Divine Judgment and Consequences: Lessons from the Reign of Manasseh

Warning to the American Church

Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, sinned against the Lord God more than any other Judean king before him, committing the worst abominations, and leading the people into demonic beliefs and practices. This is the reason for the divine invective in chapter 15 of Jeremiah, as we are told specifically in verse four. Manasseh rebuilt the pagan shrines and altars his father had destroyed, and even had some erected within the Temple. Manasseh regularly conferred with psychics, and he himself cast evil spells, enchantments, and curses. He appointed mediums and diviners to the royal court, slayed numbers of innocent people in and around Jerusalem, and Manasseh even sacrificed his son by fire to Moloch. Evidently, the people largely followed their king, too, and so God said, “I am about to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah, the news of which will reverberate in the ears of all those who hear… I will destroy Jerusalem the same way I destroyed Samaria and the dynasty of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem clean, just as one wipes a plate on both sides” (II Kgs. 21:12 – 13, NET alt.). This is the background to the impending judgment we read about in Jeremiah.

Divination, horoscopes, crystals, astrology, and tarot cards. Psychics, fortunetellers, clairvoyants, and soothsayers. Violence, murder, mayhem, infanticide. And the people followed suit or, at the very least, kept quiet until it was too late. Yes, eventually the people of Judah wept and begged God. We are told earlier that they even laid prostrate on the ground in sorrow, crying to heaven in distress, but the Lord would not relent and stay his judgment. As he said to Jeremiah, “Even if Moses and Samuel were here, praying with you,” because Jeremiah had just finished praying, “I wouldn’t change my mind. So send the people of Judah away” (CEV). Does there ever come a point of no return with God? Or perhaps this is just another picture of the rather mean, cold and impersonal God of the Old Testament, as some say, even though this is far from the truth, which is obvious from any serious study of the Hebrew scriptures.

Even still, what do we read about our God in the New Testament? “Our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29, NKJV). “While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30 – 31, NRSV). “The wrath of God is coming upon the sons (and daughters) of disobedience, (with whom) you yourselves once walked” (Col. 3:6 – 7, NKJV alt.). “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons (and daughters) of disobedience” (Eph. 5:6, TCENT). Indeed, “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31, RSV). No, our God does not change in the integrity of his character.

There is yet another important aspect to consider. Our Lord Jesus taught, “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also… No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Mt. 6:21, 24a). And the apostle Paul asks a very poignant question, too, which is: “What partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? What fellowship does light have with darkness? What harmony does Christ have with Belial?” (II Cor. 6:14b – 15a, NKJV). But the apostle had already made the point that “what pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God,” and emphasized that “I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons” (I Cor. 10:20 – 21, NRSV). There is no place, in other words, for syncretism — that is, the mixing of the biblical, Judeo-Christian faith with foreign, or alien, religions and philosophies. God grants no room whatsoever for compromise.

For us today this certainly includes financially, or otherwise, supporting agencies, businesses, and organizations that are flagrantly anti-Christian, promoting what is quite obviously contrary to the will of God as revealed in Holy Scripture, and even committing acts of open blasphemy. This means, of course, that no genuine Christian can or will partake of or participate in entertainment that is blatantly anti-Christian, such as the Walt Disney Company, which actively promotes perversion and those who exist in those so-called “lifestyles,” although it’s better to say “deathstyles” because that’s really the truth. Those who are really, genuinely Christian — and this means being filled with the Spirit of God — simply will not be able to support such things … but, then again, no real Christian is ever that addicted to entertainment anyway. No genuine Christian will ever be able to place football above Christ and his church. No genuine Christian will ever be able to support in any way, shape, or form anyone or any group or organization that openly blasphemes the Lord Jesus Christ, such as the world witnessed at the opening of the 2024 Olympics with the satanic mockery of the Last Supper. No genuine Christian will purchase any Olympic products, attend the Olympics, or even watch the games. Why? Out of natural love and loyalty to Christ Jesus, who has saved their eternal souls and given so much besides! Would you stand idly by and let someone openly and freely abuse your spouse or children? It would not only bother you, but you would actively intervene to save your spouse and children, and you certainly would not have anything more to do with the abusers, or would-be abusers … that is, if you really love them. And that’s the question, isn’t it?

God loved us so much that he voluntarily laid down his life, after being horrendously tortured, all for our sakes. No one has any right whatsoever to call themselves “Christian” who has no real concern for the name and reputation of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one who has really and truly been saved by grace through faith in Christ and filled with his Holy Spirit will even be able to lend any kind of support whatsoever to anything that militates against Christ Jesus and his Body, the church, and Holy Scripture. It will simply be impossible, so what if this is the case, then? There is only one answer: Whomever it may be, s/he is not Christian — that is, not of Christ Jesus and not a living member of his living Body, the community of faith and family of God. People such as this would do well to be honest with themselves and everyone else and just admit they are not Christian. Stop making pretenses. Stop pretending. If you can, and will, do nothing to stand for Christ Jesus in this time and in this world, then you certainly should not expect him to stand for you on the Day of Judgment.

Yes, there does come a time when God says, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I would not feel pity for them! Get them away from me! Tell them to go away…! You people have deserted me! You keep turning your back on me. So I have unleashed my power against you and have begun to destroy you. I have grown tired of feeling sorry for you!” And he speaks this first of all to people who claim to be his children, his followers, and claim redemption in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. As we read in I Peter, “For it is time for judgment to begin, starting with the house of God,” or within the household of God.

Yes, the Lord God always, always begins by cleaning house, and today that means the church. For the church throughout North America, this should be very frightening but unfortunately, even tragically, most professing Christians are blissfully unaware, inexcusably ignorant, and intolerably compromising. Not willing to make any sacrifices yet ever and always expecting blessings from the God they utterly fail to take seriously. God will slam down his fist of judgment, burning out the poisonous dross from his church, separating the wheat from the chaff, and then he will move outward from there into the rest of the country — and, yes, Canada and western Europe, too.

Remember what John so clearly teaches us in his First Letter: “If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth… The one who says ‘I have come to know God’ and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person. But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him: The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked” (I Jn. 1:6; 2:4 – 6, NET). Manasseh did not love God, obviously, and he walked in darkness and practiced darkness and promoted darkness, even in the very Temple of Yahweh! No, he actually hated God and the ways of God. You can tell a tree by the fruit it bears, right? What fruit was born from the reign of Manasseh? Poisonous fruit leading to death. And so through Jeremiah “the Lord continued, ‘In every town in the land I will purge them like straw blown away by the wind. I will destroy my people. I will kill off their children. I will do so because they did not change their behavior’” (NET). This is a very direct and poignant warning message to the church throughout the country, all of North America and western Europe today. Yes, it is absolutely and perfectly relevant.

Recall as well the words of John the Baptizer about the coming Christ: “I baptize you with water, for repentance, but the one coming after me is more powerful than I am – I am not worthy to carry his sandals! He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” he told the people gathered round, and then John continued with the warning that “his winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire” (Mt. 3:11 – 12, NET). This he spoke about Christ Jesus in his first coming. Yes, this will occur on the grandest scale at the end of the ages, but John was telling the people that the Christ was coming now and would do these things now, too. This is not something totally put off until the “end times” that so many believers like to speculate about. No, he meant the Lord Jesus was coming right then and there, in that time in the present world, with the “winnowing fork is in his hand,” which represents divine judgement,[1] in order to “clean out his threshing floor” and “burn up the chaff with an inextinguishable fire.”

Should we be at all surprised? No, of course not. What do we read in Luke about the child, Jesus? What did old Simeon prophecy to Mary? “Listen carefully,” he said. “This child is destined to be the cause of the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be rejected. Indeed, as a result of him the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed, and a sword will pierce your own soul as well!” (Lk. 2:34 – 35). And Jesus himself said:

Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! For from now on there will be five in one household divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law” (Lk. 12:51 – 53, NET).

Even more frighteningly, Jesus clearly said, “What can a person give in exchange for his life? For if anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mrk. 8:37 – 38, NET). Could it be any clearer? No, of course not, and it was all just as clear to the people of Judah long ago. They knew they had been completely unfaithful, even rebellious. They knew beyond doubt that they deserved punishment.

What is most terrifying, really, is that there is a line we can cross, both as the church and as a nation, passing a point of no return. This is clearly biblical and is amply supported by history. God is still all-holy. God is still completely righteous. God is still just and he is still the perfectly just Judge who judges. This is no denial of his love, mercy, and grace. There is no conflict here whatsoever. No, it comes down to love and loyalty, really, and the Lord God will not endure blasphemy, continuing contemptuous disobedience, and flagrant disregard for his revealed Word and prescribed way of life. We have crossed the line. Now get ready for divine fire to burn through the church — scorching, purging, and purifying. As then as we read:

Calamities have been sent upon you, and who is there to drive them away? Can one drive off a hungry lion in the forest, or quench a fire in the stubble once it has started to burn? Can one turn back an arrow shot by a strong archer? The Lord God sends calamities, and who will drive them away? Fire will go forth from his wrath, and who is there to quench it? (II Es. 16:5 – 9, NRSV).

The time has come and this is, of course, necessary. It can be no other way and, no, you will not be suddenly taken up into heaven and so miss the impending divine punishment and all the calamities that comes with the divine judgment. No one gets a pass.

We are closer to the eschaton, or the end of times, than we ever have been before. This is quite obviously true and could not logically be otherwise, but the United States and the church in North America is not the beginning and end of all history. We are not the peak, the summit, of God’s glorious kingdom, and if the church can suffer, as it does, around the world, even especially where Christians are true believers and are faithful, then we can certainly at least admit the possibility that God might judge the church here and this country, too. And this can be the case without the absolute end of times — the eschaton — being here yet. Judgment of the church in North American and western Europe, and judgment of this and other nations does not automatically mean that the second coming of our Lord Jesus is just around the corner. It may be, of course, and that’s true enough, but that does not depend upon the immediate future of the American church and this country.

How did it end for Judah and specifically Jerusalem, which had been the holy city of God? Jeremiah tells us pointblank:

In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month — which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon — Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem… (And) Judah went into exile out of its land (Jer. 52:12 – 14, 27b, NET).

The time has assuredly come now for the people of God — that is, those who have been truly saved by grace through faith in Christ and filled with his lifegiving Spirit — the time has come to prepare. Yes, revival will come, but it will now come through the fires of divine judgement.

Is all of this so much novel, individual, personal interpretation? No. Christopher Wright, an excellent Old Testament scholar and believer, states quite clearly that “God’s word does warn us that sin has serious consequences and when people deliberately persist in sinful ways and ignore the warnings of God or his servants, there can come a time when certain results become inevitable and unavoidable in this life… God is not mocked.”[2]

Thankfully, this was not the last time God would be heard. Later on, through the prophet Zechariah, the Lord God spoke again and said:

The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Return to me,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.” But they did not hear or heed me,’ says the Lord. Your ancestors, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your ancestors? So they repented and said, ‘The Lord of hosts has dealt with us according to our ways and deeds, just as he planned to do.’ (Zech. 1:2 – 6, NRSV).

Yes, when we return to the Lord God, he will surely return to us. This is our supreme hope, and what do we read in the New Testament Epistle of James?

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair. Humble yourselves before the Lord and (then) he will exalt you. (Jam. 4:8 – 10, NET).

This is virtually the same message repeated, really, so this much has not changed from Old Testament times and the New Testament. God still passes judgment. God still punishes. God also remains merciful, and he continues to hold out to us the promise of reconciliation: “Return to me … and I will return to you.” Yes, “draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” It’s the same message with the same promise.

Notice, however, that there are conditions, namely: 1) Genuine repentance along with the acknowledgment that “the Lord of hosts has dealt with us according to our ways and deeds,” 2) Cleansing and purification of heart, mind, and soul, 3) Lamentation over the results, the consequences, of our sin and wickedness, and 4) Genuine humility. We clearly see these four points iterated in the passages from Zechariah and James, so there is ever and always realistic hope of reconciliation with God, by the power of his Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Lord. We may pass through the purifying fires of God, but that in itself is ultimately good and, really, the only hope for the church throughout North America and western Europe, as well as the countries therein, including our own.

If you have cancer, then you want it completely eradicated in order to live. If you live in an unsafe neighborhood, then you bolt your doors and windows in order to live. If you’re out on the ocean in very bad weather, then you most likely appreciate having a life-jacket and other safety gear and equipment. Why? In order to live, you pray. Well, then, it is the same with the church — and with countries, for that matter — so that when the body is gravely ill, then the Great Physician performs surgery. God eradicates the cancer. He flushes out the poison, and why? So the church will live, of course, and live in good health. This goes for the church worldwide, of course, but also for regional and local churches, too. Here and now, throughout Western civilization, the church is very, very sick. It is so sick mainly because it has been infected with the ways and thoughts and customs of the world, and also even infected more recently with rank paganism (or neopaganism), and also apathy and indifference.

This may very well be the worst of all: Apathy and indifference of professing Christians. They just don’t care. They don’t really, truly love Christ Jesus and so, of course, they have no deep and abiding loyalty to him and his gospel kingdom. This will end, as it must, because it’s an indication of serious illness. When the Lord God is finished, the only people still attending church — whether openly and freely, or in secret — will be genuine Christians. Why? Because no one will take the risk except genuine Christians. Nobody else will make the necessary sacrifices except real Christians. This is what it has come to now, and so it will be; however, this will also be precisely what brings an authentic revival of the church as well as a real spiritual awakening outside the church, as in the Great Awakenings of the past, as they are called. Nothing and no one, of course, will prevail against God, his all-powerful Spirit, and the Body of Christ on earth. We have that sure promise, too, but there will now be judgment and cleansing. So let it be, Lord, and praise be to your holy name. Amen.

[1] Leslie C. Allen, The Old Testament Library: Jeremiah (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 176.

[2] Christopher J. H. Wright, The Message of Jeremiah, J. A. Motyer, ed. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014), 174 – 175.

Context Is King!

The passage begins, “Arise! Shine! For your light arrives! The splendor of the LORD shines on you!” The passage continues, “For, look, darkness covers the earth and deep darkness covers the nations, but the LORD shines on you; his splendor appears over you” (Isaiah 60:1 – 2, NET). This whole prophecy by Isaiah is about the future glory of Israel, and the last verse (22) reads, “The smallest family will become a thousand people, and the tiniest group will become a mighty nation. At the right time, I, the LORD, will make it happen” (NLT). Of course, it’s a wonderfully encouraging passage, as it was originally supposed to be, at least for the nation of Israel. Recently, however, as I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed, I ran across a simple meme quoting the last part of verse 22, to wit: “At the right time I, the LORD, will make it happen.” Many people had clicked on “like” or “love,” but doubtless with no idea whatsoever of the whole context in which that partial verse appears. No idea, really, why God was saying this, and to whom he was saying it, or why he was saying it. Of course, this meme was meant to be an assurance that God can be counted on to bring whatever “it” is to fruition at just the right time. And can God be counted on to do this? To be this consistent and reliable? Certainly, and in one way or another, all of holy Scripture teaches this invaluable truth.

For example, God told Abraham he would make him the father of a great nation, in fact, the father of many nations. Did he? Yes, he most certainly did. And God told Jonah to go to Nineveh to warn them of impending judgement. God fully intended for him to go there, of course, and did he get him there? Yep! Even if it was a rather circuitous route because Jonah tried running away from God, as if that’s at all possible, God still landed Jonah in Nineveh where the prophet delivered the divine warning. God repeatedly warned his people of terrible punishment if they did not repent and turn from their wicked ways and again worship and obey him. Did they repent and turn back to God? No. Did God then punish them? Yes, just like he said he would. We could go on and on with examples, but the point is: God is fully reliable. God is true and trustworthy. That much we can be sure of, but that does not pardon taking a verse, or part of one, completely out of context just because it sounds nice and conveys some meaning we want to convey. Many cults have been birthed based upon just a handful of scripture verses taken out of context and misapplied. This is why it’s important to read the whole passage, and even more important to have a good understanding of the broad, overall teaching of the whole of Scripture, from beginning to end. Yes, it behooves us to be very cautious on this point. Even the devil knows the scriptures. In fact, he probably knows them better than most professing Christians, and delights in using this or that isolated verse to harm, if not destroy, unsuspecting believers. Be on guard!

P. S. This principle is also fundamentally important in the study of any religious or philosophical texts, or really any discipline. Context is king, as my old seminary professor used to say.

Are You Lonesome Tonight?

Albert Schweitzer sadly observed that “We are all so much together, but we are all dying of loneliness.” Touché. And dear Mother Teresa right said, “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” And this is “most terrible poverty” of loneliness along with feeling unwanted strikes those who have plenty as much, if not more, than those who possess little. Humans were not made to live in total isolation, of course. We are social beings by nature. However, we can be terribly lonely even when we are not actually alone. We can feel the pain of loneliness in crowds of people, and often times feel this loneliness even more potently precisely because we are within a crowd that cares nothing about us at all. Loneliness and feeling unwanted strike at the very depths of the soul.

No wonder Helen Keller said, “Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.” The Lord Jesus certainly knew this overwhelming scourge of aloneness in the dark moments in Gethsemane and especially as he breathed out his last on the Cross of Calvary. Try to imagine the immense pain, not only of body but of soul as well, when he cried out, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” Both true and terrible that, yes, God himself bore the horrifying burden of loneliness along with the collective sin of the world. How much more amazing and wonderful, then, was his promise to his followers after his resurrection that “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b, NET).

This is really a reiteration of what God had told his people long ago: “the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear nor be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:8, NKJV). All of these truths are behind the very encouraging admonition of the apostle Peter to “give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (I Peter 5:7, NLT). Being alone and lonely and feeling unwanted not, of course, good. It is not healthy. It is, in fact, psychologically and spiritually cancerous. It eats away at a person’s very self, that is, the core of who and what they are as a unique human being made in the image of God, according to his likeness. While we can draw immense comfort from knowing we are not, in fact, alone because God is with us — actually closer to us than our very breath — we should also be quite vigilant in seeking out the alone and lonely, the rejected and marginalized, the disregarded and ostracized.

We ought to remember the “golden rule,” that is, to “do unto others as you would have done to you.” In our own moments of despairing loneliness, we ourselves deeply needed love, comfort, and companionship. We needed to be reminded of our intrinsic value and worth, our gifts and talents. When we encounter the alone and lonely, then, we ought to feel an inner compulsion to offer this alleviation to them, to the most reasonable extent (with emphasis on “reasonable,” of course). We should remember that the Creator himself said, “It is not good for the man (the human) to be alone. Consequently, I will fashion for him a companion corresponding to him” (paraphrase of Genesis 2:18). Right, and this extends, of course, beyond marriage, even beyond family, out into the surrounding community. Point in fact, community itself hinges on correspondence and communication.

Following What or Who?

“If you want to be wrong, then follow the masses,” said the wise Socrates. Touché! Likewise, Gandhi observed that “it’s better to walk alone than with a crowd going in the wrong direction.” Too true, too true, and quite in keeping with what the Lord Jesus taught, “Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13 – 14, NET). How tempting it is to go with the flow, the masses around us, to make knowledge of truth subservient to popular opinion, to go along to get along. After all, who likes being the odd one out? Who enjoys being ostracized, marginalized, or even persecuted? Of course, Socrates also wisely taught, “It is better to suffer an injustice than to commit one,” and the apostle Peter went one step further in teaching, “it is better to suffer for doing good, if God wills it, than for doing evil” (I Peter 3:17, NET).

Many, many folks will agree, of course, and recommend striking out on your own, making your own path, and especially following your heart. But is following the heart any safer? The ancient prophet, Jeremiah, rather bluntly claimed, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked! Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9, NKJV). This may very well be why the Wisdom of ben Sirach implores, “Do not follow your inclination and strength in pursuing the desires of your heart” (5:2, NRSV). It may be little better to follow the so-called “experts,” wither, as the Lord Jesus warned against the “blind leading the blind.” Maybe, then, it is better to be led by reason and rationality, but then there is the ancient Hebrew proverb that warns, “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12, NRSV), and as the apostle Paul explains, “the wisdom of this world is folly with God” (I Corinthians 14:12, NRSV).

Of course, none of this is to suggest that we cannot ever cooperate with the heart and mind. It simply comes down to making certain our heart and mind are clear and pure and heading in the right direction. Certainly, the Maker of the heart and mind intends for us to employ that which has been given to us, so long as we treasure divine truth in our hearts (Psalm 119:11) and set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2), always remembering that wisdom, which has to do with both heart and mind, is most apparently and perfectly revealed in Christ Jesus (I Corinthians 1:24), who declared of himself that he is “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Only in this may we safely follow the heart and mind, and in so doing, properly strike out on the “straight and narrow” path, not following the masses — that is, in biblical terminology, the world — with other cherished pilgrims along the way.

Knowing What We Can Know in Humility

It goes without saying that we do not understand everything. Not everyone is an engineer, or physician, or an electrician or plumber. Not everyone is a philosopher or theologian, an artist or musician, biologist or astronomer. As humans we are limited, finite creatures. Not surprisingly, then, no human being can possibly, fully understand the transcendent divine, which is precisely the conclusion of the ancient character of Job. After being interrogated by God, this suffering man replies, “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this who darkens counsel without knowledge?’ But I have declared without understanding things too wonderful for me to know” (Job 42:2 – 3, NET). Job here admits ignorance in the literal sense of being “without knowledge.” This is nicely paralleled by the psalmist when he declares, “Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension; it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it” (Psalm 139:6, NET).

Indeed, as the apostle Paul exclaims, “O the depth of the riches of both the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unfathomable are His judgments and unsearchable are His ways” (Romans 11:33, AFV). The very notion of God as God carries within an ingredient of inscrutability, aenigma, incomprehensibility. Really and truly, we might very well conclude that God would not be God if he were totally fathomable and understandable. This is one great frustration in theism, that is, that for us who believe in God (or the supernatural, the divine) there is much we simply cannot explain. Of course, it is also quite frustrating when the atheist or agnostic poses difficult questions that are, in all honesty, beyond our ability to answer. We want to reply intelligently, wisely, eruditely, but we are completely unable. On the other hand, of course, there is really no good excuse for our not understanding what we can grasp intellectually. In other words, we are naturally given to inquiry, research, study and contemplation as humans, so why then would those of us who believe in God not spend quality time investigating that which can possibly be known?

As the apostle Paul charges, “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God” (Romans 1:20, NLT). There is much to be known and far more than we can hope to contemplate in this lifetime, so we should learn all that we can learn and pray for wisdom and discernment. Yes, we should ever and always be humble, “for who can learn the counsel of God? Or who can discern what the Lord wills?” (Wisdom 9:13, NRSV). Even still, for our own sake and the sake of others, we desperately need to “draw near to God” that he might draw near to us (see James 4:8). In all of this, then, we will surely learn in love, wisdom, and humility that which we must know of the God whom we worship in spirit and in truth.

Prayer Too Deep for Words

Max Lucado wisely counseled concerning prayer, “Don’t worry about having the right words; worry more about having the right heart. It’s not eloquence he seeks, just honesty.” The 19th century English scholar and theologian, Adam Clark, observed much the same: “Prayer requires more of the heart than of the tongue.” Right. So very true, but it is certainly not unusual to experience times when the right words just do not come to mind when we are praying. This can be, to say the least, quite frustrating. We humans are, after all, communicational creatures, so consequently, much of our human life depends upon intelligible, intelligent communication. When we approach God in prayer, then, we naturally want to actually communicate through prayer … but sometimes this seems impossible.

Even as vast as our vocabulary may be, and even though we may be reasonably intelligent, and even though we may be fervent in our religious devotion, we may come to times of prayer when words simply escape us. What makes it worse, perhaps, is when we are in desperation — that is, when we really, deeply need to “get something out” but cannot quite find the best way to “get it out,” so to speak. Perhaps this is one reason the apostle Paul told the Christians in Rome that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words” (8:26, NRSV). As believers and followers of Christ Jesus, we rejoice that the very Spirit of God has come into us, to reside within us. The apostle Paul, then, is encouraging us to know and rest assured that in those times when we cannot find precisely the right words, then this very same Spirit comes to our aid and “prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words” (NLT).

The Holy Spirit — the Spirit of life, light, love, joy, peace, truth and beauty — takes us beyond words, communicating through and for us what we cannot intelligibly communicate for ourselves, in our own words. Yes, sometimes we find ourselves in situations that seem to exceed the boundaries of language, and it is just then that we most need to pray. In these situations, the Spirit facilitates our heartfelt pleadings to heaven — that is, to the Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Not surprisingly, then, this is one of the most significant and important, divine ministries in our lives. John Bunyan, author of the classic Pilgrim’s Progress, once said, “In prayer, it is better to have heart without words than words without heart.” Touché! Of course, naturally, it is important to communicate with words, intelligently and intelligibly, but in those moments when this seems quite impossible, how comforting it is to know that the Spirit of God takes our deep sighs and painful groanings and offers them up to the Father in a perfectly clear and lucid manner, through Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.

One Soul in Two Bodies: Friendship

In his ‘Lives of Eminent Philosophers,’ Diogenes Laertius (3rd century AD) tells us that when Aristotle was asked, “What is a friend?” his reply was, “A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” This makes sense of the ancient Hebrew proverb that teaches, “a friend loves at all times” (Proverbs 17:17a, ESV), and therefore, consequently, “wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy” (Proverbs 27:6, NLT). There is even a proverb that declares, “a true friend is closer than your own family” (Proverbs 18:24b, CEV). Wow! We value friendship in our own day and time, but one must wonder if we place as high a premium on friendship as did the ancients. No wonder Mencius (4th century BC Chinese philosopher) said, “Friends are the siblings God never gave us.” How so very true … of true friends. How many times, though, do we refer to all sorts of people as “friends,” when we barely even know them? How lightly do we take the whole idea of friendship? Thomas Aquinas (13th century theologian, philosopher, and priest) declared, “There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” Do we tend to think and feel the same way? Do we place that much value in friendship?

“Happy is the one who finds a friend,” declares ben Sirach, and indeed this is true. What is friendship, though? In ancient Greek, the word philos is used, and it originally meant “dear, expensive, valuable,” but shortly became the word used for “friend.” This seems rather appropriate. A genuine friend can certainly be said to be “dear” and “valuable,” and even in a sense “expensive.” Point in fact, one cannot put a price tag on authentic friendship. This is one of the reasons it’s so astounding that when the Lord Jesus was accused of being a “friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19, Luke 7:34), he did not deny it! He accepted that appellation! And he was, of course, the “friend of tax collectors and sinners,” and what did he do as friend? The Lord Jesus gives the answer to this question proleptically in John 15:13: “No one has greater love than this, (than) to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (NRSV). To be a true friend, then, is self-sacrificial. It is the willingness to sacrifice one’s self, in whatever sense, for the good of the other person, the friend. And this was modelled perfectly by the Lord Jesus. Amen.

In the Beginning…

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1, NKJV). This is likely one of the best known lines ever written, so much so that readers just glide on past to the remainder of the first creation account in Genesis. Is this statement significant, though, and if so, why? Well, first off, there are three important parts to this statement: 1) In the beginning, 2) God created, and 3) the heavens and the earth. All three constitute rather radical claims in the larger context of the Ancient Near East, as well as the Graeco-Roman world. Let’s briefly look at each of these parts.

First, readers are presented with the claim that there was, in fact, an actual beginning. Like the more modern, but now disproven, Steady State Theory, many (most) ancient peoples believed the material (the “stuff”) of the universe was eternal — no beginning and no end. At first, all was believed to have been “chaos.” Out of this “chaos” of indistinct, unordered material, the gods were said to have distinguished, ordered, and arranged the material into “cosmos.” In contrast to this prevailing idea, the Hebrew peoples believed, according to divine revelation, that there was a “time” when none of the material (the “stuff) existed. Hence, there was an actual beginning, that is, an ex nihilo (out of nothing) “birth” of everything, if you will.

Second, and following upon the first point, it was God, ‘ĕlôhı̂ym, who created (bârâ’) out of nothing by spoken word alone. There was no pre-existing material with which God worked. Indeed, the universe, or world, was said to initially be “without form and void” (1:2), but this as-of-yet formless material was, nevertheless, spoke into being by the spoken words of God. Eventually, folks within the Judeo-Christian tradition (and Judaism, as well as Islam) would understand that one of the implications of creation ex nihilo was that the one God not only created, ordered, and arranged the material of the universe into the finely-tuned and beautiful cosmos, but that this God also necessarily created the entire space-time continuum. Space and time simply did not exist before the creative action of God.

Third, this God created all, which is summed up in the phrase “the heavens and the earth.” Nothing in the universe exists apart from or outside of the divine creative act. Because this is the case, then, the Creator necessarily maintains and superintends the whole of the created order. In other words, this God did not simply “wind up” the universe like a clock and let it go, as earlier Deists (and not a few folks today) believed. Interestingly enough, this very idea is directly attributed to Christ Jesus by the author to the Hebrews: “He (Christ Jesus) is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word” (1:3a, NRSV). And the apostle Paul writes to the Colossians, “He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him” (1:17, NET). And as John Wesley observed, “The original expression not only implies that he sustains all things in being but more directly, all things were and are compacted in him into one system. He is the cement, as well as support, of the universe.”

It is no wonder, then, that Christians look to Jesus the Christ not only as Savior, but also Lord. And not only Lord, but the Sovereign of the Cosmos, who is now seated on the righthand of God the Father, almighty. Amen.

Are We Alive With Life?

“And YahwehElohim formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7) In ancient Egypt, princesses would come before Pharoah with precious gifts and, as they each presented their gift to him, they would say, “May the Golden One,” the goddess Hathor, “give life to your nostrils. May the Lady of the Stars unite herself with you.” Royalty alone received from the deity the “breath of life.” Opposed to this exclusivity, the account in Genesis informs us that all humans were given the divine breath of life. Here the Creator God, Yahweh Elohim, bends down and breathes his very own, life-giving breath into the nostrils of the man, the ‘âdâm. As Victor Hamilton says, “It is man, as representative of subsequent humanity, who receives the divine breath. It is not something only for the elite of society.” And this sets humanity apart from and above the rest of creation, while still being part of the created order. Only here does the Lord God stoop down not only to fashion the ‘âdâm from out of earth with his own hands, as it were, but imparts his own breath in order to bring ‘âdâm to life as “a living soul,” or nephesh in Hebrew.

Through willful sin, death entered the world, taking away real and genuine life, leaving in its place mere existence. This is why the apostle Paul says, “you were dead in your offenses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1, NET). Humanity was merely existing, not authentically living real life. Our Lord Jesus said, “I have come so that they may have life and may have it abundantly” (John 10:10b, NET). Not so surprisingly, then, following his resurrection, the Lord Jesus met and spoke with his followers and “breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22, NRSV). The life that had been destroyed by sin and wickedness was now fully restored. As Christ Jesus also taught, “The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help” (John 6:63, NET). This is also why our Lord Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman at the well near Sychar, “God is a spirit. Those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24, GW). This is as much to say that those who would truly, genuinely worship God must be fully alive in Christ Jesus, by the indwelling Spirit of Life, in order to offer a living sacrifice of praise, prayer, and thanksgiving rather than dead and empty religious ritual.

Are we really alive? Life is more than physical, biological existence. Real and genuine life consists in the divine Breath of Life. Distinctly human life comes from the indwelling of the Spirit of Life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is why the precious words of the apostle Paul resonate so deeply with Christians, that is, that “God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4 – 6, NLT).

Gifts and Talents on Purpose

When the Lord God wanted the ancient Hebrew people to construct the Tabernacle, he specifically set aside artisans and craftsmen to help complete this monumental task, specifically Bezalel son of Uri and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, to whom he had given “great wisdom, ability, and expertise,” including expertise in “working with gold, silver, and bronze” and skill in “engraving and mounting gemstones and in carving wood.” These two men and their team were especially gifted and talented for the divinely-given task at hand. They were just the right ones for the job! This should not really surprise us, of course, for every person has unique gifts and talents, abilities and aptitudes, as well as particular interests and proclivities. “God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart…” (Ecclesiastes 3:11a, NLT).

It almost goes without saying, then, that every person has purpose, but not everyone actually lives life-on-purpose. This was partly the point of the parable of talents told by our Lord Jesus. You remember, right? There are three servants in the story, with one master. The master gives one servant five talents, another two talents, and the third he gives one talent. The master then leaves on his journey, during which time the first servant doubles the five talents into ten. The second servant did the same, doubling his two talents into four, but the third servant simply buries his one talent. When the master returns he is, of course, very pleased with the first two servants but quite angry with the third man. To the last servant he says, “you should have at least deposited my money with the bankers, so that on my return I would have received my money back with interest!” There is much we can say about this parable — indeed, many sermons have been preached from this text — but one point we simply cannot miss is that even the person with only one talent can invest it productively and profitably.

The apostle Paul pointedly taught that each member of the Church, the Body of Christ, has been given some particular gift by the Spirit of God for the benefit of all of his people and, really, the whole world. He writes to the Romans, “we have different gifts according to the grace given to us.” And he follows this with various examples (not an exhaustive list): “If the gift is prophecy, that individual must use it in proportion to his faith. If it is service, he must serve; if it is teaching, he must teach; if it is exhortation, he must exhort; if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity; if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence; if it is showing mercy, he must do so with cheerfulness” (Romans 12:6 – 8, NET). His point is clear: We each have been given gifts — that is, talents and abilities — and we are charged to use those gifts accordingly. We may only have just one, but even still we are not to follow the example of the wicked servant in the parable. We are enjoined to invest that talent to the glory of God and for the good of others. Certainly, we are not expected (by God, at least) to do more than we are capable of doing, but we are expected to do what we can, where we are, with what we have in the time we have. We are bidden to live life on purpose, and God has given us everything necessary to do so.