Reaping the Whirlwind

I wrote in “Today’s Chaldean Chastisement” that I thought it possible that God was using Iran (modern-day Chaldeans) to punish America for her sins. Later, in “Who are the Other Gods” I explained that God has been dealing with other nations besides Israel since the beginning. Because of God’s obvious global interest, I can’t help but wonder how America plays in the grand scheme of things. I know that God’s chosen people are no longer a national entity; they are a spiritual congregation from all nations. Yet what would God think of a nation so clearly founded on His biblical principles going the way of ancient Israel?

These passages from Hosea struck me as particularly pertinent:

Indeed, they sow the wind

and reap the whirlwind. (8:7)

 

The days of punishment have come;

the days of retribution have come.

Let [God’s people] recognize it!

The prophet is a fool,

and the inspired man is insane,

because of the magnitude

of your iniquity and hostility. (9:7)

 

You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice;

you have eaten the fruit of lies

Because you have trusted in your own way. (10:13)

 

But you must return to your God.

Maintain love and justice,

and always put your hope in God. (12:6)

 

The book of Hosea closes with these words:

 

Let whoever is wise understand these things,

and whoever is insightful recognize them.

For the ways of the Lord are right,

and the righteous walk in them,

but the rebellious stumble in them. (14:9)

 

I am not suggesting that the judgment God brought on the nations in Old Testament times is directly applicable to America. However, we hear the Lord say, “I am Yahweh; I do not change.” In the fourth chapter of Amos, God lists all the disasters He brought on Israel; He ends each with the line: “Yet you did not return to me.” The implication is obvious yet chilling. God wreaked havoc to cause Israel to repent. The prophets assure God’s unrepentant people that He will show mercy if they return to Him. They did not. They paid the price He promised.

 

R.C. Sproul writes in The Holiness of God: “Far from being a history of a harsh God, the Old Testament is the record of a God who is patient in the extreme. The Old Testament is the history of a persistently hard-necked people who rebel time after time against God. The people became slaves in a foreign land. They cried out to God. God heard their groans and moved to redeem them. He parted the Red Sea to let them out of bondage. They responded by worshiping a gold cow.”

Summing up God’s plans for the infant nation of Israel, Moses warned: “After the Lord your God has driven [the nations] out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’ No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land.”

Commenting on this passage Sproul writes: “God reminds Israel that it is not because of their righteousness that He will defeat the Canaanites. He wanted to make that point clear. Israel might have been tempted to jump to the conclusion that God was ‘on their side’ because they were better than pagan nations. God’s announcement made that inference impossible. Since it is our tendency to take grace for granted, my guess is that God found it necessary from time to time to remind Israel that grace must never be assumed. On rare but dramatic occasions He showed the dreadful power of His justice. He killed Nadab and Abihu. He killed Uzzah. He commanded the slaughter of the Canaanites. It is like He was saying, ‘Be careful. While you enjoy the benefits of my grace, don’t forget my justice. Don’t forget the gravity of sin. Remember that I am holy.’”

It is not unusual to hear someone suggest that God has blessed America uniquely because of her initial founding on biblical principles. Like Sproul says of ancient Israel, we too might imagine God is “on our side” because of a special relationship. I don’t pretend to know what God’s mind is toward America. I do know without doubt what His mind is toward evil, and America is descending further and further into a dark abyss of immorality. I am certain the principle of reaping what you sow is universal. I would not be surprised to learn that God applies it to nations as well as individuals.

Someone might be tempted to say that all this “Bible stuff” is irrelevant to the present world situation. I disagree. C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “[those] who did the most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.” Thinking of the next world (the new earth where righteousness dwells), setting our minds on things above (where Christ sits enthroned above the nations), praying that God’s will be done on earth as it is in Heaven – these are the actions that are most needful. We are ambassadors from another kingdom, the Kingdom of the Holy God; let’s be about the King’s business.

Related posts: Bringing the Kingdom; Today’s Chaldean Chastisement; Who Are the Other Gods?; Light Shining in Darkness; Read This or Die

Another Jewish Temple?

In recent months, my readership in Israel has spiked dramatically. I suspect interest in the “Holy Land” has increased worldwide due to the heightened conflict with Palestinians. I have expressed my opinion about the future of Israel as a nation previously. Everyone agrees that God dealt a serious blow to Old Testament Judaism when the Messiah was crucified, and the temple veil was torn. Then, seventy years later, the Romans completed the act of God’s judgment by destroying the Jerusalem temple. One might expect that would have signaled the end of the Jewish people. Yet here they are making news today. Ever since Israel became a nation again in 1948, speculation has continued regarding their place in God’s plan.

The centerpiece of this speculation revolves around the rebuilding of a Jewish temple. I have often questioned the need for a temple in the millennial kingdom imagined by the followers of Darby and Schofield. (I have discussed this previously as the dispensational/millennial view – abbreviated as DM.) Typical of the DM view and most who believe there will be another temple on earth, John MacArthur suggests that there will be unresurrected people in the millennial kingdom, and they will worship in the temple described by Ezekiel. Although he admits that Christ’s sacrifice was the “final” one, MacArthur insists continual earthly sacrifices will be performed. The purpose of the sacrifices would be retrospective rather than prospective according to MacArthur. Possibly.

If I dismiss the DM view, I can think of two possible explanations for the revelation of a temple that Ezekiel saw. Because the vision was given during the period when Israel was in captivity in Babylon, and because the temple of Solomon had been destroyed, God may have been giving instructions for the rebuilding of the temple that would eventually take place under Zerubbabel. That would explain the minute physical detail of the construction and the attendant regulations. However, there are several factors that argue against a physical building. The fact that neither Zerubbabel’s nor Herod’s temple met these specifications is noteworthy. Also, the land was never allotted by tribes during the remainder of the nation’s history as Ezekiel envisioned. It also seems significant that the nation of Israel was overrun by Muslims, and the temple mount became the site of an Islamic Mosque.

Another possible reason that the temple was revealed to Ezekiel is wholly symbolic. Ezekiel 47:6-12 supports this idea. The prophet is shown a river that flows from the temple to the Dead Sea. It starts as a trickle and gradually becomes a flood. It “heals” the sea so that freshwater fish become abundant. There are trees that bear fruit each month with leaves that are for healing. This scenario bears a striking resemblance to what John describes in the heavenly scene from Revelation. Naturally, those who hold to the teachings of Darby and Schofield believe this proves the existence of an earthly temple during the millennial kingdom. Those of us who understand apocalyptic literature as symbolic do not expect to find a physical reality drawn from the vision any more than we expect a literal thousand-year kingdom.

If we assume that Ezekiel’s temple was symbolic, it is easy to explain its tremendous size, the miraculous water, the healing trees, and the strict regulations for temple personnel. The purpose of the earthly temple was always to display God’s holiness and to provide for His prescribed worship. The architecture, the utensils, even the clothing of the priests each have symbolic meanings. By showing Ezekiel a perfect temple, God was reestablishing His call for perfect obedience. Had Israel done that, the miraculous river would have become a metaphor for the grace and healing of God that would have flowed from proper worship and obedience. Indeed, the world might have been healed/saved had the Israelites understood their divine responsibility.

My biggest problem with the DM position requiring another physical temple is that it seems to completely ignore what Jesus the Messiah, Paul the Apostle, and John the Revelator said about a temple. When Jesus spoke to His disciples about his immanent departure, He promised that they would become the home of God on earth: “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and will take up residence with him.” That promise is echoed in John’s Revelation: “Behold, the dwelling of God is with humanity, and he will take up residence with them, and they will be his people and God himself will be with them.” Paul makes numerous clear statements that the church corporately and the Christian individually are the New Testament temple.

According to John’s vision, God’s throne is in the heavenly Jerusalem to which we have all come as Christ’s followers as the writer of Hebrews explains. John says plainly, “And I did not see a temple in it, for the Lord God All-Powerful is its temple.” God doesn’t need a building in earthly Jerusalem for His residence on earth; we are His residence. I am not a pre- mid- or post-millennial believer. I am pro-millennial; whatever God chooses to do in the end times, I am for it. I am humble enough to admit that if John Nelson Darby and C.I. Schofield were right, the continued existence of the nation of Israel and her biblical enemies may mean something. But I am not holding my breath waiting for a red heifer and another Jerusalem temple. Jesus could come today; He doesn’t need another temple.

Related posts: America is Not the Promised Land; Canaan Cannot Be Heaven; Binding Satan; Why Heaven Matters

Who Are the Other Gods?

In my last post, Questions, Questions, Questions, I raised the issue of what happened to all the nations dispersed at the Tower of Babel. We know that immediately after Babel, God began to build His chosen nation, Israel, and we learn about the surrounding nations that have parts to play in the biblical narrative. But what of all the others? What about the large populations of India and China which have recorded histories that predate the formation of Israel? I wonder if the Bible doesn’t have something to say about them.

In my first novel, Wings of Mentridar, through fantasy with Bible roots I depicted what I believe is the proper worldview of ancient peoples, including the people of the Bible. In their minds, all things physical and spiritual were connected. They believed gods were everywhere intimately involved in their daily lives. I was excited to discover Michael S. Heiser after finishing my book because in The Unseen Realm: Recovering the supernatural worldview of the Bible, Heiser confirmed by scholarly study what I had imagined.

In The Unseen Realm, Heiser gives indisputable proof through painstaking linguistic research into ancient Mesopotamian languages that the people we read about in the pages of Scripture had an understanding of the unseen realm, the spirit world, that we have gradually lost over the centuries. The belief that the Jews were fiercely monotheistic has led modern thinkers to assume that meant they did not believe that other gods existed. As we became “enlightened” through science, we lost touch with the unseen realm. Heiser believes these factors have created a veil over the true supernatural character of the biblical record. (For more details see “The Heiser Effect.”)

Rereading various passages with Heiser’s point of view reveals many instances where the other gods of the unseen realm are depicted. As the subtitle of his book suggests, we can recover a proper biblical worldview – one that recognizes the importance of “other gods.” Psalm 82 provides an open window into the unseen realm. When read properly, we see God speaking to a group, a council if you will, made up of other supernatural beings. In the psalm, God is chiding the beings for not managing their assigned nations properly.

That simple shift in viewpoint makes numerous other passages become clear. Throughout the major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, God promises to execute judgment on the nations surrounding Israel. Some were literal enemies who fought against them; some such as Moab and Edom were branches of the Abrahamic line, but they refused to help Israel when she needed it. All alike come under the judgment of God. The prophets almost always use metaphors when addressing the errant nations. The actual language they use is interesting.

In Ezekiel 31 there is a curious allegory. The prophet is told by God to share a story about the cedar of Lebanon with Pharoah as a word of warning. In the story, Assyria is called a cedar tree, but the language belies a much deeper truth. The tree is assigned human characteristics, the worst being pride. Because of that, God condemned the “tree” to destruction. Surely this can only be interpreted as God’s judgment against a sentient being. Trees don’t have pride (As far as I know.) Further, the tree is said to have been admired by the other trees in the Garden of Eden. Because of its wickedness, God, “gave it into the hand of the leader of nations; he dealt thoroughly with it according to its wickedness.” I believe the leader of nations is another of God’s ruling council who was given the task of punishing a fellow member for his transgression, fulfilling God’s promise of judgment.

The same kind of mysterious reference is made to the prince of Tyre in Ezekiel 28. One moment the prophet is being told about an earthly ruler, then suddenly God is referring to his existence in the beginning of time. I am suggesting that the human ruler was under the sway of a supernatural being under God’s command. When an angel came to Daniel to answer his prayer, the angel said he had been delayed because of a battle with “the prince of Persia.” Surely, he was not referring to an earthly prince. The only logical meaning is that the country was controlled by another supernatural being with whom the messenger had to fight.

Ezekiel’s warning to Pharoah continues with a second allegory in chapter 32. Pharoah likes to think of himself as a lion among nations, but God calls him a monster from the river. The imagery is of God taking the creature from its vaunted home in the river and dealing harshly with by consigning to the underworld just like Assyria. The same fate is assigned to Meshech, Tubal, Edom, and “the princes of the north.” All are called “the uncircumcised.” This draws a clear contrast between God’s nation and all others. Importantly, though, only those nations who troubled Israel, God’s people, were sentenced this way.

There are numerous other metaphorical references throughout the prophets. Sometimes they become mixed as in Ezekiel 36 when mountains (another reference to supernatural beings) are said to grow branches and bear fruit. In Ezekiel 35, Mount Seir is judged for failing to support Israel when she was in need. Mount Seir is how the prophets regularly refer to Edom, the descendants of Esau. One theme is repeated throughout all the prophets’ warnings. God says that His judgment will make it clear to all that, “I am the Lord.”

Some of God’s ways are less mysterious. In Ezekiel 33, The prophet is called a watchman who is responsible to warn people and nations of their sin. If they are warned, and they turn back from their sin, they will be saved. If they do not repent, they will be judged accordingly. This is where the well-known verse comes from: “Surely, I have no delight in the death of the wicked.” In chapter 37, following the various metaphors of God’s judgment, Ezekiel records the prediction that David’s throne will be reinstated by God, and One of His own would be seated on it. There is no doubt this refers to the coming of Messiah, so we have a clear timeline of when the judgment of the nations and the giving of Israel’s new heart will be completed.

Generally speaking, we assume that the physical destruction of the nations mentioned in the prophecies and the return of Israel from exile fulfilled the word to Ezekiel. However, the final culmination of the prophecy was to come centuries later. Specifically, it happened at the Cross of Calvary. Paul explained that when Christ died, he took captives as He triumphed over the “rulers and authorities” by nailing our certificate of indebtedness to the Cross. Our indebtedness, our slavery was to the “god of this age,” aka Satan. This message of the prophets makes it abundantly clear that throughout human history, humans have been players in God’s plan to defeat Satan and the “other gods.”

You may not like the insinuation, but we humans are mere pawns in a cosmic battle that has been raging since before the creation of our world. (See It’s Not All About You.) Paul says in Ephesians 3 that the great mystery of His will is being revealed by the church, “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places." Yahweh God, the One True God is making a point to the “other gods.” I said we are pawns, but when properly played, even pawns can dramatically affect the game. My question is whether you are willing to get in the game. Believe me; it’s supernatural!

 Related posts: Why Witness?; What Happens to People Who Never Hear About Jesus?; Election: God’s Choice

Imaginary Money

After the debacle that was the 2020 presidential selection episode, I swore off political commentary almost completely. Almost. Something has come to my attention that I cannot pass up. I will admit here and now that my tie to Scripture will be tenuous at best, but I am going to post it anyway. Forgive me if you feel it is necessary.

Kamala Harris has floated a plan to tax the unrealized gains of very rich persons at a rate of 25% annually. Let my break that down. Unrealized gains represent the growth in an investment. Imagine you buy a stock for $10 and it grows in value to $20; you have a gain of $10 per share. It remains “unrealized” as long as you don’t sell it. Under the current tax code, you would pay a tax on the gain if you sold. The remarkable thing about Harris’ plan is that she would tax it even if you don’t sell it. The same rule would apply to real estate. If your home increases in value above what you paid for it, that gain would be taxed every year.

The Harris plan would combine the very rich person’s income and gains and tax them both. Every year. At this time, her plan defines very rich as a person having a net worth of over $100 million. There are fewer than 3,000 people in that very rich category in America, so it would be easy to ignore the subject for most of us. However, the concept of taxing the increased value of something you own even if you don’t sell it is too radical to let pass.

We long ago started down this slippery slope by allowing municipalities to reassess real property and tax the value even if it is not sold for a profit. That is a kind of tax on unrealized gain. The practice rankles more than a few property owners, but we have let it continue. Where the Harris plan ventures into new territory is taxing gains as income and using a much higher rate than property taxes. States tax property for at most  2.23% (New Jersey) to the least 0.32% (Hawaii). This means that you would pay between a couple of dollars to a few cents per thousand dollars of preperty value. If your property has increased in value when you sell it, then you pay a tax on the gain.

If we open the door to taxing imaginary gain, one wonders what will be taxed next. The motivation for this proposal is understandable, maybe even fitting. The pols – D’s and R’s – in Washington have been spending imaginary money for years to pay for the unbridled growth of government. The practice of borrowing to spend began in the very beginning of our history as a country. We borrowed from France and the Netherlands to pay for the Revolutionary War. For some time, it was only emergencies that warranted spending money we didn’t have. That changed in the 20^th century when the nanny state was born. It’s no surprise that the income tax was begun at the same time.

Another move to imaginary money was taken in the 1970’s. President Nixon severed the tie between  the dollar and our gold reserves which backed our currency. That began the practice of printing money that had no real value other than the “faith and credit of the US government.” As it stands today, faith in our government is at an all-time low, and the US credit rating is in the tank. We now owe so much to so many that the interest we pay on our debt is 17% of our budget. That is second only to what we spend on Social Security. National debt interest eats almost 25% of federal revenue.

The sad fact is that we are essentially borrowing money to pay the interest on our debt. Read that again. We are not paying off the debt; we can’t even afford to pay the interest. As the natonal debt approaches $4 trillion, it becomes unlikely that we will ever be in a position to pay on the principle. Here is where the Bible comes in – barely: “The borrower is a slave to the lender.” I realize that was meant to apply to people and not governments, but how can it not apply. It surely does. We were established as a government of the people and by the people.

Is there a Christian, biblical view of this? Jeremiah counselled Israel in her hard times: “It is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.” I suggest that while we are quietly waiting, we go to the voting booth and speak loudly. (See Liars Figure) We need to elect people who will stop taxing and spending imaginary money. We are saddling our children and grandchildren with a burden that is not imaginary; it is unimaginable.

Related posts: Anybody Hear a Fiddle?; Liars Figure; Christians are Responsible to be Politically Engaged; Christian Responsibility; America Held Captive

Questions, Questions, Questions

Some years ago, there was a newspaper sold at the grocery check-out lanes that used the tagline, “Inquiring minds want to know.” The paper was filled with stories about paranormal subjects and gossip about famous people. It did a better job of raising questions than answers. I don’t think I ever bought a single copy of the rag, but I still use the tagline on occasion. I have the curiosity of a cat, I suppose. I realize not everyone does, as my wife often points out. However, I think it is good for Christians to have a healthy curiosity about some things.

I usually save my WHAMM for the end of these articles, but I am going to explain it up front this time so I don’t lose readers in the weeds where I am going. Being curious about things that are “unknown” will often help to bolster our faith and give us ammunition for its defense. Unbelievers will often throw unanswered questions at us to challenge us. Of course, it is unfair of them to suppose we know everything, but they think pointing out something we don’t know will diminish our trust in what we do know. This is why I think giving some thought to things that Scripture does not give clear answers to is worth doing.

There is nothing wrong with thinking outside the box, the box being what we know to be true from the Bible. It is unreasonable to imagine that God has revealed everything about Himself and the universe He created in His Word. In fact, God said through Isaiah that His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. What is true, as Peter points out, is that Scripture includes, “Everything necessary for life and godliness.” In other words, the biblical record contains everything we need to know to obtain salvation.

The category of “unknown things” has been rapidly shrinking since the advent of the scientific age. Granted, some of what has come of scientific thinking has challenged faith for a time, but eventually, what we know from the Bible is being proven by what we learn from science. Questions about the origin of the human race provide a perfect example. Charles Darwin famously questioned the reality of divine creation by suggesting that human life evolved from lower life forms through natural selection. Darwin himself admitted his theory would be untenable if we found that the inner workings of a living cell were more complicated than he believed. The invention of ultra high-powered microscopes has dashed Darwin’s argument on the rocks of scientific fact. (See Think About It)

Another scientific question as yet unanswered is whether there is sentient life on some other planet in the universe. Science has shown that there are indeed other planetary possibilities, perhaps numbering in the billions. While it is true that Earth is a unique planet as regards its suitability for human life (See The Privileged Planet), there is no good reason, biblically speaking, to assume God could not have created sentient beings on one of the other planets. C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy does a masterful job of imagining what unfallen beings might be like on other planets.

There is a principle of logic here that needs to be applied to our biblical understanding. Failure to mention something in a text, biblical or otherwise, does not preclude the possibility of its existence unless said existence would contradict something known to be true from the text in question. For example, an elementary text on photosynthesis may not mention the effect of ultraviolet rays on the process. This does not exclude the possibility of the ray’s existence or how it might change the process. Similarly, just because the Bible does not mention life on other planets or explain how God might have dealt with life there does not exclude the possibility of its existence.

Some Christians worry that if SETI ever does discover proof of sentient life outside our galaxy, the message of the Bible will be weakened somehow. This is nonsense. The Bible doesn’t mention gamma radiation, black holes, dark matter, DNA, viral infections, cancer, and countless other things that we know exist. My faith is actually strengthened when I read about new discoveries because I allow my “inquiring mind” to consider how the new facts fit in with the oldest body of truth I know: Scripture.

This entire train of thought was set rolling when I began to wonder about God’s relationship with all the nations not mentioned in the Scripture. The major prophets contain numerous words of judgment on the nations surrounding Israel. The future revealed to Daniel covered most of the events pertaining to the Mediterranean world, aka Israel’s neighborhood. And yet, historical and archeological records prove there were ancient civilizations in Asia that coexisted with the biblical nations of the Mediterranean area mentioned in the Bible. Other than some apocryphal notes that the Apostle Thomas may have evangelized Southeast Asia, there is no mention of these millions of people.

I find myself asking what to make of that fact. My inquiring mind asks questions, but there is nothing in my thoughts that undermines my faith. My best guess is that when God separated the nations at the tower of Babel and then called Abraham aside for His chosen work, He left the other nations in the hands of the other “gods” alluded to in Psalm 82. In that Psalm, Yahweh God, the One True God, chides His subordinates for doing badly in their oversight of the nations under their purview. My highest thought, though not as high as God’s thought, is that He was waiting for the Messiah to bring His love to whosoever would believe in Him. No matter where they lived.

If your brain is tired at this point, join the crowd. An inquiring mind exercises the senses in a way that can be exhausting. I find it to be a good kind of tired though, like the kind you get after a strenuous physical workout. Just as the muscles are strengthened by hard work, the soul is built up by chewing on the meat of God’s Word instead of lapping up only the milk. The writer of Hebrews says, “Solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have trained their faculties for the distinguishing of both good and evil.” Any questions?

Related posts: The Hidden Things; Bible Trivia; Understanding the Book of Job: The Heiser Effect; What’s the Deal With Ninevah

Closed Doors – Open Windows

You have probably heard the saying that when God closes a door, He opens a window. As I am reading through the prophets in the Old Testament, I am reminded how true that was for Israel as a nation and for certain individuals especially. From the book of Judges through the return of the exiles from Babylon, the door of God’s blessing was repeatedly slammed shut, but before long a window opened.

This was true for Abraham. He waited twenty-five years for the promised son. That’s a long time to stare at a closed door. Then Isaac miraculously appeared. Before the boy even reached manhood, God asked Abraham to sacrifice him. I hear a door slam. Of course, God opened the window by stopping Abraham from following through, proving the depth of His chosen one’s faith.

Joseph literally heard a door close: a prison door. He had walked through an open door into Potifor’s household, but the jealous wife closed that door sending him to prison. Then the window opened when the jailer promoted him to head warden. The arrival of two of Pharoah’s servants seemed like a window opening, but it took two years for it to finally open letting Joseph out of prison. The entire course of Joseph’s life became the open window for the closed door his family experienced in the famine in their land. Open close; open close.

Moses went through a number of door/window cycles. Being rescued by Pharoah’s daughter seemed like an open door for him to somehow help his people, the enslaved Israelites. He kinda closed that door himself with his emotional overreaction resulting in murder and flight to the desert. The window cracked open at the burning bush when Yahweh gave him a mission (impossible?) Through nine plagues the door of escape for the Israelites opened and closed. Finally, they made it out into the desert only to find the door closed at the Red Sea. God really opened a window of opportunity there, freeing them and destroying Pharoah’s army.

I have often thought of my years as a truck driver as similar to Moses’ time in the desert. My chosen career in Christian education ended in burnout, a door apparently closed. What I thought would be a short sabbatical to rest and recoup became a twelve year experience. During that time virtually alone in the truck, God led me through a great deal of soul searching and learning; I finished my time in the “desert” a different man. I believe I was given an open window to my writing ministry. Maybe you have had a similar experience.

Here is a question that has bothered me for some time. What do we make of the promises of the prophets to errant Israel that God would have a king in David’s line and Levitical priests ministering forever if they would repent and worship Him alone? Most troubling is the Lord’s statement that if He could break His covenant with the sun to shine by day, then He could break His covenant with Israel. There has not been a king of any family on a throne in Israel since 70 AD, yet the sun still shines. Is the door open or closed?

God made a similar promise to Abraham that He would make of him a great nation, and that his seed would bring blessing to all the earth. We know that Abraham’s descendants, the nation of Israel, failed in this regard. Instead of spreading the good news of God’s love and grace, they became insular and proud of their special relationship with the maker of heaven and earth. There is no biblical record of any Jews setting out to share their faith with other nations. Instead, they considered it sinful to have anything to do with the gentiles. The story of Jonah is a good example of how the Jews felt about other nations.

Paul does clear this one up for us in what might be called a trick of the language. He says that the promise to Abraham was to Seed, not seeds. Jesus was the Seed who brought the blessing to all the earth. Some might say that a trivial thing like a word being plural or singular is meaningless. Not to Paul. He believed, as do I, that God inspired the exact words He wanted His Word to contain.

God closed the door on temple worship and the Levitical priesthood when the curtain separating the holy place was torn. That happened when the Messiah gave His life on the cross. Something else happened during the crucifixion: the sun failed to shine for three hours. There is no astronomical explanation for that. Those who try to say it was an eclipse are grasping at straws; an eclipse lasts only a few moments, not three hours. I believe what happened is that God broke His covenant with the sun. That gave Him license to break His covenant with errant Israel.

However, the window that God opened after the Cross let in the light of eternity: salvation through the blood of the Lamb. There is no need for a Levitical priesthood since Jesus is our high priest through the special line of Melchizedek. There is no need for an earthly temple because the final sacrifice has been made, and we have access to the heavenly temple where God dwells and Jesus intervenes on our behalf. I have argued repeatedly that some things in the Bible cannot be taken literally. In this case, I like to think that God literally broke His covenant with the sun so He could establish His new covenant through Christ.

If this all seems arcane or meaningless to you, allow me to explain. As with so many Scriptures, like Paul’s Seed reference, little things matter. This is a call to read the Bible deeply, thoroughly, and with the help of the Holy Spirit to guide. I can’t count the number of times a careful, prayerful reading of God’s Word has brought me insight into who He is and what He wants of me. Don’t neglect your Bible; read it expectantly. You may find the opening of a closed door or at least an open window. That is God’s promise, not mine.

Related posts: Take the Bible Literally?; Understanding the Bible as Literature; Why Did God Do That?

Fast Christians

When you read the title of this article, you probably thought it was going to be about Christians who are quick at something. If you were thinking more deeply, you might have thought of the Scriptures that encourage Christians to hold fast to their faith. That comes closer to what I am about to say, although that’s not quite it. The word “fast” as in hold fast is related to the word “fasten.” The biblical admonition is to fasten our lives to the truth of God’s Word. That’s closer to where I am going, but still not there.

The verb “to fast” and the related noun come from a different language chain (etymology) than our adjective “fast.” I know your eyes are glazing over and you are wishing the English teacher in me would get to the point. Almost there. We know that a fast is abstinence from a physical substance or activity. We know that in earlier times, religious fasting was a more common practice than it is now. I am going to suggest that we “fast” in a somewhat different way than usual. That makes my title an imperative sentence – a command: Fast, Christians. (What a difference a comma makes.)

If my pedantic English lesson hasn’t made you click off the page, you will be rewarded with the reason for my explanation of usage. Today I read Isaiah 56:6: “Isn’t this the fast I choose…” When I considered the fast God wanted the Israelites to practice, I was struck by the similarity of that fast to the marching orders given to Christians. In fact, Jesus initiated His ministry with a quotation from this section of Isaiah just a few verses later. Since we are commanded to follow in Jesus’ steps if we are followers, it makes sense that His actions should be our actions.

What I am trying to say is that the fast God desires of Christ followers is not necessarily what we normally think of as a fast – it’s not abstaining from one physical pleasure, although in truth, an old fashioned fast does have some value for today’s Christians. The fast God requires is one that “fasts” the material world altogether. Shocking, what?

Here’s what I mean. If we are following Jesus, we are supposed to be in the world but not of the world. God could have arranged things so that as soon as we accept His offer of salvation in Christ, He would beam us up to Heaven. He didn’t. He left us here so that we could do kingdom work. (See Bringing the Kingdom.) Jesus described that kind of work when He gave His first synagogue lesson in Nazareth from Isaiah sixty-one. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because of which he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send out in freedom those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

Ironically, the people in His hometown realized Jesus the carpenter was claiming to be the promised Messiah, and they rejected the idea completely. Too bad for them. I want to point out what the Messiah announced as His ministry because it is our ministry too. There are five aspects to the work Jesus set out to do, the work we are called to do if we would be His followers.

The first is easy to understand but not always easy to do. Proclaiming good news to the poor is not something most Christians find easy. Whether through embarrassment or fear of rejection, we often hide our light under a basket rather than letting it shine. If we are truly “fasting” the world’s opinion and seeking first the kingdom, we will be pointing out how poor and needy our neighbors really are and telling them the good news. (I gave some suggestions for engaging our neighbors in my book, Lead a Horse to Water.)

The second aspect of Christian ministry, releasing the captives, might begin with proving to people that they really are in captivity. Paul’s treatise on Christian doctrine, the book of Romans, explains that everyone is held captive by sin until they come to Jesus for deliverance. My wife and I have spent some time working with convicted felons and drug addicts. They know firsthand what it means to be in captivity. The truth is there are many people who have never been behind bars or drowning in a bottle who are just as much captives. We shy away from using the word sin with people because it sounds judgmental; it is. You can’t sell the idea of freedom to people who don’t know they are in bondage.

I am going to skip ahead to number four because it ties in with the idea of bondage. Offering freedom to those who are oppressed might be taken literally. The enemy of our souls oppresses people today in many different ways. Drugs, alcohol, pornography, and others are obvious oppressors. Not so obvious, but just as oppressive are work (when it overwhelms), hobbies (when they dominate), family (when it pushes God out), even “religious” activities (when they become drudgery.) Even Christians can lose their joy when oppression clouds their perception. By His grace, Jesus frees people from their oppression.

Number three, recovery of sight to the blind, does not require an eye surgeon. Back to Romans again where Paul explains that people everywhere are blind to the existence of God, even though His witness in creation is unmistakable. The Apostle also told the Ephesians that people were blind because they are, “darkened in understanding… because of the ignorance that is in them.” This kind of blindness requires teaching either by word or demonstration. Living the life of Christian love in front of people will often remove the scales from their eyes better than a religious talk or tract.

The final aspect Jesus announced as His ministry is to, “proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” A quick lesson from the Old Testament will explain what this means. Every fifty years the Jews were supposed to celebrate a Jubilee Year in which (here we are again) all slaves were to be released from their servitude. You should be seeing a theme here. Paul said we were all slaves to sin at one time. He also said it was for freedom that Christ set us free.

Those five things constitute Christian ministry. The world is in bondage; we have the keys to their prison. It is our responsibility to make that key available to as many as we can. Maybe it would be a good idea to undertake a literal fast and ask God to prick your heart with a dose of His love for the lost. Then get out and be a true Jesus follower. And be quick about it.

Related posts: Why Witness; God’s Choice or Mans; Many Called – Few Chosen