Personal Announcement

As you may have noticed, the blog has been very quiet lately. Much of this silence reflects the fact that I am back in school and have been lacking time to write, but more importantly though, I am getting married December 27, 2009 to Hallie Clara Parker, the love of my life! Needless to say, there will be a lot to do before then, and so I expect the blog to remain fairly quiet. This is not to say that I have forgotten or abandoned this blog, since in fact, I have been jotting down ideas as they come and plan on becoming more regular with my posts. It has always been my prayer that this blog would be educational, edifying, and sanctifying, and so long as I believe there is ministry potential, I plan to continue blogging. To my subscribers and loyal readers: please bear with me through this joyful but busy season and pray for me and my wife to be. In the meantime, if you’re looking for some good reading, why not follow some of the links on my sidebar? If you want to go the book route, here are a few personal recommendations:

When Helping Hurts

Spectacular Sins

The Bible

Matthew 2, Part 2: Herod’s Damned Faith

Matthew 2
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

A Faithless King

King Herod is technically king of the Jews, but the Jews are a conquered people, under the possession of the Romans. King Herod had real power, but he was still under Caesar. He is analogous to King Saul, the faithless King of Israel, ready to be replaced by King David, except in this case, Jesus is the God-king on the throne of David. Just like Saul, Herod gets violent when his power is threatened. By the end of his life, Saul was in direct rebellion against God, not just David. So also, we see by his actions that Herod is in rebellion against God as well. He is not merely concerned that a man take his place in power, he is concerned that the Messiah of God is going to take away his power, which is why he consults the chief priests and the scribes about him. Herod is in a weird position. He believes the prophecy is reliable enough to find the Messiah, yet he hates him and somehow he believes that he can thwart God’s plan. We must approach Herod soberly by discovering that there is a kind of faith that does not save. Namely the faith that believes facts about God to be true, but hates and suppresses them rather than marveling and submitting to them.

Kingdom Showdown

Despite the fact that the chief priests and the scribes would be seeking to put Jesus to death in about thirty years, they are not ignorant of who Jesus is. The scribes and priests are experts with the scriptures and we see upon Herod’s inquiry that they have correctly interpreted the prophecies concerning Jesus. They knew that the Christ was to come from Bethlehem in Judea, the city of king David, yet because of their jealousy, the grand majority of them will never repent and believe in him. Likewise, Herod is terrified of Jesus, since he considers him a threat to his power. He is so arrogant, rebellious, and cowardly that he is willing to commit mass infanticide just to ensure that God’s kingdom would not come. Yet we see that God was sovereign even over Herod’s sin. What Herod did in efforts to undermine the power of God, God ordained to confirm it. Through Herod’s sin of infanticide the purpose of God was vindicated, fulfilling three more prophecies. First, because Herod sought to kill the children, God told Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt to fulfill Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Secondly, the infanticide itself fulfilled Jeremiah 31:15. Rachel, as wife of Jacob, a.k.a. Israel, represents the mother of the nation of Israel, who is Abraham’s son. The death of young Israeli children by the sword of Herod occurred to fulfill Jeremiah’s prophecy. Finally, the ongoing threat of Herod’s son, Archelaus, confirmed a third prophecy concerning the Messiah, that he would be called a Nazarene. Therefore, we need not be afraid of tyrants, human rights criminals, or any people in the world because we know that God’s purposes will come to fruition, and that no human kingdom can prevent the kingdom of God coming to earth.

Providence, Part 2

Even though God worked in spite of Herod’s sin to confirm Jesus’ kingdom, Herod was still held guilty and died in rebellion. God ordained his death just right to fulfill the third prophecy about Jesus being a Nazarene. Conversely, divine providence served for the deliverance of God’s faithful. God gave Joseph dreams as guidance to deliver not only Jesus, but also his family. The magi likewise were saved by believing God according to the same kinds of dreams. This runs parallel to our understanding of salvation by faith. Those who believe in Jesus are delivered from their sins and the devil’s slavery. We want to have faith in Jesus Christ, but yet again we must test the stripe of our faith in him. Do we believe the facts and prophecies about Jesus are true but consider it bad news? If so we will have Herod-like faith, we will believe the facts about Jesus bit be disturbed and threatened, and actually try in vain to quench the kingdom of God. But if we have faith like Joseph or the magi, the facts we believe about God will lead us to joy.

Matthew 2, Part 1: Who Are the Magi?

Matthew 2
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

The Intentional Evangelists

Some time after Jesus’ birth we see wise men, literally, magi, showing up to worship Jesus. We don’t know much about them since they show up only in Matthew’s gospel, but since Matthew bothered to mention them, we know that they must be significant. There are trillions of things that the gospel authors could have written concerning Jesus, but they were extremely selective about which details they recount. They did not record Jesus’ first haircut, the way that he learned to read, his first words, or how old he was when he began to walk. In fact, only in Luke’s gospel do we hear anything about Jesus’ childhood at all, and in that case, just a single event when he was 12. John ends his gospel saying that were everything about Jesus recorded, the whole world could not contain all of the books. Therefore, whatever details the evangelists do record are recorded intentionally and hold significance. The gospel authors are not merely telling you what you should believe, but they are arguing their points, and therefore they omit details that are not important and narrate details that are. Therefore, despite what we do not know about the magi, we know that they are significant to the point that Matthew wants to make, and we should ask, “Why?”

Why Magi?

To build off of the study of chapter 1, we remember that we saw a few of Matthew’s goals: that you would see Jesus as the God-king on David’s throne, to see Jesus as the nation-blessing offspring of Abraham, to see Jesus as the savior from sins, and to see God’s plan throughout history come to fruition in Jesus Christ. As it turns out, the appearance of the magi are consistent with Matthew’s goals from chapter 1. For most of us, our knowledge of the magi comes from nativity scenes or Christmas carols, rather than the Bible. For example, we do not know that there were three magi, nor are we told that they are kings. Furthermore, the magi probably didn’t even show up the night that Jesus was born, for one, since the passage does not say that, but also we see in verse 10 the wise men visited Jesus at a house, though Jesus was born in a manger. The magi are not just another cute addition to a nativity scene, but rather they reinforce Matthew’s previous points. First, we see that the magi believe that Jesus is the God-king, just as was prophesied to come in the line of David. For the magi to march up to king Herod and ask for a king baby to worship is a gutsy move. They know that men are to worship and serve God alone, so they must believe that Jesus is God. Second, we know that the opinions of the magi concerning Jesus were from God, because they were drawn to Jerusalem, and then Bethlehem, by a supernatural astrological event given by God as a sign. Third, the magi are from another country, and have come to worship the king of the Jews. Certainly Matthew must be connecting God’s covenant with Abraham to bless all of the nations to Jesus’ birth, because Jesus was first recognized as king of the Jews not by the Jews, but by gentiles from the east.

Matthew 1, Part 2: Jesus’ Genealogy and Birth

In case you missed it, check part 1.

Generations = Plan of God

Continuing with Jesus’ genealogy, notice that in Matthew 1:17, he divides it into three sets of 14 generations, with a “big deal event” figure-heading the 14 generation breaks. Matthew is using this pattern to show you God’s long term plan for salvation found in Jesus Christ. To be technical, in Jewish genealogies, some generations can be skipped, just as we saw in verse 1 with Jesus to David to Abraham. Likewise, there are a few generations that Matthew skips, but overall he intentionally takes note of the sets of 14 generations. This is probably because salvation was not an afterthought, but the plan right from the beginning, so God has been involved in these generations to bring salvation to pass.

Matthew vs. Luke: Political vs. Biological?

If you look closely at Matthew 1 and Luke 3, the two places where Jesus’ genealogy is recorded, you’ll notice two interesting things. First, the two accounts are not identical. Second, Luke traces back to Adam, while Matthew traces back to Abraham. Why the difference? Is there a contradiction? The big picture answer comes from the perspective that the gospel evangelists came from: Matthew was political, Luke was biological. Matthew wanted to emphasize the relationship of Jesus’ genealogy to his place as king and nation-blesser. Luke was emphasizing the humanness of Jesus, by tracing him back to Adam. We know that Luke was a physician who therefore understood the human body, but Matthew was a tax collector, an employee of the Roman empire, so he understood the politics of genealogies. Due to Jewish laws about adoption and remarriage, it is entirely possible for there to be discrepancies in genealogies based on one taking into account things like adoption and remarriage and another remaining strictly biological.

Christmas in September

Matthew 1

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

The Sexually-Active Mary?

The first thing to note is that the Holy Spirit caused Mary to become pregnant, but he did not have sex with Mary. One way we can be sure of this, to put it simply, is that she is the virgin Mary. If the Holy Spirit had sex with her, she would not be a virgin. There are three deal-breaker reasons why Mary’s virginity is important. First, if Mary were not a virgin, then it would appear that Jesus began to exist when he was born, even though Jesus said he was God before Abraham existed (John 8:58), that he was in the beginning with God (John 1:1), that Jesus was the stone from which the Israelites drank from in the desert (1 Corinthians 10:4), and more. For Mary to be sexually active would imply that Jesus was beginning when he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The second reason Mary’s virginity is important is that if Jesus were born naturally, he would have been born with original sin, and therefore would not be the perfect sacrifice he needed to be to fulfill the angel’s description of Jesus’ mission statement: he will save people from their sins. The third reason Mary’s virginity is crucial is that if Mary was not a virgin, then Isaiah 7, the verses the angel quoted to Joseph, would be yet unfulfilled, and scripture would be proven to be false, and God would be a liar. If you weren’t a Jew or didn’t know the Old Testament, the angel’s words are the first place you would hear about the forgiveness of sins found in Jesus. Notice though, that the angel did not say that Jesus would teach them a new way to live or give them new commandments. The angel announced the premier purpose for God to send Jesus into the world: to save sinners. Many predecessors of Jesus gave new laws and new ways of life to God’s people, but none of them could do what Jesus would do: save his people from their sins.

What is Betrothal?

Since Mary was in fact a virgin, she had not yet had sex with Joseph. Since that’s the case, even though Joseph is described as her husband, Mary is actually betrothed to him. Betrothal is similar to what we call engagement, but it is strong enough to require a divorce to break it and for Joseph to bear the title of husband.

Immanuel H. Christ

Finally, what about the name? There is a superficial sense in which we could say that the Bible is contradicting itself by saying that Jesus would be named Immanuel when he ends up being called Jesus, but Matthew openly records the angel’s words, so obviously if he considered this a problem, he wouldn’t defeat his own argument by placing the angel’s words right next to his own. The point of the name Jesus (which means, “God saves”) is to elaborate on Immanuel (which means, “God with us”). God is with us, because God saves. If in your mind you have a version of Jesus who does not save people from their sins, your Jesus should be named something like “Muhammad” instead. Muhammad came and gave his people new rules to follow and enforce them on the world with violence. Jesus came and received our violence to pay for our disobedience to God’s rules.

Spring Revival – A Guest Post by Hallie Parker

There’s a spring rain a-brewing; the wind’s blowing in a sweet smell.
All the flowers striving, blooming; the petals blowing off of the ground.
He’s reviving. He’s reviving all the life that’s been hid in grey.
He says it’s time for the sun, it’s time for a new day.

Go grab your neighbor; we will gather at the river deep in the woods.
He is teaching of new mercies; He is teaching that He is good.
The spring rain will come and move us as a river into the town.
All the people rejoicing, singing, what a glorious sound!
Can you hear each one proclaiming new life, death ran away.
No more fear, shame, or sadness. There’s a king who’s kindly fully paid.
The Holy Spirit’s fallin’ on the heads of His beautiful Bride.
We will rise on his wings, we’ll fly beside him as we cry!
Holy, Holy is the Father who reigns up above.
Holy, Holy is the Man who died and rose in love.
Holy, Holy is the Spirit living in each of us.

It is time that we move, that we faithfully fulfill our purpose.
To feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give shelter to the cold and confused
To visit prisons, care for widows, bring freedom to those who’re abused
To bring comfort to the ones who are facing death for their faith
To be light and salt to a world that’s eaten by hate.

Holy, Holy is the Father who reigns up above.
Holy, Holy is the Man who died and rose in love.

Matthew 1, Part 1: Why Jesus’ Genealogy Matters

The Father of Who?

Matthew 1
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

The Son of David

So whose son is Jesus anyway? You could say Mary, and you would be correct. You could say Joseph and be correct in the sense that the adopted children of a parent are considered like they are his own. You could also say that Jesus is the Son of God, because this is what Jesus himself said. Why then does Matthew open by saying that Jesus is the Son of David and Abraham? In order to answer that question we need to know the promises associated with David and Abraham. David was the second king of Israel. Before Israel had kings, it had judges, priests and prophets, but God was Israel’s king. In an act of communal disobedience the Israelites, in sin, demanded a king, and placed a faithless coward named Saul on the throne because he was tall. He was a horrible king, who was back and forth between obedience and faithlessness, to the point that by the end of his life he was an enemy of God and possessed by a demon. David was the king that God chose to take his place, representing God’s continued rule of Israel, albeit in a less intimate form. David is not significant merely because he was faithful and repentant, although he was, but David is most significant because of the prophecy that the rightful king of Israel will be in the line of David. This is truly a recurring theme in the Bible, but Isaiah 9 is a good place to start.

Isaiah 9

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Notice that this is a child who is born, that is a human being. The government will be on his shoulders, that is to say, this human baby is a king. Specifically, he reigns on the throne of David. This human baby will also be called, “Mighty God,” so this human baby-king is God on the throne of David. In other words, Jesus is God, Jesus is king, and God has restored his place as king of Israel by putting Jesus on the throne. Furthermore, here we must see the Trinity at work. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is also God himself. The Holy Spirit conceived him, and the Father sent him, yet in crystal clarity we see that this human child, Jesus is called mighty God.

The Offspring of Abraham

Genesis  22

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” 15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.

Galatians 3:16
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.”

Abraham placed his only son on the alter for sacrifice, but at the right time, God provided a ram for a sacrificial substitute. By placing his own son on the alter, he demonstrated his unfathomable faith in God. The result is that God promised to bless all the nations through Abraham’s offspring. So Matthew is not throwing away words when he says that Jesus is the son of Abraham. Matthew wants you to know that the nations are about to be blessed by Jesus, who is the son of Abraham. How will the nations be blessed through Jesus? By Jesus being the “Isaac” when there was no ram to replace him. When Abraham named the mountain, he called it, “The Lord will provide,” referring not to the ram, but to Christ. The parallel is that Isaac was the only son of Abraham ready to be sacrificed but God provided a substitute, while Jesus is the only son of God, but God did not provide a substitute, but in fact, Jesus was Abraham’s ultimate substitute.

Galatians 3:8
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”

Recommended Sermons and Lectures

Why Sermons?

I listen to a lot of sermons and lectures. A lot of sermons and lectures. I figured it would be right to recommend some of those that have been particularly significant to me lately. No sermon or lecture is above the Bible, so it is important to be reading your Bible and check for yourself if what these men teach is true, but I have found them to be helpful and Biblical. If you are not that great of a reader, although you ought to strive to learn with practice, in the mean time, I would recommend getting an audio Bible and read along, redeem your commute, or just have a manly voice actor accompany you on your run via iPod. Nevertheless here are some sermons and lectures that I would highly recommend.

Christ and Him Crucified

C.J. Mahaney’s three part series containing “Christ our Mediator,” “Cry from the Cross,” and “The Cup,” are some of the most passionate and convicting gospel preaching I have heard in a long time. If you do not have time to listen to any other sermons I recommend, at least listen to one of these from this series. You will not be disappointed.

Just Do Something

As a part of the NEXT 2009 conference, Kevin DeYoung gives the lecture entitled “Just Do Something,” with some very liberating advice concerning the will of God. You will find yourself able to pray more effectively about God’s will for your life, and be overwhelmingly relieved to discover how God is not breathing down your neck about a number of practical and difficult major decisions. He also wrote a book with the same title which is actually rather affordable, so if you’re interested in the topic you can research it even further.

God So Loved the World

(Here is the second part)

This two part sermon series on John 3:16 preached by John Piper is the best I have heard about the world’s most famous verse. Piper spends a lot of time basking in the glory of God for this verse, without stripping it from its context. He also wrestles with some of the predestination and Calvinism implications of this verse. As you can tell, these two sermons are very thorough, since it took two of them to cover a single verse. As a result you will be able to grasp some of the deepest implications of John 3:16. Thanks to the media team at desiring God, you can now watch video of these sermons, or if you prefer, just go the audio route.

The Gospel, the Core of Our Children’s Ministry

In the 2005 Sovereign Grace Ministries leadership conference, Marty Machowski gives a fantastic lecture on children’s ministry. Children’s ministry is so often done horribly wrong by people who have the absolute best intentions. Marty Machowski shows how to make children’s ministry age appropriate, but fruitful and rewarding by focusing on teaching the children the gospel from the Bible. If you ever consider serving in children’s ministry or have children of your own, this lecture should be required listening. Even those who have no attachment to children can learn from the principles taught in this lecture.

Conversational Apologetics

This two-part lecture by Michael Ramsden provides wise and intelligent discussion on how to engage unbelievers effectively without coming off like an arrogant know-it-all, as is common with a lot of apologetics. Taking from a few examples in Jesus’ life he demonstrates how Jesus uses conversation and the right questions to reveal the truth. Combined with some anecdotal evidence from his own life, he shows how a few practical considerations, when backed by genuine love, can be instrumental in leading others to the gospel.

Is God Good for Destroying the World with the Flood?

Not for the Felt Board

There comes a time in the lives of many individuals where they stop seeing Noah’s ark as a cute story with animals, and start seeing it as the greatest destructive disaster of all time. Militant atheists will use this to seed doubt in God’s goodness, kindness, or love, while others are left confused and discouraged. Doubts arise as to whether God changes in nature between the Old and New Testaments even to the point of wondering if Christians simply imagined up a God who would be kinder and gentler than the one they read about in the Old Testament. There are two routes we could take to vindicate God’s goodness:

1) We could study the scripture regarding the great flood and meticulously explain why God is still good, or

2) We could look at the underlying beliefs and sympathies of the doubting heart that serve as the foundation for the doubts about God.

While option 1) will be important in the long run, option 2) will provide the deepest peace and the fullest understanding about the heart of the issue. God will not merely be defended, but trusted. Furthermore, this approach will be applicable across many other difficult passages and cause our study to be sanctifying and enlightening, to our eternal benefit.

Who is God?

If we are going to investigate whether or not the great flood is consistent with God’s character, we need to start by knowing what God’s character is. The most fundamentally and vastly understood attribute of God is the simple statement, “God is good.” Certainly there are unnumbered other glorious attributes of God, but this one can be most immediately helpful. To say that God is good is like saying that the ocean is wet. It’s true, but a gigantic understatement. The Bible’s declaration is that God is, “Holy, holy, holy.” Three times repeated, God wants us to know how emphatically holy God is.

Isaiah’s Peek

The first place we see “Holy, holy, holy” as a description of God is in Isaiah 6. In prophetic vision, Isaiah witnesses a heavenly angel call out to another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” You would expect for Isaiah to be thrilled at his opportunity to witness the holiness of God, and that perhaps he would be overjoyed to see how monumentally good God is. Instead, we see something absolutely terrifying. Isaiah does not explode with joy, nor even crack a smile, but rather cries out, “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!”

The Implications of Holiness

Isaiah was not a new prophet here, for he had already received two visions by this point. Yet it was not until Isaiah saw the holiness of the Lord that he cried out, “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!” Isaiah was scared for his life, and probably for his soul. He knew that he was a sinner and was terrified because he saw God’s holiness. In other words, Isaiah presumed that he was generally a pretty clean guy until he saw what true holiness really is.

Woe is You

Most people have never honestly felt Isaiah’s feeling that would lead him to cry, “Woe is me.” Most of us are content to say, “Woe is you,” to the Hitlers or the Fred Phelps of the world, but rarely do we find ourselves terrified of God’s judgment. We are not terrified because we do not feel like we are sinners. If we do feel like we are sinners, we tend to think that we still are not really that bad. The reason we do not feel bad about our sin is because we have such a feeble grasp on how holy God really is. We have no real standard of good because we tend to neglect reading God’s law, which compares us to his holiness. In one sense, when we sing about how holy God is, we should start trying to avoid lightning bolts. Yet, just as Isaiah’s sins are atoned for by God through a burning coal, so believers’ sins are atoned for by Jesus death on the cross.

Back to the Point

So what does all of this have to do with Noah and the great flood? In Genesis 6, the passage about the flood, God gives his reason for destroying the earth with the flood: The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. In other words, the population of the earth would have been worthy to say, “Woe is me,” but they didn’t, to their own harm. God has always held woeful wrath against the unholy, but his wrath does not delay forever. When viewed biblically, the great flood is not a tragic natural disaster, but God’s judgment finally being expressed after extreme patience. The previous chapter of Genesis, chapter 5, is a genealogy from Adam to Noah, where men lived to be outrageously old. In other words, God was outrageously patient with them. For generations, he waited the better part of a millennium to bring forth his righteous wrath. Yet, finally the day came when God was grieved and set his heart to destroy the world.

A Sacred Opportunity

Is God good? Absolutely. The flood is more evidence for that fact, not against it. The only real question left is, “Is man good?” The answer? Absolutely not. Isaiah was privileged to see God’s holiness and yet live through crying out his confession, “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!” Now you have that opportunity. Will you cry, “Woe is me” in confession to Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, or will you presume that your great flood will never arrive? God has promised that there will never be another great flood, but he has promised that his next flood will be fire. Be delivered from it. We must not see God as wicked in punishing the wicked, but instead call out on behalf of our own wickedness that we will be saved!

How to Find a Spouse

Are You There God? It’s Me Romeo.

The Bible speaks about being single. The Bible speaks about being married. When it comes to going from single to married, the Bible says very little. It has a frustrating tendency to summarize the entire process of going from unmarried to married with single sentences, like, “and ___ took a wife.” Here we have an infallible revelation from God in the form of a book that contains no apparent instructions for getting married other than just “taking a wife,” provided we marry within the Christian faith. There are no girlfriends in the Bible, no detailed explanations of courtship, no matchmaking or dating, just singleness, marriage, and “pledged-to-be” married (like Joseph and Mary). So where do we go from here? Since there are no explicit instructions from God, we should instead act in accordance with wisdom informed by the scripture.

Brought to You by the Secular World

In light of the Bible not providing explicit instructions for finding a spouse, we tend to inherit and “Christianize” methods from the secular world. By this, I mean we will take a system, such as casual dating, give it a Christian-morality twist, such as abstinence from sex, and call it Christian dating. Then, we will decide on the characteristics we want in a spouse, which are usually vague platitudes like “Loves the Lord,” and finally we begin to date around trying to find someone we can stand who will fit our 74 qualifications while we grit our teeth trying to resist temptation. This can begin in the early teens and go on indefinitely until by some miracle we get married. We find ourselves getting married older and older each generation, being less and less satisfied with our spouses, and succumbing to sexual deviancy more and more. In other words, the Church looks a lot like the world, to our shame.

The Inevitable Result of Christianizing Things

So what is driving this fail-boat? We could say, “sin,” and be correct, but probably not precise enough to be very helpful. Yes, divorce in most cases is sin, sex before marriage is always sin, and complacency and laziness is sin, but sin has worked strongest in our minds, by affecting the ways we think about marriage, sexuality, dating, and relationships. We can “Christianize” worldly systems, but the fundamental worldviews driving them are still in the captain’s chair. For example, the doctrine of indwelling sin is completely foreign to the secular world, so rather than seeing a relationship as the connection of two sinners who need Christ’s crucifixion to forgive, wash, and cultivate one another, relationships are instead about finding a perfect fit for you such that your mutual preferences can lead to a happy life. We’re following after the secular world’s assumption that relationships are primarily about happiness, and that happiness is achieved by compatibility. Therefore, we delay marriage longer and longer because we have trouble finding compatible partners, and when we finally are married, we are less satisfied because we were expecting that compatibility to bring us happiness. It is an e-harmony commercial with a sadistic twist.

Get Your Worldview Straight

Lets build this from the ground up. Marriage was invented by God, and God himself set up the first marriage: Adam and Eve. After they disobey God by eating of the forbidden fruit, Adam blames Eve who then blames the serpent. Sin has already created marital strife, and compatibility was not the issue! Eve was “bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh” to Adam and God made her specifically for him. If ever there were to be a compatible couple it would be Adam and Eve. Yet, sin came between them and likewise, sin has been passed from generation to generation to you and me. What was the purpose of the marriage? “Be fruitful and multiply” is one part. To provide Adam a suitable helper and Eve a lover is another, but there is one purpose that overshadows the rest.

The Only Eternal Marriage

Ephesians 5:29-32

29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Grab hold of the full weight of this. Verse 31 is a direct quotation of Genesis 2:24. Paul, the author of Ephesians, is not saying, “Hey, if you want a decent example about how Christ loves the Church, pretend they are married.” Instead, he is saying, “Remember God inventing marriage? This is a mere shadow of the marriage that is to come between my Son and the Church.”

Matthew 22:30

For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

When Jesus disputed with the Sadducees, Jesus clues us in about what, “Till death do us part” actually means. It means that marriage actually ends at death. Yet we see the fulfillment of Ephesians 5:29-32 in the prophetic book of Revelation.

Revelation 19: 6b-8

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—

Marriage between men and women is a parable and a pointer to the wedding of Jesus and the Church.

Jesus Died for The Church

Our goal in marriage must be to receive the blood of Christ’s cross and to emulate Christ in doing whatever it takes to make our spouses holy. Jesus suffered crucifixion to wash the garments of his adulterous bride and clothe her in white. Therefore, husbands should suffer whatever is put in front of them that they may wash their wives in Jesus’ blood and clothe them in the white linen of good works. Wives, joyfully submit to the loving care of your husbands, just as the Church should joyfully submit to Christ’s care.

No Perfect People

God is not passing out instructions for how to find the perfect spouse; God is giving you instructions to perfect your spouse in Christ. What then are we looking for in a spouse? A sinner who believes the gospel, and is willing to submit to the Bible, repent humbly, and build up one another. God does not want you to find a good wife, he wants you to make one.

Get Started

This worldview is so liberating! You can marry who you want to marry. You replace dating with sanctifying. You focus on building people up in the faith, and there is no such thing as a failure. If you don’t mutually want to get married, congratulations, you have been sanctifying your friend’s spouse! What a gift to your friend! If you do mutually want to get married, not only do you get the joy of marriage, but also the joy of knowing that the trajectory for mutual sanctification has already been set! Even in heartbreak you will have a foundational joy to know that the Lord has made use of you in sanctifying his child. Now be bold, speak up, gird your loins and talk to some people, make some relationships, and as it becomes befitting, commit.

A Review of a Few Study Bibles

Recommendations

I’ve already laid some foundations for how to shop for Bibles. I also have already explained the reason why I prefer the English Standard Version. Now I would like to review a few study Bibles and study tools that can help you dig deeper into the word of God.

ESV Study Bible

The ESV Study Bible is the titan of all study Bibles. The book is a solid 2-inches think, and weighs as much as a 2750 page book should. It includes full color maps, illustrations, charts, articles, notes, and about any other information you could want and then some. That being said, just because it contains a ton of information does not necessarily mean that it is quality information.  The internet is proof of that. Thankfully, I have found the material to be tremendously helpful and faithful. The ESVSB is unashamed to be evangelically orthodox and tends to always keep one hand on the Protestant Reformation. The notes provide thoroughly researched input to this effect, with the authors firmly grasping relevant history and archeology. It takes a holistic view of the Bible and wrestles with the tensions between passages that are difficult to understand, yet it remains meticulously attached to the original languages, so that whenever the Greek or Hebrew illuminates the verses, the ESVSB tends to shed light on it.

The ESVSB is also probably the best value for your money, since you can get the hardcover as cheap as $28, and it includes free lifetime access to the ESV Study Bible online, where everything that made it on paper can be accessed by logging in anywhere the internet is available. The online interface will even retain your highlighting and personal notes.

The only disadvantage I have found with the ESVSB is its massive size. It is too bulky to fit comfortably in a book bag if you are planning on bringing anything else, pretty awkward to pack, difficult to stack with other books, and a bit heavy to be taking everywhere. Furthermore, it is a little awkward to read it without a desk for it to sit on. If you need it portable, you can pack your laptop and pray for wifi. If you’ve got a lot of money to invest in books, you can go the kindle route, and it will be portable and easy to hold in one hand, but you’ll be out the price of a kindle plus the cost of the title. My verdict is to get an ESV Study Bible and dedicate it to home use, and have a second Bible for carrying around, or for casual reading.

The Reformation Study Bible

The Reformation Study Bible is another study Bible with the ESV translation. The project is headed up by R.C. Sproul who is the general editor.  It is much more manageable in size than the ESV Study Bible, but that comes at the cost of the library of resources. The RSB has notes on most verses like the ESVSB, but fewer other resources that are helpful. The notes are very good, and in line with the Reformation and Presbyterianism, but that means that Reformed Baptists and others like them will be disappointed by the views of the sacraments. Personally, I have found the RSB to be very helpful and it serves me well as a second opinion to the ESV Study Bible.

The English – Greek Reverse Interlinear New Testament

While technically not a study Bible, this can be a great entry point to getting your feet wet with the Greek. A true interlinear Bible would have the Greek text with the English directly underneath it, but this Bible does the opposite, taking the ESV and putting the Greek underneath. This makes it much easier for the non-Greek speakers to follow along. It is no substitute for knowing the language and understanding the grammar, but you will find a lot of enlightenment from being able to look up Greek words in the dictionary, and will enjoy seeing how English words you know are rooted in the Greek. Each word is conveniently indexed with Strong’s Numbers which can be cross referenced to the dictionaries in Strong’s Concordance or online at various websites. This procedure is time consuming, but you will rarely find it unrewarding. This book probably shouldn’t be your primary study tool, but it can be a welcome addition.

MacSword/The SWORD Project

This is actually not a physical book, but some open source Bible software that will give you access to dozens of Bible translations including non-English and some classic Christian books. The software is difficult to use, but hey, it is free, and you can’t compete with that. It’s worth the download for sure, but you can be the judge by how much use you put it through.