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.

Jeremiah’s Turning #13: the Charge of Self-ism

Following the word “turn” (שוב) through Jeremiah’s prophecy.

“You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Do men fall and not get up again? Does one turn away [שוב] and not repent [שוב]? Why then has this people, Jerusalem, turned away [שוב] in continual apostasy? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return [שוב]. I have listened and heard, they have spoken what is not right; no man repented [נחם] of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turned [שוב] to his course, like a horse charging into the battle”’” (Jeremiah 8:4-6).

In these verses we English-speakers get an idea just how versatile Hebrew is as a language, and how important context is phrase-to-phrase. The same word, שוב, is used to mean both apostasy (turning away from God) and repentance (turning to God) in verses 4 and 5 – same word, opposite meanings!

Today we’ll focus on verse 6, where the people go boldly forth into wherever they feel like going. The refrain of Judges connects this to a lack of a king: “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25).

The inadequacy is not governmental. Don’t read it this way.

Even without a human king, they had what they needed for a rule of life as God’s covenant people: “He said, ‘The LORD came from Sinai, and dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; at His right hand there was flashing lightning for them. Indeed, He loves the people; all Your holy ones are in Your hand, and they followed in Your steps; everyone receives of Your words. Moses charged us with a law, a possession for the assembly of Jacob. And He was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, the tribes of Israel together’” (Deuteronomy 33:2-5). We are not to understand Judges 17:6; 21:25 to mean that the people had no light, no guidance. They had the royal Word of the Law. The problem isn’t that they were king-less. The problem was that they were sinners. This is the purpose of the Law – to show forth the sinfulness of the people and their need for Christ the King (Romans 7:7; Galatians 3:22-24).

The people’s complaint that they wanted a human king is traced back to a heart that rejected God as Savior and King. Their rejection of God led to the rejection of the prophet-judge appointed by God to mediate the royal Word of the Law to them: “The LORD said to Samuel, ‘Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day - in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods - so they are doing to you also’” (1 Samuel 8:7,8).

Their lack of a king is a surface problem. The heart problem is a people who have the royal Word of the Law, and have a Spirit-gifted leader to lead them in that Word, but would rather do their own thing while a human king preserves their safety and prosperity. The covenant people of God are not following the Word, but are living by the creed of the world, following their hearts. “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool” (Proverbs 28:26). They go forward boldly, as a horse charging into battle, following their hearts further and further away from the rule of their Savior-God and King.

Woe to a people who want a pastor who merely preserves the status quo of institutionalized tradition and closed social cliques.

Woe to a people who ignore the Word as the rule of life and yet seek blessing from God.

Christ is the conquering King (Matthew 28:18; Revelation 1:5), and He has given the Church the gift of those who will lead His people in the Word: “Therefore it says, ‘WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN [a quote from Psalm 68:18].’ (Now this expression, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He Who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:8-13).

“The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching” (1 Timothy 5:17).

God has given men to His Church to proclaim His royal Word as rule of life to save us from the tendency to charge forth after our hearts away from Him. Turn away from the charge into self and turn to the royal Word of the King. “And in the sentence of Scripture we are to rest, for it is in Scripture, delivered by the Spirit, that our faith is finally resolved” (1689 Baptist Confession, 1.10).

From One Ancient Church Song to Another

“The Lord said unto my Lord, ‘Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.’ The Lord shall send the rod of Thy power out of Zion: be Thou ruler in the midst of Thine enemies. Thy people shall come willingly at the time of assembling Thine army in holy beauty: the youth of Thy womb shall be as the morning dew” (Psalm 110:1-3, Geneva Bible).

While this Psalm is certainly one of the favorites of the New Testament (Matthew 22:44//Mark 12:36; Acts 2:34,35; Hebrews 1:13; 10:12,13), today it has me looking back to a much earlier song of the people of God.

“Then sang Deborah, and Barak the son of Abinoam the same day, saying,

‘Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel,

and for the people that offered themselves willingly.

Hear, ye kings, hearken ye princes:

I, even I will sing unto the Lord:

I will sing praise unto the Lord God of Israel.

Lord, when Thou wentest out of Seir,

when Thou departedst out of the field of Edom,

the earth trembled, and the heavens rained, the clouds also dropped water.

The mountains melted before the Lord,

as did that Sinai before the Lord God of Israel...

...mine heart is set on the governors of Israel,

and on them that are willing among the people: praise ye the Lord...

...for the noise of the archers appraised among the drawers of water:

there shall they rehearse the righteousness of the Lord,

His righteousness of His towns in Israel:

then did the people of the Lord go down to the gates.

Up Deborah, up, arise, and sing a song:

arise Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.

For they that remain, have dominion over the mighty of the people:

the Lord hath given me dominion over the strong...

...the Kings came and fought:

then fought the Kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo:

they received no gain of money.

They fought from heaven, even the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

The River Kishon swept them away, that ancient river the river Kishon.

O my soul, thou hast marched valiantly...

...so let all thine enemies perish, O Lord:

but they that love Him,

shall be as the Sun when he riseth in his might,

and the land had rest forty years’” (Judges 5:1-5,9,11-13,19-21,31).

In free and holy dedication to the only King of the Church (and the heavens and the earth, Matthew 28:18), may we go to “teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever” He has commanded us” (28:19,20).