The Death of Christ

"Like a romantic movie that always has a breakup before everything becomes 'happier forever,' Jesus had to die before anyone could ever live happily ever after because of His resurrection."

Preach the Gospel!!!

"There is a dearth of Christian preaching in our country. Now don't get me wrong: there's a lot of 'biblical' preaching in our country. I say 'Biblical' because while it comes from the Bible and seems to accurately interpret the text, it doesn't have anything specifically Christian about it. The Bible points to Jesus. 'But wait,' you may yell, 'there's lots of preaching about Jesus in our country!' And I'll admit that His name gets thrown around in a lot of sermons, but that doesn't mean the sermon is accomplishing the text's primary goal: if a preacher fails to take a text from its original context to the cross, bury it in the grave, and then spring it out victorious in resurrection, proclaiming life because of His life to all who will believe, the sermon, not to mention the preacher, has failed."

Back to the Past

I still remember the first time I was introduced to the Stephen Speilberg classic, Back to the Future. I had been sick to my stomach all day, and I just wanted to watch a movie since I didn’t feel like doing anything else. And as a (let’s just say) thirteen year old who had fallen in love with Star Wars and everything involved therein, that was my natural choice for a movie to watch. I remember my dad trying to change my mind by offering Back to the Future as an alternative. I don’t remember exactly how he described it, though he said something about a young guy and a car, but I remember my response: “Why would I want to watch a movie about a guy who lives life with his back to the future?” So I watched a Star Wars movie that day, and only later ended up watching Back to the Future.

I watched the whole trilogy again this week, and one of the last lines in the movie comes from Doctor Emmett Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd. He says, “Your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has. Your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one.” That line reminded me clearly of my first impression of the movie—relayed above—and challenged me in my day-to-day living. Then, meditating on Leviticus 26:12-13 this morning further engrained it in my head: “I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.  'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect” (emphasis added).

It’s that final, italicized line that I want to focus on. Too often, I find myself—and maybe you do too—living scared of the future, living with my back to the future, staring at the past, saying, “based on that, how can anything ever get any better?” If anything, I have lived much of the last six years of my life—post-salvation—with my shoulders hunched over, as if a ball and chain were attached to my neck. Fortunately, the Gospel is better news than that. The gospel screams that the opening words of verse 12 are true even now for the believer in Jesus: “I will also walk among you and be your God.” If there is anything in this world that brightens your day more than that fact right there, you should repent of your idolatry. And because Jesus walks among His people even today, October 5, 2016, we can walk with heads held high.

In all actuality, it probably is our idols that keep our shoulders hunched over. We look to them for joy and happiness in this world, and when they let us down, we lose our hope and joy and our ability to walk well in this life. The Lord wants us to walk well in this life. He doesn’t want our past to dominate us. He wants us to look to the future with hope. He doesn’t want us to stare at the past with our backs to the future; He wants us to walk into what He has for us tomorrow with our backs to the past. The sins that we have struggled with for x number of years don’t have to bother us again, because, as Doc Brown said, “Your future hasn’t been written yet.”

And lest I upset some people who view life (and God’s sovereignty) as making Doc Brown’s statement a lie, I would clarify that as far as we are concerned our future hasn’t been written yet. God has sovereignly orchestrated all of world history—past, present, and future—for His perfect end, and He knows every detail about your life story—past, present, and future—and mine, but no one on this planet knows anything about their life story except what has already taken place.

For this reason, when we sin, let’s not believe the lies Satan speaks into our ears. The lies that say, “You’ll never be free of this.” Instead, let’s believe the gospel. The Gospel that screams, “Walk upright! Look to Me! I’ve set you free! Don’t return to your old idols!”

So, in closing, I ask: Are you going to live with your back to the future, and obey Satan, or are you going to walk with your face to the future, and trust Jesus? It’s your choice!

Grace and peace

Following still

"I have decided to follow Jesus; no turning back, no turning back."

Refocus -- 9/25/16

My Treasure,

All I need is found in You

Help me to focus on what is true

Consume the self-focus of my heart

And let me serve others for a start

Destroy this loneliness eating me alive

And make me find pleasure and joy because of Your life

I feel so lost--floating out at sea

I feel so alone--confinement solitary

But You are there and You don't lie

So help me to myself to die

And live to You and others too

Let me serve all with a heart that's true

"It is Finished" -- 9/10/2016

My most loving Heavenly Father,

Please grant me this day to see others the way You see them.

Help me to see past the dirt so I can see the precious gem.

You, Lord, sent Your Son for the dirty and broken

And on that fateful day the following words were spoken:

"Father forgive them."

"It is finished."

Those lines there mean that I don't even recognize the depths of my sin.

But Your Spirit uses pain and confusion to draw me to Him.

Please help me fight for unity in these days and weeks

And from seeking Your glorious face to never cease.

Cuz Your glory is the only thing that can overcome angst

And turn bitterness and anger from hate to love and grace.

Another set of words from the cross speak truth

And it helps me in times like this cuz they show the proof:

"My God, My God, why have You forsaken me."

"It is finished."

The proof is that whenever I feel alone

Your Son's been there to, even the sun wasn't shown.

He's gone through everything I go through daily

And for that reason I can trust Him completely

So please help me to meditate on truth

And ignore the lies overwhelming this youth

Please send Jesus quickly, Lord, I want to see You

Thank You again that His words are true:

"It is finished."

"It is finished."

I Once Was Trapped; Now I’m Free – 3:19-29

There’s a joke about kids in a daycare that helps explain the next section of Galatians. It goes like this: A little boy decides he’s had enough of sitting in the classroom, so he sneaks away from the group and eventually finds his way outside. Once outside, he goes up to the window to his class (the window is up but the screen is down) and, spying a little girl coloring at the table next to the window, says in his child voice, “I’m free.” She looks up from her coloring, turns around, and says, “Oh yeah, well I’m four!” (It probably works better vocally.) The point is that the kid didn’t want to be trapped anymore so he found his way out of that situation, and when he went to tell someone about his newfound freedom, they totally misunderstood and didn’t care. Sin entraps, and it uses the Law to do so, but Paul argues in this passage today that that was all part of God’s plan so that freedom in Christ would be rightly appreciated. Paul wants us to be the little boy in the joke and not the little girl.

Galatians 3:19-29 says, “Why then was the law ⌊given⌋? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. ⌊The law⌋ was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator.  Now a mediator is not for just one person, but God is one.  Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly be by the law.  But the Scripture has imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.  Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed.  The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.  But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ ⌊like a garment⌋.  There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.”

So this whole time Paul has been arguing that the promise was given before the Law, and the promise was spoken to Abraham’s singular Seed (Jesus), and that the Law is not greater than the promise, and that the Law does not change how the promise is inherited. So by this point, it seems as though Paul has basically proven the following: “the Law is unnecessary and unimportant.” And in basically proving that, his opponents would jump on him and say, “How can you say that? You’re a Jew. You were raised to love the Law of God as the very Word of God.” So, in the remainder of chapter 3, Paul sets out to answer the questions, “Why was the Law given? And what is its function?” In verses 19-24 he answers the questions, and in 25-29 he explains how life is different for Christians on the other side of the Law.

Paul explains the reason for the Law in verses 19-20 by saying, “It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. ⌊The law⌋ was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator.  Now a mediator is not for just one person, but God is one.” This explains the need for the Law. Cole points out, “The NEB, however, takes a stronger approach by paraphrasing ‘to make wrongdoing a legal offence’, which may well be correct.”[1] That is a paraphrase of the words, “because of transgressions.” Sin can be called sin because the Law that God gave to Moses proves that a failure to live up to its perfection is missing the mark that God set up. That word until is extremely important. The Laaw was never meant to be an end in itself. It was to lead up to a point and then stop. Its purpose was to show things to be sin, both to prove guilt and to prevent further infractions. In the Law, God said, “This is the way: walk in it. Don’t touch that, don’t taste that, don’t do that; if you do, you’re sinning against Me.”

Unfortunately for humanity, no one has ever lived up to all of these laws perfectly. Look at the fifth commandment in Exodus 20:12. “Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” This is no one’s natural inclination. Ask any parent if their child has perfectly treated them with the respect they deserve, and their answer, if honest, will be no. We are all guilty of breaking God’s Law; and even though most of the commands in Leviticus 18 are easy to follow, Leviticus 19 is what follows it, and Exodus 20:14 is also convicting.[2] This is why the Law was only given until the Seed to whom the promises were made arrived. He came, and He died 2,000 years ago. We don’t need to subject ourselves to laws: “do not handle, do not taste, do not touch” (Colossians 2:20-23).

Paul then lays something out about just how inferior the Law is to the gospel. The Law was mediated by angels. Paul says, in effect, “God didn’t even give the Law directly to you, like He gave the promise directly to Abraham. He gave it to angels who passed it on to Moses, who passed it on to you.” This follows strict Jewish orthodoxy; Stephen said the same in Acts 7:53, “You received the law under the direction of angels and yet have not kept it.” And then Paul adds the confession from Deuteronomy 6:4, “God is one,” to show that God is not fighting against Himself in this whole law/promise thing. It’s all part of His perfect plan.

Paul explains this in verses 21-24: “Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly be by the law.  But the Scripture has imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.  Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed.  The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.” Since God is one, the Law cannot possibly be opposed to God’s plan regarding faith in Christ, and thus is also not contrary to God’s promises to Abraham. Abraham’s Seed would inherit exactly what God promised Him.

Paul starts by saying, much like Jesus in John 5:39, that the Law cannot give life. The Law, in effect, proves a state of death. He says that if it was able to give life, righteousness would logically come from the Law, but Paul is adamant that righteousness cannot and will not come from attempting to keep the Law (more on this in future posts). So, it looks as though Paul has again hung himself on a nail that is labeled, “the Law is useless.” But it is not to stay that way.

Paul then says in verse 22 that the Scripture has imprisoned everything under sin’s power. Cole is again helpful here when he explains that the phrase translated “everything” is probably better understood as “all people.”[3] And it’s very interesting that Paul here changes from “Law” to “Scripture.” The Scripture, specifically the portion known as the Law, imprisons all people under sin. It says, “You must die for your sin,” and doesn’t present the alternative (faith in Christ) clearly at all. Christ is certainly there, as Paul has shown throughout chapter 3, but it isn’t clear like it is in the New Testament. The Law doesn’t offer life or righteousness, it imprisons in sin. And if we’re not careful, the whole Bible can do this to us (thus it’s important that Paul says, “the Scripture”).

The Bible is not a list of rules; it is not a playbook for life; it is not a list of prohibitions. The Bible is a love letter from the God of the universe, saying, “This is Who I Am. Get to know Me. Draw near to Me. Believe that I am who I claim to be. This is my Son, in whom I take delight. Put your faith in Him and be reconciled to Me. Apart from that, all your good deeds and rule keeping (even out of this Book) are for naught.”  We must study the Bible to know Jesus, not to try to become better people. If we study the Bible to become more moral, we make our morality an idol, and, since we’re being imprisoned in sin by the Scripture, we will never really become more moral. Trust the Word, read the Word, and study the Word to get to know the WORD—Jesus Christ!

Paul explains that the promise is given to those who believe. The promise comes to those who say, “I’m done working my way deeper and deeper into imprisonment and death.” It’s what every human does before being confronted and converted by the life-giving Gospel. The law imprisoned us until faith came.

Paul then says in verse 24 that the law serves a very useful, and completely necessary role. It acts as our tutor. To understand what Paul means by this, I will quote Plato, who wrote of a dialogue between a man (the first person narrator) and a boy who lived under a tutor.

“Someone controls you?”

“Yes,” he said, “my tutor here.”

“Is he a slave?”

“Why certainly; he belongs to us,” he said.

“What a strange thing,” I exclaimed; “a free man controlled by a slave! But how does this tutor actually exert his control over you?”

“By taking me to school, I suppose,” he replied.

“And your schoolmasters, can it be that they also control you?”

“I should think they do!”

“Then quite a large number of masters and controllers are deliberately set over you by your father.”[4]

God set the law over us as a tutor in order to train us up and prepare us—even to beat us down at times[5]—for faith. God wanted us to come to faith, and He set up the necessary system in order to lead us there. The Law serves as a slave to discipline us and train us and beat us down. God stands as Father saying, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened. Let me love you like a Father is supposed to!”

Verses 25-26 explain, “But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” If we are in Christ, we have left that master of Law, and traded it for sonship to God. We get in Christ by faith. The law prepares us for that, and then its job is done. Paul wants the Galatians, and us today, to move out from under the law into the full blessing of sonship. Paul has now proved that the Law isn’t worthless; we shouldn’t throw it away. But at the same time, we are no longer subject to it, to be enslaved and imprisoned and killed by it. We are sons of God by faith in Christ and by faith alone. If faith got us there, then faith alone will keep us there. Never give up on faith!

Paul explains how life is different for the believer in verses 25-29. “But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ ⌊like a garment⌋.  There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.” There are five things that are different about believers now: we aren’t enslaved, we aren’t alienated, we aren’t naked, we aren’t on different levels than other believers, and we aren’t excluded from the promise.

Like a child in Paul’s culture was under a slave until he was old enough to be entrusted with the responsibilities of being a man, so also we, as children of God, have been freed from the Law. We aren’t slaves to it anymore. We must live in this new way daily!

Instead of being the pupil of a potentially abusive slave, we are the beloved children of God. We don’t have to live in fear of the law tearing us down and telling us we’re worthless. Rather, we can hear our Father say, “I love you. The sacrifice of My Son is proof of that. You are no longer condemned. You are beloved. Look to Me!” Let’s remember our status as sons and daughters of the King every single day!

The Law, since it imprisons in sin, strips us down and shows us that all we have to offer is rags and filth. Because of the promise, we have been clothed in Christ. God doesn’t see our filth and rags; He sees the righteousness of His Son. Don’t live condemned anymore. Live in joyful freedom!

The promise—since the law imprisons all as equals—frees all people again as equals. In Christ we are all united. We can’t say, “because she’s a woman, I’m better than her,” or, “because he’s a Greek (non-Jew) I’m better than him,” or, “because his skin is a different color than mine, I’m better than him.” Christ breaks down all barriers, because as sinners in God’s eyes we were all equal, but He loved all of us enough to free us and remake us equal in that improved status. Don’t ever judge another believer without saying to yourself first, “they’re just as good as me—we’ve both been saved by Christ’s perfect sacrifice.”

If we are Christ’s then we will inherit the promises God gave to Abraham. These promises clearly involve a future life on a new earth on which we rule. (Now when I say rule, I don’t mean like the Mormons mean.) We will serve and worship God forever, having inherited the earth (cf. Matthew 5:5). When life looks bleak, remember that you are an heir of that amazing promise! No matter what comes your way, know that God is preparing a place for you!

So in conclusion, the promise is infinitely better than the Law! However, at the same time, the Law still serves a very important purpose. We must never forget that! Before we preach the cross, we must preach people into prison by letting the Law convince them that their sin has them in its grasp, and that THE ONLY WAY for them to escape sin’s grasp is to place their faith in Christ. In Christ alone is where the five promises of newness of life are found. Who will you speak to (or at least pray for and/or about speaking to) this week?

Til next time. As far as these Galatians posts go, it could be a while before the next one. I’m now attending online classes through Southern Seminary and working full time, so keeping up with a detailed, study-intensive blog like these Galatians ones is a bit difficult. I’m planning my next post for sometime in December. Til then...

Soli Deo Gloria

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[1] R. Alan Cole, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries – Galatians, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Academic, 2008), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 149.

[2] Especially if we compare it to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5.

[3] R. Alan Cole, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries – Galatians, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Academic, 2008), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 151.

[4] Plato, “Pl. Ly. 208c,” Greek Texts and Translations, accessed September 9, 2016, http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekFeb2011&getid=1&query=Pl.%20Ly.%20208c.  Interesting to note, is a note next to the word “tutor” in the second line is a footnote explaining, “The παιδαγωγός was a trusted slave who was appointed to attend on a boy out of school hours and to have a general control over his conduct and industry.” The Greek word in that quote is the exact Greek word Paul uses in 3:24.

[5] John MacArthur, Galatians, 96. “They were strict disciplinarians, scolding and whipping as they felt it necessary.”

Refocusing Our Attention – 3:15-18

“If the plural of goose is geese, shouldn’t the plural of moose be meese?” goes the popular grammar joke. And I believe it is a very logical question. When I use the word moose you can’t know whether it is being used of just one or of a whole herd. This kind of thing doesn’t just occur in English: the Greek word sperma (sperma) and the Hebrew word urz (zerah) both mean “seed” and can be understood as just one seed or as a whole group of seeds. This becomes very important in the book of Galatians.

Galatians 3:15-18 says, “Brothers, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to even a human covenant that has been ratified.  Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say ‘and to seeds,’ as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ.  And I say this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not revoke a covenant that was previously ratified by God and cancel the promise.  For if the inheritance is from the law, it is no longer from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.”

So at this point, Paul is deep into his proofs for dropping the law and living solely by grace through faith. And in these verses today, he makes what I consider to be his most compelling argument, even though some commentators hold that it contains “a highly compressed ‘inset’ which somewhat complicates the argument, [and] may be temporarily omitted without weakening it.”[1] I plan to write much more extensively on this passage in the next year, so this post will be shorter than some of the previous, but the main thing we need to know from this passage is that Paul sees Jesus as central to everything and we should too. In fact, he sees Jesus as so central to everything that he sees Jesus being promised as far back as Abraham.

And it’s the concept of promise that he begins with. He draws a parallel to contemporary Greek and/or Jewish life (even American life if you will). Verse 15 says, “Brothers, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to even a human covenant that has been ratified.” We believe that covenants/promises/contracts/vows are important to keep (though sadly marriage is a place in which our culture seriously fails in this respect) and that they shouldn’t be entered into lightly, because those in it will be held accountable. Paul leaves his human illustration there, and then starts verse 16—where he spiritualizes it.

He explains, “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.” There are at least four different occasions at which these promises are spoken to Abraham and his seed:

·         “Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘I will give this land to your offspring.’ So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him” (Genesis 12:7).

·         “I will give you and your offspring forever all the land that you see” (Genesis 13:15).

·         “And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8).

·         “The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’—He will send His angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there” (Genesis 24:7).

However, it’s Genesis 15:18 that fits Paul’s point here the best. “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘I give this land to your offspring, from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.’” And it is very important that this covenant that the LORD makes with Abraham here was a one-sided covenant. Abraham was asleep throughout it (Genesis 15:12), so God made this promise regardless of anything Abraham would do in the future. It was a sure to happen thing; Abraham and his descendants would not be able to stop it.

But then Paul continues, and points out something very important. Galatians 3:16 continues, “He does not say ‘and to seeds,’ as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed.” Even though it can be used in the singular in a collective sense, Paul here—under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—says that this word was kept singular for a reason. The promise was not made to many people. The promise wasn’t made to the people who followed the law. The promise wasn’t made to the Jews. The promise wasn’t even made to the church. In its truest sense, the promise was made to Abraham and to his singular seed “who is Christ,” as verse 16 concludes.

There is a line of theological understanding that exists today that says that all of God’s promises to Israel still have to be fulfilled literally. There’s another line that says those promises are symbolically fulfilled by the church. Paul argues here, and states it clearly in 2 Corinthians 1:20 that “every one of God’s promises is ‘Yes’ in [Jesus].” Jesus is the one who fulfills all of God’s promises. We don’t have to become Jewish to join this inheritance. We simply must be joined by faith to the One to whom the promises were made and in whom they were fulfilled.

It’s a mistake to say the Jews still have some special place in God’s plan—other than the fact that they, like us, are humans and deserve to hear the good news of the gospel just like everyone, so they can be eternally saved. But it’s also a mistake to say that the church is the greatest thing on the planet either. Jesus deserves the glory—not man, not even an eternally saved, righteous through the blood of Christ group of people. Jesus alone is my focus. Jesus alone was Paul’s focus. Is Jesus alone your focus? If you view anything else more highly than Him, you’re guilty of idolatry; even very good things—the church, the Bible, theology, relationships, marriage, etc.—can become idols if we are not careful. But I’ll step off my soapbox for now.

Paul then writes, “And I say this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not revoke a covenant that was previously ratified by God and cancel the promise.” This shows, to those who were deceiving the Galatians—and to the deceived Galatians themselves—that the law was not the answer. Something that God brought 430 years after He Himself made an unbreakable (remember verse 15?) covenant cannot undo the covenant. Paul will explain next time what the law actually is for.

Verse 18 concludes our passage for today. “For if the inheritance is from the law, it is no longer from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.” God fails to keep His promise to Abraham and to his seed—Jesus—if the way to the inheritance is through keeping the law. God can’t fail to keep His promises, because He doesn’t lie (cf. Numbers 23:19). And then, as if saying, “I got you; what you gonna say to that?” Paul says, “But, God granted it to Abraham through the promise.” No law at all. Trust Jesus!

So that’s all I have for today. Jesus is where our focus should be. He’s the Seed that’s been promised since Genesis 3:15. He’s the one who was promised an inheritance as Abraham’s Seed. If we trust in Him, then we are in Him, and thus a recipient of the promises to Abraham and his Seed. But we must never move our focus off the original seed—Jesus. We don’t think about Him enough! Let’s think about Him more this week.

Til next time. And due to preaching on the 7^th, it will probably be close to two weeks before my next Galatians post. Stay tuned for other things though.

Soli Deo Gloria

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[1] R. Alan Cole, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries – Galatians, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Academic, 2008), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 147.

The Sting of the Scorpion vs The Salve of the Savior

In Revelation 9 we are met with two terrifying images. The first is of a conglomerate-of-beings locust army, and the second is a fire-and-brimstone cavalry army. The first is not allowed to kill anyone—just torture for a limited amount of time—and the second kills a third of humanity. And then, the last two verses summarize the situation, “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;  and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts” (Revelation 9:20-21).

So, to some extent, the simplest way to understand these plagues is that they are plagues on idolaters. These plagues only strike those who do not belong to God (Revelation 9:4), so it’s almost as if the locusts mark out who the idolaters are, and then when the sixth trumpet blows the idolaters are destroyed.

The passage about the locusts specifically has seriously stuck out to me in the last several months because I’ve gone through an intense period of depression and spiritual agony, that has unfortunately made me question whether living any longer is even worth it. I have since found great hope even in the midst of this very vague and strange vision that Jesus showed to John.

The question it puts before us is: what are you worshipping? If you aren’t solely worshipping Jesus, you are worshipping something that will ultimately torture you, or at least has the potential to. While 9:4 is very clear that these demon locusts cannot harm a believer, it should still cause us to examine ourselves. Am I on a path that could potentially lead to feeling demonically tortured by the very things I’m worshipping? Worship ultimately reveals where the heart is; so if I persist in worshipping something false, then it follows that my heart may be false. This passage seeks to serve as a warning passage in much the same way that Hebrews 6:4-8 and other similar passages serve. Examine yourself!

In fact, Psalm 16:4 says, “The sorrows of those who take another god for themselves will multiply,” and that—in a nutshell—is what Jesus is showing to John in this vision. For more information on the topic, wait for my detailed exegesis of the passage; I plan to post it to academia.edu before August 24^th.

Until then, worship Jesus!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Basic Principles = Jesus Alone – 3:6-14

I really like the movie Hitch with Will Smith, and it’s not just because I can use it as an illustration of how men should view and treat women (don’t be a Vance Munson; if you currently act like him, please stop [but I’ll speak directly to that topic in my explanation of 3:28 and several times throughout chapter 5]!). Will Smith’s character introduces the movie by giving a speech about “basic principles for a successful date,” but then, by the end of the movie, says, “Basic principles? There are none.” The point being that if you are forced to follow a certain pattern for a relationship to be successful, then as soon as something breaks up that pattern, the relationship is doomed to failure. Smith’s character learned quickly that his “rules for a successful first three dates” were not the only way in which a relationship could blossom. Every one of his rules was broken, and the relationship still bloomed (though I won’t spoil the plot). In much the same way, in our passage today, Paul seeks to show through a contrast between law and faith that if we are forced to follow our “basic principles” we are still under a curse and our relationship with God is doomed to failure.

Galatians 3:6-14 says, “Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, then understand that those who have faith are Abraham’s sons.  Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and told the good news ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you.  So those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.  For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written: Everyone who does not continue doing everything written in the book of the law is cursed.  Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.  But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them.  Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written: Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed.  The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

So this passage seeks to answer more fully the rhetorical question Paul posed in 3:5. “So then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?” He then puts forward the first option: faith like Abraham’s, followed by the second: stay cursed under the law. He uses quite a few Scriptures to explain his points, and it is quite interesting that the Scriptures he chooses all come from the Law of Moses (except for one). Paul saw the Law of Moses as authoritative, even if he didn’t believe in following it in a ceremonial sense. This is very important to remember in these kinds of discussions. It’s not that we become antinomian (anti-law) as Christians, but rather we of all people can say, “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12). He clarifies in 1 Timothy 1:8, “But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately.” So today’s discussion is not about condemning the law; rather, it’s about how the law is no longer allowed to condemn us. There’s only one way in which this is possible, and Paul lays it out in verses 13-14.

But first, there was Abraham. Verses 6-9 say, “Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, then understand that those who have faith are Abraham’s sons.  Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and told the good news ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you.  So those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.” The Judaizers were saying that Gentiles had to become Jews to become real followers of Jesus. Paul counters that by talking about Abraham, the father of Judaism, who was originally a Gentile.

Paul begins by relating Abraham’s justification. It is originally told in Genesis 15:5-6. “He took him outside and said, ‘Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then He said to him, ‘Your offspring will be that ⌊numerous⌋.’ Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” God made a promise to Abraham about Abraham’s offspring, and Abraham believed it. For the human today, it is no different: believe the promise that God makes to you about Jesus as the source of eternal life (which is much more than just not going to hell when you die) and it will be counted to you as righteousness. The reason God made this promise to Abraham, that he believed for righteousness, was because God had yet to give him a child. This was ten or so years after first being spoken to by God about becoming a great nation, so Abraham naturally was beginning to wonder when it would all start happening. One commentator explains, “Engaging in something of a ‘pity party,’ Abram made seven references to himself (in the Hb) in the space of 22 Hebrew words [in verses 2-3] and twice utters the complaint that he was childless.”[1] God still showed His graciousness by making the promise that He does in verse 5, that He graciously allowed Abraham to believe in verse 6. So, even though Abraham was probably acting contrary to a man who believed God (like we do much too often), God still made a promise that Abraham’s small amount of faith was able to believe, and it led to his salvation.

Verse 7 is an introduction to the next entry. It has to do with the fact that “a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and ⌊true⌋ circumcision is not something visible in the flesh” (Romans 2:28). It also has to do with what Paul writes in Galatians 3:15-18, specifically verse 16. I’ll give a hint right now: the offspring mentioned in Genesis 15:5, though numerous, is a singular noun. Abraham will have one offspring that is numerous. Wait til next time J

He hints at it again in the beginning of verse 8. The Scripture predicted that God would justify the nations by faith and not by works, and it is shown both in the prior quoted passage (15:5) and in what follows. Genesis 12:1-3 is the call of Abraham, which interestingly occurred before he was even justified. “The LORD said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (emphasis added).

Paul explains Genesis 12:3 by writing verse 9: “The ones by faith are being blessed with the faith of Abraham.” The ones who are truly Abraham’s descendants are those who were born of faith. It’s almost as if Paul is saying, “When Abraham believed God, he became righteous and so did all his true descendants. Abraham’s faith is what blesses us if we believe as well. But basically, without letting it all get too complicated, the point is that faith is what saves. It worked for Abraham, and because it worked for Abraham, we don’t need to do anything more than have faith to be justified.

And Paul proves this clearly in verses 10-12. “For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written: Everyone who does not continue doing everything written in the book of the law is cursed.  Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.  But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them.” The law presents a curse. Our own personal principles, even, present a curse. As soon as we fail to completely live up to them, we will never be able to completely live up to them.

Paul proves this in verse 10 by quoting Deuteronomy 27:26: “Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’” This verse comes at the end of a lengthy passage delineating what would bring a curse on the people of Israel: things such as idolatry, dishonesty, perverted justice, or sexual immorality of various kinds—heterosexual and homosexual. And then verse 26 catches everything else in it: all 613 commands laid out from Exodus to the end of Deuteronomy must be followed perfectly. Basically, Paul here says, “Oh yeah. Guess what? If you try following the law for salvation, you’re already out of luck. If you’ve broken even one of them, you’re under a curse, and the law can’t help you.”

In verse 11, Paul explains that it is clear that the law can’t justify anyone, and he quotes Habakkuk 2:4 to prove it: “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.” In the original context, this is an answer from God to the prophet concerning the coming Babylonian invasion. Habakkuk was unsure about both the future of Israel and about the character of God since God was allowing the evil Babylonians to attack and conquer Israel. Part of God’s response is to say that Babylon will grow arrogant in their victory over Israel, and as such will be brought down by God eventually; in contrast, those who belong to God will prove it by humble faith and trust in God despite uncertain times. One commentator explains,

This Babylonian self-righteousness, seeking their own ends, not only leads to pride and the sinful acts of the next verses, it can also lead to death (cf. Prov. 14:12; 16:25). This death is their implied though unstated end, in contrast to the life which awaits the righteous. This desired preservation of life will come to Judah if they show faith, waiting in patient assurance that Yahweh will act as he promised.[2]

Attempts at keeping the law, in the Galatians context, only lead to pride, and Paul wants to be clear that pride will be smashed, because the truth is that faith is the only answer. One falter in keeping the law brings a curse, so why subject yourself to that curse? Faith has always been what proves a person righteous—from Abraham to the exile to Babylon—and it’s no different now—either in Paul’s day or in ours.

And Paul makes clear in verse 12 that the law is the opposite of faith. The righteous one lives by faith; the one who keeps the law lives by the law. In fact, he basically says, “the law is the opposite of faith. You can see the law and read the law and obey the law; it requires zero faith.” His quotation of Leviticus 18:5 helps prove just how much of a curse the law keeps its hearers trapped under. “So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD.” This is at the end of an introduction to a whole bunch of specific laws that the Gentiles were guilty of breaking. Leviticus 18:3 says, “You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes.” God is basically saying in this section that if you want to live you have to follow all of these commands. For the Gentiles—remember that the Galatians were not Jews—it was basically hopeless for them to know God according to this standard. They were guilty of breaking these laws. Paul is telling the Galatians—though not explicitly—that following the law will never allow them to live. He is telling them to stop listening to the deceivers that are telling them to return to the law. “Why go back to being under a curse?” he asks in effect. Martin Luther concludes of trying to be justified by works,

Men fast, pray, watch, suffer. They intend to appease the wrath of God and to deserve God’s grace by their exertions. But there is no glory in it for God, because by their exertions these workers pronounce God an unmerciful slave driver, an unfaithful and angry Judge. They despise God, make a liar out of Him, snub Christ and all His benefits; in short they pull God from His throne and perch themselves on it.[3]

And then Paul writes verses 13-14. In them, he once again presents the gospel in all its clear beauty: Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written: Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed.  The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.” And thus he concludes the answer to his question from verse 5. Christians get the Spirit through faith, and the way they get the Spirit through faith was through the fact that Christ became a curse in our stead. He was hung on a tree to symbolize publicly that He became a curse. Christ bought us out from under the curse of the law by taking our place. This is what Paul means in 2:20 when he says, “the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” That is crazy love right there!

And it wasn’t just shown for Paul. There are things in my life and things in your life, even today that we deserve to be cursed for. Maybe you have something you care about more than you care about God. Maybe you don’t honor your parents. Maybe you aren’t 100% honest in all your dealings with others. Maybe you don’t care for the poor and needy like you’ve been called to. Or maybe in some way or another you are sexually deviant.[4] Christ died to redeem you from the curse that those actions earned. When He was crucified, the old you was crucified also! Never return to it again. Why rebuild what He destroyed? That would be the epitome of foolishness!

So, Jesus is our hope. Jesus is our model. Jesus is our principle. Any other principles that we set above Him will only fail us. Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus and not fall prey to anything that seeks to take the glory from Him. Don’t pull Him off His throne!

Til next time.

Soli Deo Gloria

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[1] Jeremy Royal Howard, ed., HCSB Study Bible, (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2010), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Genesis 15".

[2] David W. Baker, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries – Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Academic, 2009), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 58.

[3] Martin Luther, A Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, trans. Theodore Graebner, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1939; repr., Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1999), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Galatians 3".

[4] This would definitely be the one that stings the most for me, though almost a month ago I vowed that I would not rebuild even one more stone to that condemned building. Christ tore it down, and I am free! Now I just need—by His grace—to practically prove it!