Stop Signs

Posted on by March 15, 2015
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Numbers 22:21-23 — And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. And God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him. And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.

I’m sure you remember the story of Balaam’s ass. Unfortunately, its effect has been diminished as it’s often told as, almost, an amusement in Sunday School. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about a man who does everything he can to profit by doing as little of God’s will as he can get away with (and never let it be forgotten that he came to a bad end — see Numbers 31:8). It’s also the story of God’s warning posts on the path to destruction, and of the spiritual world that surrounds us. I beg you not to take this, or any scripture lightly, even if there is a smile to be had …

For now, let’s concentrate on the ass, and her behavior. First, let us note that she was aware of the angel of the Lord — and Balaam, despite his occult knowledge, was not. Now it is true that there are many things in the physical world that animals detect and we do not. It is also true, as the Reverend Arthur Ritchie put it, that:

The Holy Ghost teaches us that there is a vast and very lovely spiritual world lying behind, being as it were veiled by, this natural world of sense. That spiritual realm is the natural home of the angels. Balaam’s ass was given power to discern the form of one of these bright spirits opposing the sinful prophet’s course. Afterwards the prophet’s own eyes were “opened,” as the Bible puts it, and he too saw the menacing messenger of God.

Why was it, do you suppose, that God enabled first the ass and then it’s master to see the angel of the Lord? It was surely to allow them to see the warning signs on the path to destruction.

To develop that thought — let’s look, second, at what the ass did when she saw the angel. First she turned into a field. There was room to turn round — but Balaam didn’t take the hint. Then she chose a narrow path, where progress would be difficult. Balaam still didn’t understand. Finally, the ass knew there was no way forward, and fell down before the angel. Even then, Balaam was focused on his reward, not on the question of why his faithful ass should suddenly behave so oddly — until His eyes were opened too.

So what happened here? I believe God was giving Balaam increasingly obvious “Stop” signs. He could, of course, have killed Balaam immediately. His greater purposes dictated a more merciful course.

I get two lessons out of this. The first is, when you go on a mission “for God”, check your motives.

The second lesson — my focus — is that if God puts a block in your way, take notice! He is a patient God, slow to anger — long-suffering — but if you keep ignoring those stop signs then, sooner or later, the angel,of the Lord is going to cut you down!

Plans And Choices

Posted on by March 14, 2015
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Acts 2:22-23 — Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

One of the greatest puzzles is how does man’s free will impact on God’s absolute sovereignty. The answer is simple. It doesn’t!

God has plans, and man has choices — but man’s choices can’t alter God’s plans! Job’s young friend Elihu got it right:

Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou. If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? Or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? Or what receiveth he of thine hand? (Job 35:5-7)

This is a very telling passage. Though God is everywhere, omnipresent, Elihu says He is far above us — in the lofty vaults of heavens … Our sins may impact us, but they cannot impact Him. Our righteousness may be great, but God needs nothing we can give Him.

Peter tells the Jews of one of the most compelling instances of this truth. The crucifixion was not just the results of a wicked plot by venal religious authorities, nor the unjust exercise of imperial power by an insecure  ruler.  It was the working out of God’s predefined plan. It’s a theme that is returned to several times in the Book of Acts. 3:18, for example, where Peter says:

But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

Peter makes the contrast very clear. The crucifixion was part of God’s redemptive plan — but the human actions that enabled and executed it were still wicked. Those choices were man’s, not God’s.

Our choices do have eternal impact. Paul made it very clear:

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Galatians 6:7-8)

Our choices have eternal impact — on our future, but not on God’s plans

Details, Details

Posted on by March 13, 2015
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Numbers 19:1-4 — And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke. And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face: and Eleeazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times. 

This is the start of the passage about the mysterious ritual of the red heifer. I wrote about this ritual for purification in January last year. It’s a strange process — a “chok”, a “decree beyond understanding” of which God says, “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 18:5)

Today, I don’t want to focus on the oddity of the ritual, but on the way it illustrates God’s wonderful attention to detail.

Did you ever wonder about Numbers 19:4? Why does it identify Eleazar as the one to carry out the purification? Isn’t Aaron the High Priest? Well yes, exactly. You see, the ritual involves the touching of the ashes of the heifer — making the officiating priest ritually impure. Having the high priest’s deputy officiate avoided the risk. It’s all in the details …

There are many examples that I could have drawn on to illustrate God’s precise attention to detail. I could start with the very act of creation. I’m really not smart enough to debate this but scientists tell me that there are 50 numbers that have to be be just right — or we just wouldn’t be here! Go find someone smart to explain things like the universal constants (Boltzman’s constant, Planck’s constant, and gravitational constant); the mass of elementary particles (pion rest mass, neutron rest mass, electron rest mass, unit charge, mass-energy relation); and fine structure constants (gravitational, weak interaction, electromagnetic, and strong fine constants). If even one of those numbers — whatever they are — was even slightly different, there would be no creation!

God is not sloppy — and that means we shouldn’t be either! Moses told the Israelites, “Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.” (Deuteronomy 6:17), and in Psalm 119:4 David prayed “Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.” — “Commandments, testimonies, statutes, precepts …” These are all words that speak of the precise will of God.  A striking instance of the weight God places on precise obedience is given when Saul was rejected from the kingship for the sin of not following precise instructions before the battle with the Amelekites. Samuel’s rebuke was “And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22)

There’s an old saying that “the devil is in the details” … The truth is that God is in the details — in all things and at all times.

Dark Days

Posted on by March 12, 2015
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Hosea 10:12-13 — Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

I’ve said before that there are pieces I don’t really want to write. Today’s is one I would never want to have to write, but I have to write about the events in Ferguson Missouri. I have to write about sin, a sinful background, and a hope for redemption.

Let’s start with the immediate events. The civil disobedience, culminating in the shooting of two police officers last night, is sinful. It is lawlessness, not protest. The Civil Rights leaders who are so rightly celebrated in America would surely have rejected it:

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation for such method is love. — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

It is not enough, however, to simply dismiss the events in Ferguson as sinful rioting. We cannot deny the context. America has a sinful history of oppressing African Americans. Sadly, it would be naive to say that it’s all in the past. Another painful current news story is the expulsion of a fraternity from Oklahoma University because of overtly racist behavior. Even our own Southern Baptist Convention did not formally repent until 1995, when it said (in part):

Be it further RESOLVED, That we apologize to all African-Americans for condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic racism in our lifetime; and we genuinely repent of racism of which we have been guilty, whether consciously (Psalm 19:13) or unconsciously (Leviticus 4:27); and

Be it further RESOLVED, That we ask forgiveness from our African-American brothers and sisters, acknowledging that our own healing is at stake; (full text at http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/899/resolution-on-racial-reconciliation-on-the-150th-anniversary-of-the-southern-baptist-convention)

There is another disturbing element to these tragic circumstances. The media reporting and political commentary — from all sides — has been partisan and dishonest. 

The only good news in all of this is that there is a redeemer. Paul writes of sowing and reaping, but it seemed to me that Hosea’s earlier version had more to say today. First, “Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity.” That cannot be denied. Second, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you.”

There is no quick fix to the ills of Ferguson, nor to the underlying context. The confession and repentance of the Southern Baptist Convention perhaps provides a model for a starting point.

Let Dr. King speak again:

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

Amen. That is the beacon of light on these sad, dark, days.

Do You Believe In Angels?

Posted on by March 11, 2015
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Psalm 91:11-12 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. 

Do you remember this?

I have a dream, a song to sing to help me cope with anything

If you see the wonder of a fairy tale you can take the future even if you fail

I believe in angels something good in everything I see

I believe in angels

When I know the time is right for me I’ll cross the stream – I have a dream

Abba, 1979

According to a Gallup poll, belief in angels and demons is on the rise in the United States. In 1994, 72% of Americans said they believed in angels; by 2004, it was 78%. Belief in the devil has risen in even more startling fashion — from 55% in 1990 to 70% in 2004. Isn’t that interesting, when conventional Christianity appears to be in decline?

There’s something I find even more interesting though. There are some Christians who don’t believe in Devils, or in angels either.  According to a 2009 Barna survey, almost 60% of Christians either strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil”. A much smaller number of Christians — 6% according to a 2011 AP survey, don’t believe in angels.

Let me make my position clear. I believe in the real, literal, existence of angels, satan and demons. I am sure that on occasion Myra and I have been attacked by demons, and have only repelled them by prayer. I believe that on countless occasions, so many that we would be amazed if we saw them, angels have stood beside us and protected us.

What I don’t understand is how Christians can not believe in angels, demons and the devil. Consider these scriptures:

And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? (Revelation 5:1-2)

And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. (Luke 11:14)

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)

I don’t need to analyze the texts. The point is that the Bible attests to the existence of angels, demons, and the devil. You cannot reject them without rejecting the truth of the Bible. Christians who refuse to accept the evidence of scripture have been deceived by the father of lies! We are surrounded by a world of spirits that we rarely see:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)

Stand firm, and believe!

Liar, Liar!

Posted on by March 10, 2015
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Revelation 21:8 — But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

It’s hard to believe that it’s nearly twenty years since Jim Carrey starred in “Liar, Liar!” the movie. He played a star lawyer who couldn’t lie for 24 hours due to his son’s birthday wish after he had let him down for the last time.

Like most of Mr. Carrey’s films, ” Liar, Liar” is hilarious. Sadly, in real life the topic is not.

Lying appears to be regarded, by many people, as a normal part of life. It reaches into the very highest walks of life. That’s nothing new. In 1975 there was an attempt to pass a “Truth In Government Act” — actually there were several attempts. They all failed. Perhaps you’re not surprised.

It seems we think it’s not just politicians who can’t be trusted. In a December 2014 Gallup poll people were asked whether they felt certain professions had honesty and ethical standards that were “high or very high”. Nurses did really well at 80%. Sadly congressmen scored only 7% and even clergymen scored only 46%!

So how does God feel about all this? You know the answer to that one. God hates liars. You can see the evidence in (at least) Exodus 20:16, Proverbs 6:16-19, Proverbs 12:22, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Revelation 21:8 and Revelation 21:27. 

God doesn’t just dislike lies. He hates them. But why? It’s very basic. Truth is part of who God is. It’s part of His character. Jesus said it — “I am the truth”. What’s more the great enemy — the devil — is the source of all untruth: 

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44)

I suppose some of the events in today’s news put these thoughts into my mind. But it’s nothing new. What really bothers me is that there may be something worse going on. What happens if we no longer know what truth is? In 2001 in two Barna Research surveys — one among adults and one among teenagers — people were asked if they believe that there are moral absolutes that are unchanging or that moral truth is relative to the circumstances. By a 3-to-1 margin (64% vs. 22%) adults said truth is always relative to the person and their situation. The perspective was even more lopsided among teenagers, 83% of whom said moral truth depends on the circumstances, and only 6% of whom said moral truth is absolute.

Truth is holy! We need to fight for it, defend it, and proclaim it …or the Father of lies wins.

The Anchor Holds

Posted on by March 9, 2015
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Hebrews 6:18-19 — that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

The author of the letter to the Hebrews is unknown. Consideration of these verses make me feel,though, that he might have been a sailor and he was certainly a scholar.

This text is best known, perhaps, because of Edward Mote’s  beloved hymn “The Solid Rock” which refers to it:

When Darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace, In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil … My anchor holds within the veil.

The sailor, driven by the gales of life, runs for shelter to God’s safe harbor. The JFB commentary breaks down the imagery:

The soul is the ship: the world the sea: the bliss beyond the world, the distant coast; the hope resting on faith, the anchor which prevents the vessel being tossed to and fro; the encouraging consolation through the promise and oath of God, the cable connecting the ship and anchor. The world is the fore-court: heaven, the Holy of Holies; Christ, the High Priest going before us so as to enable us, after Him and through Him, to enter within the veil.

Such a beautifully worked out image strongly suggests the sailor to me. As to the scholar … It turns out that Greek has two word for “veil”. The one used here is  “catapetasma”: the second veil which shut in the Holiest Place. The outer veil was called by a different word, “calumma”. Who knew? Well, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews knew. He picked the precise word to make it clear that the safest place for a Christian to drop anchor is in the most Holy Place, the very presence of God. 

There is another beauty in this “veil” imagery in Hebrews. Later on we can read:

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (Hebrews 10:19-20)

The veil that protects the Holy of Holies is Jesus’s flesh. We enter into our safe harbor through a way created by the tearing of the veil — the ripping apart of Jesus’s body on the cross. There may be times when the storms of life hide His face, but He has made a place where we can drop anchor and be for ever safe!

The Tragedy Of Nimrud

Posted on by March 8, 2015
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1 Corinthians 3:16-17 — Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 — What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Saying that ancient shrines and statues are “false idols” that have to be smashed Islamic State (ISIS /ISIL) militants are bulldozing the ruins of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, Iraqi government officials say.

Nimrud is the modern name for Calah, one of the ancient capital cities of Assyria built by Nimrod:

And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. (Genesis 10:8-12)

The destruction of such a culturally and Biblically significant treasure is, to be sure, tragic. It’s not the first, of course. Many ancient cities are lost and gone with no memorial. Some have left sad remnants behind. At around the same time as the foundation of Nimrud,  Ramesses the Great, the greatest and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire was focused on building cities, temples and monuments. He established the city of Pi-Ramesses in the Nile Delta as his new capital and main base for his campaigns in Syria. He is also known as Ozymandias. The poet Shelley wrote a poem about his monumental statue that ends:

Nothing beside remains: round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

The destruction of history is sad, and bleak — but there is a destruction of temples that is sadder and bleaker by far, and it happens every day. It is the destruction of human “temples”. Paul makes it plain in his letter to the Corinthians that they are individually, and collectively, temples at should be devoted to the service of God and not the world and never immorally defiled. I need not waste many words describing how far we are from that ideal!

Amidst all this dark destruction, personal and historical, we should not forget a blazing torch that lights the whole picture. There was another temple …

Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. (John 2:19-21)

Jesus died, and was raised. The rebuilding of that temple provides the means for the restoration of every “temple” of which Paul spoke. And all those cities and buildings? …There is another city coming, and another temple…

 

No Earthly Good

Posted on by March 7, 2015
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Colossians 3:1-2 — If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

I think it was writer Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. who first said “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.” I heard it again recently and today it set me thinking …It sounds good, doesn’t it? In a way it is, I suppose. We all know a few people who are often in church, can quote scripture inside out and backwards and yet seem always to be missing when somebody needs help.

The idea sounds good, and yet … In another way, it’s completely unbiblical. Paul told the Colossians to fix their minds on things above, and Jesus Himself said “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) In fact there’s a danger of being so earthly minded that you are no heavenly good!

It’s a matter of balance and motivation. C. S. Lewis put it into the right perspective:

This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world … all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Chapter 10:”Hope”)

It’s one of those God-man cycles that occupy my mind from time to time. We focus our minds on heaven. God calls us to service. We serve. Others see God in us. He gets the glory! Now it’s true that sometimes that service is in some kind of vocational ministry. But the service has the same value whatever we’re called too:

I don’t think God is overly concerned whether His children are carpenters, plumbers or engineers. … But He does care what kind of carpenter, plumber or engineer we may be. We don’t need any ecclesiastical position to serve the Lord.” (Neil. T. Anderson, Who I Am In Christ, Chapter 28, “I Have Been Chosen and Appointed To Bear Fruit”)

As I said, It’s possible to be so earthly minded that you are no heavenly good! Everything I do ought to be done with the advance of the kingdom in mind. Then it will be heavenly good and earthly good. To be honest, I’m not close to that ideal … but perhaps these thoughts will help me get closer!

Now That’s Rich!

Posted on by March 6, 2015
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Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

Did you see that Forbes just released it’s list of the world’s richest people? Bill Gates tops the list this year, with a cool $79.2 billion! I heard an interesting thing about these people. It seems that 70% of them could be described as “self made” — they have not inherited their wealth, they have worked for it.

Now here’s a Friday-night Bible quiz. Are you ready? here goes. Of all the people enjoying their riches in heaven, how many are “self-made saints?” And the answer is … zero, none, not a one! Here’s what the Bible says about where their wealth came from:

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11-14)

What? Can I hear an appeal against the judges ruling? What’s that you say, “What about all that laying up in heaven stuff?” Well, yes. All those treasures in heaven were sent ahead … but how did all those saints find the things to do that allowed them to build up those eternal bank balances? Turns out Paul supplied the answer to that one in the same letter to the Ephesians:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

Did you get that? We are not self made saints! God chose us, and He provided us with the jobs we can do so that we can lay up those treasures in heaven!

Now I don’t know how many of those billionaires are Christians. But I do know that if they haven’t sent real treasures ahead to heaven, they are the poorest of the poor. And if you’re as poor as a church mouse, but laying up a store in heaven — that’s rich!