Judgment Day

October 21, 2011 marked the end of the world if you happen to believe a singular radio personality, and while the globe may be heating up, it has certainly not been consumed by a fireball. When this man's original prediction failed in May, many throughout the world mocked him for his folly. Sadly, many mocked Christianity as this one person became the straw man for all Christians. While he was predictably wrong about the date, he is not entirely wrong about a coming judgment.

For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:24-30 ESV)

Belief in the consummation of God's redemptive plan--the return and judgment of Christ--is an orthodox belief. Many debate the details, but all Bible-believing Christians agree that Christ is coming again. Despite various disagreements, one element all should be unified on is the impossibility of knowing when Christ will return. The Son of God himself that we cannot know the day or the hour.

But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. (Matthew 24:36 ESV) [This verse itself probably deserves a blog post some day.]

Anyone choosing, calculating, or prophesying the day or the hour is arrogantly claiming to have wisdom greater than the Son. However, just because we cannot know the day does not mean we should not be prepared. The point of Jesus' message was to ensure his disciples had their affairs in order, "Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect" (Matt 24:42-44). Be ready! Do you know your Savior? Is Jesus Christ your life, your truth and your hope?

The deceived followers need to read 2 Thessalonians 2, which was part of today's M'Cheyne reading. 2 Peter 3 would be another good passage to read. Believers need not be alarmed about the Day of the Lord (it will not be missed). And we ought to be grateful for the forbearance of our Lord--that we were not and are not swept away in a global judgment as in Noah's day. But our time is short. We must urgently proclaim the gospel, for as sure as the sun sets today, the Day of the Lord will come. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Book Review: Surprised By Joy

In addition to reviewing Surprised By Joy, I wish to take a moment to review Google Books and their e-readers.

Google Books


I have been reading via ebooks since the first Kindle DX was released. Amazon has a fine system set up, and I like that I can buy a book and read it on my Kindle, my phone or my computer. I actually take advantage of this feature quite often. Google released their own ebook store not too long ago, so I've been looking for a good reason to use it. Surprised By Joy was the first ebook that Google sold that Amazon did not, so I read the book on my Android phone and through Google's web reader.

There is not much I can recommend; it is simply a terrible system. The ebook store sells copies of the scans Google has made as part of their effort to organize the information in the world's books. They sell ebooks of their scanned books where they've acquired the license. So instead of marked-up text (which is what Amazon and B&N sell when you purchase an ebook), you are buying an image. This gives you far less flexibility (e.g. in the ability to easily resize), and the quality is often lacking, and important features like a robust Table of Contents are corrupt. Google has a feature that allows you to read the book in flowing text, but their translation is awful. Commas are often periods and periods are often missing. "I" and "1" are interchangeable and many words are just plain wrong (for instance, on page 234 of Surprised By Joy, the word "direction" was translated as the non-word "dkection"). There are no easy ways to indicate problems, not that I ought to be helping Google polish their work after paying good money for a book.

Finally, Google's reader removes practically all of the advantages of electronic reading. It is not possible to highlight or bookmark. No notes can be saved in the text. I would rather find the physical book before paying for another book from Google. This surprises me because Google does so many things well, but not ebooks.

Surprised By Joy


This book surprised me in a pleasant way. I was expecting an autobiography. It was, but it was only biographical as it pertained to C.S. Lewis' conversion. So in reality, it's a book-length testimony. I am thankful for that, however, and my respect for a respectable man has increased tremendously after reading about the means of grace in this man's life.

This book can be good for practically anyone. It glorifies God and will give strength to a believer. It may point an unbeliever in the right philosophical or logical direction toward Christianity. No doubt many critics of Christianity are somewhere on the spectrum Lewis passed through (from the Absolute to "Spirit" and from "Spirit" to "God"). It will humble all as the reader understands how ignorant of literature he or she truly is.

For what the book is, I do not see any downsides, and so my only other recommendation would be to step through the few chapters on which I've written.

Chapter 1
Chapter 7
Chapter 9
Chapter 15

Surprised By Joy: Chapter 15

This is the final chapter in C.S. Lewis' autobiography. To this point he has transitioned from staunch Atheist to devout Theist, and this chapter shows how God brought him to belief in Christ. I would highly recommend reading this chapter if there's no time for the whole book (or the final three chapters if time can be spared). These, in my estimation, are the great parts of the chapter.

God used a great, logical mind to draw Lewis to Himself:

     In my mind ... the perplexing multiplicity of "religions" began to sort itself out. The real clue had been put into my hand by that hard-boiled Atheist when he said, "Rum thing, all that about the Dying God. Seems to have really happened once"; by him and by Barfield's encouragement of a more respectful, if not more delighted, attitude to Pagan myth. The question was no longer to find the one simply true religion among a thousand religions simply false. It was rather, "Where has religion reached its true maturity? Where, if anywhere, have the hints of all Paganism been fulfilled?" ...
     There were really only two answers possible: either in Hinduism or in Christianity. Everything else was either a preparation for, or else (in the French sense) a vulgarization of, these. Whatever you could find elsewhere you could find better in one of these. But Hinduism seemed to have two disqualifications. For one thing, it appeared to be not so much a moralized and philosophical maturity of Paganism as a mere oil-and-water coexistence of philosophy side by side with Paganism unpurged ... And secondly, there was no such historical claim as in Christianity.
     I was by now too experienced in literary criticism to regard the Gospels as myths. They had not the mythical taste. And yet the very matter which they set down in their artless, historical fashion—those narrow, unattractive Jews, too blind to the mythical wealth of the Pagan world around them—was precisely the matter of the great myths. If ever a myth had become fact, had been incarnated, it would be just like this. And nothing else in all literature was just like this. Myths were like it in one way. Histories were like it in another. But nothing was simply like it.

And finally, genuine conversion:

To accept the Incarnation was a further step in the same direction. It brings God nearer, or near in a new way. And this, I found, was something I had not wanted. But to recognize the ground for my evasion was of course to recognize both its shame and its futility. I know very well when, but hardly how, the final step was taken. I was driven to Whipsnade one sunny morning. When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did. Yet I had not exactly spent the journey in thought. Nor in great emotion. "Emotional" is perhaps the last word we can apply to some of the most important events. It was more like when a man, after long sleep, still lying motionless in bed, becomes aware that he is now awake. And it was, like that moment on top of the bus, ambiguous. Freedom, or necessity? Or do they differ at their maximum?

Proverbs 3 vs. 1 Samuel 2

The sons of Eli were evil men, and when compared to the wisdom of Proverbs 3, it's not hard to see exactly how they missed the mark. The following table lines up a proverb with the negative example in the life of Hophni and Phinehas (or Eli).

Proverbs 3	1 Samuel 2
1. My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,	25. If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the LORD to put them to death.
2. for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.	32. Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever.
3. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.	12. Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD.
4. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.	33. The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men.
5. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.	13. The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand,
6. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.	16. And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.”
7. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.	29. Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’
8. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.	34. And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day.
9. Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce;	15. Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw.”
10. then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.	36. And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests' places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”
11. My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline or be weary of his reproof,	17. Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.
12. for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.	30. Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

1 Thessalonians 1: Pauline Triad

One of the things Paul is well known for is his "triad": faith, hope and love. D.A. Carson has a spectacular devotional on the topic in the October 11 entry within his first For the Love of God book. The triad shows up again at the introduction of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians. One lesson I (hope I) have learned this year is to be careful with the beginning and end of each epistle. I too often mentally skip over paragraphs because I have perceived them as mere hellos or goodbyes, but they often contain a treasure of theological truth packed into very small spaces.

In this beginning chapter of 1 Thessalonians, Paul teaches us to pray, and he ties his prayer to faith, hope and love. Paul prays for the Thessalonians without doubt, but his prayers have a specific object associated with them: remembering the church's action in the triad. What's interesting is that Paul prays for them constantly, remembering their work, implying an ongoing labor in these three elements. So Paul is thankful to God for them, but part of the point of Paul's remembering seems to be intercession--that the Thessalonian believers would continue the work begun in them.

In verse three we gain a little more color on the triad: this is a work of faith, a labor of love and a steadfastness of hope. Possessing these three elements produces effects in our lives. Faith, hope and love aren't theoretical niceties--they move our beings.

"Work of faith" is intriguing because of the distinction Paul often makes between works and faith (Rom 3:20, Gal 2:16, Eph 2:8-9). Our primary work is not of the Law but of Faith. And the work flows from the faith, not the other way around. A "work of faith" implies the faith existed and the work comes because the faith was already there.

"Labor of love," we are to work in love, and we are to work at love. Unlike work of faith, which ties faith as a kind of work, love is a labor, or a continuous toil. We must cultivate the garden of our love, for if we slack for a moment, the weeds of selfishness will grow in our hearts.

"Steadfastness of hope" shows that the work of faith and labor of love we're engaged in will not be smooth sailing. For we meet trials of various kinds, and the testing of our faith produces steadfastness (James 1:2-3). But it is the hope within us that helps us endure the test of faith, "for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Cor 4:17). Christian have the greatest hope in the world, as "we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord" (2 Cor 5:8).

Finally, this opening prayer has a triad of another kind, the Trinity. Verse 1 says, "To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," and the prayer is sandwiched with verse 4, "because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction."

How do we do a work of faith, a labor of love and have steadfastness of hope?

1 Kings 17: Belief in Suffering

1 Kings 17 ends with the verse, "And the woman said to Elijah, 'Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.'" She confesses this after Elijah raises her son from the dead. Who wouldn't utter such truth after a miraculous display of God's power? What may be surprising, however, is that the widow would begin her exclamation with "now I know," for she is the same woman Elijah had prophesied an unspendable flour and oil supply. Her life was already daily preserved according to the word of this man of God. So why would she say she believes now?

Naturally, I cannot read the mind of this widow. She was clearly enduring life-altering stress. First, she believed that she and her son were on the brink of starving to death. "And she said, 'As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die'" (1 Kings 17:12 ESV). Even after this miracle had sustained her for "many days," her son still died. "After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him" (1 Kings 17:17 ESV). It's hard to blame her for having doubts. I cannot fathom losing a child, or how I might react toward God in that situation (oh how I pray that my faith would grow).

Drawing from other parts of the Bible, it's possible to see where this mother may have been coming from. The first lesson is that belief doesn't inherently flow from witnessing miracles. During the exodus, Israel did not believe in God as they should have, perpetually complaining to Moses and building golden calves at their first temptation of doubt. Their unbelief dominated despite seeing miraculous power of unparalleled display, excepting the work of Jesus himself. And even during the life of Jesus, his dominion over the physical world was not enough witness for the hard-hearted pharisees. At one point Jesus even teaches [by parable] that miracles will not convince a person unless they already believe the Law and Prophets: "He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead'" (Luke 16:31 ESV). Someone has risen from the dead, yet many (most) do not believe. If only they would look on him whom they have pierced!

But it's unlikely that this widow had an entirely rebellious heart of rejection. She was probably struggling with faith the same way most Christians today struggle with their own faith. When encountering suffering, how many people turn to their pastor, or even ask proverbially, "Where is God in all of this?" This widow asked this her own way, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!" (1 Kings 17:18 ESV).

What can a person do when faced with agonizing suffering? Turn to the Lord. This is exactly what Elijah did. He went up to the child and prayed to God. This was not a case of prophetic foreknowledge; Elijah did not already know the child had died and that he would rise. He earnestly sought the Lord in supplication and faith. God answered his prayer with a 'yes', and he may do the same in our hour of suffering. He may also say, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor 12:9). Peter and James teach that God will use trials to grow and purify our faith.

We are real people, with real fears, doubts and suffering. God does not expect us to be spiritual superheroes and suck it up. He tells us to call on him and believe. Confess disbelief and cry out, "Now I know, Jesus my Savior, that you are the Man of God."

"But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." And Jesus said to him, "'If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, 'I believe; help my unbelief!' (Mark 9:22-24 ESV)

Ezekiel 36: A Heart of Stone

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. (Ezekiel 36:26-29 ESV)

The recent chapters of Ezekiel have been a delight to read; they really highlight God's sovereignty and mercy. We see how despite Israel's disobedience and broken covenant God moves to fulfill his plan. Though, it's not as if God had to route around the damage done by Israel to create or discover a better plan, he was actively working through Israel's apostasy and his judgment to bring redemption and consummation. God's covenant was a good one, though his people trashed it pursuing everything except God, and so we see that this covenant was incomplete. There have been some hints to what God might be up to, not the least was a restoration of the nation. But chapter 36 shows that God is going to usher in a different kind of relationship with his people. God will restore Israel, but he will not leave them to abandon the covenant again. The exiles should hear the drumbeat of a new covenant in what Ezekiel has been saying. Perhaps they cannot identify it, but the prophet is certainly speaking of hope greater than Israel had seen to that point. This chapter shows a key ingredient of the new covenant: the new heart and spirit.

The Heart

The first miracle God performs is a heart transplant. When God shows grace to his people, he first gives them a warm-blooded, beating heart. Before implanting that, however, he must remove the cold, dead heart of stone. That is the spiritual default of every person who has ever existed--we are spiritually dead. How can a stony heart be made alive? No amount of CPR, defibrillation (or religion) can give that dead heart life. The harder we try to give ourselves life the more we reveal the deadness of our hearts.

When God gives a heart of flesh, new life is created! The result of God's work is repentance: instead of cold rejection of God's rule, we have a warm, intimate relationship with our creator. The first possibility of loving God with our heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving our neighbor as our self becomes reality. Instead of selfishly sucking life out of our environment, life can flow from us to those around us.

The Spirit

The gift of a new heart is already grace far more abundant than we can ask or think, but God does not leave that new heart isolated to simply die once more. God protects that heart and gives the assurance of life by putting his Spirit within us. The result of this work is that God will cause us to walk in his statutes and be careful to obey his rules. We do not and cannot walk in his statutes before we are given the heart of flesh and his Spirit, and those things do not give us new life. But once God puts his Spirit within us (what an incredible thought), the seal of salvation is walking under the authority and rules of the Lord.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4 ESV)

Deliverance

The results are staggering. We can be God's people, and he will be our God. We will live in a relationship with the Sovereign of the Universe--he is not an impersonal abstraction or unapproachable monarch. And the good news is that we are saved. God says he will deliver us from our "uncleannesses." God takes a dead, dirty, stony, void heart and makes it fit to be in the presence of pure holiness. What news could possibly trump that?

Christ

The fulfillment of the new covenant is in Christ. He is our good news. Through our belief in his death and resurrection, we receive the gift of a new heart and the Holy Spirit, and God delivers us from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of light.

   He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
   And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
(Colossians 1:15-23 ESV)