ResponsiveReiding

From time to time, a book falls into my hands that is outside of my ordinary pool of reading resources. Such is the case with Ronald Rolheiser’s The Passion And The Cross. It comes with glowing reviews from the likes of Walter Brueggemann and Richard Rohr. And so as you may have guessed by that, Rolheiser is a Roman Catholic priest. He serves with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. As the blurb on the back of the book states: He “is an internationally renowned speaker and spiritual writer.”

Let me note at the outset that in reflecting upon the book, after reading it all – some parts several times over, I come away with the impression that if I were to meet this guy, I would really like him. He oozes compassion and obviously wants to bless people. I particularly enjoyed a number of his insights into Christ’s sufferings in Ch. 1. I was challenged to reflect on those sufferings more pointedly in terms of Christ’s own humanity; an oft neglected factor in modern Evangelicalism where the emphasis can be overloaded on the divine side to the neglect of His humanity. This imbalance was one of the first heresies the early Church had to face. It is called: Docetism.

That said, I did come away with a number of very serious concerns. Concerns which do not at all stem directly from the author’s Catholicism. The bigger problem(s) which I’ll endeavor detail some below – are shared by much current Evangelical Protestant writing as well. Hence my heightened alarm.

I would break my concerns down to 4 primary areas, and will give you some examples below, and why they are problematic to me. And I would ask all of my brothers and sisters in Christ to be on the alert for the very same issues I cite here, in so many popular Evangelical books, podcasts, teaching series and even preaching. My reading this book made me want to sound the alarm afresh for those in our own camp.

So, the 4 areas I had issues with are:

1 – His general handling of the Scripture, where he often uses a verse or phrase (even just a word) as a jumping off point, without considering it in context. Once again this is a serious problem in much popular Protestant and Evangelical preaching, teaching and writing today too. It is as though a verse, passage or even word is used to buttress an idea he wants to get across, rather than endeavoring to simply teach what the Bible itself is trying to teach.

2 – His understanding of redemption or salvation. (Here, his Catholicism may be a factor) The Gospel.

3 – His understanding of the character of God and its implications.

4 – His complete lack of any reference to judgment for sin or for a call to repentance and faith in Christ’s atoning death on the Cross.  

1 & 2 – Handling of Scripture. There are several ways this plays out. And this will necessarily overlap with #2. So I won’t treat #2 separately.

He uses Biblical words like redemption, sin, “exousia” etc., but imbues them with his own definitions, seemingly without regard for how Scripture itself uses them. So he can say in the preface that our sufferings are “redemptive.”

Redemption in the Bible always (in Hebrew and Greek) carries the idea of something (or someone) being “bought back.” Slaves are redeemed when they buy their freedom back. It is used repeatedly in the OT in reference to God redeeming Israel from its slavery in Egypt. We can redeem the time when we stop wasting it and use for Christ’s service (Eph. 5:16 – KJV ).

But of the 9 times it is used in the NT it is used most and specifically in terms of our salvation. In Gal. 3:13 – Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law. Gal. 4:5 – God sent His Son to redeem those who were under the law (Jews) so that they might receive adoption as sons. In Titus 2:14 – Christ was given to redeem us back from lawlessness. Heb. 9:15 – He redeems us from our transgressions of the Law. And 2 times in Rev. it refers to the Believer being redeemed out of the human race to be God’s possession.

So I do not know how he means it when he uses it. If it is in the generic sense of redeeming the time like in Eph. 5, good enough. But an explanation would have helped. If he means that we have some part in our salvation from sin – then we have a real problem. But he simply uses a very important, Bible specific word without reference to what he means, or how the Bible uses it.

So too with the word “salvation.” In Matt. 1:21, Jesus is named Jesus because He will “save His people from their sins.” The overarching use is in terms of being rescued from our alienation from God due to our sins, and the need to be rescued or “saved” from God’s wrath. Typical of the NT usage is Romans 5:9-11 “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

He nowhere references salvation in this way, when in fact it is central to how the NT refers to salvation. This is central to Gospel itself and why I find it so disturbing. When John the Baptizer comes on the scene in Matt. 3 – his issue is who told the Scribes and Pharisees to flee “from the wrath to come?” Rom. 1 tells us that in the Gospel, the wrath of God is revealed against all sin. Eph. 2 says that before we were born again, we were all by nature “children of wrath.” And in John 3 Jesus Himself says that “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” Of its 9 uses in the book of Revelation, it is the wrath of God which is most often in view. And in 6:16 – people actually cry out to be delivered from “the wrath of the Lamb” which is Christ Himself.

These concepts which are so essential to an understanding of the Gospel are completely missing from Rolheiser’s approach. Men are nowhere called to repent of their sins and come to Christ for forgiveness, cleansing and the new birth. The Gospel is absent. He treats everyone as though they are already reconciled to God, which Scripture absolutely denies.

“Exousia” as vulnerability. His very use of the word shows he has familiarity with the underlying Greek text. The problem is, he completely ignores what the word means in any Greek dictionary you might like to use, and just invents his own definition to suit his point. We cannot use the Word of God this way without utterly corrupting it.

There is a reason this word is most often translated as “authority.” And it is the very same Greek word in the translation he used – NRSV. I’ve included below a representation of all the places in the Bible where exousia is translated. It is never, never used to convey vulnerability. Most often “authority” or “power”, and you can see the rest in the chart.

So as I said is true with many today in Evangelicalism as well – he uses select portions of Scripture – without reference to context, to buttress what he wants to say, rather than teaching what the Scripture actually teaches. It is very, very sad. And it is why we need to read our entire Bibles to see what the whole Scripture teaches on any subject. When we pluck just one mention and use it to interpret all other places where it is used, we completely misuse the Bible.

Sin: Pages 43-45: He cites a letter from woman who never sinned for 40 years. So he elaborates on all sorts of actions being wrong but not sinful. Once again, we need to ask – how does Scripture define sin? Because of his disregard for what the Bible calls sin, he can agree with the woman’s letter and then add: Page 44: “There’s more jealousy, hatred, anger, murder, adultery, slander, lying, and blasphemy at God in our world than there is sin.” In fact, these are the very things Scripture calls sin! So we read in Romans 1 the catalogue of sins God will judge: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth… Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves…For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Or consider Ephesians 5: “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.”

These things are indeed “sins”, and God’s wrath will be poured out on those who do them and do not repent. So how he can make the statement above truly boggles my mind. It shows either serous confusion about what God says on the subject, or a deliberate denial of what the Bible teaches to make his point. This is serious.

In this regard, we need to recall John’s statement in 1 John 1 – “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” I have every sympathy with the gal in the letter. But our sympathies cannot e used to redefine what Scripture defines, and come to the light of our real situation.

3 – His understanding of the character of God and its implications.

This comes come out in a number of places, but we get our first hint when on Page 29 he states that capital punishment contrary to the Gospel. I have no ax to grind when it comes to the debate over whether or not we ought to use CP in our society. There is no doubt that it tragically, improperly implemented in our current system and its use desperately needs to be reformed.

That said, we do have to ask ourselves, who instituted capital punishment? And we find in Genesis 9 that it is none other than God Himself: “And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” CP was built into the Mosaic Law as God gave it to Israel. And it is even reiterated in Romans 13:4 – Government does not bear the sword in vain – the instrument of death.

So if we take Rolheiser’s statement at face value, he has God instituting what is both contrary to the Gospel and to His own character. God contradicts Himself. This is a problem we can’t get around. But of course all of this grows out of the statement he makes on Page 35: “God is absolutely and utterly nonviolent.”

We then have to ask ourselves, how does this square with the report of Scripture throughout? What about Noah’s flood? The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? The conquest of Canaan? Nadab & Abihu? Uzzah? Korah’s rebellion? Etc. And even God’s final disposition of sinners? These are judicial acts by God, and incorporate divine violence in the carrying out of justice. Jesus Himself gives a stunning account of some of what is to be expected at His return in Matt. 24: “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” These are not non-violent images.

It is true God condemns all unrighteous violence. But it is equally true that His judgments are often violent in His righteousness.

It is Rolheiser’s misconception of God in this absolute way, that leads him to see Timothy McVeigh as a Christ figure suffering as a scapegoat, instead of receiving the just consequence of his murderous acts. And then to go one and state on Page 35 that God is not “the great avenger of evil and sin.”

In fact, Scripture affirms the exact opposite. Scripture says He IS the avenger of evil and sin. So we read in Hebrews 10: “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Or again in Eph. 5 – “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”

Page 50 – “God did not want and script Jesus’ death as payment, in pain, for Adam’s sin and ours. In the Gospels, Jesus never speaks of His death as a payment for sins, but rather always as a gift of love.”

This is to deny all the types and shadows of the Old Testament about the need for a substitutionary atoning sacrifice for our sins. Shockingly, it is a complete repudiation of the Gospel.

First we have to understand that Jesus’ death for us was indeed the Father’s “script”. In fact, this truth made it into every account of NT preaching we have in the book of Acts. Acts 2 – “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

Acts 4 – “for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”

Acts 13 – “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.”

Or consider Jesus’ own words in John 12 – “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.”

Nor is this a NT nuance. That famous chapter Isa. 53 spells this out in detail: “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

Page 54 – Jesus doesn’t pay our debt, but transforms it. This is simply never the teaching of Scripture. And, completely ignores passages like Isaiah 53 cited above. It denies the entirety of the types and shadows of the sacrificial system under the Old Covenant, and denies 1 Peter 2 – He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

And then we have to consider too – Heb. 9:28; 1 Pet. 3:18; Rom. 3:25; Rom. 4:25; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:12; Gal. 3:13; 1 Cor. 15 – “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”

I could go on to deal with how he characterizes taking up our Cross, which Jesus defines as denying our own will and desires when it is contrary to God’s; his statement on Page 85 – “In a manner of speaking, we are betrayed even by our God? Jesus was not betrayed on the Cross. Betrayal implies breaking trust. God was placing our sin upon Him and He was bearing the wrath we deserved, which is separation from God. But Jesus also knew the Father and in His dying moment said “into your hands I commit my spirit.” He was NOT betrayed. And neither are we. WE, have betrayed Him.

His reference on Page 86 – The account of the young man fleeing and then appearing at Jesus’ tomb is utter fabrication. John 20 tells us these were angels.

On Page 87 he asserts “Jesus died in silence” while the Bible records the 7 sayings of Jesus on the Cross. This is imagination to make a point.

On the bottom of Page 98 – He articulates as clear a statement of the law of Karma as one is likely to read. Completely unscriptural. No wonder he likes Gandhi so much. He functions like a practical Hindu. Stunning.

Or his contention on Page 102 – “No sin is unforgivable, when Jesus says in Matt. 12 – “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”

4 – And then, he closes the book with Chapter 5 on The Resurrection. He writes this entire, last chapter to say (as he quotes Julian of Norwich on page 103) “all will be well…and every manner of being will be well.” “Everything, including our own lives, eventually will end sunny-side up.”

All this – without addressing Jesus’ teaching to the very opposite. John 5 – “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

To lull everyone who reads into a fiction that everything will just be all right in the end, when Jesus so starkly warns that there is a judgment to come and an eternal Hell to be avoided – is to me, unconscionable. It is to conform people in their sins. No call to repentance. No call to faith in Christ as their sin-bearer. No call to flee the wrath to come. This is horrific.

Sadly, there is more, but I do not want my response to be longer than the book itself. A tendency I have. But as a bottom line I simply have to say that little in the book is actually owing to the teaching of Scripture, but to Rolheiser’s concepts, which he then conscripted certain Biblical statements in service to. It is what theologians call eisegesis (reading something into the text) as opposed to exegesis (digging out what is in the text.) Bible teachers are called to be exegetes. Uncovering what is genuinely there. Tragically, this book does anything but. And if taken at face value, will lead every reader into believing everything will just be OK, whether they repent of their sin or not, or are reconciled to God through faith in the substitutionary death of Jesus on the Cross. And this, in a book about the Cross.

“It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you—for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples. Rather it is because of his love for you and his faithfulness to the promise he solemnly vowed to your ancestors that the Lord brought you out with great power, redeeming you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 7:7-8

In our day and age, it has become more and more prevalent to speak of our salvation in terms of what it says about us. How valuable we must be to Him that He would go to the lengths our redemption required. This is true in one sense, but not without qualification. For you see, if God saves us due to some worthiness in us – then grace ceases to be grace. And the Gospel is robbed of its most essential component.

Are we in any way worthy of God’s love? Only in this way: That because He created us in His image, He imbued us with value. Value that does not exist in us intrinsically, so that in some way, God was drawn to us first so as to decide to redeem us. He came to us ruined and undone. He was before us. He made us, we did not make ourselves, nor make ourselves attractive to Him in any way. He sought us in our sin, rebellion and defilement. Not because we – in and of ourselves – brought anything to the table to bless or add to Him. It is only the sad expression of our fallen egos that looks for something in ourselves that makes us worth saving.

We get another picture of this when God confronts Israel about its beginnings: Ezek. 16:2-6 “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born. “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’”

We are not sought out and made His because of some worthiness in us. But because of the glory of mercy, grace and compassion that is in Him!

So we are at a place where we need to re-calibrate such thinking according to revelations like this one in regard to the Israelites. i.e. that we think of salvation not in terms of what it says about us – but what it says about Him. What it says about His love, His grace, His mercy, His condescension, His faithfulness, His compassion, His magnificence. To make salvation a matter of our worth, is to seek something of our own glory, rather than to seek it all in Him.

So the 3rd verse of Rock of Ages:

“Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to thy cross I cling;

Naked, come to thee for dress,

Helpless, look to thee for grace;

Foul, I to the Fountain fly;

Wash me, Saviour, or I die.”

Oh that our hearts would be captured once again by the wonder of His grace. That the congealed fountains of our hard hearts would be broken up afresh to gaze and the power, majesty, sweetness, and unfathomable mystery of such divine love that would make sinners such as I am His own.

Deuteronomy 6:4–6 (NET 2nd ed.) — “Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 You must love the LORD your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. 6 These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind,”

Oh precious Father, that this would be my heart. I hope that when the first hearers heard this, they melted at the impossibility of it and cried out for the working of the Spirit who alone can birth such a love in us. Whether they did or not Father, please make it so in me. I confess I have never, even for the smallest portion of a second so loved you. But that it one day may be so because of Christ. That by His saving grace, the impartation of your Spirit and the wonder of the resurrection I may at last come to this state. Fill me even today. Open and enlarge my heart to see you, know you, delight in you, and love you with my entire being, unhindered or lacking in any way. Every thought captive to Christ. My every action revealing your grace. And with all my might. Let it be.

My personality and constitution resists change. And that shows itself in me even more as I age. But our God doesn’t suffer from such a condition and He invites us always to find our only REAL permanence in Him – in His character, being, purposes and plans.

So it is the Christian life, just as all life, has many many stages to it. In Numbers 33, we are shown that during their 40 years in Wilderness, Israel had to break camp no less than 41 times. Is it any surprise then that both individual Christians and the Church too will undergo changes along our route to the Heavenly Zion?

Some of those changes are and will be exciting. And some will be filled with danger. Some are times of rest, and others times of attack. Some are times of peace and some times of raging war. There are pleasant places, dry places and seemingly empty places. Places where God meets with us, and places where He seems silent. Places of revelation like Sinai. Places of chastening. Places where we, like the Israelites tarry long and places where we like they move on quickly.

Childhood. Adolescence. Adulthood. Middle age. Old age. Singleness. Marriage. Bereavement. Joy. Career. Retirement. Perhaps divorce. Loss. Riches or poverty. And yes, massive interruptions to business or life as usual – like the advent of the Corona virus.

We will be living interrupted lives for a season – individually, and as a Church.

And so Numbers 33 offers us much to consider in our present season of uncertainty.

1. Our gracious God leads and attends us every step, and in every place. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. And His Church remains His Church every step. Though it may need to respond in new ways to new challenges.

2. It is a good reminder that we ought never to imagine the Christian life will be one of simple ease and rootedness. For this world is not our home. This is the wilderness, wrought by the Fall. Change is not just inevitable, it is sovereignly appointed – AND, attended.

3. No stage is the entire journey. We can easily begin to think where we are at this moment is the way it will always be. Not so. Some things may return to normal, or we may need to adjust to a “new normal” – temporarily or permanently in some ways. The never-changing normal is to be found in our never-changing God, and His every faithful care and Word.

4. Our Canaan is still the other side of Jordan. And we will have no permanent place until then. But we will “break camp” and re-camp together as His People and His Church as need be, until then.

5. At every stage in Israel’s Wilderness journey, there was God’s presence; God’s provision; and the reality that every step was part of God’s plan in bringing them home. That has not changed. It is just as much a reality for us – even as it was foreshadowed in passages like this one.

Travel in faith Christian. You are on the way to the celestial city. “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” (Heb. 13:14) “[T]o the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” (Heb. 11:10)

The only thing that is constant is change. Except for one. Thankfully, we serve a God who never changes. A Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Whilst we remain in this wilderness, still in our Exodus – Christ is provided for each soul – as much as we want – every day (John 6) – and, His mercies (His balm for our sin-sicknesses) are new each morning. The truth is, we starve spiritually for one reason only, because we will not gather. And then we wonder why our appetites lead us to what we ought not have – sin.

One of the greatest tests of our genuineness, is to be found in whether or not we will be content with God’s provision, and the particularities surrounding it. Just like the Israelites with manna in the wilderness.

Note, this “law” of gathering manna each day was a law to be “walked in” – is not a “do this” or “don’t do that” kind of law. It is a natural law. God told them manna would come down each day. God’s provision, but a provision which cannot be stored but must be gathered each day. This is the way it will be – like a law of nature. So, what was to be seen was if they would yield to God’s arrangements? Which question remains for us too. Will we submit to God’s arrangement of finding our daily satisfaction in Christ, or will we demand something other from Him? Or is Christ in The Word too boring, too ordinary? Not spicy enough. Not sexy enough.

Now all of this echoes directly back to the Garden. Adam & Eve were not content with what God HAD provided, and thus lusted after what He had not. And when we will not take full advantage of His provisions in the preaching and teaching of His Word, (which we can daily gather to our heart’s content), corporate worship, prayer – we will soon lust after other things. We will, like the Jews, begin to grow weary of the same old thing. And then to think we can simply gather it at will instead of making sure we pay attention to gathering it when and where it is provided. Thinking we can do with it as we see fit – imagine we can store it up and take it out whenever we please, instead of needing it fresh each day from His hand.

Great lessons are to be learned here. Those who say they can be Christians but do not need those things God has provided, nor to partake of them AS He has provided for them, will find themselves under His hand of judgment. He is testing us always. Even as He is lovingly, bountifully providing for us each day.

So, have you gone out to gather yet today? Open your Bible. The Bread of Life has been freshly given. Bon appetit.

I don’t know about you, but I hear this sentiment all the time – from all sorts of people – religious, irreligious, genuine Christians, all sorts. And there is a sense in which it is true, that every good thing in life, truly is a blessing which comes from the hand of God.

A problem however, is that the term “blessed” has become a catch-all for anything that pleases us. Good, bad, or indifferent. If we like it, we say we’re blessed. It’s become more like the idea of being lucky. And in a lot of cases, it makes no clear or reasonable connection to God as the “blessor”. Even at that, for some, God as the blessor takes on more the cast of being the cosmic “Candy Man.” God’s job so-to-speak is to sit around and make life nice and pleasant for us in everything. Again, there is a grain of truth here in that the only reason we have any good or pleasant things in this fallen world and given our sinfulness, is due the glorious magnanimity of God. As Jesus told us in Matt. 5, so good is God that He makes the rain to fall on both the just and the unjust.

A second problem is more subtle, and perhaps even dangerous. It is that given this “it gives me pleasure” or “I like it” mindset attached to all “blessing”, then all blessing gets thrown into the blessing = stuff basket, instead of blessing being the good grace of God Himself. That He is the ultimate blessing, and every temporal good or pleasure, is simply a symptom of the true blessedness He intends. It is why in the beatitudes, Jesus can tell us we can be (and if we are in Christ ARE) blessed when poor, mourning and even persecuted. That can only be true if we locate our blessedness in Him, and not in stuff He does or gives. So it is we read in Numbers 7: “ ‘The LORD spoke to Moses: “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is the way you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: “The LORD bless you and protect you; The LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” ’ “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

What is important to note here is that the fullness of blessing is located completely in the Lord Himself.

a. The Lord be your happiness.

b. The Lord be your safety.

c. The Lord be personally and favorably disposed toward you.

d. The Lord be to you what you do not deserve.

e. The Lord look at you with a smile on His face.

f. The Lord be the source of your peace.

Our blessing – our total blessing is in Him. All external blessings are but symbols of being His in glorious union.

If this is not your blessedness – then the temporal blessings will one day be a testimony to the hardness and materialism of your heart. But if you are in Christ – oh how blessed we really are. And how we need to grasp this blessedness as ours irrespective of any outward circumstances. It cannot be taken away. It cannot suffer from any external influence. This is what it really means to be “blessed.”

I pray you are today.

One of the glorious realities of Jesus Christ as typified in the Old Testament, is how He has become our great High Priest. Hebrews 2:17 notes that He was “made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.” Astounding. Merciful and faithful, to the undeserving and rebellious. It is almost too much to take in.

Now given how the Old Testament Priesthood typifies Christ, we are especially drawn to the High Priest as a prefiguring of Jesus. And so it is in Leviticus 21 we find a curious aspect of what the Priesthood required. There we read: “‘The high priest—who is greater than his brothers…He must take a wife who is a virgin. He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or one profaned by prostitution; he may only take a virgin from his people as a wife, so that he does not profane his children among his people, for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.’ ” And the question which emerges then, is how is it Christ can make the Church His Bride, when we are anything but a virgin? We came into this world already defiled in sin, sin which we confirmed by our lifestyles. How we prostituted ourselves with the World, and served the false gods of self, the flesh, greed, envy etc.. How can He marry us?

And the answer, the simple, glorious, astounding, amazing profound answer is simply this: Grace. The grace that brought Him to earth from His Heavenly throne. The grace saw Him obeying the Father in perfect holiness. The grace which led Him to the Cross to die in our place, for our sins. The grace which brought Him out of the grave, ascending to the Father to fulfill His High Priesthood on our behalf – until we are brought to glory ourselves.

Grace. Amazing grace.

Grace which cleansed us from all our sin.

Grace which clothed us in His righteousness.

Grace which found us in our defilement, and cleansed us from every spot and blemish. Grace, which for all intents and purposes, is so astounding and so complete – that we are in His eyes and before His throne, virgins once again.

Pardoned, but not just pardoned. Reborn. Made new. Recreated. And in Him, pure, holy and unblemished. Sadly, it is a loss of how completely this grace makes us fit for our Groom, that leads so many to fail to mark the difference between remorse for past sins, and some remaining sense of guilt over past sins.

In Him, our guilt was fully met. God forbid we should ever fail to retain remorse over our past sins, but beloved, because of grace, the Believer is no longer guilty. Get that, no longer guilty. Irrespective of our past, we are now chaste virgins before Him.

This is the power of the Cross. This is what the Spirit works in us by applying Christ’s cross-work to us.

It is because of this grace – we “rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy.” (1 Pet. 1:8)

Christian, rue your past sin, but not as though still guilty. The astounding reality of the Cross and grace of Christ is that He actually makes the Believer guilty no more!

Let remorse remind you of where you do not want to return, but only in the light of the Cross.

Hallelujah!

Influencers have always been around. Human society has always had those among us, who for whatever reason, seem to have a disproportionate amount of weight given to their choices, opinions, actions and words. With the advent of social media, these have actually been given this very title – “Influencers.” The internet especially, (but in reality all media) is rife with them. They appear as spokespersons for everything from computers and cars to underwear and lipstick. They hold sway regarding medical advice, political positions, social movements, local, regional, national and global events – you name it.

We’ve been getting here for a long time. 1960 marked the first ever televised Presidential debate. It was between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. And it is no secret that in the analyses of that debate, far and away those who saw it televised said Kennedy was the clear winner. Conversely, those who only listened by radio, far and away said Nixon won handily. And the phenomenon of media influencers was fully born.

Now why any of us choose to listen to one influencer over another is far more complex than I could even pretend to analyze. For some, it is pure personality. For others, real or supposed credentials. For still others, communication skills. There may even be such basic factors as haircuts, clothing, tattoos, vocal accents, and recommendations from others. But the point is, you and I choose who it is we listen to. Opinions and viewpoint to do not come to us magically abstractly or in isolation. For our own reasons, conscious or not, we give weight to the opinions, to certain ones WE choose. With this qualification – Scripture tells us of an invisible and ubiquitous influencer in Ephesians:”And although you were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the domain of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest.” (Eph. 2:1-3 NET)

Now I hope you really got that. Before men or women are born again, we are influenced by the prevailing “atmosphere” of this world. An atmosphere – a thought-context – directly influenced by the enemy of God. A tide of sometimes differing but always prevailing waves of social thought and opinion which are thoughtfully directed at baiting us by ever appealing to our personal desires. Be those merely physical pleasure, or more intellectual, material or emotional.

It isn’t until we are set free by the saving grace of Jesus Christ that we can finally choose to be influenced otherwise. And make no mistake, here is one of the most important places where the renewed will of the redeemed individual finds its freedom and responsibility; To consciously reject the thought processes we used to live in without consideration. To choose to be influenced more by the Word of God, and the newly birthed influences of the indwelling Spirit of Christ, which is always drawing us toward holiness and seeking after the plans, purposes and glory of God in Christ.

If I might co-opt a text out of context but with no less reasonable application “choose this day whom you will serve.” (Josh. 24:15b) The Christian alone gets to make this choice. Those born again by the Spirit of God are the only ones among humankind who have the option to choose who and what influences our choices, opinions, desires and values most – with their eternal implications. And the choice is totally binary. We either choose the Word and Spirit of God, or we choose to listen to the spirit of the World. There is no third option. Freedom in Christ isn’t “freedom” to live as though we can trust ourselves as the arbiters of what is good or best – but the freedom to be given over to the truth of Scripture versus the influences of the World or our own reasoning, and the influences of The Spirit over and above our natural inclinations.

Make no mistake – you are constantly under pressure to be influenced. But as a Christian, it is your privilege and responsibility to choose who influences you. Who and/or what will it be? Will you have your mind transformed by the washing of the water of The Word? Or will you just go along without it? If you choose The Word, then you will have to give yourself over to the consistent, systematic, prayerful study of it according to sound principles of interpretation. You will have to let it inform your opinions and understanding above your own or the World’s. You will have to submit to it. Otherwise, you will be, as Paul writes: “children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes.”

The last 2+ years, especially in the light of Covid-19 and its accordant issues, have found the issue of “government overreach” on the minds, lips and keyboards of many. It’s only natural given how various governmental bodies have responded. And that, both secularly and ecclesiastically. After all, we’re “Americans.” Beyond that, as the title of Carl Trueman’s book indicates – we live in the age of “The Rise and Triumph of The Modern Self”, with its leading feature of “Expressive Individualism.”

Now how each authority structure in our American context (good, bad or indifferent) dealt with the crisis, both inside and outside of the Church will probably be debated for years to come. There will be inevitable ripple effects. But I’m not as interested in what various governments or authorities did or did not do during this strange and trying time as I am in what none of them CAN do. Where no overreach from any body has any power. And this is spelled out for us in the 5th chapter of Paul’s letter to the Church at Galatia.

He puts it this way: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Gal. 5:22-23.

So catch this – and let your thoughts run away with it: There is NO authoritarian body, of any stripe, that has the power to enact any law or enforce in any way – a prohibition of walking in the Spirit. There is no form of government overreach which can prevent the Believer from walking in love. From living joyfully. From being at peace. From being filled with long-suffering. From being kind, upright, loyal, gentle or self-controlled. None.

These are not only inviolable rights because of Christ, they are inviolable acts. Indeed, the only force which can keep us from living fully in these – is our own sin. Our own rebellion against the rightful authority of the Spirit in our lives.

So maybe, just maybe, if we were more concerned about this reality, we simply wouldn’t be very distressed by the other. Maybe if we were seeking to live more fully in the rights and privileges of the Spirit which no external power on earth can overreach to prevent, we wouldn’t think the petty things the authorities can impose or restrict – much of anything at all.

Make me wear a mask? Big deal. You can’t rob me of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, uprightness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control. Not only is there no law against these – there CAN’T be because of Christ.

No long arm of any entity can reach here.

And that, needs to be the Christian’s concern, above all others.

Sometimes, Biblical gems are hidden right there in plain view. As is the case with Genesis 46:4 – “I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.”

That brief sentence is spoken by God to Jacob/Israel. Upon hearing that Jospeh was still alive, and now living in Egypt – second in the land only to Pharoah – and as the 130 year old Jacob traveled, he stopped to offer sacrifices to God. There, God spoke to him in the visions of the night. He appeared in order to reassure Jacob that all was well. That it was indeed OK for him to take his family there. That God would still be true to His promises to make a great nation out of his offspring. Though at this point, they were less than 100 strong.

It is then we read this short, interesting statement by the Lord. It has 3 elements.

1 – “I myself will go down with you to Egypt.” Even in the unforeseen and perhaps frightening turns of events which can frighten us – even more in old age – God goes with His people. Everywhere life takes us, He goes with us too. He never leaves His own. As Daivid would write so familiarly: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” It isn’t that some things aren’t frightening, they are. It isn’t that there aren’t great unknowns to us, there are. It isn’t that we may not have difficult legs in this journey of life – even when we are old and less able to cope – we well may. And He is with us, if we are His. He never leaves His own to themselves, to the world, or to the Devil. He is with us because we are in Christ and Christ is in Him.

2 – “I will also bring you up again.” What? Did that mean he would only remain in Egypt a short time, and return to Canaan before he died? No. It meant that death would not be the last word. It never is for those who are justified by faith in Christ. For those who look to and know the Lord. To those who are His. God would indeed bring Jacob back from Egypt. But not alive. His body would be brought back by Jospeh and his brothers after his death. But it means so much more couched this way. Death is never the end of the story for Believers. We will still receive our full inheritance, even if we die before we can realize it. God had promised Jacob an inheritance, and not even death could break that promise. With Jacob, Paul could say: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And so can all who are in Christ. Each of us in Christ who dies before Jesus’ return, this we know – He will also bring us up again.

3 – “And Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.” It is as if He said: “Yes Jacob, as you will tell Pharaoh that your 130 years have been hard ones – but don’t forget how I show mercy and grace to my own. In the end, you will taste of my blessedness even on your deathbed. I overflow with mercy. I delight to bless my children. Even in death, you will know the touch of my tenderness upon you.” And so it will be for everyone of us who die in the Lord. As J.I. Packer once put it: “For Christians, death’s sting is withdrawn. Grace has intervened, and now their death day becomes an appointment with their Savior, who will be there to take them to the rest prepared for them. Though they will be temporarily bodiless, which is not really good, they will be closer to Christ than ever before, “which is better by far” (Phil. 1:23). Packer, J. I. 2001. God’s Plans for You. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

Amen!