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Biblical Faith, Part 5

Published August 24, 2015 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Abraham, biblical faith, Isaac, true faith

In Matthew 17:20, our Lord made a statement that has echoed on and on for two thousand years and, generally speaking, it has been misunderstood for that long.

“It was because you haven’t enough faith,” answered Jesus. “I assure you that if you have faith as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this hill, ‘Go from here to there!’ and it will go. You could do anything!” (GNB)

Really? I’d wager you’ve had the exact opposite experience at least once in your life. Jesus wasn’t lying or exaggerating when He spoke those words. We simply don’t understand them. More often than not, we think with our hearts and not with our reasoning minds, so that we believe – we honestly believe – we can treat faith like a sort of magic charm, hauling it out when we get into trouble. But that’s not what faith is at all. Nor is faith a reward from God for our having faith. Some Christians actually believe this. Maybe you do; maybe you believe God rewards us when we exercise our faith. Granted, there is a germ of truth in this. In the initial stages of our walk of faith, God teaches us many things about our new Christian life, including how faith works. But as we get on in our Christian lives, we should quickly learn the inescapable fact that we do not earn anything through faith. Indeed, the real power of faith is that it brings us into a right relationship with God and it gives Him the opportunity to work in our lives as He sees fit.

Your experience, Matthew 17:20 notwithstanding, is probably the same as mine: God has to let you get to the very precipice of despair or hopelessness so that you will finally come into direct contact with Himself. God does this so that we will learn how to live a life of faith rather than an up-and-down emotional life based solely on the enjoyment of His blessings. Oswald Chambers said this:

The beginning of your life of faith was very narrow and intense, centered around a small amount of experience that had as much emotion as faith in it, and it was full of light and sweetness. Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to “walk by faith.”

Perhaps Chambers had in mind the words of the apostle Paul –

For we live by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV)

“God withdrew His conscious blessings.” A test of your faith. Faith by its very nature is so easily taken for granted, or taken advantage of, it must be tested. But really the testing of our faith is much more than that. We are a very self-centered people. We think everything is about us. But as far as the testing of our faith goes, it has more to do with God’s character being proven to be completely trustworthy under any and all circumstances, than whether or not our faith passes muster. We must know – we must be convinced in our own minds – that God means what He says He means and that He will do what He promises He will do.

Abraham had his faith tested like none other.

While God was testing him, Abraham still trusted in God and his promises, and so he offered up his son Isaac and was ready to slay him on the altar of sacrifice; yes, to slay even Isaac, through whom God had promised to give Abraham a whole nation of descendants! He believed that if Isaac died God would bring him back to life again; and that is just about what happened, for as far as Abraham was concerned, Isaac was doomed to death, but he came back again alive! (Hebrews 11:17 – 19 TLB)

The greatest trial of all

Taylor’s paraphrase bings out an interesting fact. Abraham’s whole life was essentially a test. Every movement Abraham took from the moment he left Ur was a test. Part of that test was the greatest trial any man could ever endure: God demanded that Abraham sacrifice his son, Isaac.

Can you imagine the stress this caused in the patriarch’s mind? Here’s what he had been told by God –

Isaac is the son through whom my promise will be fulfilled. (Genesis 21:12 TLB)

All of the promises God made to Abraham were 100% dependent upon Isaac. He would grow into maturity and pass them on to his children. If Isaac were to die, God’s promises would simply evaporate; they would be meaningless. Can you see the conflict that surely must have been waged in the man’s conscience; the conflict between love for his son and his duty to God? Not only that, God had promised him an uncountable posterity through Isaac. So why would God now call on him to offer the boy as a sacrifice?

The simplicity of faith

Abraham didn’t have all the answers. He didn’t have any answers! Nor did he understand. All Abraham knew for sure was that he had to obey God in this. He’d already gone through something like this before, remember?

God had told Abram, “Leave your own country behind you, and your own people, and go to the land I will guide you to.” (Genesis 12:1 TLB)

Abraham was issued an impossible command, but he obeyed. And here, years later, God gave him another impossible command. Abraham knew what he had to do. He had to obey. But Abraham knew something else. After all the years of wandering, he knew God. He didn’t know how, but by now he had enough faith to know that God would work things out regardless of what happened to Isaac.

He believed that if Isaac died God would bring him back to life again…

At the time of the patriarchs, this kind of miracle had never happened. Where did Abraham get this idea? Such was his faith. He reasoned with his mind – not with his heart – that God wouldn’t have him do anything that would jeopardize the promise. If Isaac died, then God would just bring him back to life. That’s the simplicity of faith in action. Abraham simply knew God would never do anything against His character. There was another man who had such faith: Job. In faith, he could write these words after he had lost everyone he loved –

“I came naked from my mother’s womb,” he said, “and I shall have nothing when I die. The Lord gave me everything I had, and they were his to take away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21 TLB)

Of course, in Job’s case, the death of his family was “accidental.” But here, Abraham was being asked to take the life of his son. He was obedient. He fully complied with God’s command. In fact, had not God intervened at the last second, Isaac would have been killed.

It’s a powerful lesson to be learned – a lesson not only dealing with faith, but another mystery: love. Abraham’s faith was surely tested. To his great credit, Abraham demonstrated that in spite of his shortcomings, he had unwavering faith in his God. But he also demonstrated something else every modern Christian needs to understand: he loved God above anything else in life, even his son Isaac. Abraham’s faith was vindicated because his special son hadn’t become an idol to him.

A reasoning faith

But Abraham’s faith wasn’t a blind faith. Nor was it a slavish, robotic devotion. Abraham knew precisely what God’s Word to him involved: The promise would come to fulfillment through Isaac, and his descendants. His faith was based on that word. It wasn’t based on emotions or feelings; it was based solely on what God had told him. How different we are from Abraham! Our faith more often than not is motivated by things as flimsy as how we may feel at any given moment. We “feel” therefore we pray and have faith. If we don’t “feel,” then we don’t have faith. Abraham had the same feelings and emotions we all have, but his faith wasn’t based on the love he had for his son or how he felt at the moment. It was based on the Word God had given him. That’s all Abraham needed. His faith was objective, and that object was the God. That’s why we read this:

Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. (Hebrews 11:19 NIV)

“Abraham reasoned that God…” Abraham knew God. He knew the power God had – power to even raise the dead! When faced with his test of faith, Abraham “reasoned.” He recalled everything he knew about God. He didn’t just blindly rush headlong in obedience. He thought, then he obeyed. He was convinced in own mind as to the character of God. And based on what he knew about God, he knew he had to obey. He knew he couldn’t lose. This is some powerful faith Abraham had. Remember, he didn’t have a New Testament to read. Jesus hadn’t been raised from the dead yet. This patriarch simply knew God so well, that as far as he was concerned, God not only could raise the dead, but that He would raise the dead.

Abraham’s faith vindicated

As is His custom it seems, at the last second God intervened and provided a ram for the sacrifice. He instructed Abraham to offer that ram instead of his son, Isaac. The young man was spared, snatched from the jaws of death by an act of God. And Abraham’s faith was vindicated. So was God’s character, by the way. That’s not an unimportant thing. When a believer obeys in faith, God’s character will always be proven.

We sing a lot of hymns about faith. There are many Gospel songs and even secular songs that speak of faith. There have been many movies made about faith. Even a movie about potatoes and faith! But if this story proves anything, it’s that there is a strong connection between faith and obedience. Or, put another way, they are two sides of the same coin. One can’t exist without the other. Abraham learned that lesson thousands of years ago, yet it so often goes unnoticed today so that many Christians haven’t made that vital connection.

Simon Kistemaker shows us the sequence of events in Abraham’s life that allowed him to have the kind of faith we all desire:

Abraham believed and loved God, who promised him a son. After many years of waiting, Abraham received this promised son and loved him. Then God called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. If Abraham sacrificed Isaac, he would keep God but lose his son. If he disobeyed God, Abraham would keep his son but lose God.

Indeed. The problem so many Christians have is that they would rather have the blessings given them by God than God Himself. Faith, true Biblical faith, is faith in God exercised against everything that contradicts Him. True and lasting faith is faith that trusts and obeys God “no matter what.” Maybe the greatest expression of true faith in the Bible is this one:

Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him… (Job 13:15 AV)

Messianic Psalms

Published August 18, 2015 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Messianic Psalms, Royal Psalms

Psalm 2 is the first psalm of a very important group of psalms known as “royal” psalms or “Messianic” psalms. Over the centuries, theologians have debated the significance of these Messianic psalms. On the one hand, there are those who believe these psalms relate only to the kings of Israel. In that sense, they are definitely “royal” in nature, and in fact several of them were apparently recited during enthronement ceremonies. But on the other hand, there is the witness of the New Testament. There, most of these psalms are used in direct reference to Christ. Harold Rowley’s comments on these royal psalms are worth noting because they reflect a balanced view which takes into account both the immediate, historical context of the Messianic psalms as well as a much broader context evidenced by how the inspired writers of the New Testament saw them –

They held before the king the ideal king, both as his inspiration and guide for the present, and as the hope of the future.

Psalm 2

Psalm 2 begins with a question that is still being asked to this day:

Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? (Psalm 2:1 NIV)

The English “nations” comes from the Hebrew goyim, and refers to Gentiles, while “peoples” has reference to the Jews. This is how God views that which Gentiles and Jews think is so important. The word is “vain,” and it means “empty.” Whatever it is that has drawn these two groups together and put them in such a tizzy is, essentially, nothing at all; a futile, worthless exercise. But what is it that could unite these two groups that are usually in conflict with each other? Verses 2 and 3 tell us –

The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” (Psalm 2:2, 3 NIV)

For the first time in the psalms we see the word “anointed,” which means Messiah. Both political rulers (kings) and religious rulers (rulers) have banded together to rebel against the Lord and His Messiah, His Christ. Verse 3 gives us the details of their evil plot. Both groups want to live unrestricted by God’s will. The plans of these rebellious leaders stand in stark contrast to those of the godly man in the first psalm. Whereas the godly man lives in delight of and obedience to God’s Word, the ungodly here are determined to “overthrow” God and His rule.

Sinners and believers view God’s will – His rule over the lives of His people – totally different. Christians view the rule of God like this:

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1 NIV)

But this psalm shows us how the unconverted view the rule of God: as chains and shackles. In fact, it is they, not believers, who are the ones in bondage! They, the political and religious rulers, are deluded. Charles Spurgeon wrote –

To a graceless neck the yoke of Christ is intolerable, but to the saved sinner it is easy and light . . . We may judge ourselves by this, do we love that yoke, or do we wish to cast it from us?

He’s right, of course. How we feel about God’s will for us is very telling.

The exact historical situation this psalm is looking at is unknown. Scholars think the psalmist was writing about a revolt of subject nations against Solomon during the early days of his reign. But the New Testament applies this psalm five times to Christ and His kingdom. Therefore, regardless of the psalmist’s original intent (which is important to understand, though), the ultimate meaning of this psalm points to the universal rebellion against God’s rule. This is sin in its most basic form.

The way this psalm describes the unregenerate is not unique to the people of the ancient world. The exact same thought patterns prevail to this very day. The world is at odds with the will of God. Political rulers at home and abroad are seeking to take humanity in a direction away from God’s will. Recent Supreme Court decisions bear this out. And, worst of all, the Church can’t trust its leaders, either, as even they seek to outwit God and unwittingly unravel the work and mission of Christ.

God’s response to the wicked plans of these rebels is classic:

The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” (Psalm 2:4 – 6 NIV)

Why shouldn’t God laugh at these guys – or anybody, for that matter – who have the unmitigated arrogance to think that they can successfully rebel against Him? God can laugh because He’s ensconced on His throne in Heaven, not stuck on some rock spinning helplessly through space! He’s the One with all the power at His command. He’s not worriedly pacing around Heaven, fretting about these puny men scheming against Him from a speck of dust among the stars. Boice’s comments are priceless:

God does not tremble. He does not hide behind a vast celestial rampart, counting the enemy and calculating whether or not he has sufficient force to counter this new challenge to his kingdom. He does not even rise from where he is sitting. He simply ‘laughs’ at these great imbeciles.

These verses are of great theological import because most of the time in the Old Testament, God is referred to as “the God of Abraham,” in other words, God is most of the time referred to as the covenant God of the nation of Israel. Here, though, God is spoken of as the great sovereign ruler of the whole world, not just of Israel.

Furthermore, God can afford to laugh because whether man likes it or not, His will has already been accomplished and His Son, whom He has already installed on the throne, is carrying out His Father’s will perfectly.

I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father.” (Psalm 2:7 NIV)

Another great theological verse, it points not only to the reality of two Persons of the Trinity being mentioned in the Old Testament, but it also shows the relationship that exists between the First and Second Persons of the Trinity. The Father offers the Son, for the asking, the world as His inheritance. In essence, those rebellious nations mentioned in the previous verses become the property of the Son. And what the Son will do to these rebellious nations should be inscribed on the walls of Congress:

You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery. (Psalm 2:9 NIV)

The Hebrew in this verse is bit fuzzy. Or perhaps it’s a play on words. On first reading, it sounds like Christ will literally destroy the rebellious nations. But upon further reflection, perhaps the verse is saying this: Those who submit (those whose wills are broken) to the Messiah’s authority will become His subjects, but those who don’t will be destroyed.

The last three verses contain five commands to leaders of nations. These commands are as relevant today as they were when the psalmist wrote them: be wise, be instructed, serve the Lord, rejoice, and kiss the Son. The final verse of Psalm 2 describes the state of those who follow these five commands:

Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 2:12b NIV)

And so this first Messianic psalm ends with the same thought the first psalm began: believers will be blessed by God.

Psalm 110

This psalm is often referred to as “a jewel,” and it is probably the most popular of all the Messianic psalms. There are over 20 quotations and allusions to it throughout the New Testament. Jesus used it to prove His deity, Peter cited it in his famous Pentecostal sermon, and the concept at the heart of verse 2 occurs all over the New Testament. This is quite remarkable, since it is a mere seven verses long.

Equally as remarkable is how Psalm 110 begins:

The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” (Psalm 110:1a NIV)

Since we know David wrote this psalm, verse 1 is staggering: Yahweh says something to David’s lord. The “something” is the easy bit, but just who is David’s Lord? The Hebrew word for “Lord” means “master” and refers to somebody with authority. Very simply put, David’s master is God. This is God talking to, not David, but God, or as we know from the New Testament, God is speaking to His Son. This makes sense to us to whom the reality of Trinity has been made known, but you can imagine how baffling it was for the Jews of the Jesus’ day when He explained it to them in Matthew 22 –

“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” ’ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” (Matthew 22:42 – 45 NIV)

David was speaking, or writing, by the Spirit. So what here we are reading is a piece of inspired writing, a revelation to David from God. Everything God said to David’s lord is, essentially, being said to God or about God (that is, the Son of God) Himself. This is important to grasp especially in light of this:

“You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalm 110:4b NIV)

This is an amazing statement to make. It means that our Lord is not only the King of Kings, but He is also our priest before God. And He will always be our priest. By adding the phrase “in the order of Melchizedek,” David is saying something the Jew would understand but we might not. Melchizedek was a priest long before there was a land of Israel or a nationally organized people of God. In other words, Melchizedek was a priest before there was a Jewish religion and he ministered before God on behalf of people who were not Jews. Jesus Christ is a priest like that in that He represents all people before God, not just the Jews! This is surely the climax of the psalm. God the Father makes it clear that the Messiah will be a priest, but not a Levitical priest. He will a Melchizedek Priest – a priest for all people, of all time, all over the world.

So in this psalm we see our Lord as a priest forever, and also a king. In verse 2 God the Father is seen delegating authority to His Son. Ultimately He will bring every one of His enemies into submission. Something Paul wrote comes to mind:

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9 – 11 NIV)

The anticlimax of this magnificent psalm begins at verse 5. The military tone that was present earlier comes back with a vengeance!

The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. He will drink from a brook along the way, and so he will lift his head high. (Psalm 110:5 – 7 NIV)

Here, “the Lord” is at God’s right hand, a place of singular authority. As the Son of God battles His enemies, God His Father will be with Him, securing His victory.

Many passages of the Old Testament are difficult to translate; difficult to put into English because the words or phrases are so obscure or, in rare cases, are corrupted or missing altogether. In those cases, we are thankful for diligent, Spirit-filled and Spirit-led translators who do their best to put into understandable English those difficult passages. That’s not the case with verse 7. It’s completely intact and easy to translate. But what in the world does it mean?

He will drink from a brook along the way, and so he will lift his head high.

Moffatt translates verse 7 this way, and it’s immensely helpful:

He (the Hero) drinks from any stream he has to cross, then charges forward triumphing.

It’s a picture of the victorious Messiah refreshing Himself after the heat of the battle has waned. Dr Arno Gaebelein’s commentary on this verse is worth a second look –

The (verse) places before us once more the humiliation and exaltation of our Lord. The humiliation is that He drank of the brook along the way. We are reminded of the 300 warriors of Gideon, who went down on their knees and lapped water like dogs and who were later used and exalted through victory. But He went deeper than that. He drank of the deep waters of suffering and death. And therefore God has highly exalted Him. What a wonderful Psalm it is!

Indeed, Psalm 100 is wonderful.

Biblical Faith, Part 4

Published August 11, 2015 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Abraham, biblical faith, Noah, Peter, true faith

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. (Hebrews 11:13, 14 NIV)

“These people,” the people mentioned thus far in Hebrews’ list of the heroes of the faith, were all commended by God as living their lives in faith, and eventually they all – all without exception – died in the faith. They lived and died continually exercising faith without having received what had been promised them by God. Every single one of them. That’s quite a statement to make, considering what we know about these men. Consider –

Noah. He was certainly a man of faith. For 120 years he built a big boat, big enough to house only his family, plus many, many animals, with only a word from the Lord to go on. He had no weather forecasts or anything else; just a word from God. In the face of mockery, he kept on. Yet of this man of God we read this –

When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. (Genesis 9:21 NIV)

When his sons saw him in such a state, they covered their eyes out of respect then covered him. Another son who witnessed the spectacle was cursed by Noah.

Abraham. Sure Abraham listened to his word from God, just like Noah did, and left Ur. But that’s not the whole story, is it? Here’s what God told him to do –

Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. (Genesis 12:1 NIV)

Here’s what actually happened.

He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. (Genesis 12:5 NIV)

So this man of faith wasn’t quite perfect. Then there’s this to contend with –

“Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” (Hebrews 11:13 NIV)

That’s right. This man of faith, when faced with a famine, chose to go down to Egypt but he was so afraid for his life that he got his wife to lie for him. It gets even better. A few years on, we read this –

Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her. (Genesis 20:1, 2 NIV)

So this “man of faith” had one serious character flaw: he was a liar. And not a very good one, at that.

Isaac. Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau.

The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. (Genesis 20:27, 28 NIV)

It’s bad form for a father to favor one son above the other, but Isaac was a real piece of work. He didn’t prefer Esau because Esau was more righteous than his brother. It was because of the food! Isaac was driven by his stomach. He was a man who was motivated by himself; his likes or dislikes, and his comfort.

He was also a liar who was willing to trade his wife for safety. Sound familiar?

Jacob. Here was a man who was bold enough to wrestle with God in order to get a blessing from him. There have been many sermons about how this is a positive thing, still, would you have the nerve to do that? But then there’s what the prophet Micah wrote concerning this esteemed man of faith –

All this is because of Jacob’s transgression, because of the sins of the people of Israel. What is Jacob’s transgression? Is it not Samaria? What is Judah’s high place? Is it not Jerusalem? (Micah 1:5 NIV)

Jacob was a deceitful schemer and that fatal flaw was passed on to the kingdom that bore his name. And he was a man of divided loyalties. While he didn’t use his wife for leverage, the fact is he took four wives, which led to a lifetime of problems which actually outlived Jacob.

These were the men whom God commended as living in faith and dying in faith. It’s difficult to understand the mind of God most times. To lump the likes of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in with Enoch seems unreasonable. And yet, in God’s view, these imperfect patriarchs were as faithful as Enoch, the man who pleased God so much, God transposed him from earth to heaven.

What do we glean from this? God puts a premium on our attitude of faith but understands we are sinners. A moral or ethical lapse doesn’t automatically disqualify us from being people of faith.

…though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again… (Proverbs 24:16 NIV)

This might be one of the greatest verses in the Bible and one every believer should memorize. While there is no excuse for sin, and the Bible makes no provision for slipping into sin and remaining in it, it does teach that “you can’t keep a good man down.” In other words, the righteous will always get up.

We all have a problem

Like the patriarchs, we all have exactly the same problem: The sin nature. We are all prone to fall. Amazingly, at the youthful age of 22, Robert Robinson wrote these words many of us sing in church:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love…

While our sin nature has been dealt with by Jesus Christ through His work on the Cross, there is never a moment in our earthly lives when we are completely free from its influence. We may be “dead to sin,” but sin is very much alive to us, and it is always trying to lure us back into its clutches.

Our sin nature always wants that which the Holy Spirits does not want for us. And our sin nature isn’t subject to God and it will never be. That’s why God gave us a new nature: To counteract the downward pull of our sin nature. The good news is that God has made provision for our new nature to win. Our sinful nature wins only when we let it.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37 NIV)

There will never be a time on earth when the believer won’t be pestered by his sin nature. But you don’t have to give into it. You never have to yield to temptation. Ever. Granted, you’ll always be a sinner saved by grace, but as far as temptation goes, you have it within you to conquer it every time.

A New Testament example

Peter is a good example of this. Peter, the man whose confession was the foundation the Church was to be built upon, was always falling down.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:29, 30 NIV)

Talk about having faith! Peter actually got out of a boat during a storm and, doing what Jesus told him to do, stepped out in faith and walked on the water! He did something crazy; something nobody else had ever done before or since. But Peter did. That is, he did until he stopped walking by faith and started to look around. The storm made Peter sink.

Later on, this disciple of Jesus’ Peter denied Jesus three times. Not once, mind you, in blind panic, but three times. The last time was in a courtyard surround by other people. Peter could have sided with Jesus this time but he chose to side with the society he was with. He went out, and by himself he wept bitterly. He knew he had failed his Lord. And Jesus knew that he knew. Just as Yahweh never gave up on Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our Lord never gave up on Peter.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ ” (Mark 16:7 NIV)

Peter was given one more chance. Peter’s spiritual growth wasn’t instantaneous. It was slow going. But in spite of his falling down, Peter’s heart was right, and he kept getting up. We like Peter because most of us are so much like him. We love Jesus. We think we’re fiercely loyal to Him. We have faith in Him and His Word. But the cold, hard truth is we do the same things Peter did, only fortunately for us nobody is keeping a record of our failings for generations to read about.

Peter got up and preached some powerful sermons when the Church was born and won many converts for the Lord. Thanks to Peter, the Gospel broke into the Gentile world. Peter laid the foundation for the ministry of the apostle Paul – all because he got up.

God chooses to use people, not angels, to do His work. And as we journey through this life, falling down then getting up only to fall down again, God sees what we will become, not what we are. That’s why men of questionable reputations Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are all listed among the heroes of the faith.

Abraham’s token blessing

Looking back at Hebrews 11:13, notice this –

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised… (Hebrews 11:13 NIV)

Yet, that’s not the whole story, either. Back a few chapters we read this –

When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. (Hebrews 6:13 – 15 NIV)

Abraham never received the big promise – the promise of a land and of nationhood. He died a nomad. But God in His sovereignty gave Abraham the tiniest glimpse of that big promise in the form of a son, Isaac. Against all the odds, Abraham and Sarah had a son, and the seed of nationhood had been sown. God saw Abraham, not as a nomad living in tents on the fringes of civilization, but as the father of many nations, and God let him experience a small part of that. Isaac was to Abraham as Mount Pisgah was to Moses.

God sees you as you are in Christ, not as you are today. He sees you in Christ, already in the heavenlies.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus… (Ephesians 2:6 NIV)

You don’t see yourself in the heavenly realms yet. You see yourself as you are now; struggling to get through this life, one day at a time. You can’t see yourself as you’ll become because you can’t see the future because it hasn’t happened yet. But God sees the future – He lives in it – and in the future you are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms!

And that’s why these men, with all their faults and failings, were commended for their faith. That’s why they are heroes of the faith. God saw what they would become, not what they were.

What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3 NIV)

Psalms of (Divine) Justice

Published August 10, 2015 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: imprecations, psalms of divine justice, social justice

It’s important to know that the Bible doesn’t distinguish between the terms righteousness and justice. In both Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament) righteousness and justice are seen as the essentially the same. In fact, in the Greek there are no separate words for righteousness and justice and in Hebrew there are separate words yet they are used interchangeably.

Today, the church draws a distinction between the two words. Many churches are very big on personal righteousness; holiness, Pentecostal, and Wesleyan churches emphasize the holiness of the individual. In these types of churches, the idea of righteousness is stressed in relation to a believer’s morality and behavior. Their goal is for the individual to live up to God’s standard of righteousness.

But other churches are very big on justice, as in “social justice.” Mainline denominations like the Lutheran church, Anglicans, Methodists, and some Presbyterians preach about an almost utopian ideal where society is free from all forms of injustice, whatever their ideas of injustice may be, and they work to make this happen, often using the political system and the courts. For these types of churches, justice is what they think God’s vision is for society and they are the tool to implement that vision.

But from the Bible’s standpoint, righteousness and justice are the same. The Bible holds equally to both terms, demonstrating once again that perfect balance is always found in Scripture. Yes, God is very concerned about personal morality, but personal morality at the expense of the proper treatment of others is wrong – it’s imbalanced. And if all you’re concerned about is your vision of “social justice” and changing the culture (people, in other words) to fit your vision at the expense of changing yourself, then your imbalanced, too.

In the end, the Bible must be our guide in such matters. There are numerous psalms that speak of God’s justice, and these psalms form what we call “psalms of divine justice.” Very often in these psalms, the psalmist prays to God to right some wrong – a wrong in the land or a personal wrong. We also refer to some of these psalms as “imprecatory psalms” because they contain imprecations, or prayers calling down God’s wrath on the wicked. In fact, you can find imprecations in both the Old and the New Testaments. Some people see a conflict with the many imprecations found in the Bible, especially in the psalms, and the Biblical ethic of love. In both Testaments we read admonitions about loving our neighbor and even our enemy. Jesus Himself refused to exercise divine vengeance during His earthly ministry because, in His own words, He didn’t come to judge the world but to save it. He even rebuked His disciples on one occasion because they wanted to call down fire from heaven upon a city that rejected their message.

When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them. (Luke 9:54, 55 NIV)

However, ultimately in God’s plan, vengeance does indeed belong to Him.

But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you. (Matthew 11:24 NIV)

So, it’s not that God won’t exercise justice, only that it is postponed. Paul noted this:

God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. (2 Thessalonians 6, 7ff NIV)

God’s righteousness demands justice among His creation, but that will happen in His time, not ours. In the meantime, though, there is no prohibition against imprecations. Nor are they encouraged. They merely are one type of prayer worthy of study. One Bible scholar who noticed this made an interesting point:

It would be unreasonable to expect to find in the Psalms the Christian ideal of man’s attitude toward his enemies, but in [Psalm 140] we have the next best thing to it; for there is no hint of the desire of personal retaliation against the vindictive enemies of the psalmist. All is left in the hands of God. That there should be some words of bitterness is natural enough; but the passive attitude of the victim of oppression himself reveals a spirit of true godliness.

Psalm 140

Psalm 140 is a psalm of divine justice. It is one of many psalms that deal with the existence of evil and persecution within the borders of Israel. It’s bad enough to suffer persecution from outside, but from within presents an intolerable situation! Some of these evildoers were Gentiles who lived among the Israelites, but most of the persecution came from fellow Jews whose apostasy not only involved rejecting the worship of Yahweh, but also of persecuting those who remained true to Him.

Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers; protect me from the violent, who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day. (Psalm 140:1, 2 NIV)

All was not well among God’s people, to be sure. It seldom is. Within the Church today there are worldly factions who have it in for those who wish to live according the teachings of Scripture. They are mocked and made fun of. In regard to how the psalmist handled the situation in his day, after several verses of complaint and declarations of trust in God, he takes a sharp turn with verse 10 –

May burning coals fall on them; may they be thrown into the fire,into miry pits, never to rise. May slanderers not be established in the land; may disaster hunt down the violent. (Psalm 140:10, 11 NIV)

If you don’t detect a lot of love in those verses, you’re right. There isn’t. This is the imprecatory part of the psalm. It’s not easy to explain and apply verses like these to modern Christian life in light of what our Lord taught:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… (Matthew 5:43, 44 NIV)

That the psalmist loved God and wanted to serve Him is obvious. He loved God and hated wickedness, not just because wickedness was harmful to himself and to others, but because it’s very existence was a offense to God. This is why he prayed for death of those who practiced it. As New Testament believers, however, we should be able to, as they say, “separate the sin from the sinner,” “the act from the actor.” Robert Alden makes in invaluable contribution that helps us modern believers in God deal with the situation –

If we cannot maintain composure while hating evil, or hate it apart from the one who practices it, then perhaps we had best withdraw from the fray, repeat verse 12 of this psalm, and wait for God to judge.

That’s excellent advice. We need to always remember that in this war against sin, the righteous will be vindicated and the upright will be blessed. There is no doubt.

I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. Surely the righteous will praise your name, and the upright will live in your presence. (Psalm 140:12, 13 NIV)

Psalm 109

Psalm 109 is the last of the pure imprecatory psalms, and the strongest. The whole psalm has a courtroom feel to it, with the psalmist pleading his case before the judge.

Sinful people who lie and cheat have spoken against me. They have used their tongues to tell lies about me. (Psalm 109:2 NIrV)

The psalmist isn’t whining here, he’s presenting his case as the plaintiff and he is surrounded by false witnesses. The odds are against him prevailing. To whom can he turn for help? Of course, in a desperate situation like this, God is the only Source of real help. The opening words of this psalm represent the psalmist’s earnest plea for help.

The contrast between him and his enemies couldn’t be more stark.

They gather all around me with their words of hatred. They attack me without any reason. They bring charges against me, even though I love them and pray for them. They pay me back with evil for the good things I do. They pay back my love with hatred. (Psalm 109:3 – 5 NIrV)

You can’t help but notice the similarities between the psalmist and the Lord Jesus. Truly this writer had a godly disposition.

Verses 6 – 19 are chock full of maledictions. Indeed, this group of verses contain “some of the most vituperative, invective, and vitriolic vengeance found anywhere in Scripture.” These are powerful verses. The question, however, is this: Who is speaking? Is it godly King David? Or is it somebody else? The Hebrew is unclear. If you think it’s David, as some translations would have it, then it sounds like he’s just given up on being godly. In fact, he actually contradicts himself with some of his statements. Consider in verse four how he declares that he prays for those who are against him, but then in the following verses he calls down curses upon them!

So, if it isn’t David saying these things, then who is it? Many scholars believe that David is writing about what his accusers are saying about him! The accusers think they are in the right and it is they who are calling down curses upon him. In Hebrew there is no way of indicating a quotation, as we have in English, with quotation marks. There are no quotation marks in Hebrew, so the Psalmist simply has to run on. But there are several things which give us clues that David is not the one calling down curses, but his accusers.

First, there is the whole change in tone as already noted. David was a godly man, and he wrote as a godly man. The change of attitude at verse 6 is worse than jarring. It seems almost impossible that a sane man, from one breath to another, can go from a lover to a hater with such ease!

Second, notice how the grammar changes. The NIV makes this very clear; other translations do not, but the NIV hedges its bets and does. We move from “they” in verses 1 – 5 to “him” in verses 6 – 19. David had been talking about “them,” his accusers, now they are talking about “him,” King David.

When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him. May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership. (Psalm 109:7, 8 NIV)

The “he” is David. His accusers are standing before the judge, as it were, presenting their libelous case. Reading verses 6 through 19 correctly, we can see two things. First, we should place quotation marks around them so we never forget a man of God would never pray like this. And second, we can see how the enemy of God’s people work. Satan, the accuser of God’s people, stands before God, the Judge of all creation, accusing believers constantly. Here in the psalms we have a miniature drama on earth of what plays out in the court of heaven all the time.

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” (Job 1:9 – 11 NIV)

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. (Revelation 12:10b NIV)

Those verses speak of Satan, whose very name means “accuser,” and what he is best at: making false accusations about God’s people in front of God.

David’s enemies want to kill him.

May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. (Psalm 109:9 NIV)

Ultimately we know that’s what the Devil wants to have happen to each one of us. That’s why he tries so desperately to keep us in sin because, “the wages of sin is death.”

David’s enemies wanted to take all that he had; to impoverish him and his family forever.

May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. (Psalm 109:11 NIV)

If that sounds familiar, it’s because you are likely thinking about this verse:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10 NIV)

And at last, their hatred toward David was so complete, his enemies wished for his damnation.

May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord; may the sin of his mother never be blotted out. May their sins always remain before the Lord, that he may blot out their name from the earth. (Psalm 109:14, 15 NIV)

David speaks again in verse 20 –

May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil of me. (Psalm 109:20 NIV)

The literal translation of verse 20 makes David’s mind a little more clear and is more in keeping with his godly character –

This is the reward which my accusers seek from the Lord, those who speak evil against my life! (Psalms 109:20 Literal)

The remainder of the psalm records David’s wonderful prayer to His God for deliverance. He commits his cause to God. Here is a man, unlike his accusers, who understood the truthfulness of the Word of God when it says things like this:

It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” The Lord will vindicate his people. (Deuteronomy 32:35, 36a NIV)

In verse 6, David’s accusers, in their vanity, wanted God to appoint an accuser to stand at his right hand to accuse him. The last verse of this psalm tells us a profound truth:

For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save their lives from those who would condemn them. (Psalm 109:31 NIV)

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