A Cold, Dark, Dusty Morning with the Inconceivable One

Ah, the week of Daylight Saving Time. I said “week.” I have no idea why it takes me that long to adjust to a single hour’s change to the clock, but it does.

Our Berkhof group met early this morning at a coffee shop in town, and I’m exceedingly glad the fellow there makes good, strong brew. With the time change, the sun didn’t even rise until we were ready to leave. It was a dark, cold, and dusty morning in the high desert.

But the fruit of our fellowship was filling.

We discussed Berkhof’s analysis of agnosticism this morning. Toward the end of his critique, the theologian defends Barth against charges of agnosticism. He then makes this comment: “God reveals Himself exactly as the hidden God, and through His revelation makes us more conscious of the distance which separates Him from man than we ever were before” (Systematic Theology, Part One, II.B.)

I scribbled several verses in the margin of my copy of the “big purple brick” (a slightly more honorable title than the usual “big purple sleeping pill”) that highlight this truth from Scripture. God is knowable to us, but only through His self-revelation in the Scripture, and Scripture’s illumination by the Holy Spirit to those who receive it by faith. The more we know of Him, though, the more aware we are that He is not like us, and that the gracious revealing that makes Him known to us is exceedingly gracious because of the distance between us and Him. The closer He comes, in other words, the more we become aware of how far away He is and gracious He is in drawing near.

And we become ever more aware of the fact that we need a Mediator because of that distance-revealed-in-nearness.

“Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, ‘Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.’ But the LORD said to him, ‘Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.’ Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, ‘The LORD Is Peace.’ To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites. That night the LORD said to him, ‘Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down’” (Judges 6:22-26).

“And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, ‘If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the LORD.’ (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.) And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, ‘What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?’ And the angel of the LORD said to him, ‘Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?’ So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the LORD, to the One Who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the LORD went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground. The angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. And Manoah said to his wife, ‘We shall surely die, for we have seen God.’ But his wife said to him, ‘If the LORD had meant to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these’” (Judges 13:16-23).

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for’” (Isaiah 6:1-7).

“On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on Him to hear the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, He asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’ And Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at Your word I will let down the nets.’ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord’” (Luke 5:1-8).

Other than His self-revelation by the Spirit and the Word, God would be unknowable to us. But in knowing Him, we become more and more acutely aware of just how inconceivable He is. He is not us. In every scriptural account I just mentioned, the revelation of God (or even just His messenger!) made those receiving the revelation aware of God’s holiness and the incompatibility of that with the sinful human being. Atonement must be made. Substitutionary sacrifice must be offered. The infinite gap must be closed or we will not live before Him!

Jesus Christ Himself, in addition to being the full and complete revelation of God (John 1:18; 14:9; 2 Corinthians 4:4,6; Philippians 2:6; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3), is also the mediating Sacrifice that allows us to receive the knowledge and Presence of the Inconceivable One and live. Not live in the small way we usual consider it from day-to-day, but really and truly and abundantly live eternally to His glory and our unimaginably great joy.

Believe what God has revealed, repent of the sin that revelation reveals, and put your faith in the only Mediator that reconciles the knowledge and inconceivability of God.

Praying to the Only King

“Hear my words, O Lord: understand my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, MY KING AND MY GOD: for unto Thee do I pray. Hear my voice in the morning, O Lord: for in the morning will I direct me unto Thee, and I will wait” (Psalm 5:1-3, Geneva Bible).

There is one King, and His name is Jesus, for He has saved His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

There is one King, and He is the eternal Son of God (Matthew 3:17; 17:5; Mark 1:11; 9:7; 12:6; Luke 3:22; 20:13; John 17:5,24; Colossians 1:13) and God the Son (John 20:28; Hebrews 1:8).

There is one King, and His Kingdom is over all the heavens and the earth (Matthew 28:18).

There is one King, and His Kingdom will never end (Psalm 145:13; Daniel 2:44; 4:3; 6:26; 7:14; Luke 1:32,33; Revelation 11:15).

There is one King, and He is King over all the kings, princes, lords, and rulers of the earth (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 1:5; 17:14; 19:16).

There is one King, and He is also our only Mediator and Priest, the only One Who can save, the only One Who is always living to make intercession for us before His Father (Hebrews 7:25).

There is one King, and He is reigning and must reign until all His enemies are put down; the last of these is death (1 Corinthians 15:25,26).

There is one King, and to wait in His presence is not to be still but to fly and run with strength no youth has on this earth (Isaiah 40:28-31).

There is one King, and to love Him is to obey Him (John 14:15,21,23) and to teach others to obey Him, as well (Matthew 28:20).

There is one King, and He is both the Father’s complete expression of infinite and eternal love (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Titus 3:4; 1 John 4:10) and the complete expression of infinite and eternal judgment (John 5:19-30; Acts 10:42,43; 17:30,31; Hebrews 1:8,9; Revelation 19:11-21).

There is one King, and He loves His Father (John 14:31) and those who are His own (John 13:1; Galatians 2:20), but hates lawlessness (Hebrews 1:8,9).

There is one King, and He is full of joy (Hebrews 1:9).

Cry to Him, pray to Him, direct yourself to Him, and wait on Him. He is King and God.

Today's Gifts, Not Tomorrow's Rot

“They...fled unto Lystra, and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region round about, and there preached the Gospel. Now there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, which was a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. He heard Paul speak: who beholding him and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, ‘Stand upright on thy feet.’ And he leaped up, and walked. Then when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, ‘Gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.’ And they called Barnabas, Jupiter: and Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then Jupiter’s Priest, which was before their city, brought bulls with garlands unto the gates, and would have sacrificed with the people. But when the Apostles, Barnabas and Paul heard it, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying, and saying, ‘O men, why do ye these things? We are even men subject to the like passions that ye be, and preach unto you, that ye should turn from these vain things unto the living God, which made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that in them are: Who in times past suffered all the Gentiles to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food, and gladness’” (Acts 14:6-17, Geneva Bible).

God is the Source of all the happy things in the life of humanity, from work (“fruitful seasons”) to pleasure (“food, and gladness”). We’ve been going through Ecclesiastes the last few months, hearing the message of the Preacher about these things. “There is no profit to man, but that he eat and drink, and delight his soul with the profit of his labor: I saw also this, that it was of the hand of God...I know that there is nothing good in them, but to rejoice, and to do good in his life. And also that every man eateth and drinketh, and seeth the commodity of all his labor. This is the gift of God...behold then, what I have seen good, that it is comely to eat, and to drink, and to take pleasure in all his labor, wherein he travaileth under the sun, the whole number of the days of his life, which God giveth him: for this is his portion. Also to every man to whom God hath given riches and treasures, and giveth him power to eat thereof, and to take his part, and to enjoy his labor: this is the gifts of God. Surely he will not much remember the days of his life, because God answereth to the joy of his heart...and I praised joy, for there is no goodness to man under the sun, save to eat and to drink and to rejoice: for this is adjoined to his labor the days of his life that God hath given him under the sun...go, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a cheerful heart: for God now accepteth thy works. At all times let thy garments be white, and let not oil be lacking upon thine head. Rejoice with the wife whom thou hast loved all the days of the life of thy vanity, which God hath given thee under the sun all the days of thy vanity” (Ecclesiastes 2:24; 3:12,13; 5:18-20; 8:15; 9:7-9). Give thanks to God for His gifts to us today (work and pleasure), but don’t try to wring meaning, peace, security, hope, fulfillment, identity, etc., out of them. They are given to us today to point us to the Giver of the gifts, Who has twisted reality so that we must turn to Him in faith to find all that we seek to get out of reality (Genesis 3:16-19; Ecclesiastes 7:13). Like the manna He gave from heaven to the children of Israel in the desert, it’s only good for today’s need and happiness; hold on to it until tomorrow and it’s rot (Exodus 16:13-21). Trust Him with tomorrow. Don’t be like the Lycaonians, worshiping everything except the Giver, Who has “left not Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food, and gladness.” Give Him thanks today for the work and the pleasure He gives in the name that is above all names, the only name given under heaven by which we must be saved, the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

As for Me and My House

The house of the world, Shift, where nothing is absolute: “She weigheth not the way of life: her paths are moveable: thou canst not know them...keep thy way far from her, and come not near the door of her house” (Proverbs 5:6,8, Geneva Bible).

The house of the unchangeable God (Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17), the Church, where the truth of His Word is absolute: “...the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).

To which house to you belong?

Don't Blame Love

• "...put on love, which is the bond of perfectness" (Colossians 3:14, Geneva Bible).
• "...let us which are of the day...[be] putting on...love" (1 Thessalonians 5:8).

True love is an act of the will, and is not to be blamed for the self-will that breaks covenant.We do not helplessly fall in or out, but either put it on in covenant commitment or unrepentantly masquerade for temporary convenience.

I recognize that all humans (even Christians and especially myself) sin, but there is no biblical justification for an appeal to God's mercy, forgiveness, and love apart from a repentant confession of sin (as defined by the Scripture). The entry-point for the eternal enjoyment and consolation of the benefits of Christ is humbly and freely confessing that sin is sin as defined by the Scripture.

So, breaking covenant in the name of love and then - either in open or tacit unrepentant rebellion - appealing to the fact that "God is love," "forgiving," or "merciful" is further evidence from your own lips that you want the benefits of ideas like love, forgiveness, or mercy without committing to the covenant in which they are solely found.

Don't blame love.

The Hatred of the Son of God

“But of the Son He says, ‘you have...hated LAWLESSNESS...’” (Hebrews 1:8,9, quoting Psalm 45:6,7).

“For by one offering He [the Son] has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them," He then says, ‘And their sins and THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I will remember no more’” (Hebrews 10:14-17, quoting Jeremiah 31:33,34).

Son of God, thank you for saving us from that which You hate – and saving us from Your hate!