As it stands, I am open to follow the Lamb wherever He may lead.  If He were to keep me in this area, it would be a delight to maintain some friendships here and to have this be a base for some kind of writing, speaking, serving ministry.  If He were to call me away, may He give grace to some of my own family, who would find moving quite difficult at the moment.  At any rate, I recognize that my life is not my own, and that God’s family is much bigger than mine, and that His wisdom so outdoes my own that it is quite likely I lack the foresight to plan how best I can bear fruit for the kingdom of God.

Therefore, I am open to suggestions.  If you have any use for me, please pray about it and let me know.  Here is a link to an impersonal version of my resume (click).

Please, please, if you have a true acquaintance with Jesus Christ through faith, and have a love for me and my family, take some time to pray for us, and then expect to rejoice someday with us that God has placed us where He wants us to be.  Our faithful God will never let us down.

Thank you for considering my thoughts and request.  May peace rest upon the true Israel of God!

In building a new house, it is first necessary to clear the land.

In building a new home through marriage, it is first necessary to clear the mind of assumptions.

Probably without realizing it, you have brought to these counseling sessions certain assumptions about what these sessions will do for you and your future spouse.  Therefore, before the construction begins, we must first clear these assumptions away.  Let me discuss four possible, common assumptions.

Assumption #1: Premarital counseling will tell me God’s will for our marriage.

Certainly, we hope to cover the basics, but you will definitely not learn here all that you need to know for a wise and obedient marriage—not even half.  Frankly, it would be impossible, for at least three reasons:

1.     God’s will is a meandering path between the fence posts of His commandments.

The fence posts are clear—in body, you should be holy, and in spirit, you should be worshiping:

“This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality” (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

But within these fence posts are a lot of possibilities, such as where to live, what to wear, how to live, and what to pursue.  Not all of these choices are clear-cut, yes-or-no choices, for God desires for us to grow in wisdom as we get to know Him better and better.  In other words, your very own development as spiritual beings requires practice in discerning good and evil through the fear of the Lord (cf. Proverbs 2:1-9; Hebrews 5:14).  Therefore, you will not be given here a cookbook approach to a happy marriage, but rather some guidance regarding your path within the fence posts.

2.     You do not yet know the questions to ask.

In higher education, it is a well-known fact that older students are often better students than greenhorns.  The older students know the relevancy of the material, and appreciate better the answers given.  Sometimes, the older student can even dose off, knowing that certain material has nothing to do with the real world out there!

Similarly, in marriage, you will appreciate the issues faced here with much more understanding twenty, thirty, forty years into marriage.  New questions will arise from new trials that are unforeseeable now.  Other questions will come from the normal array of career options, lifestyle decisions, and turning points.  All this is future, if God so permits.

3.     Even if you did know the questions to ask, you may not be able to handle the answers.

Wisdom is more a matter of who you are, than what you know (cf. James 3:13-18); therefore, until you experience greater maturity, there are some answers that will simply escape your non-experienced eye.  Remember, it is through practice that the mature “have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14).  Consider these examples:

“Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out” (Proverbs 20:5).  It will take experience for you to learn how to draw out what your spouse is really thinking.

“He who blesses his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it will be counted a curse to him” (Proverbs 27:14).  It will take experience for you to know when and how best to discuss matters with each other.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?  I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:9-10).  It will take trials from the Lord to show what is really in each other’s hearts.

Not even love itself is disconnected from such experiential growth, for the Spirit of Christ prays that our love would “abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment” (Philippians 1:9).  Like many plants, love grows best with some experiential agitation.

Therefore, brace yourself for a lifelong learning experience—especially you, young man, seeing how you are commanded to live with your future wife “with understanding” (1 Peter 3:7).  (It would seem that the young women are often more interested than men in thinking through the relationship.)

Moreover, seeing how long and stretching this learning could become, resolve now to gain as much knowledge and experience up front for the journey.  The lifelong nature of marriage should not make you lazy, but rather spur you on to better preparedness.  For example, plan to spend more time up front on your relationship than you assume is necessary.  If you can help it, try not to overload your newlywed years with unnecessary cares.  Not even the Israelites were required to go to war during their first year of marriage (cf. Deuteronomy 24:5).

As for our time together, it is hoped that you will not be frustrated with having to plan for things you cannot foresee, or having to process solutions you cannot fathom.  May the Lord bless our time together according to the thought given above (Psalm 86:11)!

Assumption #2: The goal of premarital counseling is a happy marriage.

A noted Christian counselor once warned that many assume the goal is to achieve a happy, successful marriage (Larry Crabb, The Marriage Builder, pp. 10-11).  Beware!  While certainly we would wish you a happy marriage over a sorrowful one, all things considered equal, happiness is not the goal.  Larger joys lie ahead, and even marriage contributes to that end.

Consider the following clarification from Jesus:

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.  I did not come to bring peace but a sword.  For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’  He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:34-38).

The opening words “Do not think” imply that we will be tempted to think He came to bring earthly peace.  And are we not tempted to think this way?  After all, Jesus loves us, right?  Why would He not want to give us happy marriages and homes?

The fallacy is not in questioning the love of Jesus or even in questioning His delight in giving us a happy home—after all, He Himself invented the home, as explained in the next session.  The fallacy is found in the inverted scale of priorities, and in the misplacement of time era.  You and I live in the final era of history.  Therefore, just as football teams play different after the two-minute warning at the end of the game, so should our lives be lived differently at the end of the age.  We are not Abraham, who experienced God’s blessing largely at home.  We are Christians (assuming you both are born again), and we live at the end of the age, when the family of God exists and is more important than our own family, just as God Himself is more important that we are.

Listen to the apostle Paul reason with the Corinthians about the relativity of marriage at the end of history:

“But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none, those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, and those who use this world as not misusing [making full use of? cf. NASB].  For the form of this world is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:29-31).

Do you hear the wisdom of these words?  Because the bell is about to ring—and we do not know how much time is left on the clock, only that the two-minute warning is passed—because the bell is about to ring, we should not be over-elated when things go well here or over-deflated when they do not, we should not be hunkering down with family and possessions either, as if we can keep them forever.  All this form of things is passing away.  Therefore, we should not treat family with the same importance as Old Testament saints, but should treat our new family, the family of God, with an even greater importance.

This distinction is very important to keep in mind: Our true and greatest family is the family of God.  This heavenly family is our priority.  For example, when Jesus Himself was asked to interrupt His engagement with His disciples in order to talk with His earthly family, He replied, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?”  He answered by pointing to His disciples and saying, “Her are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:48-50).

Granted, taking family more seriously is often a preparation for salvation (Malachi 4:5-6; cf. Luke 1:17).  Moreover, some ministers make the priority of the church an excuse to neglect their family, and in so doing deny the faith and act worse than an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8).  A priority is no excuse for neglect, even as the apostle Paul warned that those who are married cannot serve the Lord “without distraction,” but must also care about worldly things in order to please their spouse (see 1 Corinthians 7:32-35).

All these acknowledgements are true, but today we also see the opposite occur.  A worldly man enjoys taking his family out to the lake on weekends and so has “church” each Sunday in the cabin.  A homeschooling dad makes it his chief aim to raise godly kids and so neglects the care of his local church or its involvement in worldwide missions.  Both of these men miss the point: God’s family is more important than my own.

Therefore, listen carefully to the voice of wisdom: Do not make your marriage the final goal.  You may be required to give up your spouse to imprisonment for the cause of Christ, as Sabina Wurmbrand once did with regard to her husband Richard, who later founded the Voice of the Martyrs ministry.  You may be required to lose your life, and “hate” your wife, for the cause of Christ (cf. Luke 14:26-27).  John Bunyan suffered for years in the Bedford jail, where it pained him to leave his blind daughter Mary behind.  These comments are not made to make you feel morbid, but to gird you for the battle.  You are not Abraham and Sarah.  You live after the coming of Jesus and after the establishment of His family, the church.  Therefore, you must love Him and His family more, or you are not worthy of Him.

Conversely, should God allow, make your time together a testimony to the grace of God and thus a means for His family to grow.  Let your obedient roles in marriage remove slander, and let your good works at home adorn the Gospel in the eyes of others (cf. Titus 2:1-10; cf. 1 Peter 2:12-3:7).  As “heirs together of the grace of life” (1 Peter 3:7), seek to harmonize your home life and church life in such a way that both blossom and God’s family benefits the most.  But always remember, when push comes to shove, God’s family is more important than mine, and the happiness of His people more than the happiness of my marriage.  This prioritization brings glory to God, and acknowledges well the time period in which we live—Jesus may return today.

Assumption #3: This marriage relationship will be easier than other relationships.

Because the Lord has “pitched your hearts” upon one another, as Puritan Daniel Rogers once said (see Packer, Quest for Godliness, p. 264), it may seem that this relationship will be easier than others to develop.  After all, you are mightily inclined to each other—even to the point of tying the knot!

Certainly, your mutual attraction has its advantages and is a mighty mystery (cf. Proverbs 30:18-19); however, it also has its limits and its pitfalls.  Consider the following facts:

1.     We usually put our best foot forward to outsiders.

Until you wedding day, and compared to your future intimacy, you are definitely outsiders right now.

2.     The more we know of someone, the more we are tempted to be critical.

At a distance, we do not notice the blemishes on each other’s face; but close up, and when staying close for a long period of time, we begin to notice the multitude of defects.  You two are about to become as close as any two mortals can become in an earthly sense—living day in and day out, with the same person for years, Lord willing.  Do you think you will begin to notice things later that you do not notice now?  Therefore, resolve now to love with increasing devotion, for the Scriptures rightly note, “Love will cover a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8; cf. Proverbs 10:12).  To paraphrase brother James Dobson, “Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and thereafter half-shut.”

3.     As male and female human beings, you are amazingly different—down to every cell in your bodies!

These differences will also tempt you to become critical, when really they are given by good design.

4.     The curse will enter your marriage too, as it did your parents and generations before them.

After man and woman had first sinned, God warned them of marital strife, of how the woman would have the “desire” to master her husband, and how the husband would cruelly “rule” his wife (Genesis 3:16).  Only through redemption in Christ, mentioned in the same context, are we able to defeat this devilish bent in our marriages (Genesis 3:15; cf. Romans 16:20, “peace”).

Therefore, given these sobering realities, it will be important for each of you to walk closely with the Lord in the Spirit, so that you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).  The oil of sympathy will soften your hearts and smooth out friction, even as Peter encouraged this mindset after discussing the marriage roles (see 1 Peter 3:1-9).  In doing so, you will discover the joy of experiencing sanctification in Christ with your closest neighbor.

Assumption #4: All we need is a list of simple steps.

We touched on this earlier, but it is good to return to this again.  Too many assume, as Larry Crabb rightly notes, that the Bible is given as a guide with easy steps to follow (The Marriage Builder, pp. 8-10).  Yes, there are commands, but within those fence posts, we face a lot of decisions with varying degrees of outcomes and potentials.  How can we discern God’s will within the fence posts of His holy word?

To help you to discern God’s will together, let me challenge you with three commitments:

1.     Individually commit yourself to radical personal change in the Lord Jesus Christ, through His Holy Spirit.

We grow into a hearty approval of God’s will only as we ourselves are transformed through the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).  This renewal comes through the working of the Holy Spirit.  In prayer, understanding the word, and killing off sins, the Holy Spirit plays the key role (see 1 Corinthians 2; Romans 8).  Ask for Him; long for His working; and you will receive (cf. Luke 11:13).

If both of you are growing in grace and walking in the Spirit, you will then learn more and more to discern His will for your lives.  My wife and I have often reasoned, “If we are both walking with the Lord, why would He not guide us both?”  As active believers, should we not be able to “comprehend with all the saints” the dimensions of Christ’s love, and “be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Ephesians 3:15; Colossians 1:9)?  To think otherwise seems contrary to the wisdom of Christ in forming a body of believers.

2.     Husbands-to-be, learn now to be the spiritual leader of your future wife through godly example and guidance.

It is expected that if a wife has a question, she should be able to ask her husband (1 Corinthians 14:35).  Are you ready?  Does that prospect intimidate you or motivate you?  Learn now to pray for your family, as Isaac did for Rebekah, and as Job offered sacrifices for his children.  Learn now to lead your future family in devotions, by reading Scripture with your bride-to-be and leading her in prayer.  Refuse to lord anything over her faith, but seek to be an example to her of love and good deeds, even as a pastor should be for his flock—after all, you will be the pastor of your home.

3.     Together, continue to seek counsel.

It is so encouraging that you have welcomed these sessions of premarital counseling.  Welcome all such sessions, formally given or informally, whether from pastors or from experienced Christians, for remember, it is in a “multitude of counselors” that we are saved from evil (cf. Proverbs 11:14; 24:6).

Let’s pray that God will continue to bless our times together, and your interactions with one another and with Him.

First, why is this psalm here in this position? As part of the Hillel (Psalm 113-118), with the “Praise the LORD!” ending each one except Psalm 114, the focus is on praise, building to a crescendo with Psalm 118, when the Messiah enters the City of God. Could it be that the death and resurrection of Jesus is in Psalm 116, even as the ascension is in Psalm 118?

When Peter pronounced at Pentecost, “…whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it” (Acts 2:24), there is a verbal parallel in Greek with Psalm 116:3, “The pains [lit. cords] of death surrounded me…” Remember, the Hillel was quoted at Pentecost! These were words that the Greek-speaking, visiting Jews from around the Mediterranean would have been familiar with, and perhaps had even quoted earlier that day.

Later, the psalm echoes, “You have loosed my bonds” (Psalm 116:16). Intriguing, isn’t it?

Now, let’s dive into the psalm and see what we see.

The psalm appears to have two parts, with a bridge in between. The opening verses form four neat foursomes, with the inner two ending with a note of salvation, and with the final one ending with an additional line: “I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living” (vv. 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-9). Could there be a verbal tie with the Messianic elements of Psalm 27:13?

The final verses also display a repeated pattern, with the opening verse mentioning the name of the “LORD” (Jehovah), and with the inner verses repeating themselves a bit (compare vv. 13-14 with vv. 17-18), having a final form similar to Psalm 89.

Together, the opening verses and final verses express the thought, “I love the LORD because He hears prayer for gracious deliverance; therefore, out of my love for Him due to His grace towards me, I resolve to worship Him—and what shall I offer, but the fulfillment of my vow to praise Him if delivered?”

In between the two sections are a set of connecting verses, like the bumpy part connecting the two ends of an earthworm:

“I believed, therefore I spoke, I am greatly afflicted” (verse 10).
“I said in my haste, “All men are liars” (verse 11).

Interestingly, the Septuagint divides this psalm at verse ten into two psalms, making the first start with love and the second with faith. What should we make of this division?

Also, the apostle Paul quotes verse ten in 2 Corinthians 4:13, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” which follows the Septuagint perfectly, and which perhaps aligns with the Hebrew as proof aligns with cause (Hebrew: “I believed, for the reason (proof) that I spoke,” i.e. the cause of speech is faith; therefore, the proof of faith is speech). Could it be that the psalms were separate originally, and that Paul is quoting the opening verse of Psalm 116b as a signal to point to the entire poem? Personally, I doubt there are two psalms here, but the Septuagint confirms that the big break in the poem is at verse ten.

All this is fine and dandy, but what is the point? Here is my playful understanding of the text at this point.

The Messiah has just emerged from death—a very close call. He looks back in verses one to nine and loves the Lord for hearing His prayer for deliverance. Even as it is impossible for contractions to keep a baby in the womb, for the harder the grab the more the push to come out, so also it was impossible for the tomb to keep the Messiah inside. This deliverance gives Him even more resolve to worship the Father—to “call upon Him as long as I live” (v. 2), which shows up later in the psalm.

He then recounts what made the difference in His deliverance: Faith. In the stranglehold of death, not one man could be trusted to keep his word (v. 11, “All men are liars,” which is true, for Paul quotes it in Romans 3:4). Instead, the Messiah resolved to believe the LORD and that is why He spoke (v. 10).

Then, turning to the future, He pondered what He should do now to render thanks to the Father for such a close deliverance. He will worship because God regarded His death as precious, even as He does all His “godly ones” (v. 15; cf. Psalm 16:10). Again, He repeats His resolve to worship, and this time mentions the loosening from death (resurrection), and closes with worship in the City of God, which is Psalm 118. Death, resurrection, and ascension—the psalm closes with the Gospel!

Could it be that this “son of Your maidservant” (v. 16) is the Son of God, who has no biological earthly father, but does have a mother, who addressed herself as “the maidservant of the Lord” and who was commended for her faith (Luke 1:38, 45)? What do you think? The only other time this phrase, “son of Your maidservant,” is used is in Psalm 86:16. Is there a tie? Again, the reference to “land of the living” may link this psalm with Psalm 27, which seems to prophetically speak of the desertion of Jesus’ legal parents while He remained in the temple (see Psalm 27:10).

At any rate, it is not wrong to love the Lord for what He does for us. Some may be quick to say such love is selfishly driven, and it could be in certain forms, but here in Psalm 116, we have a clear example of loving God because He does something for me (v. 1). The test is what happens next. The selfish man runs off with his benefit as a dog with a bone, or as the nine lepers—rendering no thanks, but fixated on the benefit. Here we find the Messiah absorbed with God: “What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits toward me?” (v. 12, an echo perhaps of Psalm 103:2). Even though He is free from all cords, and could run to any place or to anyone, the Messiah is happy to run to God—not constrained by outer cords, but compelled by inner love. Ah, may such a love compel us as well, who have been saved from the second death!

“Marriage is [to be] honorable among all, and the bed undefiled;
but fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4, NKJV).

What is your duty with regard to marriage itself?

Perhaps this question has not occurred to you. Obviously you have obligations towards your beloved one, but to marriage itself? Just think. In choosing to marry a person, you have not only chosen a person, you have also chosen an institution—marriage. Therefore, it is important for you to understand what marriage itself is, as well as your duty with regard to marriage.

Whether we are married or single, young or old, according to Hebrews 13:4, we all have certain duties to keep with regard to marriage. Interestingly, only one of the duties mentioned there involves sexual purity:

1. Marriage itself should be “honorable among all.”

2. The marriage bed should be kept “undefiled.”

The order here is noteworthy. It is the significance of marriage that gives importance to its symbolic expression in the marriage bed. To honor the bed without honoring marriage would be like saluting the flag without a patriotic heart. It would be hypocritical. Therefore, we must honor marriage as well as keep its bed undefiled.

In our culture, both the marriage bed and marriage itself are questioned. Often due to having witnessed ugly divorce situations, many young people are now choosing to live with someone on a trial basis before marriage. One recent report claimed that about half the men and women between the ages of 15 and 44 have cohabited with someone (WORLD, March 27, 2010, p. 13). Cohabitation is not marriage. According to Jesus’ words to the woman at the well, having a man at home is not the same thing as having a man in marriage (see John 4:16-18).

Cohabitation dishonors marriage. Setting aside the controversial case of so-called same-sex marriage, consider these common examples of cohabitation:

A young mother lives with a man, even sleeps with him, but remains unmarried, in order to keep her state aid.

An elderly woman also lives with a man, unmarried—to keep her social security—but does not sleep with him.

In both cases, marriage itself is dishonored, even though in only one of the cases is the marriage bed defiled. A similar situation occurs whenever a man and woman choose to “play house” or to have a “family” apart from marriage. Even intimate conversations on a regular basis with someone of the opposite sex can cross the boundary defined by marriage. Marriage is symbolized, as the medieval saints used to say, by sharing both bed and board.

It is so encouraging that the two of you have chosen God’s idea as the expression of your life together. You have already begun to honor marriage. No matter what your background—even if you have lived together—your marriage can be a manifestation of God’s great grace in your lives. In your own marriage vows, you will express the wide range of circumstances you may share together—riches and poverty, sickness and health, death and life.

To better honor marriage, let us examine its origin, its essence, and some implications.

The Origin of Marriage

In Genesis chapter one, we see the origins of humanity, in contrast to the birds, the fish, and the beasts. In Genesis chapter two, we see the origins of marriage within the special creation of man as male and female.

After God had created man and had placed him in the outdoor park we call the Garden of Eden, He made this striking comment:

“It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him” (Genesis 2:18).

All throughout chapter one, God would look back at what He had made and say, “It is good;” but now, in creating and establishing man, God said, “It is not good.” And it is still not good for man to be alone! (Do I hear an “Amen” from the groom-to-be?) Even if a Christian man or woman were to remain single, that person’s relationship with the family of Christ will have to be quite strong in order to make up for the deficiencies. For most young people today, the Bible still seems to advocate marriage over singleness (cf. 1 Timothy 5:11-15). Therefore, God continues to fashion a woman for the man she is to marry.

Please observe the following implications from this profound text:

1. Marrying your spouse is a good thing. To remain “alone” is not a good thing.

“He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the LORD” (Proverbs 18:22).

“Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD” (Proverbs 19:14).

Your spouse is a gift. Learn now to give thanks often for the gift of your spouse.

2. This particular void cannot be filled with other forms of companionship, even the pets of Genesis chapter two.

The word “comparable” speaks of a complimentary match of opposites, such as lock and key. While it may be true that the verse speaks broadly of the complimentary nature of man and woman, it may also imply that God specifically crafts one woman for one man, just as only one key fits a particular lock. Opposites still attract!

Your spouse is supposed to be different from you. Learn now to give thanks often for your many differences.

3. Marriage really is God’s idea.

It was God who caused the “deep sleep,” took the rib, and “fashioned” it into the woman suitable for him. Man did nothing. Then God brought the woman back to him, with the intention that they would once again become “one flesh” (Genesis 2:21-24). In this transaction, we see how the woman completes the man.

Marriage is truly of God. Learn now to speak honorably of marriage, and to thank Him for this arrangement.

The Essence of Marriage

In commenting on the origin of marriage, the word of God notes:

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).

The word “therefore” implies that all marriages, in all time and in all cultures, are based on this first marriage. In other words, because Woman was taken from Man originally, every future husband shall leave his parents and be joined to his wife, so that they can become one flesh. Therefore, the morality of all future marriages is determined by its conformity to this original norm. (Incidentally, this fact is exactly why there can be no such thing as “same-sex marriage,” for not only was the original marriage of opposite sex, the complimentary reunion of the two sexes would be impossible otherwise. As one person once quipped, “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”)

In practical terms, we derive two principles from the origin of marriage:

1. Leave and Cleave: “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife.”

Marriage truly is the foundation of a new family. The man leaves one home in order to found a new one.

The strength of this leaving-and-cleaving principle is illustrated by Ruth, who “clung” to Naomi, even when the older woman urged her to seek a husband in Moab. Using the language of a marriage vow, Ruth told her mother-in-law:

“Wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.
Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried.
The LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me” (Ruth 1:16-17).

In Old Testament culture, such a relational bond sealed with an oath constituted the essence of a covenant relationship, where one person promises in some way to be true to another upon pain of death. Interestingly, in Hebrew, a person literally “cut” a covenant, which apparently came from the practice of cutting an animal in two to seal the deal (see Jeremiah 34:18; e.g. Genesis 15:10). In essence, the covenanter was saying, “May God
do this to me, if I break this bond between you and me.”

Do you see the strength of this union? Marriage is a covenanted bond for life between a man and a woman, in which God Himself is the witness (see Malachi 2:14). There is no contract here, or negotiated agreement, but a “bond in blood,” to borrow a phrase from O. Palmer Robertson.

With this covenanted bond in mind, now here the language of our culture’s traditional marriage vows:

Dost thou, John, take this woman, before God and these witnesses, to be thy wedded wife?

I do.

Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking every other, cleave to her only, so long as ye both shall live?

I will.

At this point, the man says to the woman:

I, John, take thee, Jane, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth.

At the close of this exchange of words, followed by an exchange of rings, the minister then pronounces:

Forasmuch as you, John, and you, Jane, have consented together after God’s holy ordinance of Marriage; and have plighted your faith and troth to each other in the presence of God and of these witnesses; and have confirmed the same by giving and receiving a ring; now, therefore, I pronounce you Husband and wife; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Having made the pronouncement, the minister then echoes words of Jesus, who also based marriage on its origins in Genesis:

Whom, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

In the end, each marriage by covenant is just as supernatural as the first marriage: God joined the two together! And since God alone joins people, He alone has the right to separate them, which He does through death.

2. One Flesh: “They shall become one flesh.”

In the Hebrew text, the three verbs are in a step-by-step chain—the man leaves in order to be joined to his wife, and he is joined to his wife in order to become one flesh with her, which signifies the marriage bed. In one sense, marriage would be incomplete without the physical union, for woman was taken physically from man and then brought back to him. Moreover, the physical union is an outward manifestation of the inner union—in
a way, its seal. For this reason, the exchange of rings in the wedding is not nearly as important in signifying oneness as the kiss, which symbolizes the one-flesh relationship.

It is important to keep these principles separate. Leaving-and-cleaving is the invisible essence of marriage; becoming one flesh is the visible expression of marriage. Sharing a bed does not make a couple married, nor does violating that bed with an outsider break up a marriage. Marriage is one thing; the marriage bed is another. The essence of sexual immorality is becoming one flesh without a marital union (see 1 Corinthians 6:15-18).

Once the marriage is sealed in bed, the reunion of flesh is complete. According to the reasoning of Jesus Himself, “They are no longer two but one flesh” (Matthew 19:6). Note the words “no longer two”! Your life of independence is over. Once the unity candle is lit, blow out the other candles.

Implications

Now that you understand what marriage is—a covenanted bond in blood, for life—you can more easily appreciate the depth of human need for a partner, as well as the supernatural reality of God’s solution. Amazing! Far more than a contract, or a lifetime friendship, marriage is a divine act of uniting a man and woman together in soul and body for a lifetime. No wonder marriage should be honored, and the marriage bed kept undefiled!

Given this profound reality, ponder the following implications.

With regard to leaving one’s father and mother, there should be a break in both authority and intimacy. Though you are to honor your parents for a lifetime, even past their death, you are no longer obliged to obey them, as indicated by the term “children” in Ephesians 6:1 (cf. Numbers 30:3-8). Moreover, you should honor the confidentiality of your home as you would the bedroom. Remember, in order to cleave to your spouse, you first had to leave your parents’ house! Sadly, some newlyweds never leave their parents, emotionally or physically. You must. Listen to the wisdom of one Puritan preacher:

“As the young Bees do seek unto themselves another Hive so let the young couple another house…that whatsoever come, they may never fall into that unhappiest of all unhappinesses, of either being tormentors of their parents or tormented by them” (William Whateley, as quoted in Packer, Quest for Godliness, p. 356, n. 31).

With regard to cleaving, think through your vows carefully. If you use the traditional vows, do not parrot them in empty fashion. If you use some other vows, make sure they are at least as Scriptural in intent. Remember well what the wisdom of God has said: “Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few” (Ecclesiastes 5:2).

Finally, with regard to the marriage bed, wait until you are first married, and then make it yours alone—an expression of having forsaken all others to cling only to this one special person. Remember, engagement is not marriage—you are not yet one. God will judge fornicators as well as adulterers (Hebrews 13:4). Therefore, even now, keep your future marriage bed undefiled. To do so, you will need a strategy and habit of fleeing temptation, which is the repeated wisdom of Scripture for fighting sexual sin (1 Corinthians 6:18; 2 Timothy 2:22).

Do you now feel the weight of marriage? If so, you will honor marriage, and this honor will help you to keep your vows, and not to break your bond. In the end, the duty is quite simple—to choose your love and then love your choice, as Puritan Henry Smith once quipped. In future lessons, we will learn how to keep this duty through the love that Christ gives the human heart.

In praying about these men two weeks later, my mind was led to have a pastor’s conference for our local ministers.  Why not?  Why should we travel great lengths to be refreshed by the ministry of the word, only to come back more tired and overloaded due to travel, expenditures, and delayed duties?  In having a local conference, we could avoid the problems and yet reap the blessings.  The only catch was how not to overload a local schedule.

The solution came through a lesson learned at Redeemer Bible Church in Minnetonka, Minnesota.  They held a pastor’s conference but invited their own folks to attend as well.  Therefore, in sending out invitations here, local pastors were encouraged to cancel their Sunday evening and Wednesday evening services (to lighten their loads), and then to invite their church families to join them for worship at the conference Sunday through Wednesday.  Even this plan was presented to pastors with the proviso that it must lighten the load and not increase it.

The result was wonderful!  Over a dozen pastors participated throughout the week.  We met for prayer at 4:30 p.m., then had a superb dinner for us and our wives at 5:30 p.m. (thank you, ladies!), and then met each night at 7:00 p.m. for messages on the Messianic Psalms—and oh, did our brother and friend Tom Pryde do a great job leading us in singing and focusing us on trusting and treasuring Christ.  Thank You, thank You, Lord!  It was truly a season of refreshment.  God answered prayer.

If you did not get a chance to join us or to catch all the messages, they have since been posted on SermonAudio.com (see the link on this website).  If you are a pastor, and think you would like to do this simple little pastor’s conference for the fellow ministers in your area, please contact Tom Pryde through his Sermons in Song website.  Grace to you as you pursue a heart of loving, overflowing worship to our great King and High Priest, Jesus Christ!

Every child has a father, and organized American fundamentalism is no exception. In the summer of 1918, William Bell Riley, pastor of First Baptist Church in Minneapolis, met with other prophecy-conference leaders in the summer home of R. A. Torrey, dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, to discuss future plans. The group had just completed a successful “prophetic conference” in Philadelphia, where attendance far exceeded expectations; but instead of planning for another one in Philadelphia, Riley convinced the group to host a conference on the defense of the fundamentals of the faith. Such a confederation had been his desire for at least a year, as seen in his book The Menace of Modernism (1917); surely, he must have been excited to see this vision get some traction.

During May 25 to June 1, 1919, over six thousand attended the first ever World Conference on the Fundamentals of the Faith. Riley gave the keynote address, comparing this nascent movement to the Protestant Reformation. Citing anti-modernism as a cause for the conference, Riley then mentioned the goal of “a new fellowship, a fellowship that is bringing into closer and closer union men from the various denominations who hold to the certain deity of Jesus Christ and to the utter authority of the Bible” (God Hath Spoken, 45).

As a result of the conference, the World’s Christian Fundamentals Association (WCFA) emerged, representing the first “organizational structure capable of correlating the fundamentalist opposition to modernism” (Gatewood, Controversy in the Twenties, 18). Riley served as president. One of his main goals was “to bring under the WCFA umbrella the just-emerging interdenominational network of fundamentalist Bible schools and publications” (Trollinger, God’s Empire, 39). To correlate the work of these separate institutions, five standing committees were created:

(1) On Bible Schools – to standardize curriculum and creeds
(2) On Colleges and Seminaries – to create a list of doctrinally safe schools
(3) On Religious Magazines and Periodicals – to promote WCFA and in turn receive articles and reports
(4) On Missions – to withdraw support from unfaithful boards and to give it to approved boards
(5) On Conferences – to bring the concerns to other cities

Of the five, only the fifth produced substantial results. Chaired by Riley, the committee “launched an extraordinarily ambitious cross-continent tour,” with speakers staggered out in a series, going on ahead without waiting for the others to finish speaking. The results were amazing. In six week, the tour reached eighteen cities, and “transformed the concerns of Riley and other conservative Protestant leaders into a national crusade” (Trollinger, God’s Empire, 39-40).

Equally amazing, however, was how quickly this initial organized faded in importance. By 1922, the WCFA was already in decline. Commenting on this decline, Riley’s biographer noted, “Although Riley’s speaking tours and related activities heightened antimodernist sentiment, they were of minimal value in banding fundamentalists together in a tightly structured organization” (ibid., 41). What went wrong?

Chief among the factors was a stiff independent spirit among the fundamentalist leaders. In the words of Riley’s second wife Marie, “Some personal incompatibilities, and a constant tendency towards independent leadership combined to retard the progress of what was intended to be an ‘all-inclusive fellowship’ in the Association itself” (ibid., 41). This independent spirit seemed to include Riley himself, who probably chose unwisely to lead the surge that he had birthed. Yes, he himself lamented, and perhaps rightly so, that “some fundamentalists are laws unto themselves, and [that] even those who have no such disposition are not as yet in the close co-ordinated fellowship that would accomplish the best and most to be desired results” (ibid., 41-42); but the fact also remains that he himself kept the coordinated effort under his supervision.

If there is one lesson to learn from the beginnings of American fundamentalism, it may be this lesson: Revival comes through brotherly unity (cf. Psalm 133). Disunity grieves the Spirit and dooms all effort to the resources of the flesh, which cannot succeed in building the temple of God (cf. Ephesians 4:30; Zechariah 4:6).

Regarding the 1920s, more than one commentator has noted that fundamentalist “internecine battles, especially the power struggles among ambitious spokesmen, help to explain their organizational difficulties as well as their failure to achieve some of their stated goals” (Gatewood, Controversy in the Twenties, 17-18; cf. Trollinger, God’s Empire, 41-42). As a result, the WCFA in particular failed to provide “an institutional alternative to the modernist-tainted denominations,” and eventually shifted its goal to antievolutionism, which was in essence almost an admission of defeat, though not as public a defeat as the ill-crafted Scopes Trial it later sponsored (Trollinger, God’s Empire, 43, 44).

Brothers, there is a spirit of unity among many churches today. God be praised! Let it be discerning unity, as the ground for unity is ever the truth that is in Jesus, but let it also be an ambitious unity, for the motive for unity is the love that makes us speak the truth (cf. Ephesians 4). If we hold to the fundamentals with a firm faith, and promote them with a genuine love, how can God the Father and God the Son not be pleased and pour out the Holy Spirit on such a house?

Sources:

Gatewood, Willard B., Jr. Controversy in the Twenties: Fundamentalism, Modernism, and Evolution. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1969.

God Hath Spoken: Twenty-Five Addresses Delivered at the World Conference on Christian Fundamentals, May 25 – June 1, 1919. Philadelphia: Bible Conference Committee, 1918. Reprint, Fundamentalism in American Religion, 1880 – 1950, ed. Joel E. Carpenter. NY: Garland Publishing, 1988.

Light on Prophecy: A Coordinated, Constructive Teaching Being the Proceedings and Addresses at the Philadelphia Prophetic Conference, May 28-30, 1918. New York: The Christian Herald Bible House, 1918.

Trollinger, William Vance, Jr. God’s Empire: William Bell Riley and Midwestern Fundamentalism. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1990.

Yesterday, I listened to a well-known political conservative urge a room of pastors and civic leaders to react in fear. The Revolutionary War and the Civil War were repeatedly cited, creating a sense of current crisis. Stories were told of individuals facing death in making a stand, from the 9/11 flight over Pennsylvania to the Chinese students waving the Declaration of Independence before oncoming tanks. Even Franklin Graham’s rejection at the Pentagon last year and his subsequent prayer in the parking lot became an example of what “we” will probably have to do more frequently in the future. Do you see? Face your fears, and take a stand. That is what the rhetoric said.

To someone prone to fear—someone like myself—such rhetoric is intimidating. Me? Face a tank? Face terrorists? Gulp. Listening then becomes imagination, and imagination leads to a fleshly determination to take a stand next time. If effective, some poor shopkeeper or bystander may perhaps get an earful, not due to my love for him, but due to my love for The Cause and to my selfish desire to be “faithful” till death. Similar things happen in evangelism, when a Christian is whipped into courage by statistics or by a guilty conscience, and then “tells” someone the Gospel. The issue becomes fear versus faithfulness, not loving sensitivity. As an effort to effect a loving change, such evangelism and politics are often hypocritical. Fear is the enemy, according to the rhetoric; and the solution is to take a stand—even if it is entirely futile.

Granted, there are times, such as the 9/11 plane, when it is necessary to lay one’s life down for others. And granted, such times will need courage to overcome personal fear. But even then, courage should be motivated by love. According to the apostle Paul, the answer to timidity is not raw courage, but a combination of power, love, and sane thinking (2 Timothy 1:7). If the only thing at stake is proving my courage, then love and sane thinking are irrelevant; but if I have nothing personal to prove, but only loving objectives to obtain, then I should consider carefully if running away may be the best course of action. Jesus retreated often, and urged those persecuted to do the same (see Matthew 10). History should not always honor the “martyrs” for a cause, even a right cause.

In the current political climate, there are two things that a Christian should keep in mind:

First, fear is never the issue. Love is the fulfillment of the law, and all earthly laws should be patterned after the divine law. “Let all that you do be done with love” (1 Corinthians 16:14).

Second, in Scripture dealing specifically with politics, we are told that it is God’s will for us to silence “the ignorance of foolish men” by doing what is right (1 Peter 2:15). Actions must speak louder than words, for those under authority are urged by the apostle in the larger context to keep quiet. Often action will require courage, but in focusing on acting over speaking, we are encouraged both to look to God for our vindication and to look to our neighbor for his good.

Take the abortion debate, for example. It is true that abortion should be outlawed as murder. In our political context, it should at least have been left to the states to decide. It was not, and now over fifty million have died. What should we do?

At first glance, it is tempting just to write letters to the editor and to picket outside clinics and courtrooms. Such letters should be written (and I have done so), but they must be done very carefully, for by saying abortion is murder, I am indicting lots of ladies who have chosen that option in the past, often under pressure and ignorance, and who now are often regretting such a decision, even to the point of suffering. Do I have a simultaneous word for them? Am I not a murderer myself, according to Jesus, for all the angry words I have hurled in my lifetime (Matthew 5:21-22)? Is not my mission to preach the Gospel, not the Law? Again, the issue is not fear, but love. Somehow, in keeping the preborn from dying, I must also learn how to love the living.

Furthermore, it is important to keep in mind that abortion will never be fully eradicated, especially in our current climate. Abortion is the product of a culture committed to unbridled lust, and governments can only enforce one step above the culture’s mores. It was due to this fact that not even the Law of Moses could abolish divorce, though it did get regulated (cf. Matthew 19:3ff). If we are to reduce the number of abortions, it must be primarily from the bottom up, though coupled with helpful laws that make it difficult to get an abortion ignorantly and privately. Here is where the rhetoric of love can greatly offset the rhetoric of fear.

According to the research of Marvin Olasky, an editor with WORLD magazine, abortions per capita were higher in the mid-1800s than they are today. Mainly due to prostitution, abortions abounded in eastern cities. The numbers were ultimately reduced not by laws, for they were already on the books, but by benevolence. Christians provided care for young ladies caught in a web of sin and need, and by and large this action reduced the occurrences of abortion.

The same kind of reduction has occurred in our generation. We have needed laws, and they have helped. God bless the politicians who out of fear of God and love of man have stood firm for our preborn neighbors, for it is the duty of rulers to speak out and to decide in favor of the oppressed! But that is not the whole story. A whole network of benevolence has arisen, taking advantage of technology and charity in order to provide an alternative way.

Given the fact that most of us have limited access to political power, what should we do regarding abortion? We should support our local crisis pregnancy centers, and befriend the troubled teenager who lives next door. We should affirm the goodness of children, and speak well of families raising many children responsibly. We should be willing to adopt, provide foster care, or even take in young ladies in distress, caring for them full-term, as Christ cared for us and bore our sorrows to the cross. We should also discuss politics with one eye on the salvation of our neighbor, remembering that the enemy is never flesh and blood, and that souls are more valuable than votes. In doing these things, ignorant men will be silenced; and as the stories are told, God will be glorified (cf. Matthew 5:16; 1 Peter 2:12ff). In today’s climate of fear, we need desperately to hear the stories of quiet love. Who will tell these stories?

The room yesterday lacked such stories, and sadly, that occurred in a state that may lead the nation in the number of abortion reductions. Surely there are stories here that need to be told.

“Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow unto salvation” (1 Peter 2:1-2).

Hypocrisy is hard to detect. Like greed, in comes in more than one form, though in essence it is always the same—a incongruity between what is external and what is internal. Most of us are familiar with garden-variety hypocrisy. A person pretends to be good, but inside he is harboring bad motives. Shysters, charlatans, and cheats fall under this kind of hypocrisy. But what about the person who sincerely desires to be loving, to have no incongruity between intent and action? Is it possible for even such a sincere person to be a hypocrite?

Yes. Such “sincere” hypocrisy is possible, and due to its double duplicity, it is doubly dangerous.

Consider the text quoted above from the apostle Peter. Taken out of its context, it gives us a list of don’ts and do’s. On the one hand, I need to lay aside all ill-intent, all double-facedness, and all bad-mouthing; on the other hand, I need to desire the life-giving milk of the word in order to grow. Simple, it appears. Let’s get to work!

And that is when the inner hypocrisy begins. In focusing on myself, I automatically cancel out the thing I supposedly desire to have—the “sincere love of the brethren,” mentioned at the start of this paragraph (1 Peter 1:22, lit. “unhypocritical brother-love”).

Here is how it often happens in practice: Faced with a situation that requires kindness, I realize that my heart does not possess the proper motive to show kindness with integrity. If I just say, “All that matters is the action,” and then do the deed, it is a sin and I am a hypocrite. As everything should be done in faith, so also everything should be done in love (Romans 14:23; 1 Corinthians 16:14). Everything. That is a big word.

Realizing this predicament, I then delay the action and deal with my heart. “Hey you,” I say, “it is time to feel something.” Upon this resolve, a mighty campaign begins, complete with reasons and efforts to produce some sincere feeling or motive before acting. Once achieved, I do the deed and feel good about myself, thanking God that I was not a hypocrite in showing kindness.

Wrong. My focus was still on self. In action, the deed appeared kind, but in motive, it was still about me—making sure that I did the deed with proper motive. In one sense, it reminds me of an athlete who is more concerned about “doing his best” than about winning the game. Or in marriage, it resembles a man more concerned about being a good husband than about pleasing his wife. The test comes when the performance is achieved but the results fail. Is there genuine sorrow, or is there only the smug satisfaction, “Well, at least I played a good game”? How wretched are our hearts! Lacking a genuine concern for souls, for example, we may conjure up some feelings of concern before “doing evangelism,” but then later take comfort in “being faithful”! Is this sincere love? Can a sincere farmer rest without a crop, or a sincere lover, without the one beloved?

Do you see how common this inner form of hypocrisy is? It may appear as a forced tear at a graveside, or as good feelings in worship. It comes in many flavors, but its basic ingredient is the same—a preoccupation with having sincere motives. In this way, trying to rid oneself of hypocrisy becomes another form of hypocrisy.

So what is the way out?

According to the context of First Peter, this tree (“laying aside…all…hypocrisy”) only makes sense within a God-saturated forest. The body of the letter begins with three paragraphs on faith, hope, and love. Only then does the letter enter into specific duties about submission and suffering. Therefore, we see that external duties are meaningless without internal virtues. This prevents garden-variety hypocrisy. But even the initial triad of virtues sits within a God-context that prevents them from becoming inner hypocrisy. As my friend Tom Pryde likes to say, it all starts with God and ends with God:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope…” (1:3).

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…” (2:9).

Everything starts with God. He caused us to be born again by His incorruptible seed (perhaps a reference to the Holy Spirit) through the living and abiding word (1:3, 23). This is revelation. His word reveals the glory of God, by which we are called (see 2 Peter 1:3).

Everything ends with God. According to the final sidebar on worship (2:4-10), we are a spiritual priesthood in order “to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (2:5). God has transformed us by the marvelous light of His glory so that we would reflect this glory in our lives (2:9). Just as the apostles Paul and John express elsewhere, we are transformed into glory as we see His glory (2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 3:2).

Based on these facts—that everything begins with God through His word and ends with God in worship—Peter emphasizes two points about our personal experience.

First, we are born again. Peter inserts this thought into every section (1:3, “begotten us again”; 1:14, “as obedient children”; 1:23, “having been born again”; 2:2, “as newborn babes”; 2:5, “as living stones”). Laying aside hypocrisy is impossible without genuine rebirth. Hence, if we repeatedly find hypocrisy in our lives, of whatever kind, we may need to ask ourselves, “Am I truly born again?”

Second, our hope is glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That moment will be our true “salvation.” (Note: Peter uses the word “salvation” differently here than we typically do. He acknowledges that we have already been born again. Salvation means obtaining glory after suffering, as the sidebar in 1:10-12 makes clear.) Again, Peter inserts this thought repeatedly, telling us of “an inheritance…reserved in heaven for you” (1:4), of a “salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1:5), of “glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:7), and of “receiving…the salvation of [our] souls” (1:9). We are expressly told to “hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to [us] at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:13). Therefore, all forms of perfectionism must go. Until the day of Christ Jesus, we will always live with some level of sinfulness; but we can grow, and it is that thought which brings us back to the text quoted above: “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow unto salvation” (2:2).

There are no throw-away phrases in the Scriptures. To view this verse as some general command to grow would miss the forest from the tree. The command is not to grow, but to “desire the pure milk of the word.” If we are genuinely born again, we will grow, and we will want to grow, but we will do so not so much by concentrating on growth (that breeds hypocrisy!), but by concentrating on the same source that gave us life initially—the word that reveals the glory of God in Christ! Long for that external word, and quit focusing on internal feelings and motives.

Granted, growth is in view, but it is growth “unto salvation.” In other words, my preoccupation is not with the present here-and-now, typically seen as being a good person in whatever sense of the word. My hope is to be fully on the grace and glory to come (1:13). As the rest of the book makes clear, this life is more about what is done to me (suffering), than about what I do or achieve. As in Romans chapter eight, to be conformed to the image of Christ is not so much about achieving Christ-like activity, even with proper motives, but rather about suffering a Christ-like cross in order to attain a Christ-like glory someday (see Romans 8:29 in context). Capturing this difference is the death of inner hypocrisy. It is as Paul stated in Galatians, in the face of the hypocrisy in Antioch, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…” (Galatians 2:20). No longer I.

In essence, inner hypocrisy sets up a counterfeit to the divine process of growth. On the front end, when faced with the possibility of an empty deed, the mind grabs reasons and presses the will into change. As a result, the focus in on becoming a better me (a phrase borrowed from an early book by John Piper). Any such focus on becoming a better me is idolatry, even if supposedly done to the glory of God. (Never forget how the Pharisee in Luke 18 thanked God that he was not like other men.)

Instead of this self-improvement project, let us long for the pure milk of the word. Something, somewhere in the word will reveal the glory of God afresh to us, and set our souls free once again, to glorify Him. That is exciting! Freed from our failure, freed from our emptiness, freed from ourselves, it will be a blessed taste of heaven and of the glory to come. May the Lord fill our lives with such “fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:11)! Amen.

Blessed vagueness:
“There the workers of iniquity have fallen;
They have been cast down and are not able to rise.”

There—not where, not when, not how, but a fact:
Someday the workers of iniquity will be cast down, never to rise again.

According to Psalms 5, 6, and 14,
these workers of iniquity, these trouble-makers, feed on God’s people;
they are the object of His hatred and of His command to depart.

But is it forever?
Is there no point of returning?
Why must there be a vague point, in a vague place (“there”),
when the bell tolls once and for all on the wicked,
when they are not able to rise?

According to Psalm 36,
there is something in the nature of the wicked
and something in the nature of God that demands such a bell.

Regarding the wicked man, it is his inveterate, internal corruption:
“He has ceased to be wise and to do good.”

As in Psalm 14, so also here:
“There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Because we doubt this, we doubt hell.
If we believed this, we too would throw the wicked away.
In fact, we would marvel that God does not do so sooner!

But by nature, we do not marvel, we do not believe.
Like all others, we too flatter ourselves in our own eyes.
We have reasons for our iniquity, our hatred.
Like all others, we have no fear of God before our eyes,
and without this core worship, all good deeds are idolatry to our glory.
By nature, we too are children of wrath, but we think not.

Until the Spirit of Truth gives us an “oracle” about our hearts,
we lack this fundamental insight about ourselves and others.

As in Psalm 14, so also here: The problem is our denial of God.

Against this cave of iniquity shoots forth the expansive glory of God:
“Your loyal-love, O LORD, is in the heavens;
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains;
Your judgments are a great deep;
O LORD, You save man and beast.”

Against our denial stands the open-heartedness of God:
“How precious is Your loyal-love, O God!
And the sons of men take refuge under the shadow of Your wings.
They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house,
And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.
For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.”

Our views are so cramped, but His glory so expansive!
Our views put Him out, but His love calls us in!
We think big of ourselves and little of Him,
but when His oracle convicts, light and life are restored.

“Oh, continue Your loyal-love to those who know You,
And Your righteousness to the upright in heart.”

Let no generic love rob us of our refuge, O God of loyal-love!
Let no such love treat all in the end the same, O God of righteousness!
Be loyal to us who acknowledge You,
and rightly affirm Your glory in rewarding us who take refuge in You!

And, if You really do love us, being loyal to us in Your love to Christ,
then cuff the hand that drives us away from You,
and chain the foot of pride that refuses to fear You.

“There the workers of iniquity have fallen;
They have been cast down and are not able to rise.”

When the bell tolls forever on the wicked, it will be liberty to believers.
In ceasing to love those ceasing from good, God does not cease to love.
In cutting the foot of pride and the hand that drives, He loves His own.
While many are condemned, others are saved by the bell.

And to deny such a bell is to rob God of His glory.

Yesterday was my sister’s thirty-fifth birthday.

Half-way—according to Psalm 90,
which teaches us to number our days,
more by what is left than by what is behind.

On that day, I read for devotions:
“By You I have been upheld from birth;
You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.”

I thought, “Have I ever thanked God for my birth?”
—not for the gift of life, which I have often done on a birthday,
but for the birth itself.

According to the Psalms, the womb is a cave:
“My frame was not hidden from You,
when I was made in secret,
and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.”

How many never survive the cave!
How many die in transit to the light!
Stillborn—O God, comfort the heart of parents!

But to me was given life from the womb,
and now in Christ Jesus, life from the tomb,
—in Him who first “descended into the lower parts of the earth,”
but now has “ascended far above all the heavens” to fill all things.

Continually, O Lord, may my praise be of You!