that he is using our suffering to strengthen his church. We reflect Christ, in that through the cross, through tribulation, we point to the salvation of God. We re-affirm here, as well, that this is not through our strength. It is, rather, an application fo the salvation won on the cross of Christ.

That is how we are to understand the current viral crisis. God is doing this for the sake of his church. He will vindicate the righteous one who continues to do righteousness, the holy one who continues to be holy. “Blessed are those who wash their robes so they can have access to the tree fo life and can enter into the city by the gates.” Wash your robes by placing your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord, who lives and reigns with the great Father of all, with the Holy Spirit, calls you to “Come, and drink of the water of life.”

Devotional Insights #2

By James

On April 6, 2020

In Devotional

Job 38:2: “The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: Who is this that darkens my counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.”

The Lord comes suddenly in the book of Job. He comes from a whirlwind, a whirlwind we did not know about earlier. God appears out of nowhere.

God is answering Job’s prayer. Again and again, Job has called upon God to come before him and even to hear his case. Job is righteous. From the story of Abraham, we know that the servants of God are ultimately righteous through faith. So it is not through good works that Job is right before God, but through a belief that has worked itself out in faithful obedience in his life. We know he is upright because earlier in the text, the author tells us that he is righteous. Job’s life pleases God. Job knows that he does not deserve what he has received. God strikes him, but he has not sinned. Job cries out for the justice of God. God now shows his love through addressing Job.

Contrast the meeting between God and the suffering Job and the almighty God with a book like “The Shack.” In that book, the protagonist, who is also in deep suffering, meets with a Trinitarian God, who predominantly demonstrates empathy. Here God’s first concern is for justice; justice for Job and justice for God’s name. Job 38 does not picture a therapy session, but a courtroom, “Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.” When God comes to us, he reveals to us that he is a consuming fire. That is why God must appear to Job in a whirlwind. The whirlwind helps keep Job from the full effect of God’s awe-full glory.

As Elihu has demonstrated earlier, Job has not rightly honored God’s name. Job’s state is very understandable, but if we are to be challenged by this text, we must recognize that even this righteous man, who was the worst of victims, failed in honoring his creator.

Yet we should also note the honor God shows Job here. He, the mighty God, the one who scattered the stars throughout the heavens, has chosen to respond to the charges that Job has brought against him. God, who is so far beyond us, has made his presence known. The transcendent God has become immanent for the sake of his beloved servant.

His charge is direct, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” Job has defended his righteousness, but he has not confessed the righteousness of God. God’s defense is simple. You do not understand me, and you cannot claim to discern my ways. Like Elihu, who spoke for God, God draws Job’s attention throughout this passage to his work in creation, which is beyond Job’s mind, and much which is beyond our understanding today as well.

God is our Creator. We are not only comforted by his love, but also by his power. He is the God who destroys the enemies of his people. He hates the sin that remains within us, and he hates the lies and philosophies of this world that deceive so many. Further, that so often have purchase in our minds and hearts as well. He is the God who continues to come and shake the earth with his almighty power.

How can we face a God like that? Job wonders about that earlier in the book. Job 9:33, “There is no arbiter between us, someone to lay a hand on us both.” Job knows that God is almighty and holy. He is afraid, yet his desire to be declared innocent is overwhelming, so he cries out that God may come and judge him. In Job 38, we see the grace of God in answering Job’s charge.

We have more than Job. We may approach God in Jesus Christ, and we can face the consuming fire of God in the flesh of Jesus Christ. Hebrews tells us, “his flesh is the veil” between God and us. We do so with the same fear as Job, but we may do so with the highest confidence because we do have a mediator. Jesus Christ is the answer to why God is willing to dispute with Job over God’s righteous acts.

Devotional insights #1

By James

On April 3, 2020

In Devotional

(To encourage and instruct, I thought I would take the time to write down insights gained during my devotions. I hope this can benefit you in your day to day life.)

Job 37: 14-24: “Hear this, o Job! Stop and consider the wondrous works of God.”

It’s hard to know how to understand the character of Elihu in the book of Job. However, I argue that we can reasonably say that he speaks for God. He rightly desires to justify God, and he does not talk with the simplistic theology of Job’s friends. Finally, when God himself comes and speaks to Job, he uses similar arguments. “Consider who I am, Job!”

Elihu points out the power of God, how God is far beyond our thoughts and imaginations. He wants to demonstrate to Job that God’s ways are far beyond the wisdom of man. Job does not acknowledge this, particularly in his final summary defence. Elihu’s primary concern with Job is that Job does not take the time to justify God’s actions. Job has gone on at length, defending his righteousness. He has gone on at length, asking the question, “why?” In themselves, this is not necessarily wrong, but Job fails to defend the goodness of God and the justice of God in his life.

Job is a righteous man. He does not deserve what is happening to him. Job rightly asks, “Why is God doing this to me?” How can God treat a righteous servant in this way? But in asking that question, Job must recognize that the ways of God are far beyond him. We can compare Job’s words to the words of the Psalms, where the Psalmist does ask why and speaks of his great misery, but, at the same time, recognizes the character of God is beyond human understanding.

We can point to Psalm 13, where David wonders at how God forgets him. David is in deep distress, and he wonders how God will get him out of that. But at the same time, David recognizes that God is a God of steadfast love. God has not stopped being God at this moment.

Job’s friends made the mistake of thinking that they could understand the ways of God. They could understand how God works. If God strikes Job, he must have sinned against God. Unfortunately, Job makes a similar mistake. He argues for his case, he justifies himself, but he does not seek to justify God to his friends.

We certainly may bring our weaknesses to God. We may wonder what he is doing in our lives. Christians experience deep suffering, and it’s not always clear why. In doing that, we must all remember who God is. In our situation today, with self-isolation, Covid-19, and a sick economy, we are anxious. We are rightly troubled. We wonder what God is doing. What happens to our plans now? But we must remember God is good God is loving, and God is powerful. We can never grasp the fullness of God. He is utterly transcendent.

To demonstrate this, Elihu appeals to the wonders of God’s creation. We don’t know why lightning is bright. God created that within his perfect order. We can’t find a better way to balance the clouds that the way God has done it. We cannot spread the skies. God did that when he created the world. If God’s work in nature is far beyond our ability and our understanding, so is God’s work in our lives. Perhaps we begin to understand the ways of God, but even in that, we know there is always more to learn, a greater maturity to achieve.

Elihu points to the works of God in creation as proof of the supreme wisdom and power of God. And if God keeps in mind the good of his creation. The doctrine of God’s providence comes out here. God is both all-powerful and completely good. Those who trust in him believe that he always has a purpose in what he does. He will also keep those who love him in his mind as well—even, and especially, in our most profound suffering. We trust in the Lord, the creator of heaven and earth.