Caiaphas Did Not Know

Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Matthew 26:64 (ESV)

They struck him after he said that. They spat on him. They hated him. They accused him.

They crucified him after he said that.

What the high priest Caiaphas did not know was that the man of glory did not lie. Truly he is seated at the right hand of Power and truly he is coming again on the clouds of heaven.

And we rejoice that he says this.

We wonder at him. We glory in him. We long for him. We take hope in that he says this.

For the reality of his coming is as comforting a truth that you can find. One day he will come and make all things new. Every sickness healed, every sorrow salved, every corruption made pure.

While we toil against the evil in this age, both within and without, we thank the one who sits in power and has promised to come again.

He is coming again. We know it and are glad.

Give us life in your ways!

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your ways.
Psalm 119:37 (ESV)

Oh Lord, we yearn for life. The pursuit of you and your ways will give us this life, but something stands in the way: worthless things. Not pure evil, not wretchedness. Nothing utterly sinful––though these things can and do stand in our way.

But most often that which keeps us from experiencing the spiritual life of active union with God is the worthless. The distraction. The tweet, update, or post. The photo, clip, or meme. These things are of little worth. Their utility in the future kingdom is nonexistent. They are temporary. They wither away down the timeline and are eventually forgotten.

These worthless things keep us up at night and keep us distracted throughout the day. Why do we fill our attention with these things? Often so that we can ignore greater problems, responsibilities, or the pain in our lives. So we can escape.

Christian, go to God and run from these worthless things. Their appeal is deception, their substance of nothing. For we can feast and feast and feast again on media and still be famished.

But the Lord satisfies. Even one draught of his love brightens the eyes, encourages the heart, and focuses the mind. You can go forth into your trial with life.

God, turn our eyes from looking at worthless things, and give us life in your ways!

Let me not wander!

With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
Psalm 119:10

Lord, this is our desire. To seek you with our whole hearts. To be undivided. We want no part of our inner lives to be against you. We want the inner-shalom, the wholeness and peace arising from an uncorrupted mind. To be wholly for God. To be seeking him in all places and times, in every work and season. And indeed, to find him too.

We proclaim it, we believe it––and yet we know our capacity to falter is ever around us. So the second line is a prayer. As quickly as intent is declared, reality is feared: “Let me not wander!”

Christian, God will sustain you. Be dependent. Not too proud to ignore that even our boldest proclamations waver without the presence of God which can buttress a shaky foundation. We need his guiding hand, his sustaining Spirit, his life-giving presence.

God and Vinedresser to this limp branch, give me a heart to seek you, and let me not wander!

Stiff-Necked

Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
Exodus 33:3

God says to the Israelites while in the desert, “go on your way, but I’m not joining. You are stubbornly turned away from me, so I cannot go with you.” What does it mean to be stiff-necked? It means to be stubborn. It means the people don’t look to God and also that they won’t. It’s a bleak view of the people. And on account of this condition, God says he won’t go.

However, Moses has a relationship with God though, and he implores God:

And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
Exodus 34:9

He tells God, “no, please go up with us for the precise reason that we are stiff-necked––and pardon our sin.”

What a bold and incredible request. Of course it is grounded in God’s promise that he clings to (undoubtedly based primarily on the important revelation of God’s name in between these verses), but it is opposite what we would expect. God himself says, “I’m not going. You are stiff-necked.” Moses says, “no that’s precisely why we need you.”

God is both the deliverer and the justifier. The people could not go up in their own strength and deliver themselves in order to see God put them in right-standing. Nor could the people justify themselves by righteousness in order that God might go with them to deliver them. God does both. He delivers, and he justifies.

Moses’ response to God’s challenge and self-proclamation is full of faith in Grace.

God is both your deliverer and your justifier.

He walks among us

In John’s revelation, he records Jesus’ introductory words:

Revelation 1:17–2:1 (ESV)
¹⁷When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, ¹⁸and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. ¹⁹Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. ²⁰As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

I am encouraged today, by the nearness with which Jesus still interacts with his churches. Jesus, who is alive forevermore, sends a message through John to his churches. He holds the churches in his hand. He assigns angels to each of them. He walks among them.

Too often I forget this glorious thought of my king walking among the churches. He walks among us. Jesus, who said he would be with us until the end of the age (Matt. 28:20), meant that with us he would really be. What a beautiful, frightening, and comforting thought. He really is with us. So let us take heart.

Refined through fire, now free

⁹ “For my name’s sake I defer my anger;
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
¹⁰ Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
Isaiah 48:9-10

God will redeem and rescue the house of Jacob out of Babylonian captivity for his name’s sake. For the sake of his praise, he will cut short the days of affliction and bring them back.

The curious line is v. 10: “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver.” Moyter is helpful here:

Silver endures the crucible until all dross is gone. Were the Lord to deal with his people just like that, nothing would remain (1:22). Therefore, though he brings his people through trials, there is always a limit set: they are never treated as they deserve, always for the fulfillment of his purpose (Heb. 12:10).
J. Alec Motyer, Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 20, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 341.

Indeed, even in his judgment, God is gracious. He does not carry the just punishment through to completion but spares Israel. God made perfect justice later through Jesus (Rom. 3:25).

So too does God spare us from what we deserve. We are not refined as silver but are spared for his praise. So may we praise.

To “Nu” or Not to “Nu?”

The NIV ‘11 of 1 Thessalonians 2:7a:

Instead, we were like young children among you…

The ESV:

But we were gentle among you, …

Based on the NIV, I was going to write a post about how we are to be humble in our Gospel-sharing, but then the ESV went and ruined that by suggesting that the word is “gentle” instead of “young children.”

This comes down to a textual variant in the manuscripts. Some say ἤπιοι (“ēpioi,” meaning gentle) and others say νήπιοι (“nēpioi,” meaning infants/children). The preceding word ends in a nu (“ν”), so the question becomes, did a scribe mistakenly duplicate the nu or was it accidentally deleted?

Here is the context of the NIV, 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8

7 Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

And the ESV:

7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

As you can see, other questions abound here concerning the other various clauses. (Remember, there was no punctuation when these words were transcribed. All of that had to be decided upon later). These modifications seem to be due to our little textual variant.

What does this tell us? Well, a little nu can make a big difference! But, what does this say about scripture? I’m sure God could have sovereignly overridden this error if He wanted it to remain perfect!

So why didn’t He?

Of course I cannot know, but maybe God allowed this–yes, rather small and insignificant–mistake to persist to remind us of our humanity–our distinct “otherness” in relation to God. While there is no fault in Him, we fail to simply copy things down.

Or, perhaps it is to remind us that God uses people to accomplish his purposes. All throughout the Bible we find God’s plan being carried out by men and women unqualified to do so. God uses people like Samson, Gideon, and Saul: selfish men who hardly seem reliable for noble tasks. And yet, God uses them.

And whether or not we get all of our nu’s in the right places (we can’t), God can employ us too. Even for the missions we are sure to taint along the way.

God’s Remarkable Response to David’s Sin

Psalm 38 finds David in a low place, brought low by his sin. Whereas in other Psalms he lays claim on his innocence and seeks deliverance, here he bemoans of his guilt.

There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation;

there is no health in my bones because of my sin. -Psalm 38:3

In this couplet, David suffers a strickenness in direct result of his sin. We find it throughout the Psalm.

For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness,

I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning.

But David’s desolate condition is not merely the result of sin: he suffers too from the hand of God.

I know this because verse 3 informs me of it. The lack of health and soundness in David’s body is given two causes. These are God’s indignation and David’s sin, and they are inextricable.

To think that God is so gracious to be ambivalent to our sin is to misunderstand God and to belittle the devastation of sin. It is also to misunderstand grace.

Sin is not a mere quirk or untimely hiccup, it is an offense against God.

Grace is not overlooking sin, but acknowledging it face on and atoning for it. Hearing the vulgar rebukes of his mockers, Jesus, pinned to the stake cried, “Father, forgive them! For they know not what they do.” Jesus embodies perfect grace.

And God would not be God if our sin did not stir within Him an indignation. He is the Holy One.

God cares too much about us to be the ambivalent friend. Indeed, God disciplines those he loves, that they might not suffer continually from their sin. David tangibly describes God’s discipline in verse 2:

For your arrows have sunk into me,

and your hand has come down on me.

The greatest reminder from this Psalm for me is that my sin affects God and rouses from Him a response. Here it is called indignation. Paul later calls it grief (Eph 4:30). It is remarkable that the Infinite, Perfect, and Immense Creator of the Universe could have such an affection for me that my minute comings and goings could sway Him–Him! That truth is indeed too marvelous to behold.

We could never comprehend the complexities of the emotions of God, nor the perfect means by which God mingles his love for his children with his hatred of sin. But as we grow nearer to his heart, the more wisely will we live and the more fully will we love. While my sin is forgiven and atoned for, it still stirs the heart of my Father. May I be sensitive to Him and desire deeply to please Him. God help me!

God’s Tender Walk with David’s Conflicted Heart

A few observations on the following text of David’s apparent impersonation of Harrison Ford in The Fugitive:

[Saul] pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.” So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape. And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Engedi. -1 Samuel 23:25b-29

1. David is remarkably merciful by his insistence on not harming Saul.

By my estimation, David would be totally justified in wrenching the kingdom from Saul. David’s been anointed king by Samuel, and his predecessor Saul has been told that he’s been sacked (though, in denial, he continues to show up at the “office.”)

Why would David refrain from taking what is rightfully his? To some degree, his conscience can’t bear it. He ninja-style tears a corner off of Saul’s robe to show that he means him no harm (yes, when Saul is still trying to kill him), and the realization that he ruined the man’s North Face overwhelms him (1 Sam 24:5-7). Should he be this sensitive though?

I’m not sure. To me it’s David’s duty to take the throne, but it seems that, as surprising as it is to us,

2. God is willing to work within David’s conscience.

When Saul comes up in this passage with his army against David, God could have allowed the fight to break and routed Saul and company. To me, that would make sense. Hubris sends the fellow into working against God and God turns it back on his head. BOOM. That makes for a quick, clean story. Moral: served.

But it didn’t go down that way. God is tenderly raising up David, and when David feels like his conscience forbids him, God respects it and brings in the Philistines to redirect Saul away. (Again, God can work through sin and, in fact, uses it to accomplish his purposes [Gen 50:20]). This shows me that…

3. Our consciences are important and should be respected.

David has a right moral (I must not harm the Lord’s anointed!), but his information is just a bit off: he’s actually the anointed one now. But while David is still deriving the the right data and compiling, God is not going to lead David into betraying David’s conscience.

Similar situations happen with us. We can feel that something might be wrong, even when it is ambiguous or even totally acceptable. But when we do feel like we are breaking conscience, we should honor that feeling. Crossing over and disobeying one’s conscience only begets more and more disobedience. We unfortunately get used to feeling bad, and then stop feeling anything altogether. The end result is a deadened or severely weakened conscience that we need for things like life. That’s why Paul encourages the church members to respect one another’s arbitrary opinions:

One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. – Romans 14:5

We must obey the silent murmurs and even silly apprehensions of our hearts. They are there for a reason. Maybe we have the wrong data, and that will work itself out eventually. But let us be fully convinced in our own minds.

You may feel like your conscience has been so maligned by you that it is deadened beyond recovery. Take heart. It is not. You, or your heart, are never beyond recovery. Our God’s arms are never too short to reach you, nor are His healing hands ever too unskilled to restore you.

God, Genocide, and the Big Red Button

To read the Bible is to grapple with the ugliest shades of life. Shades of darkness, terror, incest, war, rape, and the like. Contrary to our childhood Sunday school classes, many of the stories are starkly graphic and disturbing.
Why?

Well, it is unfortunately true to life. It is not unfortunate that the Bible is continually relevant for thousands of years, but rather it is unfortunate that life is indeed so grim.

The following passage reveals a grim moment.

Thus says the LORD of hosts,

“I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”

– 1 Samuel 15:2-3

In this passage, we see the LORD commanding Saul to destroy the Amalekites, and later, He enables Saul to essentially do so. Some escape (we see their descendents harassing future Israel), and Saul does not follow his order completely. But largely, this genocide does indeed occur, which raises some questions: why would God order a war of this scale, eliminating even the women and children? And how can this God be good or trustworthy?

My intention is to show that God is good–indeed the source of all Goodness and in Himself Goodness perfected.

It is common for a pastor or teacher to give all of the reasons why such a commissioned catastrophe would be warranted. And, granted, surely there are many. The sins of the Amalekites is no small measure. And for Israel to remotely survive, they need to be defeated. But even such an explanation would likely be challenged by many who argue for the innocence of–at least–the children. So, the argument that the Amalekites got what was coming to them, may not stand in the eyes of our culture.

How then, can God still be good?

God is still good here only if indeed we and the Amalekites have total depravity–meaning, the only way God is righteous is if the children are truly unrighteous and if unrighteousness’ penalty is death.

There is no room in the Bible for the humanist view that people are innately good. Our world should convince us otherwise, but those that disregard diety must–for the sake of their sanity–find goodness somewhere. In the Bible, God is God and the only one that is Good. He is perfectly just in taking life. He owes us nothing. To our American, man-centered brains, this bewilders and frustrates. We want a God that is man-centered: working tirelessly for our “glory.”

But do we really?

Do we actually want a God that is man-centered in His workings? A God that would never be capable of killing the Amalekites?

I contend we do not.

Our souls were made for basking in glory. We cry and quiver and shout in stadiums and theaters and National Parks–places designated for displaying glory. But even our best worldly commencements and parades and victories fail us. Our sports icon spouts off racist remarks. Our American hero cheats on his spouse. Our elected officials make mistakes. Under the costume or uniform, we know that it’s a lie. Their glory is tainted; our satisfaction in vain.

A God who intentionally purported such glories of man, would do unto us the worst evil. It would be like being served a veggie burger when one asked for beef.

God is good because He is committed to glorifying Himself to us. It is indeed only what will satisfy us. A God so committed to man that He would be incapable of judging people or killing the Amalekites is no God at all. He would be but a cosmic prostitute–a play-thing for self-enjoyment.

It is difficult to overcome a man-centered worldview, even as a Christian. But a thorough knowledge of our depravity should help. We should know that inwardly we are all tainted pictures. None deserve their life–not to mention an eternal one. And yet God gives more grace. And yet He loves. It is refreshing to return to a true consciousness of our sin, for confession begets repentance. And repentance is the true calling of a perfect God to a broken man. Praise God for His relentless invitation to repent in the midst of our deep depravity.