Month: September 2020

The Priority of Our Questions

On By AaronIn Uncategorized5 Comments

             I have been reading a lot of posts lately by Christians in Christian groups on Facebook.  Great questions, and I am a firm believer that after the fear of the Lord it is our questions that lead us to wisdom.  A good question framed properly where the answer is diligently sought will always lead to a piece of knowledge that will augment our faith.  But we have also heard that there is not such thing as a dumb question, and I am not entirely convinced of the truth of that statement.

             Have you ever been in a conversation in which someone asked a question and although they were earnest in their desire for the answer the fact that they asked the question only revealed that the person still had much to learn?  I was sitting in my police car with a high school student who was taking advantage of our ride along program when he asked a question about how the radar worked.  We, as police officers, must be able to answer that question often as part of our testimony in court to demonstrate that we know how to correctly employ the device.  After about twenty minutes of explanation the young man pointed to a parked car and asked, “wouldn’t it be cool if the radar could detect that car?”  While it was clear that he genuinely wanted it to “be cool” he had not heard or maybe he had not understood, anything I had said in the previous twenty minutes about the functioning and purpose of the radar. A proper understanding would have alleviated the necessity of the question.

These are the kind of questions I have been seeing in the Christian Facebook posts.  Can god fix any kind of relationship; …even when it seems hopeless, can he restore it?  Is it okay for a Christian to listen to non-Christian music?  Is it normal to get sick and angry when people blaspheme the name of God?  All questions that need to be answered but all questions that may reveal that we do not have a firm grasp of the basics of Christianity.

“What would Paul have considered the basics of Christianity and would a proper understanding of these basics answer some of our other initial questions?”

I was reminded of a passage in which Paul told the Corinthians, “I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it (1Co 3:2).”  What is the milk that we need before we are given solid food?  What would Paul have considered the basics of Christianity and would a proper understanding of these basics answer some of our other initial questions?

             Where Paul was telling the Corinthians that they are not yet ready for solid food the writer of Hebrews expressed to the Hebrews that they were ready and that they needed to move off the elementary doctrines.  Here, I think the writer identifies what those elementary doctrines might be.  “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.  And this we will do if God permits (Heb 6:1-3).”  I suspect that the elementary doctrines are the doctrine of repentance from dead works, the doctrine of faith in God, the doctrine of washings, the doctrine of laying on of hands, the doctrine of resurrection from the dead, and the doctrine of eternal judgment.

             Could you explain those doctrines to a new believer?  Do you understand each of these doctrines enough to use them to answer those other basic questions?  I suspect that the answers to the earlier question about repaired relationships could be found or at least better understood through an understanding of the doctrine of faith and resurrection.  I suspect that questions about what is appropriate and what is not appropriate for Christian behavior could be best deciphered through an understanding of the doctrine of dead works.  What produces life versus that which produces death?  Anger could also be better understood in a context of the doctrines of dead works and even eternal judgment.

“Where can we go to learn these things if we are not learning them in the church?  What hope do we have apart from these basic doctrines?”

             I guess what I am saying is that my experiences on Facebook in these Christian groups is that the church, and I include myself in that body, is failing to communicate and teach these basic doctrines.  Where can we go to learn these things if we are not learning them in the church?  What hope do we have apart from these basic doctrines?  Every question, asked earnestly, is a good question but what are the most important questions?  The priority for us as Christians should be those doctrines listed above.  If we cannot answer those questions then we don’t know the basics of our identity in Christ, we can’t communicate those basics to others, and as a generation of believers we can’t hope to move on to maturity. The good news is that the answers to these questions are not restricted to those in possession of a theology degree. If anything my theology education has only made me more confident in that which I already knew.

What does it mean to repent from dead works?

What does it mean to put your faith in God?

What does the bible teach about washings?

Why and when do we lay on of hands?

What does the Bible say about the resurrection of the dead?

What is the Biblical teaching on eternal judgment?

“To be a Christian is to know what Christ taught on these basic doctrines.”

             One final thought.  Adam Clarke writing on the passage in Hebrews that I cited above says that he is, “inclined to think that all the terms in this verse, as well as those in the former, belong to the Levitical law, and are to be explained on that ground (Clarke 1810-1826, Heb 6).”  It is not enough to know what you feel these things mean.  To know the answers to these questions we have to know what they are as Jesus and the Disciples would have understood them to be.  To be a Christian is to know what Christ taught on these basic doctrines.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

Clarke, Adam. Adam Clarke’s Commentary On The Bible. Public Domain, 1810-1826.

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What Was That About?

On By AaronIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

             Have you ever come to a story in the Bible and thought, “what was that?”  The other day as I was again making my way through First Samuel and I came across just such a story.

             The Israelites were fighting the Philistines and it was not going well.  The Israelites had lost about 4,000 men and so they called for the Ark of the Lord.  They knew that in days before Israel had been defeated when they did not bring the Ark and that they had been victorious when they had.  So, bring up the Ark.  “And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God (1Sa 4:4).”  Now these guys had not been representing Israel well.  In fact, the allegation was that they, “were blaspheming God (1Sa 3:13).”  However, in their current station their job was to bring up the Ark.

“Amazing!  They remembered the “gods” who had delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh.”

             Now, when the Ark was brought up all the Israelites gave such a great shout that the Philistines wondered what was going.  They must have consulted their intelligence officer because they knew that the Ark had been brought forward and they were afraid.  “These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness (1Sa 4:8).”  Amazing!  They remembered the “gods” who had delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh.  As a result, they were so disheartened that their commander had to appeal to their manhood, “…Take courage, and be men… (1Sa 4:9).”  This rousing speech motivated the Philistines to fight and the Israelites were defeated; thirty thousand Israelites died, including Hophni and Phinehas, and the Ark was captured.

             The Philistines took the Ark of God and placed it in the house of Dagon.  Dagon was the god of the Philistines who may have been, according to their ancient pantheon, the father of Baal.  Baal was one of the gods that the Israelites were continuously turning to in their rejection of God.  This was not a place of honor for the Ark of God either.  It was customary to give the spoils of war to the god of the victor in thanks for the god’s efforts in the victory and to show the superiority of one nation’s gods over another (Clarke 1810-1826, 1Sa 5:2).  However, when the Philistines woke up the next morning, they found their statue of Dagon tipped over on its face before the Ark.  They set him back up and the next morning they found him tipped over with his head and hands broken off.

             But that was not all.  The Lord afflicted the Philistines with tumors.  It was so bad the people in the city said, “hey get that Ark out here” and they moved it to another town.  The next town panicked because they had heard about the tumors and rightly so because they were also afflicted with the same tumors, so they sent it back to the original town.  That town said, “what are you trying to kill us?  Send it away!”  For seven months the Philistines wrestled with these tumors.  Finally, they considered sending it back to Israel and here is where the story gets really weird.

             The priests of the Philistines said, “hey, if we send it back, we can’t just send it back empty.”  They ended up putting the ark on a cart pulled by two milk cows along with five golden tumors and five golden mice. The milk cows used bare a strange similarity in that they almost match the requirements of the red heifer used in some Jewish sacrifices. Could the Philistines in their imperfect understanding of the law been trying to get their sacrifice right?

             Anyway, these passages and these stories are so foreign to us because they are written in a context that is removed from our own culture and contemporary understanding of the world that we can be discouraged in our attempts at finding their meaning.  Scholars believe that Samuel was called of God almost 1100 years before the birth of Christ and the times of Jesus predate us by 2000 years.  This chronological distance is one of the things that makes it difficult to understand the intent of the authors. But that doesn’t mean that the meaning is lost to us.

“This next part will blow your mind.”

             Let us take a closer look at one particular element of this story.  What is this thing called an Ark?  We find the instructions for the construction of the Ark in Exodus 25 and 35 and we find the account of its construction in Exodus 37.  According to those passages the instructions came directly from God.  He had explicit intentions concerning its construction.  It was a box, almost four feet long three and a half feet wide, made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold.  It had rings that handles could be thread through so that no one would touch it in the process of moving and carrying it.  The lid was called the mercy seat and was solid gold with two cherubim statues on its top.  Inside, were kept the table of the law, upon which was written the law as given to Moses by God. This next part will blow your mind. Are you ready?

“The mercy seat, placed on top of the Ark, is the symbolic representation of the place of propitiation; the place where Jesus would fulfil the law.”

             “The word for propitiation is translated, “mercy seat” in Hebrews 9:5 (KJV) where it refers to the lid on the Ark of the Covenant (Forlines 2001).”  Propitiation is a term that denotes atonement.  It is that which Christ accomplished on the cross.  Paul writing in the book of Romans writes, “…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 (Rom 3:23-25, ESV).”  The mercy seat, placed on top of the Ark, is the symbolic representation of the place of propitiation; the place where Jesus would fulfil the law.  “The tables of the law represented the demands of the law which were: (1) absolute righteousness and (2) a penalty against sin in case of disobedience. When the High Priest slew the goat on the day of atonement and took his blood into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled it on the mercy seat, it was as if he were saying to the Law, “This symbolizes the meeting of the demands that you require from sinners (Forlines 2001).”  The Ark, that the Israelites were carrying, was the symbolic representation of God’s plan of salvation 1100 years before it was to be enacted and 3100 years later it is still the only path to salvation for you and me.

             When we add this understanding to this story what do we find that is relevant for us today?  First, is the seriousness with which God took the pre-planned execution of His plan as contrasted with the near disdain with which the people of Israel, at least in this story, and particularly Hophni and Phinehas placed on that with which they had been entrusted by God.  When the Philistines had returned the Ark some of the men of Beth-shemesh, Israelite men, looked inside the Ark.  A violation of a specific command of God (Num 4:20) and He struck them down; seventy of them (1Sa 6:19).  God’s plan of redemption is precious to Him because you are precious to Him.  So precious that He will brooch no offense against it in order to keep it open for you.  How seriously do you take your salvation?  When you sin do you recognize the level of contempt that it shows for what God has done for us?  Do you rest lightly in God’s forgiveness?  Do you take His forgiveness for granted to the point that repentance is unnecessary? In doing so you bring contempt upon the Word of God.

“Could it be that to accept God’s forgiveness apart from a heart of repentance is to blaspheme that very forgiveness?”

The Israelites brought forward the Ark in order that they could bend God’s will to their own.  They thought that they could continue in their disobedience with an expectation that they could bend God’s power to their own desires.  I am afraid today that these very same men can be found amongst us.  They are on our church boards, church committees, and even preach from our church’s pulpit not to mention those who sit in our pews.  Are you among them? They are those who willfully continue in their sin on the expectation that God will forgive them with the utterance of a word and a complete lack of repentance.  For all intents and purposes there is no heart of repentance, no desire to change, only a desire to continue in the pursuit of their own selfishness. Could it be that to accept God’s forgiveness apart from a heart of repentance is to blaspheme that very forgiveness?  The allegation against Hophni and Phineas was just that charge. They were brining contempt upon the Word of God.

Christian, I am not calling you today to a life of perfection.  I am calling you to perfect your heart before your Lord and savior.  Take your salvation as seriously as God does because its preciousness is the source and proof of your preciousness before Him.  Do not cheapen it by continuing in your desire to sin!  Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him (Heb 11:2).  You are that joy and when you continue in your own selfish desires you are treating His joy with contempt; your are blaspheming the Word of God.

“Christians, find a church body, get involved, and study God’s word for all that it is worth!”

I’m going to leave today’s thoughts right here.  There is so much more to this passage that needs to be explored and I would encourage you to do so.  I want to explore if the Philistines in offering a guilt offering to the nation of Israel is a foreshadowing of an offering that Pilot would officiate before Israel thousands of years later.  There is an interaction here between the Jewish and Gentile world that might provide insight into the later interaction.  Christians, find a church body, get involved, and study God’s word for all that it is worth!

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

Clarke, Adam. Adam Clarke’s Commentary On The Bible. Public Domain, 1810-1826.

Forlines, F. Leroy. The Quest for Truth: Theology for Postmodern World. Nashville: Randal House Publications, 2001.

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Good Cop, Bad Cop, …and 28 Jelly Beans

On By AaronIn Stuff About Me2 Comments

The other day I had the privilege of taking my adorable wife to our local clinic so that she could be tested for gestational diabetes. And it IS one of the great privileges of this life to be able to enjoy it walking beside her. Often I will chuckle and she will ask me, “what are you laughing at?” And often I will answer, “just you.” It is not a statement of condescension but rather a statement of incredulity. I love her tremendously and yet we are so different it is hard to believe that she agreed to partner with me. That God has chosen her as my help mate is something that I will be smiling about for eternity.

Anyway, our trip was short and as she sat with her small bag of Jelly Belly jelly beans reading the flavors to me I started to realize that we hadn’t properly prepared for this appointment. The doctor had informed her that she would need to bring twenty-eight beans for this particular test. She has a few allergies and it would be important that we select the flavors that are least likely to contain anything that will trigger those reactions. Additionally, while I could just grab the first twenty eight beans that came out of the bag that is not in my wife’s nature. It came to me that we probably should have selected our 28 beans prior to our departure. This is the kind of decision that my wife would consider heavily not just in terms of which beans will trigger her allergies, but which flavors she would prefer, and which flavors would complement versus those that would distract from the others. The time required to drive to the clinic proved insufficient for making these decisions and, as we are living in the days of COVID, I had to leave her at the door of the clinic to proceed on her own.

Later, as she related her story, I learned that there were two nurses in the clinic who had assisted her in this process. She dutifully proffered her bag of jelly beans and clearly one nurse was sympathetic to Sarah’s plight while the other was less so; the good cop and the bad cop. As she told me the story I imagined the good cop holding out her gloved hands as she patiently received each of Sarah’s decided beans while the bad cop forcefully pronounced, “you only have five minutes to get this done!” The whole event culminating in the bad cop saying, “just put them all in your mouth” and Sarah resolutely doing as she was told. I chuckled again as my wife explained to me that she thought five minutes would be enough time to “enjoy” 28 jelly beans. Of course she did.

“How did I marry someone so different or more precisely how did I convince someone so different to marry me?”

As it turned out it was barely enough time to select them and then chew the whole mass into submission. As she asked, “what are you laughing at” I was amazed at her completely different understanding and conception of time than mine. Now please, this is not a moral judgment except in that she and I are different. I am an army officer and planner who trains army officers in the planning process. I once synchronized a one week collection plan down to two minute intervals. I would have plotted it down to the minute but Excel wouldn’t let me have enough columns and rows! How did I marry someone so different or more precisely how did I convince someone so different to marry me? And yet, her differences are so incredibly attractive to me and they never cease to surprise me in new and amusing ways.

Most of my family has heard that Sarah and I are expecting. But this may be new to some of my friends and I do apologize if you are hearing this news for the first time in this blog. We are in a high risk category and we are trying to temper our excitement with our desire not to “jinx” anything. Today, I find myself worrying about almost everything. I pray that our daughter is healthy, and smart, and beautiful. But most important I pray that Sarah and I are able to give her everything she needs to be prepared. Everyday, the world seems to be moving faster and things, often distant things, that I don’t understand have an impact on the very local nature of our day to day lives. Will I be able to prepare her for a world in which I struggle just to keep up? How will we prepare her for the times and the challenges that her generation will have? What will those challenges be?

This morning as I was reading through First Samuel I was struck by the story of Hannah and her son as contrasted to the story of Levi and his sons. Both Hannah and Levi were committed and devoted to the Lord and yet Hannah’s son grew up to be a man of character who understood the moral nature of his standing before God while it was written of Levi’s sons that they, “were worthless men. They did not know the Lord (1Sa 2:12, ESV).” Hannah had been barren and had prayed, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life…(1Sa 1:11)”. She prayed so earnestly and passionately that her lips moved through her silent prayer that Eli, the priest, thought she was drunk. Her prayers were heard and God answered with the birth of Samuel. Her prayer of response was, “For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord (1Sa 1:27-28).” In other words her prayer was that the Lord would raise Him. For another child I have prayed. A child that will soon arrive.

“I have no illusions that even if it were possible to be the “perfect” parent that the outcome is assured.”

I have no doubt that Levi prayed earnestly for his sons. I have no illusions that even if it were possible to be the “perfect” parent that the outcome is assured. But my prayer is that the Lord will use Sarah and I to raise His daughter that she will fear the Lord and come to love Him for what He has done for her. The salvation of her parents is assured I want her to know that, so that she will one day make a decision of her own will to place her trust in God for her salvation. What ever successes and failures that she has in this life, in those times that will be given to her, are insignificant in the absence of the one fact of her salvation.

“Why should Christians live obedient lives unto God?”

Adam Clarke, commenting on the worthlessness of Eli’s sons, writes, “These men were the principal cause of all the ungodliness of Israel. Their most execrable conduct… caused the people to abhor the Lord’s offering. An impious priesthood is the grand cause of the transgressions and ruin of any nation…” Why should Christians live obedient lives unto God? Because once our salvation is secure it is not about us anymore. Our obedience becomes a testimony before our nation and our world. Our obedience is about what everyone around us sees, that at the very best they would ask about our hope and our faith and at worse that we would not be the cause that brings anyone to, “abhor the Lord’s offering.”

I have learned much about God’s nature by trying to imitate Him within the context of my marriage. More often than not it only reveals not that I am a miserable husband but how much my flesh gets in the way of being the husband that I desire to be. I am confident that I will learn much about God’s nature as I struggle to be a father. It will probably reveal more ways in which my flesh will get in the way. But as long as I continue to persevere in my faith in God’s goodness towards the goodness that He has promised me He will not be ashamed to call Himself my God (Heb 11:16). And as one of His own my obedience will not hinder my daughter from drawing near to Him as well.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

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Therefore…

On By AaronIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,   not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Heb 10:19-26, ESV).”

It has been used so often that I cannot remember where I first heard the idea. Not to say that the idea is overused it is still truly relevant as we read God’s Word. The idea is usually expressed like this, “When ever you see a therefore in the text you have to ask the question, ‘what is it there for?’” Here the word is translated from the Greek οὖν and as a conjunction it means “and so” or “now then” and is being used to connect the first clause with a clause to come.

I love two things about this particular “therefore” in Hebrews. First, it is pointing back to a little over nine chapters of stuff; that is a big first clause. Because Jesus is the Son of God, because as the Son of God He is superior to Moses, Malchizedek and even to the angels, because Jesus is the founder of our salvation, because Jesus is the Great High Priests, because God’s promises are secure, because Jesus is the guarantor of a better covenant, because we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, because of all these things, and more, all of which are found in Hebrews leading up to this “therefore” it is a big “therefore.” The first clause is so huge I am already anticipating the second clause. It is going to be equally huge!

Second, the writer of Hebrews sums up the first clause beginning with the word “since.” “…since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God… (Heb 10:19-21)” In other words, the blood of Jesus provides a way for you and I to enter into His presence in the holiest place where He resides as our atonement. Since all of this is true the writer of Hebrews is going to tell us that we ought to do something; that something is the second clause.

What ought we to do? How should we respond to what God has done for us? Are you sitting on the edge of your seat? Are you so awe struck by the selfless humility of the perfect and all-powerful God of the universe who has given all of Himself for you that your only desire is to know what you should do right now? Here it is… we are to draw near to God. We are to draw near to God and in that nearness, we are to be true in heart; true about ourselves, true about who God is, and true in our intentions towards Him. We are to trust, know, or have faith, that our consciences are clean, sprinkled with the blood of His sacrifice and our flesh purified through our baptism into His death. And, we are to encourage one another to the good works of love. I know, you probably thought that I was going to tell you that we ought to obey God’s commands or that we should live as better people. Nope, we are to abide in our faith, what we know about God, we are to abide in our hope, what we know God is going to do, and we are to abide in love, doing for others that which God has done for us (1Co 13:13). This is how we are to draw near to Him.

What is also astonishing is that is not a concept new to the New Testament and absent in the Old. The prophet Micah, writing to the Israelites around 750–700 B.C., writes, “[The LORD] has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God (Mic 6:8)?” Have faith in what is good, walk in the confidence of what God is going to do, and do justice and kindness from an attitude of love.

The men and women of the Old Testament knew that God was good and relied on His promises of redemption.  Today as men and women of the New Testament we know how God has redeemed us and we rely on His promises of eternal life, bodily resurrection, and ultimate glorification.  Adam Clarke writes that, “He is faithful that promised eternal life, which is the object of your hope, is promised to you by him who cannot lie; as he then is faithful who has given you this promise, hold fast the profession of your hope (Clarke 1810-1826, Heb 10:23).”  How wonderful is it that when we gaze into the heavens what we find is a God of love who is faithful first to His own word and then to the word He has given to His creation?  I shudder to think that we could gaze into the heavens and see anything else; anything less.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

Clarke, Adam. Adam Clarke’s Commentary On The Bible. Public Domain, 1810-1826.

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The Significance of a Sign

On By AaronIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Twenty-Four years before Abraham received the covenant of Circumcision God spoke to him saying, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great (Gen 12:2).”  Later, as God was confirming that promise, Abraham reminded God that he had no heir.  God responded, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars…” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be (Gen 15:5).”  As time passed Abraham and his wife Sarah were still unable to conceive and in a moment of impatience took matters into their own hands.  In disobedience, Abraham and his servant Hagar bore a son together.  Abraham was ninety-nine when Ishmael was born to Hagar and right after Ishmael’s birth God confirmed again His promise to Abraham that through his own progeny God would deliver.  In that confirmation Circumcision was given as the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham.

“This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.“

Genesis 17:10-11

“And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.  This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.  You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you (Gen 17:9-11).”  It would be one more year until Isaac was born to Sarah beginning the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham.

Normally, I would leave those passages and move on, confident in my understanding of circumcision.  Most of us are fully aware that the descendants of Abraham to this day circumcise their sons on the eighth day after birth.  However, Paul, in the New Testament, explaining the nature of The Law wrote that, “circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter (Rom 2:29).”  And I wonder, “wouldn’t it have been easier to have conveyed his message by simply stating that righteousness is found in the heart and not in the letter of the law?”  But he did not.  In conveying his message, he pointed back to circumcision of all things.  So, I should probably take a deeper look at the sign of circumcision.

“Circumcision of the heart is not a New Testament phenomenon.”

The first thing I notice is that circumcision of the heart is not a New Testament phenomenon.  We read in Deuteronomy that we are to, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn (Deu 10:16)” and “the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live (Deu 30:6).”  The prophet Jeremiah commands the Israelites to, “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts… (Jer 4:4)” and warns them that, “the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh— …and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart (Jer 9:25-26).”   This is not a new idea introduced by Paul in order to “spiritualize” the life and death of Jesus.  This is an Old Testament concept that Paul is connecting to Jesus.

Circumcision is the sign of the covenant given to Abraham in that God had promised to make Abraham a great nation and a blessing to all peoples.  The promise was given to Abraham that would be fulfilled entirely and completely by God.  Abraham would have to do nothing but believe God would be true to His word.  However, God did require Abraham to take a sign that would point to that promise.  A sign that demonstrated Abraham believed.  To not take the sign would be to invalidate or to reject the promise.  “Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant (Gen 17:14).”  Abraham and his progeny could do nothing to fulfill the promise.  However, they could cut themselves off from the promise by rejecting the trustworthiness of the one who gave it.

“In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh…”

Colossians 2:11

The wording of the sign also gives a clue as to the nature of the sign; “the flesh of the foreskin.”  Paul, writing to the Colossians, explains, “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh… (Col 2:11).”  The idea of the sinful flesh is an idea that Paul develops further in Romans.  The Law could not produce righteousness in that it was weakened by sinful flesh (Rom 8:3).  Those who walk according to the flesh could not hope to keep The Law, the righteous requirement for righteousness.  “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh…” and to set your mind on the things of the flesh is death in that it is to place your mind in opposition to God (Rom 8:5-7).  James described our own desires as that which brings us into opposition to God, “…each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death (Jas 1:14-15).”  Flesh is the term used to describe our own sinful desires and “those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:8).”  For Abraham to circumcise his sons and for Abraham to circumcise their sons was to take the sign of a promise in a single act of obedience.  That obedience was the symbolic act of removing their own sinful and selfish desires.

Our hearts are the seats of our desires.  To remove the foreskins of our hearts is to remove our own selfish desires so that all that remains is a true heart for God.  Perhaps the thing that intrigued me most about my contemplation of the sign of circumcision was the discovery that while God commands His elect to, “circumcise themselves to the Lord (Jer 4:4)” He also declares that “the Lord your God will circumcise your hearts (Deu 30:6).”  Our sinful desires are what separate us from the Lord.  The sin for which we are justly accountable to God require a just God to act and to act against those who have sinned.  How can you love a God who you know will one day execute that judgment?  In the absence of salvation all you have are the pleasures of this world ahead of that judgment.  But that same God, sent His only Son as the embodiment of flesh (Rom 8:3) to receive the justice that you deserved.  He has removed the consequences of your selfish desires.  When you know this to be true the only thing that now remains is the love that you have for a God who first loved you (1Jo 4:19).  He has given you a new heart circumcised unto Him.

One final thought.  God has done this entirely of Himself.  Apart from Jesus’ work on the cross salvation from a just verdict is impossible.  Apart from that act the foreskin of your heart remains.  And you must take the sign of that circumcision.  Not to do so is to reject the New Covenant offered by God.  Anyone who doubted whether Abraham, or one of his sons, had taken the sign of the covenant could merely look and know for sure.  If someone were to doubt that you had taken the sign of the New Covenant what would, or should, they be looking for to know?  What does the sign of the New Covenant look like?  What does circumcision of the heart look like?  I think it would look like obedience.  I think it would look a lot like what James describes in his letter.  Have you accepted Jesus promise of eternal life in Him?  Does your life bear the sign of that promise?

“In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead (Col 2:11-12).”

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Towards a Better Theology of Divorce

On By AaronIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

The other day my wife and I were driving to her parent’s house when she asked me why didn’t Jesus address physical abuse when he addressed divorce?  It is a great question.  I was a police officer for only five years, and I saw a lot of broken marriages in which both men and women lived in a relationship centered around abuse.  Why would Jesus only allow for a spouse’s unfaithfulness as the only justifiable argument for divorce?  We drove for probably another twenty minutes before I was pulled out of my thoughts on the question by another question, “did you hear what I said?  Are you even listening to me?”  I smiled because I had gone inside my own thoughts and had lost track of what was going on around me, but it was a question where the answer was not readily available.

But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Matthew 5:31-32

Jesus says in Matthew, “It was also said, ’Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’  But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery (Mat 5:31-32).”  This is often interpreted as meaning that the only way out of the covenant of marriage is in the case of infidelity.

This quote is pulled right out of the center of what is known as the Sermon on the Mount.  If we were to outline that sermon it could look something like this…

  1. The Beatitudes
  2. Salt and Light
  3. Christ came to fulfill The Law
  4. The Law Refined (Real Transgression)
    1. Anger
    2. Lust
    3. Divorce
    4. Oaths
    5. Retaliation
  5. How to do The Law Right
    1. Love Your Enemies
    2. Give to the Needy
    3. The Lord’s Prayer
    4. Fasting
    5. Lay up Treasures in Heaven
    6. Do Not be Anxious
  6. Judging Others
    1. Ask and It will be Given
    2. The Golden Rule
    3. A Tree and It’s Fruit
    4. I Never Knew You
  7. Build Your House On the Rock

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:20

You will notice right away that it is a complex sermon.  It is a long sermon to say the least and books have been written on what is found in its context.  For today it is enough to know that this sermon was never meant to be the giving of a new law rather it was meant as discussion on how The Law of Moses was to be understood and the Messiah’s relationship to The Law.  The first section including the Beatitudes and Salt and Light were intended to communicate that the doctrines’ of God would be given to the humble and that the humble would become the salt and light in which those doctrines would be shared.  In the third section Jesus teaches that He, as the Messiah, has not come to abolish The Law but rather to fulfill The Law.  I love Adam Clarke’s description on this concept.  “Christ completed the law: 1st. In itself, it was only the shadow, the typical representation, of good things to come; and [Jesus] added to it that which was necessary to make it perfect, his own sacrifice, without which it could neither satisfy God, nor sanctify men (Clarke 1810-1826, Mat 5:17).”  The Law teaches that apart from righteousness a sacrifice is required.

Jesus then transitions into a discussion on the nature of righteousness, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5:20).”  Here is where Jesus begins to speak specifically to and about the Pharisees.  It is this teaching that Jesus comments on divorce are intended to address.

The Pharisees thought that they were righteous.  They believed that the sins that Israel was being punished for were the sins of their father’s and grandfather’s; not their own.  The proverb of Ezekiel’s time that, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge (Eze 18:2)’ was an allegation against God made by the Israelites of Ezekiel’s time and the Israelites of Jesus’ time.  Think of eating sour grapes like eating a sour patch kid.  That first initial overpowering sour causes you to react by breathing in through clenched teeth.  The idea is that someone else has eaten the sour patch kid and you are breathing in through the clenched teeth.  You are reaping the reward for someone else’s actions.  Jesus’ teaching here, using anger, lust, divorce, oaths, and retaliation, all sins for which the Pharisees were guilty, are illustrating that these Pharisees are not righteous enough to inherit the Kingdom of God.

The idea of a certificate of divorce, that the Pharisees were clinging to for their righteousness, comes from Deuteronomy.  “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce… then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the LORD (Deu 24:1-4).”  The Pharisees interpreted from this passage that Moses allowed divorce when the wife lost favor with her husband or was somehow indecent.  According to David Stern Hillel and Shammai, contemporaries of Jesus, represent the poles of the contemporary argument.  “The School of Shammai say a man may not divorce his wife unless he has found unchastity in her, as it is said, ‘…because he has found in her indecency in a matter.’ But the School of Hillel say he may divorce her even if she burns his food, as it is said, ‘… because he has found in her indecency in a matter (Mishna: Gittin 9:10).’”

This Hillel loophole was a broad loophole indeed but that was their interpretation of The Law and if they obeyed it their righteousness could be retained.  It was primarily a loophole to keep a wife in line or to trade in on a newer model.

“Without God’s sacrifice The Law could not satisfy God nor sanctify men.”

Jesus response to this loophole is that, “everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery (Mat 5:32).”  This is a statement about the righteousness of the Pharisees.  They were divorcing their wives and were responsible for the adultery that they caused.  That responsibility made them unrighteous.  The only reason the wife’s adultery changes anything about the nature of divorce is that the adultery was not caused by the Pharisees.  Don’t worry Jesus addresses the Pharisees who were not guilty in this case in the cases of Anger, lust, oaths, and retaliation.

Adam Clarke concluded his understanding of the fulfillment of The Law in that The Law pointed to the necessity of an atoning sacrifice.  Without God’s sacrifice The Law could not satisfy God nor sanctify men.  The Pharisees too needed that sacrifice and Jesus’ comments on divorce were to highlight that issue.  Jesus was not establishing a new law regarding what was an acceptable divorce and an unacceptable divorce.  Jesus was teaching that the Pharisees too were unrighteous.

So where does that leave us on divorce?  “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause (Mat 19:3)?”  Jesus points out that they should already know the answer to this question.

“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?  So, they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate (Mat 19:4-6).”  Righteous husbands do not divorce their wives.  Righteous wives do not divorce their husbands.  Divorce is in fact a sin that defiles just as any other sin. 

“What we know today that the Pharisees didn’t know is that Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice for the consequences of our sins.”

The prophet Malachi puts it very crisply, “…the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?… So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.  “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So, guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless (Mal 2:14-16).” At the center of divorce is a violation of a promise.  A righteous person endeavors to honor the commitments that he or she has made.  A violation of that commitment is the equivalence of an act of violence.  That is still true today.

“Do you believe that your sins are forgiven?”

What we know today that the Pharisees didn’t know is that Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice for the consequences of our sins.  And we all need that sacrifice, even the Pharisees.  When you accepted Him, you are accepting that His punishment was for your sins.  Do you believe that?  Do you believe that your sins are forgiven?  Do you believe that your spouse’s sins have been forgiven?  Often, I think this is the harder part.  Jonah’s refusal to offer repentance to the Ninevites came from his own desire to see them punished.  He knew if he offered repentance to the Ninevites, they would accept, and Jonah’s god would offer His mercy.  Have you offered that forgiveness to your spouse?  What about the children of divorce?  They are injured just as much as the spouses of divorce.  Are you a child of divorce?  Have you offered forgiveness to your parents?

If you are in an abusive marriage, get out as soon as you can!  You are not responsible for those sins.  Is your spouse unfaithful?  You are not responsible for those sins.  But remember, Jesus died for those sins too, you can protect yourself and extend that forgiveness at the same time.  Are you being unfaithful to your spouse?  Accept Jesus’ forgiveness and repent!  Are you abusing your spouse? Accept Jesus’ forgiveness and repent!  Is your life a product of divorce?  Extend the forgiveness of Jesus!  Whether or not it is accepted and whether or not they repent is between them and God.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

Photo by Zoriana Stakhniv on Unsplash.

Clarke, Adam. The Holy Bible with a Commentary and Critical Notes. New Edition. Vol. I–VI. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife Corporation, 2014. Find this resource in the Faith, Hope, Love (Life) Store

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The Anticipation of a Wedding

On By AaronIn Uncategorized1 Comment

     On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.  When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”  And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”  His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.  Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.  And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.  When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “ Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now (Joh 2:1-10).”

This passage is so much fun!  There is so much symbolism here.  Jesus’ miraculous ministry begins in the context of the Jewish wedding.

“This context screams messianic prophesy associating the Messiah’s first coming with the purchase of His bride and His second coming with the celebration of the consummation of that which He has purchased.” 

In the days of Jesus, a wedding was a protracted affair.  First, the groom would travel from his father’s house to the house of the bride’s father.  He would pay the purchase price, in order to establish the marriage promise or covenant, and then he would return to his father’s house.  During the next year he would stay at his father’s house making the living arrangements for his bride.  His bride, although she knew he would return, did not know exactly when he would return.  When the groom returned the marriage would be consummated amid a celebratory seven day wedding feast.  This context screams messianic prophesy associating the Messiah’s first coming with the purchase of His bride and His second coming with the celebration of the consummation of that which He has purchased.  Jesus chose this context to point his audience to their own messianic expectations.  They were anticipating a messianic wedding.

“The feast that Jesus is pointing to will be a celebration larger than any other because the cause of the celebration is the eternal end of death and tears, the eternal end of sin.”

In Isaiah (25:6-9) we read,

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

What Jesus’ contemporary readers didn’t know was that feast mentioned here was to be a wedding feast.  They knew that they lived in anticipation of this feast, but they didn’t know it was a wedding feast.  Note the rich food and wine.  Jesus will, over the course of His ministry, associate himself as both the food and wine of this feast.

And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations

That veil, that covering, is the shame that is the result of our own sins; our own failings.

He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.

The feast that Jesus is pointing to will be a celebration larger than any other because the cause of the celebration is the eternal end of death and tears, the eternal end of sin.  This will come at a price, the purchase price of a bride.

It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

Jesus chose the context of a wedding feast to be the context of His very first miracle.  But this wedding, the wedding that Jesus and His disciples had been invited, was about to fall apart.  The wine had run out!  I cannot imagine that even a small version of a Jewish wedding in these times would have been inexpensive.  The very presence of the stone washing jars, associated with the purification rituals of devout Jews, testifies that this was a wedding hosted by a family of devout observing Jews.  They would have had a social interest in maintaining their status before the community and they could not afford the wine at their own wedding.  Oh, the scandal!  And all that scandal would have been captured in Jesus’ mother’s statement, “they have no wine.”

Jesus’ response immediately commands his mother’s attention.  “Woman, what does that have to do with me?”  Now, I do not believe that Jesus was using the condescension that this phrase would have generated in our own generation.  But he has changed the formality of his address for an intentional purpose.

As a leader of soldiers, I have subordinates that I would often address simply by their last name.  In doing so I am denoting a level of familiarity within the context of military protocol.  Conversely, when I address them by their rank such as private, sergeant, or lieutenant I am changing the level of familiarity and thus the tone of the conversation.  This is especially true if I use their rank in the absence of their last name.  Jesus was not referring to his mother as mother nor did he use her proper name.  He addressed her as woman to bring her and those in His audience to a higher level of attention in order to highlight his next statement, “My hour has not yet come.”

“Now that Jesus has their attention, He is declaring that the hour of their Messiah is close.”

John, the author of the Gospel, has already declared Jesus to be “the Word,” “the Light,” and “the Life.”  He narrated how John the Baptist was confronted by the priests and Levites who wanted to know if he was the messiah and recorded that John the Baptist not only denied being the messiah but identified Jesus as “the Lamb of God.”  The earliest disciples recognized that reference as a reference to their expected Messiah and as a result decided to follow Jesus.  Andrew even went and found his brother Simon, later renamed Peter by Jesus, and told him, “we have found the messiah (Joh 1:41).”  Now that Jesus has their attention, He is declaring that the hour of their Messiah is close.

I picture Mary, Jesus’ mother, struck dumb in that moment.  Locked, eye to eye with her son.  She meant to communicate her sympathy for the family that was about to lose standing socially and Jesus responded with, “Woman, the hour of the Messiah has not yet come.”  In that moment she may have recalled the night the angel appeared to her saying, “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son… He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High (Luk 1:31-32).”  Perhaps her mind jumped from there to her visit with her cousin Elizabeth who when pregnant and carrying John the Baptist declared as the baby John leapt in her womb, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb (Luk 1:42)!”  She must have considered the shepherds, the star, and the wise men.  How Simeon had declared her son to be the Christ saying, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed (Luk 2:34-35).”  And, when Jesus was twelve, how they had lost Him only to find Him in the temple.  How everyone was amazed by His understanding.  “Do whatever He tells you,” she responds.

What is the hour of the messiah?  In the days of Jesus, the opinions of both the learned and the unlearned were diverse (Scott, 322-323).  “The Messiah was expected to be at the center of the great eschatological drama of the final age… He was to be the inaugurator of that age, the one to bring it into existence (Scott, 322-323).”  The diversity of opinion on the subject comes from the implications each of the titles used of the Messiah in the Old Testament had on contemporary thought in Jesus’ days.  The Suffering Servant, Son of Man, The Prophet like Moses, The Lamb of God; each of these carried with it a messianic task (Scott 322-323).  But rest easy Jesus is about to provide some clarity.

He commands the servants to fill some ceremonial jars with water and then to take that water to the master of the feast.  I mentioned earlier that I could not imagine even a small wedding to be an inexpensive affair.  One of the ways they would reduce the expense was to serve the best wine first so that discerning pallets would discern the high quality of wine.  As those discerning pallets became less discerning or as the evening wore on and the more prominent guests had gone the master of the feast would bring out the lower quality wine.  Usually the best wine precedes the poorer wine but in the case of this wedding the poorer wine preceded the higher quality wine.

“What this miracle is announcing is that the Messiah is going to inaugurate a new covenant that will be better than the old.”

In the context of the wedding covenant celebration Jesus was bringing attention to the wine of that covenant.  What this miracle is announcing is that the Messiah is going to inaugurate a new covenant that will be better than the old.  Jesus was pointing to the prophet Jeremiah’s words.

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

Jesus was pointing to the day in which a better covenant was coming.  His hour would inaugurate that covenant.  And although it was not yet His hour, He took advantage of the context of this Jewish wedding to tell them, with authority, that the hour was almost on them and to provide a little clarity about what that meant.

Today, if you are reading this know that the hour described by Jesus has already come.  It is the hour for which all creation was created and has eternal significance for you and your loved ones.  If you don’t know what Jesus has done, I would encourage you to find a local church and sign up for a Bible study or Sunday school.  Learn about Him.  In earlier blogs I wrote about the morality and sovereignty of time.  They present the reality that time is not eternal and that you are accountable for what you do with it.  Don’t wait.

If you are not yet ready to find or commit to a local church and you have more questions.  Feel free to contact me.  Good questions are the source material for good blogs 😉

If you are already counted among His own and want to grow a deeper more resilient faith then continue to learn and get to know Him.  I would specifically encourage a study through Hebrews.  There you will find Paul’s explanation of the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old Covenant.  But there is also so much more to discuss in regards to this passage in John; that the servants knew where the wine came from when the master did not and the significance of the stone jars and the rites of purification.  Why the third day?  Discovering what they mean starts with a question.  He, through the Spirit, will reveal Himself to you.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

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Scott, J. Julius, Jr. Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2000. Find this resource in the Faith, Hope, Love (Life) Store

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Sovereignty of Time and Free Will

On By AaronIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Free will is a gift of God.  If the gift of life was the first gift then the second gift was the gift of choice; the gift of free will.  And that gift must have been given before the fall because without it, it would have been impossible to fall.

Often, we commingle God’s sovereignty with His omniscience. The argument goes like this; if God is sovereign in that His will can not be overruled, then my free will can not overrule God’s sovereignty. If God is omniscient then He already knows what I will choose. Because He already knows my choice and because I can not overrule His sovereignty He has willed my choice. I do not have free will and therefore I am not responsible for that choice.

This might be an improper understanding of both free will and sovereignty. Our freewill can not be juxtaposed against God’s sovereignty rather our freewill is an extension of God’s absolute sovereignty.  And, because God has extended His sovereignty we are accountable to God for our exercise of that sovereignty.

I once commanded a company of tanks.  Fourteen of them.  They were my tanks and it was my company.  But they were not mine in that I could do with them as I pleased.  They had been given to me by my battalion commander, who had received them from his brigade commander, who had received them from the State of Oregon; etc., etc.,…. But what had I received?  I hadn’t received fourteen tanks, to do with as I pleased, rather I had received fourteen tanks to do with within the confines of my superior’s intent.

This is where morality starts.  Whether or not I was a good or bad commander would be determined by how well I did with those tanks relative to what my superiors had intended.  This is true of us and God.  We have been given free will.  We can do with that free will what we please however, what we do will be evaluated based on what God intended for us to do with that free will.  With free will comes sovereignty.  The gift of free will is the gift of God’s sovereignty.

God’s sovereignty is absolute. Is the sovereignty that God extends to us also absolute? In one sense no and in another sense yes. Your sovereignty is only limited by time and space. Your sovereignty only exists within the context of your life. It begins when you are born and it ends when you die. Each act of the individual will exists within the context of where you are and when you are there. Additionally, your sovereignty is also limited by the truth. You can not will something in contradiction to the truth. This is connected to the first limit in that the truth of where you are and when you are can not be violated. Finally, your sovereignty can not be used to trump the sovereignty of God. And as the second is connected to the first the third is connected to the second. Your will can not violate the truth of God. The limits on your sovereignty seem to be self evident. It is where our sovereignty is absolute that creates an apparent problem with evil.

God will not violate our sovereignty apart from the constraints mentioned above.  Every evil act, whether intentional or unintentional, is an example of God’s refusal to intervene.  Those refusals to intervene are each instances of God maintaining the gift of your sovereignty.  That gift will belong to you in a very absolute sense right up until it doesn’t.  I call this understanding of free will “God’s delegation of His sovereignty for a time.”  The act of delegation is not an act of abdication and does not reduce sovereignty.  He has given it to you in that you can exercise it.  He has retained it for Himself in that you will be held accountable for that exercise.  You are free within His absolute sovereignty.  But why?

Back to my command for a moment.  We were in the midst of our gunnery cycle.  It is the central component of the evaluation of our success.  How many tank crews could we get through the gunnery qualifications?  One of the limiting factors was the limited amount of range time.  Our company was first on the range and the tracers in our ammunition where catching the grass on fire.  When the fire would get too large the range safeties would close the range to put out the fire.  Each time this occurred we lost valuable range time.  I told my soldiers from day one; don’t worry about the fires.  Someone else is worrying about that.  Right up until they tell you to leave the range I want you focused on qualification.

One morning there was a huge fire.  But the safeties weren’t closing the range.  I could hear the main guns and the rattle of the .50 cals as my guys kept working through gunnery.  The fire got bigger and bigger.  Finally, the call came to clear the range and by then the fire was immense.  Each of my platoons called in and reported their movements.  Each of them except First Platoon and First Platoon was lead by my newest, least experienced, least confident platoon leader.  I could not get ahold of him, and so I could only wait.  I couldn’t yet hear the explosions of ammunition cooking off so my career wasn’t yet ruined but it was just a matter of time.

When first platoon finally appeared all four tanks were rolling onto the bore sight line.  When I finally calmed down enough to get the platoon leader’s report he told me that he was so focused on Gunnery that he didn’t see how large the fire was until they were ordered to leave.  He heard me calling for a report but he didn’t have time.  The fire was immense and it was burning right across the only road he knew as an exit.  He asked his platoon sergeant if there was another way and then went on the platoon frequency to organize the platoon around following that platoon sergeant.  He simply forgot to come back to the company frequency to report.  What I knew in that moment was that I had a subordinate leader that I could trust to make decisions within the framework of my intent.  I had given him a platoon and he was doing with it that which I would have liked him to do. That is how your free will operates in respect to God. It is what allows you to accept or reject His love and it is what allows Him to condemn you in your disobedience.

God doesn’t need to know who will be obedient. He has delegated his sovereignty in order that we can know what it is to love Him; in order that we can know what it is to be loved by Him. The sovereignty that has been extended to us is for the purpose of loving Him and loving others as ourselves. When you return to Him you will be held accountable for what you have done with your sovereignty in regard to His intent. And make no mistake, His absolute sovereignty will require absolute accountability.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.”

Matthew 25:31

If the gift of life was the first gift and the second gift was the gift of free will, then the third and greatest gift was the gift of His son as the penalty for the misuse of the first two gifts. All three were necessary for an inferior being to live with a superior being in the context of a relationship of love. Don’t miss out on that relationship. It too is a choice and it is available to everyone! When you are out of time you will be out of sovereignty.

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