The Tale of the Serpent-Slaying King

This is a story I have told twice lately in teaching the saints; I want to share it here, too. It is a beautiful and powerful tale, and, like all the best tales, is true.

On Wednesday evenings, we’ve been learning about God’s teaching concerning “Christ” in 1 Samuel. “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name, but is the Greek translation (Χριστός) of the Hebrew word “Messiah” (מָשִׁיחַ), which means “Anointed One.”[1]

Prior to 1 Samuel, only the priests had the title “anointed one” (Leviticus 4:3,5,16; 6:22). Late in Israel’s Period of the Judges, however, there was a woman named Hannah who desperately wanted a child. She prayed to the LORD, and He gave her a son named Samuel. When the boy was weaned, she brought him to the high priest to be raised in the service of the LORD. Upon leaving her son, Hannah prayed a prayer of thanksgiving (1 Samuel 2:1-10).^[2] At the end of her prayer, she prophesies of a great new work of God with His people - the Messiah/Christ/Anointed One would not just be a priest, but also a King: “He keeps the feet of His godly ones, but the wicked ones are silenced in darkness; for not by might shall a man prevail. Those who contend with the Lord will be shattered; against them He will thunder in the heavens, the Lord will judge the ends of the earth; and He will give strength to His king, and will exalt the horn of His anointed [מָשִׁיחַ, or Messiah]” (1 Samuel 2:9,10).^[3]

Let’s look at three who held the office of God’s Anointed One (Messiah/Christ).

Saul held the office first. After being anointed (1 Samuel 10:1), Saul faced off with Nahash, king of Ammonites (11:1-15). The name Nahash means “serpent” (same word used in Genesis 3). God’s anointed king over His people faced off with the serpent-king. Saul was ultimately rejected from the office of Anointed One/Messiah/Christ because of his disobedience to God (1 Samuel 15:22,23).[4]

David held the office next. After being anointed (1 Samuel 16:13), he faced off against Goliath, the giant “clothed with scale-armor” (17:5) - a serpent-warrior. David could not stay in the office of God’s Anointed One/Messiah/Christ because he aged and died.

Jesus of Nazareth holds the office of Anointed One/Messiah/Christ finally and forever. Saul and David were anointed with oil, representing the Holy Spirit.[5] Jesus is anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism.

Compare these two passages about David and Jesus’ anointing. First, David: “…Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him… and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward” (1 Samuel 16:13). Second, Jesus: “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased’” (Matthew 3:16,17// Mark 1:10,11//Luke 3:21,22//John 3:32-34). David, whose name means “beloved,” goes through a visible rite (anointing with oil) which represents his being given the Holy Spirit upon entering the office of God’s Anointed King. Jesus, pronounced “Beloved,” goes through a visible rite (baptism) and receives the Holy Spirit upon entering the office of God’s Anointed King.

Like Saul and David, Jesus, after being anointed into the office of Anointed One/Messiah/Christ, faces off against the serpent (Matthew 4:1-11//Mark 1:12,13//Luke 4:1-13). Jesus does not vacate the office because of either disobedience or death, since He is perfectly obedient to the Father and, though He “was dead,” is “alive forevermore” (Revelation 1:18).

God’s Anointed One/Messiah/Christ defeats the enemy of God’s covenant people, the serpent, fulfilling the promise of Genesis 3:15.

“The Lord God said to the serpent,

‘…I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise Him on the heel’” (Genesis 3:14,15).

We know this theme is important because it is counter-balanced on the other side of the Bible from Genesis 3 in the Revelation (chapters 12 and 20).

Christ “must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25).

Q. 30. How does Christ execute the office of a king?

A. Christ executes the office of a king,

in subduing us to Himself,

in ruling and defending us,

and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies.

-          Baptist Catechism, by Benjamin Keach (1640-1704)

It is a great tale. And it is true.

Remember the basic saving confession of Christianity: “…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Confessing “Jesus as Lord” is not an empty statement. Jesus is “the ruler over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 1:5), the One Who “overcame and sat down with [His] Father on His throne” (3:21), the One Who is named “King of kings and Lord of lords” (19:16), and is “the root and Offspring of David” (22:16). It is the voice of the Holy Spirit through believers (1 Corinthians 12:3), given by God the Father for His universal and eternal glory (Philippians 2:11).

Believe in Him, and give Him glory as King. It is your “Great Commission,” Church: “Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
hitchhiking along NM-9.

---

[1] It’s become popular in the last decades to emphasize Hebrew words in Christian devotion/worship, but notice that the New Testament doesn’t attempt to bring the Hebrew word “Messiah” into its language of Greek (outside of John 1:41; 4:25, where its meaning is explained). God’s work in the New Testament to today is beyond a single people’s language; the Lamb has “purchased for God” with His “blood men from every…tongue” (Revelation 5:9). God is not on a Hebrew-is-holy trajectory. I would put the use of “Yahweh” in this category, too. The N.T. doesn’t attempt to render this name (it approximates its meaning in Revelation 1:4 with “Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come”); Jesus Himself, in fact, commands us to address God as “Father” (Matthew 6:9). This peppering Christian worship with Hebrew (by non-Hebrew speakers) is akin to the language snobbery of 1 Corinthians 12-14 or the Roman Catholic Mass being in Latin (when the people had ceased to speak or understand Latin).

[2] Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) echoes much of Hannah’s prayer.

[3] In the same chapter, “a man of God” prophesies to Eli, the high priest, about the corruption of his sons. Through the prophet, the LORD says, “I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and in My soul; and I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed [מָשִׁיחַ, or Messiah] always” (1 Samuel 2:35).

[4] Even after being rejected by God, David continues to refer to Saul as “the LORD’s anointed,” or Messiah/Christ (1 Samuel 24:6,10; 26:9,11,16,23; 2 Samuel 1:14,16).

[5] “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). For Saul and the Holy Spirit, read 10:1-16. For David and the Holy Spirit, read 1 Samuel 16:13.

The Birth of a Girl and the Great Story

I saw a meme slandering the “religion” of the Bible yesterday, justifying the rejection because of this citation (I give it exactly as it appeared): A woman who bears a female child is twice as filthy as one who gives birth to a male. Leviticus 12:1-5

First, there is no verse that says this (notice the citation is for 5 verses). Second, no English translation of Leviticus 12:1-5 uses the word “filthy.”

The passage hinted at and twisted actually says this: “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: “When a woman gives birth and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her menstruation she shall be unclean. On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Then she shall remain in the blood of her purification for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing, nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed. But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall remain in the blood of her purification for sixty-six days” (Leviticus 12:1-5).[1]

You can reject the Bible because of a single idea (not accurately quoted) that seems offensive in our culture and time (so much for tolerance, understanding, and pluralism, eh?). Or, you can step back and see this verse as reaching back to the first and greatest low point in human history where a promise of incredible saving grace was given…then see that this verse bridges between that bright promise on a dark day and a future day when the promise was fulfilled in the greatest gift the world has ever (or will ever) see.

Let me tell you a story. Leviticus 12:1-5 is an element of that story.

In the beginning, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule’” (Genesis 1:27,28). There’s no category of “unclean” at this point. God’s creation “was very good” (1:31). The “unclean” part comes in later.

God created a unique place of joyful communion with Him – “a garden…in Eden” (2:8). All that human beings could need was there. They could “from any tree of the garden…eat freely” (2:16). Except one tree, which was the test of faithful obedience to the Creator Who had supplied their needs and made them to be in blessed relationship with Him, the Source of Life and Goodness. The one commandment was given to them: “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die’” (Genesis 2:15-17).

Then something happened.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, “You shall not eat from any tree of the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.”’ The serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate…” (Genesis 3:1-6).[2]

Every verse after Genesis 3:6, and every moment of human existence (including yours and mine) afterwards, is grace. That could have been the end. But God, from before the foundation of the world, knew what would transpire and had a plan. The ending would be better than the beginning. It’s a story played out over a very long time, though. As the twisting and criticism of Leviticus 12:1-5 shows, we don’t often have the patience for a long story, no matter how beautiful.

Serpent, woman, and man are summoned to God’s tribunal for this rebellion. The serpent is cursed by God. In the curse, God makes a promise. The Promise. “I will put enmity [warfare] between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel” (3:15). Immediately after this, the woman’s punishment is announced: “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth” (3:16). The woman tastes death – the punishment for rebellion – in giving birth, even shedding blood (life, as we’ll see). Every birth is a reminder of the sentence of death, a reminder that the saving serpent-Crusher promised by God is desperately needed.

A long time later, God organizes His people into a nation, giving them moral laws, civil laws, and ceremonial laws. The ceremonial laws reminded them that they were a people who lived by a different standard than all the other peoples of the world, who were alienated from Him and living however they desired (the autonomy espoused by the serpent that fateful first day of the Fall of humanity). Among those ceremonial laws was Leviticus 12:1-5. The shedding of blood was significant from a symbolic standpoint, for “…the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). Bloodshed was to be a reminder that rebellion against God forfeited the life of the rebel, and that sin had separated us from God. The blood and the ritual inconvenience was to be a reminder. Those laws under that old covenant (we call it the Old Testament) applied to all of life for God’s people – there was no aspect of life that didn’t point them to the Great Story. Including childbirth, in which (as a result of Eve’s rebellion) there is the shedding of blood, a picture of sin-caused death (alienation from God) even in the entry of life into the world. We need the serpent-Crushing Savior.

Why, though, was the ritual time of “uncleanness” longer with the birth of a girl? It’s not because God or the Bible consider girls bad. In fact, did you know that, among all the ancient religious texts, the Bible is the only one that tells us about the creation of women (Genesis 2:18-25)?[3] The Bible is filled with women who were great heroes, from the judges of Israel to prophetesses to incredible key parts of the Great Story! No, Leviticus 12:5 isn’t there because girls are worse than boys. It’s there to keep reminding us of the roots of the Great Story and The Promise. The apostle Paul later says, “the woman [Eve] being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Timothy 2:14). The birth of a girl, daughter of Eve, reminds us that through the woman Eve’s actions, sin entered humanity. Before you get angry at how unfair this seems, remember: God is not holding a grudge against the female gender because of Eve. He is reminding every generation in which a girl was born that through the “seed” of the woman the serpent-Crusher was going to enter the world. The birth of a girl brought a longer meditation on this Promise and the need for that Promise’s fulfillment than the birth of a boy.

Instead of the female of humanity being a stigma forever reminding of one woman’s sin, the female of humanity was, by the gracious plan and Promise of God, the means by which the solution to humanity’s problem was to be solved. Bloodshed and “uncleanness” were reminders that we all are under sentence of death for our rebellion against God, but through the woman a serpent-Crusher was going to come. This was worth a two weeks’ reminder with every birth of a girl among the ancient people of God.

Let’s fast-forward. The Bible tells us that, “when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law” (Galatians 4:4), including the “Law” contained in Leviticus 12:1-5. The serpent-Crusher didn’t come through the “seed” of a man. This is why Mary’s conceiving of Christ as a virgin is theologically important – it fulfills the promise of the first pages of the Bible! The messenger-angel said this to Mary upon bringing her the news: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). The same messenger-angel assured Mary’s fiancé Joseph with this revelation: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child Who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20,21).

The regulation of Leviticus 12:1-5 isn’t there to stigmatize women and infant girls. It’s there as a reminder that humanity’s greatest problem, brought into the world by the first woman’s sin, will be incredibly and gloriously solved by God through a woman. The beginning was tragic, but it is infinitely out-shined by the ending. Like any good story, the tension was maintained and built throughout the telling, and Leviticus 12:1-5 was part of that.

It’d be a shame to miss out on the whole Story.

Genesis 3:15 has been fulfilled by God when He sent His Son into the world through a woman - not just one famous woman (Mary), but through women who were providentially brought into the Christ-story even though their backgrounds should have excluded them. Ruth was from Moab, not Israel…she wasn’t part of the nation God was using to bring His Son into the world, but by His incredible gracious plan to “purchase for God with [Christ’s blood]…from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9), she was included. Her name is in Jesus Christ’s genealogy (Matthew 1:5). Rahab was a harlot in Jericho…the same Jericho filled with idol-worshipers consigned to destruction (Joshua 6:1-27). But by God’s providential plan and grace, Rahab and her family were saved out of the destruction. And she became part of the Old Testament people of God, Israel. Her name is in Jesus Christ’s genealogy (Matthew 1:5).

The ceremonial regulation of Leviticus 12:1-5 doesn’t apply to new covenant (New Testament) believers anymore, because it was fulfilled in Christ, the serpent-Crushing seed of the woman promised in Genesis 3:15. Now “you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you” (Galatians 3:26-29, New Living Translation). Men and women are equal in the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ (the same equality by which both are described as the image of God back in Genesis 1:27). In Christ, a woman is to be honored “as a fellow heir of the grace of life.” God doesn’t even hear the prayers of anyone who treats her less than this (1 Peter 3:7)!

Let me finish up the story by taking us to the words of the apostle Paul: “I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness - with good works. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she [Eve] will be saved through childbearing [her “Seed,” Jesus Christ] - if they [female Christians] continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control” (1 Timothy 2:8-15, English Standard Version). The mandate that women not be pastor-teachers in the Church isn’t a punishment. It is, like Leviticus 12:1-5, a telling of the Gospel story in the role women play in the Church. Women still speak the truth of God’s Word by the power of the Holy Spirit, what the Bible calls “prophecy” (Acts 2:17; 21:9; 1 Corinthians 11:5). But they don’t take the leading teaching role in the Church, as a telling of the story of Eve and the eventual salvation that came through her “Seed,” Jesus Christ. Children of Eve, tell this story by continuing in “faith” in her “Seed,” Jesus Christ, in “love and holiness, with self-control.”

I’ve heard for decades now that the attention span of the average American is continually shrinking. I wonder if we’re capable of reading beyond a meme or bumper sticker anymore. Please don’t reject the Grand Story of God’s Love because of a single tiny falsehood that popped up on your screen appealing to your innate desire to rebel against everything.

“‘She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet [in Isaiah 7:14]: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:21-23).

Believe in Jesus Christ, this “Seed” of the woman, the great serpent-Crusher, the Defeater of the sin-penalty of eternal death, the Savior of all – men and women equally – who call on His name, the Reconcilion to our Creator, and the Demonstration of the love of God.

Yes, the love of God. “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world [as the “Seed” of the woman] so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son [as the “Seed” of the woman] to be the propitiation [punishment-taker] for our sins” (1 John 4:9,10).

Believe.

---

[1] New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.

[2] What’s sad about this is that the serpent hasn’t had to change his strategy in the least since that moment. The meme slandering the “religion” of the Bible is a modern expression of that “serpent of old” (Revelation 12:9): twist the Word of God, then outright deny the Word of God. It worked then, and still works today. The Bible says these continuing followers of the serpent’s way are in “the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:26). God grant them freedom to the truth of the Bible!

[3] Some will chafe at the creation of the woman – wife to the first man – as a “helper” (Genesis 2:18). “The term ‘helper,’ which is also used by God to identify Himself (Exod. 18:4; Deut. 33:7), describes the woman God created to become a partner with the man in the overwhelming task of exercising dominion over the world and extending the generations (Gen. 1:28; 2:18). When you call upon God to be your ‘Helper,’ you are not suggesting that He divest Himself of His deity and supernatural powers. Rather you ask Him to come to your aid with the powers of His divine person. There is no hint of inferiority in the term. It describes function (what she does) rather than worth (who she is).” Dorothy Kelley Patterson, “The Family,” in Baptist Faith & Message 2000: Critical Issues in America’s Largest Protestant Denomination, ed. Douglas K. Blount and Joseph D. Wooddell (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 188.

The Problem's Not Far Away

One of my favorite times on vacation with my family is attending worship. I don’t say that to sound super-holy. I enjoy - and need - the change in perspective (not just professionally, but personally). Sitting with my family and listening to a sermon. Singing with my wife by my side. This is an exceedingly rare experience for me. Because this doesn’t happen much, I take a lot of time finding the congregation with which we will worship. Wherever we’re vacationing, I find the nearby S.B.C. congregations (my confessional fellowship, or denomination). I look at their websites. What are their stated values? What do they think is most important about their existence in their community? How do they define “worship”? What’s been preached from the pulpit this year? I don’t have the luxury of an extended taste-and-see church-search as I would if I had actually moved into the neighborhood. One shot. Sometimes it means a local congregation. Another time it meant driving 41 miles over a major mountain pass (two years ago – worth the drive). This year it meant an easier drive of 55 miles. There were two large S.B.C. churches in the town we were staying, but I was searching for something different than “large” and attractive. I’m sure they’ve gotten to be the size they are for very good reasons, but we get one opportunity as a family to worship like this.

I found a congregation in downtown Durango, Gospel Church Durango. S.B.C. Relatively small. No building of their own. “Worship” was defined as far more than music. A Christ-centered view of the Word and the Table were the focus. It was worth the drive. We spent as much time in prayer as we did singing. Scripture reading wasn’t limited to the sermon. The sermon was nice and meaty, and anchored solidly to the Word (with a focus on Christ, even though the text was O.T.) – in other words, I was able to rest in the moment of the sermon knowing my family was hearing the Word faithfully preached (no post-message correction talk). The Table played a prominent role in the service. It was a veritable Christ-feast. Loved it.

The pastor was preaching from Genesis (as I have been doing all year at I.H.B.C.). I enjoyed hearing the text being read and preached by someone else.

As he was preaching through the blame-shifting part of the Fall, another connection started resonating in my mind. In our Berkhof reading group, we spent several weeks discussing the decree of God. Here’s a brief confessional definition: “God has decreed in Himself from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably, all things which shall ever come to pass. Yet in such a way that God is neither the author of sin nor does He have fellowship with any in the committing of sins, nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established” (1689 Baptist Confession, 3.1).

How can God be good Creator and sovereign Sustainer when there’s evil? On one level, we can trace human evil back to Adam (“...through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned,” Romans 5:12). But that doesn’t help much, since the serpent sneaks into the garden already a transgressor and the root of evil. Where does the serpent come from? He is created by God. “Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field...now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made” (Genesis 2:19; 3:1). But God’s not evil nor the root of evil. How do we solve this conundrum with the limited biblical data given us?

As we just read yesterday in our Berkhof reading group, the Bible has very little to say about the creation of the angelic beings, including the Adversary.

For millennia, every theologian (and everyone’s a theologian) has tried to solve the problem of evil. I’m not sure it can be solved, and suspect there’s a pride problem involved when someone thinks they have completely solved what no one has been able to solve since the dawn of time.

That being said, we should still think on these things, but need to have several cautions in mind.

In thinking on the problem of evil and its origins, let’s beware of blame-shifting too far away from us: “And He said, ‘...have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’ The man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.’ Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ And the woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate’” (Genesis 3:11-13).

In the first trial in human history, the man and woman try not to solve the problem of evil, but to get it far away from them personally.

Never forget that the problem of evil isn’t greatest in the mysterious origin of the rebellious serpent, the horrifying stuff in the news, or the heartbreaking decisions of the people we know. The problem of evil is greatest in us. We are evil, even the best among us. Whitewash this, try to justify yourself, play the moral comparison game to try to come out on top, or attempt to wiggle your way out, and you’ll get just about everything else wrong.

“For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:14-25).

No matter how baffled I am trying to unravel theological mysteries from the Word, one thing is clear: I am evil and dead in evil apart from salvation by God’s free grace through faith in Christ alone.

No matter how overwhelming the wicked storm of the whole world seems on the news, there is a greater storm that threatens me (and my family) most: I am evil and dead in evil apart from salvation by God’s free grace through faith in Christ alone.

No matter how hurt and disappointed I am by the actions of people I love and respect as they act out their sin in contradiction to the clear teaching of the Word, there is the potential in me to far out-do them in their foolishness: I am evil and dead in evil apart from salvation by God’s free grace through faith in Christ alone.

The problem of evil is not in ancient history, theological abstraction, on the internet news, or in other people. The real problem of evil is in me, but God in Christ has solved it finally and completely.

An Old Lie Trumped by an Eternal Truth

It’s Monday morning, which means that Sunday is coming. I am working on that approaching Day’s sermon from Genesis 3:4,5. In this text the serpent contradicts the Word of God, and worse, slanders the character of God

The serpent implies that God is not good in His character, His plans for His people, and in His Word. The antivenom to this lie is a firm belief that God is good. He is good no matter what. He is good all the time.

The Bible assures us that the covenant relationship-God, “the LORD” (יהוה) is good:

• “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13).
• “O taste and see that the LORD is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” (Psalm 34:8).
• “For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 100:5).
• “Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing praises to His name, for it is lovely” (Psalm 135:3).
• “The LORD is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 145:9).
• “Thus says the LORD, ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you say, “It is a waste, without man and without beast,” that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, “Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting”; and of those who bring a thank offering into the house of the LORD. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the LORD” (Jeremiah 33:10,11).
• “The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him” (Lamentations 3:25).
• “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him” (Nahum 1:7).

The Old Testament does affirm that “God is good” (the generic אלהים used by the serpent, who avoids the covenant title יהוה) but only does so one time, and that one time limits this goodness to His covenant relationship with His people: “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart!” (Psalm 73:1).

However, there’s an interesting exchange between Jesus and an inquirer in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 19:16,17//Mark 10:17,18//Luke 18:18,19). In Jesus’ first answer to this man, He seems to deny His own deity. Arians (in their various heretical incarnations) have pointed to these verses from generation to generation as proof that Jesus Himself did not claim to be God. However, in doing some background reading as part of sermon prep, I found Stephen Charnock’s (1628-1680) commentary on this text. The connection between the goodness of God and the deity of Christ becomes beautifully coherent in this Puritan’s observations: “Some think that Christ hereby would draw him to an acknowledgement of Him as God; you acknowledge me ‘good’; how come you to salute me with so great a title...you must own me to be God, since you own me to be ‘good’; goodness being a title only due, and properly belonging, to the Supreme Being. If you take me for a common man, with what conscience can you salute me in a manner proper to God...He doth not here deny His Deity, but reproves him for calling Him good, when he had not yet confessed Him to be more than a man. You behold My flesh, but you consider not the fullness of My Deity; if you account Me ‘good,’ account Me God, and imagine Me not to be a simple and a mere man. He disowns not His own Deity, but allures the young man to a confession of it...why dost thou own Me to be ‘good,’ unless thou own Me to be God...had He said, there is none ‘good’ but the Father, He had excluded Himself; but in saying, there is none ‘good’ but God, He comprehends Himself...if you are serious, why do you call me ‘good,’ and make bold to fix so great a title upon One you have no higher thoughts of than a mere man?” (The Existence and Attributes of God, Vol. 2, Discourse XII).

The serpent implies that God is not good, an all-powerful Denier of goodness to His Creation.

Jesus Christ implies that to confess Him to be good is necessarily to confess Him to be God, Him Who is both eternal God and - at the same time - the boundlessly good Provision of God for His people.

May we in every moment of every day walk away from the lie of the serpent and run toward our good God in His Son Jesus Christ. “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Draw near. He is good.

Two Songs, Two Adams

Two traditions go along with Psalm 90. First, authorship of the Psalm is ascribed to Moses (also the author of the first five books of the Bible, including Genesis). Second, the Psalm is a song of Adam, the first human being.

Adam begins by singing to the Creator-God, Who was eternally God before the Creation. “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God” (90:2). This is in accord with Paul’s teaching that the Creation should point us to the eternal God: “For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20). This is Adam’s reflection on the Creation, written through Moses in Genesis 1-2. We know from experience, however, that there is a Genesis 3. Adam’s song continues to reflect this reality.

“You return man to dust and say, ‘Return, O children of man!’” (90:3).

“For we are brought to an end by Your anger; by Your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence. For all our days pass away under Your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away” (90:7-10).

This is the curse of Adam and all those in Adam:

• “And to Adam He said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, “You shall not eat of it,” cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return’” (Genesis 3:17-19).
• “...sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned...many died through one man’s trespass...because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man...one trespass led to condemnation for all men...by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners” (Romans 5:12-21).
• “...by a man came death...in Adam all die” (1 Corinthians 15:21,22).
• “The first man was from the earth, a man of dust...as was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust...we have borne the image of the man of dust” (1 Corinthians 15:47-59).

As Adam’s Psalm sings, we are familiar with God’s wrath and we are acquainted with the shortness of our lives before we return to the dust as a result of that wrath. We also have in this Psalm testimony to Adam’s post-Fall faith in the promise of salvation through Christ, however. It involves a repentant reflection on sin and the deserved wrath, but looks forward by faith to the fulfillment of the promised curse of the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). The woman’s “offspring” (literally, “seed”) is the promised Christ Who came into the world the first Advent through the virgin (Luke 1:28-37) to destroy the works of the serpent (1 John 3:8). From Noah’s father (Genesis 5:28,29) to Simeon (Luke 2:25), God’s elect awaited the coming of this serpent-crusher.

Adam, along with his repentant consideration of his sin before an offended God (Psalm 90), made a confession of faith in the promise of Genesis 3:15 in the naming of his wife: “The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20). She cannot be said to be the “mother of all living” in a merely biological sense because both he and she were under a sentence of death (Genesis 2:16,17; consider also the repetition of “and he died” in chapter 5). Adam’s naming of his wife is a statement of faith in the promise of a Savior coming through her seed Who would bring life to God’s people. Psalm 90 also shows this faith in the coming One: “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on Your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love [חסד, or covenant-love], that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil” (90:12-15).

Man was created to work (Genesis 1:28); contrary to the view of our culture, in fact, the commission to work is introduced by the verb “blessed.” Adam still had this understanding, and it is reflected in his song: “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” (90:17). This same attitude of seeing God’s favor and blessing in daily work is also seen in Ecclesiastes 2:24; 3:12,13,22; 5:18-20; 8:15; 9:7-9; 11:8,9. Sadly, it would not take long for humanity to stop singing a prayer for God’s blessing over daily labor. Soon they would begin worshiping the work of their hands (Deuteronomy 4:28; 2 Kings 19:18; 22:17; 2 Chronicles 32:19; Psalm 115:4; 135:15; Isaiah 2:8; 37:19; Jeremiah 25:6; Hosea 14:3; Micah 5:13; Revelation 9:20). And they haven’t stopped.

Psalm 90 is the song of Adam, which Moses was inspired by the Holy Spirit to record for us. This is not the end of this story, however, for there is another Adam, and He, too, has a song: Psalm 91.

The apostle Paul describes Christ, the serpent-crushing seed of the woman, as the second Adam (Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:45). Psalm 91 is the song of the second Adam. The serpent knew this as he tempted the second Adam, not in a garden, but in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11//Luke 4:1-13). The serpent mis-applies Psalm 91:11,12 (after all, twisting Scripture worked the first time – Genesis 3:1-6). It is about Christ, but the serpent’s application of it – God’s protection means a life with no trauma – is faulty, and Christ sees right through it.

“Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down, for it is written [in Psalm 90:11,12], “‘He will command His angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written [in Deuteronomy 6:16], “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test”’” (Matthew 4:5-7).

So how are we to apply Psalm 91? Applying it immediately to ourselves falls quickly into the serpent’s way of application, for God’s people do experience difficulty and trial in this world. In fact, we are promised this tribulation (John 15:19,20; 16:33; Acts 14:22; Romans 8:36; 2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Peter 4:12)! Claiming Psalm 91 for ourselves will lead us into conflict with the words of Jesus and the apostles.

Psalm 91 is the song of the second Adam. In the verse immediately following the ones the serpent mis-applied, we have the Singer identified in connection with the original Gospel promise of the first Adam’s faith: “...the serpent You will trample underfoot” (91:13).

It is the song of One Who eternally was one with the Father, enjoying His presence. In this world it was Christ’s focus – returning to the presence of the Father, even if it was through the cross: “Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

The Singer of Psalm 91, the second Adam, rejoices in this eternal fellowship and Presence as a Person of the Trinity: “He Who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and My fortress, My God, in Whom I trust’...You have made the LORD Your dwelling place - the Most High, Who is My refuge” (91:1,2,9).

In return, God promises the Singer deliverance: “For He will deliver You from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover You with His pinions, and under His wings You will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at Your side, ten thousand at Your right hand, but it will not come near You. You will only look with Your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked...no evil shall be allowed to befall You, no plague come near Your tent. For He will command His angels concerning You to guard You in all Your ways. On their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent You will trample underfoot” (91:3-8,10-13).

Reading the prayer of the grieved Soul in the garden of Gethsemane and then the torture and crucifixion, it may seem that the song was sung in vain. He wasn’t rescued or preserved, it seems.

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46//Mark 15:34). Another song of Christ (Psalm 22:1). After hearing Him sing this one through split lips with ragged breath, how can we believe that He sings Psalm 91, as well? How can we reconcile these two? The writer of Hebrews brings it together for us. “In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him Who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence” (Hebrews 5:7). “He was heard”? Is this mockery? He prayed for deliverance from death and still died! How can the writer say that Christ’s prayer for deliverance “was heard”?

Because of the resurrection. The apostle Peter tells us that David pens another Psalm which prophetically saw the resurrection: “...this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it. For David says concerning Him [in Psalm 16:8-11], ‘I saw the Lord always before Me, for He is at My right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore My heart was glad, and My tongue rejoiced; My flesh also will dwell in hope. For You will not abandon My soul to Hades, or let Your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to Me the paths of life; You will make Me full of gladness with Your presence.’ Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that He would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God...” (Acts 2:23-33).

This is not the song of a problem-free life, but the song of the eternal Son of God Who added humanity to His eternal deity and became the promised serpent-crusher, the Awaited One. This is not the song of health and wealth in this broken world, but the song of the One Whose heel was bruised by the serpent even as He crushed that serpent’s head. This is not the song of terrestrial utopia, but of a passing through death into eternal life in the presence of Joy Himself.

“We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him” (Romans 6:9).

“Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living One. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades’” (Revelation 1:17,18).

Psalm 91 is the song of the second Adam, Who enters the world to save us from the curse through His death and returns to the presence of God after the resurrection: “Because He holds fast to Me in love, I will deliver Him; I will protect Him, because He knows My name. When He calls to Me, I will answer Him; I will be with Him in trouble; I will rescue Him and honor Him. With long life I will satisfy Him and show Him My salvation” (91:14-16).

Sing Psalm 90, Church. In repentance sing of the curse of a temporary life under wrath that soon enough will return to dust. Sing of the gracious mercy of the covenant-God, Who calls us to faith in Him the days of the labor and toil which He has given us.

Sing Psalm 91, Church. Sing of the One Who left the eternal Presence of God and came to crush the serpent’s head. Sing of the One Who did not yield to a world-loving mis-application of Scripture, but kept His faith placed on God alone even through death unto resurrection. Put your faith in Him alone for your salvation, for He does not go to the Presence of God for Himself alone. He goes to lead us home. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

Sing the songs of Adam, Church.

The Desolation at the Waning of the Year

“They were come to the Desolation of the Dragon, and they were come at the waning of the year.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Hobbit”

It can be overwhelming. Before this Tolkien wrote, “it was a weary journey...there was no laughter or song or sound of harps...they knew that they were drawing near to the end of their journey, and that it might be a very horrible end. The land about them grew bleak and barren...” A lot of believers have this perspective as they look at sin’s effects in the world and in their own lives. However, the “desolation” is not the whole of the picture, especially for believers. Let’s sit at the feet of the apostle who himself saw the dragon in vision (Revelation 12:1-17; 20:1-3).

This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all...if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin...I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name's sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him Who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know Him Who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions - is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us...whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil...beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for He Who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error...we know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 1:5,7; 2:12-19; 3:8; 4:1-6; 5:18,19).

Yes, John saw the dragon and his effects on the world. That wicked serpent has been lying and producing offspring in the world from the beginning (Genesis 3:1-15; John 8:44) – his work is not limited to the “end times” (did you notice that John said it was the “last hour” two millennia ago?). Throughout human history the desolation of the dragon has been wrought in every generation, every corner of the earth, every place in the human heart and mind. But this is not the whole of the story. As we walk through the Desolation of the Dragon in the waning of the year, may we walk in fellowship with the Father and the Son (and therefore each other). Let us walk in Christ’s victory over the works of the dragon. Let us walk in His light, His forgiveness. Let us walk in His protection from the love of the world, the false prophets, and the antichrists who rise up within the congregation and then go forth, cringing under the bright light of the truth of the Word of God. The song-less gloom is not the spirit of the saint redeemed and re-born in Christ, no matter how loudly the spin doctors of darkness tell us to be in fear.

Rejoice in the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, walking in the light by the power of the Spirit of truth, walking together as the Church, walking in victory over the Desolation of the Dragon at the waning of the year.

Ode Against the Great Enemy

“God is known in Judah; His name is great in Israel. His tabernacle is in Salem; His dwelling place also is in Zion. There He broke the flaming arrows, the shield and the sword and the weapons of war” (Psalm 76:1-3).

The ancient Greek translators of the Old Testament called this Psalm the “Ode Against the Assyrians,” assuming it described God’s miraculous destruction of Sennacherib’s army outside the walls of Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:13-19:37//2 Chronicles 32:1-22//Isaiah 36:1-37:38). This was not the last time God conquered the enemy of His people outside the walls of Jerusalem.

• “The LORD God said to the serpent...‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel’” (Genesis 3:14,15).
• “And Jesus answered them, saying, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit...now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, “Father, save Me from this hour”? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name...now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself’” (John 12:23,24,27,28,31,32).
• “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him” (Colossians 2:13-15).
• “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Hebrews 2:14,15).
• “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8b).
• “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death’” (Revelation 12:9-11).

His people know this God the Victor, and recognize His name (Jesus) as great, and dwell in His peaceful (“Salem”) presence. He has won the victory on His cross, triumphed in His resurrection, and reigns in His ascension. Rejoice!

Snakes in the Christmas Decorations

“Then the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field: upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. I will also put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed. He shall break thine head, and thou shalt bruise His heel’” (Genesis 3:14,15, Geneva Bible).

“For thou hast said, The Lord is mine hope: thou hast set the most High for thy refuge. There shall none evil come unto thee, neither shall any plague come near thy tabernacle...the dragon shalt thou tread under feet” (Psalm 91:9,10,13).

“For your obedience is come abroad among all: I am glad therefore of you: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. The God of peace shall tread Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (Romans 16:19,20).

Christmas: the Serpent-crusher is born of woman; He then continues to crush the Serpent through those who by faith and obedience are made one with Him. There is such an incredible and absolute victory behind the Christmas story over the great enemy of God and His people!

I wonder why there aren’t any snakes in our Christmas decorations?