What's Wrong with Witchcraft, Magic, and the Occult? (A Special Article for Halloween)

Magic and witchcraft have been with us a very long time and are mentioned several times in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament Scriptures. God forbade Israel from practicing magic arts and they were commanded to put witches to death. When King Saul was about to lose his kingship, he went to a witch in his desperation, rather than going to God for help. There is no commandment in the New Testament to put witches to death, but when Jesus and the Gospel were preached people realized that their occult practices were not lawful or appropriate (See Acts 19.18-20). My brothers and sisters who live in the Developing World see spiritualism and occult practices regularly, and this is becoming more common in Western nations as well as the residue of Christian culture has been melting away. The presence of witchcraft, spiritualism, and the occult is a reality all over the world that we all must acknowledge.

Because of Modernism and the rise of science, most people in the West have considered witchcraft to be nothing but a silly superstition from the days of man's childish ignorance. Modernism is really Naturalism, or the belief that the natural, visible world is the only reality and that there is no supernatural or spiritual reality. This is why many modern people are atheists. To believe in God would be to admit that there is a higher, spiritual reality. Most thinkers have noticed that we are now moving beyond the modern world-view and that many people are again admitting the possibility of a spiritual or unseen reality. The popularity of the Harry Potter series is evidence of a return to the old, pagan beliefs of our barbarian ancestors. It should be obvious that mankind is inherently spiritual and where there is a spiritual vacuum something will fill the void. And so we have seen the return of the old pagan ways.

Of course, Christians have never given up on their belief in the spiritual world and the supernatural. But Christianity is often seen as the oppressor by those who want to practice the old, magic arts. As Christianity spread throughout the ancient barbarian tribes of Europe the old, pagan practices were mostly abandoned and some of them were “baptized” as Christian holidays to keep the people from returning to the old ways. But now that Christianity is largely losing its power over Western culture, the old ways, which never really completely left, are making a strong comeback.

So what is wrong with magic and witchcraft? Is there such a thing as good magic or a good witch? Most folks today are horrified, not by witches, but by the Bible's condemnation of witches and magic. The infamous Salem Witch Trial in American history is often cited as one of the greatest abuses of religious power and the evil of intolerance. (I am not about to defend the Salem Witch Trial as a good example of justice! However, the only reason we probably don’t lock witches up today is because we don’t really believe in witchcraft, at least not like our Puritan ancestors did!) In Western culture we are being told that we must tolerate witchcraft as a religion just as we would tolerate Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims or any other alternative spirituality. This is religious pluralism. I would argue that all of these religions are false because they do not acknowledge the Lordship of Christ. But some errors are farther from the truth than others, and there is something seriously wrong with magic, spiritualism, witchcraft, and the occult. There is a reason God condemned these practices in His Word. We should not dismiss these practices as silly superstitions. God does not make a habit of condemning something that is not real and that is not dangerous.

I believe there are two major problems with magic and witchcraft:

1. Those who practice magic arts are making themselves vulnerable to evil spirits. It is a grave mistake to think that the spiritual realm is a neutral realm. There are spiritual beings in the universe and many of these beings are evil and are hostile both to God and to humanity. It is naive of people to think that they can play around with the spiritual world and remain safe. We know that Satan and his demons are spiritual beings and that they are evil and hostile and they also specialize in deception. You can't play games with the demons and win.

2. The practice of magic or witchcraft is really a desire for power or control. This desire for power is at the very root of sin and man's sinful nature. The very first temptation that Satan introduced to man was the desire to be like God, that is, to be in control of one's own destiny. Magic offers the promise of power or control. If you know the secret and can say the right words, you will have control! You will be a god! C.S. Lewis pointed out that, even though modern science mocks belief in magic, ironically the modern scientist is really just the new magician. Science also seeks power and control so that man can control his own destiny. At the root of all paganism is this sin of wanting to be a god instead of submitting to the living God. And you don't have to be a witch to commit this sin!

God is also a spiritual being. Angels are ministering spirits and there is a Holy Spirit who works powerfully in believers. Christ has defeated all of the spiritual principalities and powers and even bruised the head of the Serpent himself. Satan and all his demons will eventually be thrown into the Lake of Fire. We must join the winning side! Furthermore, we must submit to God. Rather than trying to be gods, and attempting to gain control our own destinies, we are to humbly trust in God to care for all of our needs in this world.

The opposite of magic and witchcraft is humility and faith in God.

How I Love Your Law!

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. (Psalm 119:97)

The great need of our generation is the knowledge of God. All of modern man’s problems can be traced to his ignorance of God. This ignorance of God is because of an ignorance of the Word of God. We must come to know God through His written Word. There is no excuse for remaining ignorant of what God has revealed. The law of God, mentioned here by the Psalmist, can be understood not only as the commandments but in a more general sense as the Word of God – everything God has spoken and revealed to mankind. What was probably in the mind of the Psalmist was the Word of God spoken at Mount Sinai. When God made His covenant with the people of Israel, God audibly spoke the words of the Law  – the Ten Commandments – directly to the people. To the people of Israel the Ten Commandments were the words of the covenant and constituted a summary of God’s Word to them. The Psalmist’s love of the law and meditation on it represents the heart of a true Jew. The first and greatest commandment was to love God with all of the heart. Loving God means loving the Word of God.

This love for the law, or Word, of God is the cry of a redeemed heart no longer in alienation from God. The Psalmist, most likely David, was a man who was far ahead of his own people and generation. As a whole the people of Israel, though they were God’s chosen nation, were not so inclined toward God and His law. In fact, the people of Israel were known for being stubborn, disobedient, and idolatrous throughout their history. The history of Israel that we have in Scripture proves this beyond any doubt. And yet, the people of Israel were no different from everyone else. The human race is also stubborn and disobedient. The Natural Man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. Humanity is alienated from God and will not submit to the Word of God. Man is born a rebel. Today we see the nations raging against God and His Word, refusing to believe and obey what God has said. But what we see today in sinful man’s rebellion against God has always been in the nature and heart of man. Unless man’s heart is changed, and he is reconciled to God, there will never be this love for God’s Word expressed by the Psalmist.

Loving God’s Word is the secret to obedience. Until there is love for God in the heart there can never be true and consistent obedience. God wants man to obey Him, but also to love Him. God desires more than slaves, He desires sons. Obedience to God must come from the heart and should not be done begrudgingly. God deserves obedience because He is God. But God also deserves to be loved by us. Love and obedience go together. Those who do not obey do not love God, even if they claim to love God. There are many who claim to love God, yet their lives betray the fact that they are not telling the truth. How easy it is to say we love God, yet love for God is proven by our obedience. And our obedience is energized by our love for God. Those who attempt to obey God simply out of a sense of duty, obligation, fear, or self-righteousness will find that the commandments of God are burdensome and contrary to their true nature. There are those who try to obey God without actually wanting to do what God says! In other words, the Word of God is not their true love and desire – there is something else that they really want. This is the heart of sinful man. The only way to love God and His Word is to be born again and receive the Spirit of Adoption into our hearts!

Perhaps an even greater obstacle for the Natural Man is understanding the word of God. How many there are who lament the fact that they cannot understand the Word of God! This should not surprise us because the Word of God is spiritual and is therefore spiritually discerned. A person who is not spiritual will not be able to understand that which is spiritually discerned. It is doubtful that an unspiritual person would even make a sustained effort to understand the spiritual things in God’s Word. The desires of the Flesh soon lead the unspiritual person away to pursue other things. The Psalmist, on the other hand, not only loves the Word of God but he also meditates upon the Word continually. Meditation, or thinking upon the Word of God, is the key to understanding. The spiritual man is a thinking man. The act of meditation has been compared to a cow that chews the cud – breaking down what is hard until the nourishment is completely digested. Unfortunately there are false religions that have taken over the concept of meditation and corrupted what actually belongs to God’s people. In pagan religions meditation is often taught as the emptying of the mind. It is just like Satan to encourage people to empty their minds because he wants to fill it with his lies. But true, spiritual meditation involves filling the mind with the Word of God. I cannot imagine that we will have any progress in understanding the Word of God unless we fill our minds with it and meditate on it continually.

In our time of great ignorance of God and His Word we need people who love the Word and meditate on it continually. The people of God must be diligent in seeking understanding. One of the reasons we gather together as the Church of God is to ignite our love for the Word of God and to aid each other in our understanding of the Word. Christian leaders are to be men and women who love the Word and meditate on it constantly themselves, so they can then teach others to do the same. There will be no revival in the Church today until there is a renewed love for the Word of God and a diligent effort to meditate upon it!

Thank the Lord for His Wondrous Works!

Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! (Psalm 107:8)

God's people are to regularly consider what God has done for them. This involves more than a casual thought but demands sustained, intelligent reflection. We usually give a lot of thought to those things that we value and that have captured the affections of our hearts. Worldly people love to consider and to talk about what captures their hearts. A person who loves sports will spend hours thinking about the games. We even have entire television stations devoted to nothing but sports – talking and analyzing all of the players, coaches, games, and strategies! The people of God love Him and all of His works, so it is quite natural for them to spend time thinking and talking about what God has done in salvation. Indeed, it would seem strange for God’s people not to do this. One of the reasons we assemble together is to consider God and all His works, especially His great salvation. There is surely something wrong when those who call themselves the people of God prefer sports or other worldly pursuits above the consideration of God and His works.

Christian faith is not like a philosophical or speculative religion. Faith is not based on theories or personal feelings and experiences. We know that God has acted in history. Our faith is based on facts—certain things that have actually happened—and we are to reflect and reason on what God has done in the past. I am not saying that God does not work today. There is a kind of Christianity that thinks only of what God has done in the past, as if He is no longer working. We do not consider the works of God in the past simply as we would consider a history lesson in school about some famous monarch or great battle. We consider God’s works in the past so we can think properly now about life and have hope for the future as well. We have been given the record of the Scriptures so we might have hope. God does not change so we can trust Him and have hope. Faith reasons that if God has worked in the past to deliver His people, then we know He will do the same today.

In what God has done for His people we see His great love for His people. God's love is not just a feeling of affection but is demonstrated in acts of kindness. God is good to His people, which means He acts with their best interests in mind. This does not mean the people of God will be spared from all hardship. The Lord has our ultimate good in mind and is working all things together for our glorification. In this world we will have tribulation. But even these tribulations are working for our ultimate glory. The glory far outweighs the tribulation. No tribulation in this world can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus! We do not deserve the Lord's love and kindness. He loves us because of His own grace, not because of what we have done. He actually loves us in spite of what we have done! We know His love by what He has done to redeem us. The Gospel reveals the love of God, which was demonstrated in Christ and His Cross. We know God loves us because He offered His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

We also see the love of God in how He delivers us from trouble, even when we put ourselves there by being foolish. There is no believer who has not committed a foolish sin. Even then, if we will turn to the Lord, He will deliver us. This is not to say that we will not suffer the consequences of our foolishness. But even these things the Lord can turn into opportunities for growth in wisdom. Sometimes God even sends discipline our way, but He responds to those who turn to Him. We should view hardship as the Lord’s discipline. God is teaching us, treating us as His sons, and helping us to learn holiness. The writer of Hebrews expounds this very truth:

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:7-11)

God redeems us from situations in which all human strength and wisdom is vain. He delivers us from the schemes and oppression of evil men and can cause our enemies, even though they are stronger than we are, to be at peace with us. Then we can see His great love for us!

The purpose of seeing these things is so we will say something and testify about God and His love. If you don't talk about something, or someone, then it is doubtful that you really care. We talk about what we know and what we love. God is glorified when His people can speak with insight and intelligence. We were made to praise God, which means we were made with the capacity to see and understand God and thereby to really appreciate and love Him. It would be wrong for God's people not to speak about what they have seen and heard about God. We are witnesses to the world, though the world doesn't want to hear our witness. But the faithful and true witness of godly people can help to silence the talk of the ignorant and wicked, which is greatly needed in our time. We must speak. God has chosen to make his character known through the witness of His people who have seen and experienced His love.

How Awesome are Your Deeds!

Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!” (Psalm 66:3)

The Psalmist is calling God's people to worship God by focusing their thoughts on what God has done. The people of Israel were a chosen nation who witnessed things that God did which no other nation on earth has ever witnessed. And they were never supposed to forget what God had done for them. Indeed, most of the Law was given just so Israel could not forget God and His covenant with them. Unfortunately, the people of Israel did forget God and turned from the living God to worship the idols of the nations around them. Even at the foot of Mount Sinai, where God Himself appeared to them and spoke His commandments directly to them, the people made themselves a golden calf to worship. This illustrates the fact that it is human nature to forget about God and what He has done. The Law could not change the hearts of the people and cause them to retain God in their thoughts or to love God. Even though the Israelites were a chosen People belonging to God, their hearts were still basically wayward.

The New Covenant addresses the state of the human heart in a way the Law never could. Believers in Christ are born again of the Spirit of God and regenerated, or made new, and given new hearts that love God. Believers in Christ have received the Spirit of Adoption and are sons of the living God. The New Covenant promises that the Law will be written on the hearts of the people and put in their minds. New Covenant believers in Christ are also called a holy nation, a People belonging to God. We have also been told of God's mighty works for us in the Gospel. What God has done in Christ is a greater revelation and glory than what God did for Israel. We are remembering what God has done whenever we preach the Gospel of Christ. Believers are to remember the awesome deeds of God in Christ, who reconciled the world to Himself. We are not told to remember because our hearts are wayward, like Israel under the Law, but because there is great spiritual power in remembering what God has done in Christ. The Gospel is about what God has done and this is the power of God unto salvation. We are not saved by what we do but by the awesome deeds of God in Christ!

God's deeds reveal who He is. When the Scriptures speak of God's glory, it means that some aspect of God's nature has been revealed. God has not only told us what He is like, He has demonstrated certain aspects of His nature through what He has done. God is a Redeemer. So He revealed that aspect of His nature by redeeming His people Israel from slavery in Egypt. This was a picture of the ultimate redemption of sinners through the death of Christ. God is love. And His love for us has been demonstrated in the death of Jesus. There are certain aspects of God's nature that must be revealed through deeds and not just through words. Love is like that. It is fine to tell someone that you love them. However, love is something that must be seen to be believed. How would we have known that God is love if not for His demonstration of it in Christ and His sacrificial death? The Creation is also a work of God that declares His glory. Creation still speaks about the existence and the power of God, so that men are without excuse for not seeking after their Creator. Creation speaks of the glory of God, yet can seem rather remote and impersonal. It is only through Redemption in Christ that we see the love of God and that He is for us. Redemption is a greater revelation of God’s glory than the creation. This is important to remember in a time when people have a tendency to worship the creation rather than the Creator.

God works for His people. God's works are always for the benefit of His Elect and for their salvation. The creation of the world itself is a reminder that God wants to bless. He has made all things for our enjoyment and so that we would be drawn to Him who is the Giver of all good gifts. One of the great tragedies of the sinfulness of the world is that they do not acknowledge God as the source from whence all blessings flow. They worship the gift, but not the Giver. God's people are thankful for the gifts, and we enjoy what God has made to be enjoyed, but behind it all we see the hands of God, held open, calling us to come to Him and enjoy Him for who He is. The whole purpose of Man is to know God and enjoy Him forever, which is the very essence of Eternal Life. Ultimately the greatest gift of God is the gift of Himself – revealed to us in the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. We know God is for us because He has not withheld Himself from us.

We praise and worship God because of what He has done. Worship is simply our response to God's amazing deeds in our behalf. The Church exists for the very purpose of declaring the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness and into light. The awesome deeds of the Lord are declared by His people who have been saved by grace. The people of God are themselves the evidence of God’s awesome deeds. We praise Him because we have seen His goodness demonstrated over and over again, not only in the examples of the Scriptures, and not only in the richness of Creation, but in how He has worked in each of us to save, sustain, and sanctify us. And if you are amazed at what God has already done, just wait! The best is still ahead when in the Ages to come we see more and more of His grace.

Thoughts on the Lord's Table (Part 5 of 5)

A Table in the Presence of Enemies

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies...” (Psalm 23.5)

Most people tend to seek comfort and ease in life. We avoid pain and adversity, unless we see some kind of immediate payoff. Religion is typically thought of as an escape from trouble and a way of dealing with pain. The idea that religious faith might result in some kind of trouble is not an attractive proposition to most people in our society. And Churches know this to be the case. The Church advertises the Faith as an antidote to the problems of life. No Church today who wants to attract new members would advertise that the Faith might bring opposition and hardship into people’s lives. Who would join a religion or a religious group that is constantly harassed by hardship and trouble? But this line of reasoning completely ignores the Word of God, the nature of faith in Christ, and the true character of the world in which we live. The believer in Christ is in a world of hostility and opposition. The world is hostile and in rebellion against God and His Christ. Every follower of Christ must expect that the world will not be a friendly place. This is not our homeland.

Believers are on a pilgrimage through enemy-held territory. The road from earth to glory is dangerous, being full of difficulty and potential snares. We should not expect an easy passage. Everything in this world opposes faith. And not all those who begin this pilgrimage will finish it. There must be some Divine provision and protection for us to be able to maintain our faith. The journey through this world to Glory is simply too difficult for us to handle apart from the Lord. We cannot make it on our own. We must come to terms with our own weakness and inadequacies. Then we must look to God to provide what we need while in this present, evil world.

David speaks of God’s provision in his famous and comforting Psalm. The twenty-third Psalm has been a source of encouragement and comfort for many of God’s people during their most difficult times of trial. The comfort of this Psalm comes from the images of God’s faithful provision for His people. David was a shepherd who knew how to take care of sheep. This is a picture of God’s care for His people. The Psalm does not promise the absence of adversity, but it does promise the presence, protection, and provision of God in the midst of the troubles of life. The Lord is with His people, even in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. David is confident of God’s presence and provision when in the presence of his enemies. God will prepare a Table, or a place of provision and sustenance, for His people even when they are surrounded by opposition and hostility.

David himself was no stranger to enemies and conflict. David began his career by facing Goliath and defeating him with the Lord’s help. David then had to endure the constant persecution of King Saul, even though God had directed Samuel to anoint David as King. David waited and trusted in God to deliver him from Saul. After he became king, David had to flee from the city of Jerusalem because his own son Absalom tried to take the kingdom by force. Though David was blessed by God and was a man after God’s own heart, his life was far from peaceful. David was a man of war who fought many battles. Some of David’s trouble was the result of his own sin, which is often the case for God’s people. But David’s life is a picture of the believer’s fight of faith. His famous and comforting words in the twenty-third Psalm come from the knowledge of experience.  David knew how to fight and he knew where to go for strength.

God is the source of all the resources a believer needs to make it through the world. That is the theme of David’s comforting Psalm. God Himself is the source of the believer’s comfort and strength. God was not just an idea or a theory to David. God was a very real presence to David, as He is to all true believers. Living by faith is having a personal connection to God and actually  depending on Him. When believers are in trouble and in need, they go directly to God and would not even consider going to any other source. In fact, it would be an offense to God if we were to seek help elsewhere. God expects His people to come to Him for what they need. There is no question about God’s ability or His willingness to provide for His children. The only question that needs answered is: are we accessing what is available to us?

The Divine resources that David writes about in the twenty-third Psalm must be accessed by faith. In other words, we must believe that God is and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Heb. 11.6). The key is diligence, or seeking the Lord regularly. The Lord Jesus taught us to pray without giving up. We must constantly seek the Lord in the pages of Scripture, for we live by every Word of God. And the Lord’s Table is another way that Divine resources are accessed. The fact that we eat and drink here at this Table depicts the spiritual nourishment that is available to us. The physical table points us to a greater, spiritual Table. This spiritual food comes from Jesus Himself and is necessary for sustaining spiritual life. Christ Himself is our spiritual bread for the journey, which we imbibe by faith in His atoning death on the Cross. It is our faith in His sacrificial death, depicted at this Table, that is eating His flesh and drinking His blood (John 6.51, 53-58). This Table is prepared for us in the midst of a hostile world.

Jesus laid down His life to overcome the world and all the enemies of God. We must embrace and appropriate the victory of Christ. He prepares a Table for us in the presence of our enemies. Surely we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Thoughts on the Lord's Table (Part 4 of 5)

Caring for the Soul

It is very important for us to care for our souls. There are many people attentive to their bodies, but not their souls. The soul is that inner part that is subject to certain thoughts and feelings. These thoughts and feelings may be good or they may be evil and therefore harmful to the soul. Our souls need to be healthy, just like our bodies, and we need to be aware of the condition or the state of our souls just as we are aware of our bodies. The soul and spirit of man should be recognized as two separate entities. The spirit is the innermost part of man. The soul could also be equated with the mind. Only the Word of God can distinguish between soul and spirit (Heb. 4.12). The heart could also refer to the soul or the heart could be used to refer holistically to all of man’s inner, invisible life – including the soul and the spirit. However, we do not want to go beyond what is written in the Scriptures or be dogmatic about things that may not be clear. Suffice to say, the soul is part of the unseen, inner life of man.

David sometimes found it necessary to speak to his own soul: "Why so downcast, O my soul? Put your hope in God" (Psalm 42)! Each of us has certain tendencies and weaknesses in our own souls, such as anger or depression, and many unhealthy, wicked thoughts and feelings. Know yourself and your soul! What are your weaknesses and the vulnerable tendencies in your own soul? You must act as the guardian of your soul. If you do not know your soul, you must start by knowing the Maker of your soul first. When we become believers in Christ, the Lord becomes the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls (1 Peter 2.25). The Lord watches out for our souls and cares for us. No doubt He uses the Holy Spirit, who indwells us and has been joined to our spirit, to do this work of caring for our souls. So we are not alone and the care of our souls is not left up to us only. The soul of man is a weakness, making us vulnerable. The soul must be guarded.

Your soul could be compared to a ship on the sea. Like a ship your soul can be blown and tossed about by the wind and the waves. Paul the Apostle said that the purpose of the Church is to bring believers to maturity so they would not continually be blown and tossed by every wind and wave, which are the false teachings of men (Eph. 4.11-14). If we do not mature, our souls will constantly be tossed about by the messages of the World – messages which seem to be coming at our souls in waves these days! This ship that is your soul must be anchored firmly to something – something greater and stronger than itself – or it will be tempest-tossed and unable to navigate to its intended harbor. So it is with our souls as long as we are in these stormy seas of this present, evil World. The soul can be rather unstable, being buffeted by both thoughts and feelings. Doubts can assault the soul causing us to sink into despair, just as Peter sank beneath the waves when he was walking to Jesus on the water (Matt. 14.30). The soul is a liability that can cause the downfall of the believer.

Your soul needs an anchor. Our faith and hope in Christ are anchors for the soul. Our souls are kept and held by looking constantly unto Jesus. We must think continually upon Christ, particularly upon His death and resurrection. This provides us with stability in rough waters. Our faith in Christ and our hope for the future, which springs from faith, is based on certain facts. These facts are like anchors for the soul:

• Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God
• Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures
• Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven
• Jesus will come again

We anchor ourselves to Jesus: who He is, what He said, what He did, and what He will do in the future. We can and we should constantly come back to these facts, allowing them to grow in our minds, the implications of the truth settling our souls. This is what our gathering around the Lord’s Table is designed to do for us. Speaking of Christ and His redemptive work, the writer of Hebrews says that “we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf ” (Hebrews 6:19-20). Our anchor is cast upwards, into heaven, where Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father as our High Priest and Intercessor.

I take it from the teaching of the Scriptures that our souls are not yet redeemed. There is a part of us that has been saved. Our spirits have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. But the body has yet to be redeemed, along with the soul. We are waiting for the salvation of our souls. Until that time our souls must be kept, guarded, and anchored firmly so that we are not blown off-course in this world. The Lord’s Table is an anchoring time! Until the time that the Lord comes for His Bride, or we leave the body and go to be with the Lord, our souls are in a weak and fallen state being vulnerable to the Devil, the enemy of our souls, and the lusts of the Flesh, which wage war against our souls (1 Peter 2.11).

This is an opportunity at the Lord’s Table to guide your soul, to speak to your soul like David did to his: "Why so downcast O my soul? Put your hope in God!" The souls of the wicked are like the troubled sea, casting up mire and dirt (Isaiah 57.20-21), but not the souls of the righteous. "We have an anchor that keeps the soul – steadfast and sure while the billows roll!" This anchor holds our souls until that time when there will be no more Sea (Rev. 21.1).

Thoughts on the Lord's Table (Part 3 of 5)

The Lion and the Lamb

"Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals." And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain (Rev. 5.5-6).

The book of Revelation is a series of visions. These visions are really powerful pictures that are designed to give hope to the believer in Christ. Pictures can minister to use on a whole different level than a well-reasoned argument. Pictures stay with us when abstract ideas may not always remain in our thoughts. The visions of Revelation minister to us on an emotional and heart-igniting level.

And there is perhaps no picture more powerful in Revelation, or in all of Scripture, than this vision of Jesus as Lion and Lamb. John is seeing a vision of Christ and helping us to see Him too, perhaps in a fresh way, and certainly in a necessary way. Seeing Christ clearly is what ignites our hope. Let's see Him as Lion and as the Lamb. Here are two pictures that seem to contradict, according to earthly wisdom, and could only be brought together in Christ.

First, see Jesus as the Lion. Here is the Lion of Judah – the King who is David's son – and was promised an eternal throne. He is a lion because He is victorious, having conquered both death and the Devil. He told John that "I have the keys of death and Hades." In times of weakness, both physical and spiritual, and in times when the reality of death is staring us straight in the face, we need to see the victorious Lion of Judah who could not be held by the grave and has the power of an endless life. In times of evil in the Earth and when we feel the tug and pull of temptation we need to see the Lion who has already dealt the fatal blow to the old Serpent's head.

He is a Lion because He is strong and powerful, has already overcome, and is now seated in the Throne of God. This book of Revelation does not show us a Christ who will reign only in the future, but who is actually reigning now, visible not to the eyes of flesh but only to the eyes of faith. And He is governing the World, unveiling the purpose of God for the consummation of history. There is no power on earth or even in the spiritual world that has ascended higher than the Lord's Christ. And no opposition, no matter how intimidating to the Flesh, can successfully resist His reign. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord -- it is only a matter of time.

He is the Lion seated on a throne, not as a ceremonial position, but to actually make judgments, as all rulers must do. God will judge the World through Him and every man must stand before His judgment seat to give an account of deeds done in the body.

I believe this picture of Christ as a conquering lion is of particular comfort to persecuted saints. The Church may seem weak and vulnerable, but the gates of Hell cannot prevail against Her! This is not because believers are so strong but because our Savior has overcome and is reigning.

But see Him also as a Lamb – not just a lamb but THE LAMB. Look at the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He is a Lamb because He humbled Himself. A lion is strong and powerful, but not a lamb. A lamb is tender and helpless. It is amazing to think of how our Lord humbly laid aside His great power, putting Himself in a place where He could be mistreated and harmed by men.

And the ultimate humility and humiliation came when He laid down His life, becoming weak and vulnerable, He who had with His Word created the Worlds. He was crucified through weakness. He laid down His life. No man took it from Him against His will. If the lion represents the power of His deity, the lamb represents the weakness and humility of His humanity. And our Lord was both God and man. But He did not redeem us by being the lion only, but by becoming the Lamb. A payment for sin was needed that would satisfy God while also redeeming men. Only in Christ are these two things brought together and accomplished: satisfying the righteousness of God and standing as a substitute in the place of sinful men. By becoming a Lamb He has successfully purchased men for God, redeeming them from the power of sin and death. This could not have been accomplished through the power of the lion, but only through the death of the lamb. He bore our sins in His body on the Tree and He who knew no sin became sin for us.

This Lamb who is also a Lion is now in Heaven itself because He has successfully opened the way for us to come to God. Through the blood of the Lamb we have confidence to approach the Throne by this new and living way that He has opened for us.

So when we look at Christ today and see Him clearly we see Him as the Lion who is a lamb.

What do we see when we put these two visions together? We begin to understand the wisdom of God, a wisdom that is foolish to the World. Here is the One who won the victory through submission. Sinful man is a rebel who asserts his own will above the will of God. Here is the One who submitted to God's will above His own. This is the triumph of humility and weakness rather than victory through power and strength. The World proudly grasps at power. Here is one who humbly let it go, considering His very equality with God a thing NOT to be grasped, or held on to, but made himself nothing, volunteering to be a servant instead. And that act of humility, submission, and weakness is precisely why God exalted Him to the highest place.

God will do the same for those who follow Him.

Thoughts on the Lord's Table (Part 2 of 5)

The Institution of the Lord's Table

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” – Luke 22.17-20

This is the Institution of the Lord's Table. But there was a lot going on when Jesus prepared for and ate the Last Supper with His disciples. The Gospel writers emphasize with great detail the Final Week. What Jesus did and said immediately before His death is crucial. In this final Hour, Jesus was exclusively with His chosen disciples. He is trying to teach them and prepare them for what is coming. At this stage they always seem to be a step behind Jesus. At the end of His Olivet Discourse, Jesus warned His disciples to watch and stay awake. In the days immediately following they would need to heed this exhortation, but they did not. They all deserted Jesus, as He had said they would, and as the Scriptures foretold, and Peter even denied Jesus. Lurking in the shadows behind all of these events was Judas. The events surrounding the Last Supper instruct us about the frailty of human nature and also the certainty of Divine Purpose.

Consider these examples of human frailty. There are the wicked counsels of the Jewish leaders. These men were always pursuing Jesus, jealous of His popularity. They have decided to kill Him, but must do it secretly. These men represent many of the darkest aspects of human nature: jealousy, pride, lust for power, and hypocrisy. Remember these were religious men! And they are opposing the Son of God who had done many miraculous signs in their midst. Their unbelief and hatred for Jesus show us what Flesh is capable of doing.

Consider the tragic actions of Judas. He is the only one who may be more wretched than the Jewish leaders. Here is a man who was on the inside, handpicked by Jesus. Yet he was unmoved by everything he heard and saw. Judas seems to be sincere, but appearances are deceptive. Judas is a fraud. He seems in the end care only about financial gain. Here is a completely selfish person. He is even willing to sell his friend for the right price. A Medieval Italian artist paints Judas with an ugly, apelike face, in contrast to the beauty of Christ. So dark is his soul, Satan himself is able to enter Judas and find him a ready-made instrument.

Consider the weakness of the other disciples. They seem oblivious to the gravity of this Hour, even though Jesus had plainly told them what was going to happen to Him in Jerusalem. They could not or would not understand. This thing about Jesus laying down His life was so counter to their expectations that they could not receive it. Their understanding of the Messiah and His Kingdom, at this point, was completely earthly and carnal – so much so that they even began to argue about who would have the highest positions. They wanted power even as their Lord was giving up all of His. At this point the disciples show us the weakness of the Flesh: its inability to understand spiritual things, its tendency to hold on to wrong ideas, and its desire for ascendency. But we also see the certainty of Divine purpose.

We see Jesus acting the polar opposite of everyone else around Him. Jesus is in complete control of His own person and the situation—even down to the details of preparing a place for the Passover meal! Jesus is aware of His enemies and their plans, including Judas. But Jesus has no fear of man. Since Jesus was the Son of God we often forget that while He was in the body He had to live by faith, trusting in His heavenly Father, just as we do while we are in the world. The Table of the Lord is to remind us that God is in control of all things. We are to live in faith and not give in to fear, even if the world seems to be in utter chaos. Jesus was not oblivious to what was going on around Him, but neither was He being controlled by it. 

Jesus is acting according to a Divine agenda. He is in complete submission to the will of His heavenly Father. Jesus is putting Himself into the hands of His Father and that is why Jesus is the only person in this drama who is not either perverted by wicked desires or falling apart under pressure. Jesus is the only one here whose thoughts are on the right things. Jesus had a different perspective. From a human point of view everything was falling apart. The darkness is closing in. But Jesus' thoughts and words are not dark. He is full of hope and promise. He speaks with confidence and with certainty, even though His own future was Golgotha! Jesus even seems confident in the faith of the disciples. Why? He was fixed firmly on the purpose of God. He came to do the will of the Father and even the wickedness of Man would end up working for God's purpose.

What does this mean for us at this Table? This is a good time to do some self-examination. This is a time for truth, not pretense. But knowing your own heart can be more difficult than you think. What is really in your heart? What is your motivation? What do you really want? Do you understand what you are doing? This is a time to focus on the things that really matter. The world is full of distractions. The world's values are all wrong. What the world thinks is going on is not really what's going on. This is our connection to ultimate reality. This is a time to gather strength. Eventually we have to leave the relative safety of the Upper Room and go out to Gethsemane. Are you up to it? No one has to be weak. He is with us. He will never leave or forsake us. This is the time to watch and pray with Jesus. If we are weak, it is because we are sleeping. 

Thoughts on the Lord's Table (Part 1 of 5)

Remember Me

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself (1 Corinthians 11:23-29).

When we come around the Communion Table, we are to do one simple thing: remember Christ. But the Lord did not tell us to remember His birth, or His many miracles, or even His teaching. We are to remember His Body and His Blood. We marvel and rejoice at the simplicity, or the singular focus, of our faith. We should not allow other things to cloud our thinking at the Lord’s Table. This is not a time for casual thoughts or worldly considerations. Anything distracting us from remembering the Lord must be zealously put away from our minds. The Lord Himself instituted this Table and told us what to do when we gather together to remember Him. We are to focus on His death and the meaning of His sacrifice for our sins. The Table of the Lord is a way of cutting through every nonessential and coming to the very heart of our salvation. Everything else fades away into insignificance at the Table of the Lord.

We are not told to remember our sins at the Table of the Lord. Of course, there is a time for the confession of sins. We are told to examine ourselves before we eat and drink at His Table. We do not take this casually. But the main point here is not to recount our shortcomings and feel guilty and unworthy. I have known people who do not partake of the Table of the Lord because some memory has stirred and they felt unworthy. Of course we are all unworthy, at least in our natural state. But He has made us worthy and He invites us to come to His Table to remember Him. The Table of the Lord is the place to claim our forgiveness and justification through faith in His blood. The knowledge that our sins are forgiven will lead to a cleansed conscience before God. The Table of the Lord is meant to bolster our confidence before God, not to send us back into bondage to shame. When we examine ourselves at the Lord’s Table, it is not to find faults in ourselves, which is always relatively easy to do, but to find faith in our hearts. Partaking of the Lord’s Table without faith is not only a pointless ritual, but it may result in our judgment! The Lord is sensitive about how we partake of His Table.

Memory can be our enemy. We all have things we would like to forget, but we can't seem to shake the recollection. On the other hand, we have things we ought to remember that we forget. This is surely part of the fallen nature within us that we must learn to rule over in Christ. The Communion Table teaches us to rule over memory: to forget what is behind us while not forgetting the Lord and all of His benefits. If you have an undisciplined and wandering mind, the Table of the Lord can help you begin to exercise focus and control over your thoughts – taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ. Think about the meaning of this meal. Don't let this become a thoughtless and meaningless ritual. That is religion, not faith in Christ. Don't let the grace of a blessed and holy moment at the Lord’s Table pass you by.

Memory can also be a friend and ally in the fight of faith. If you are downcast and discouraged, you can remember all of the wonderful works of God. If the memory of sins creeps back in you can remember that He bore your sins in His body on the Tree. If you are afraid, and it seems that the darkness of this present, evil World is impenetrable, you can remember that our Lord rose again and defeated Death, the last and greatest enemy. And He has also defeated all of the spiritual forces of darkness, those principalities and powers far above us in the heavenly realms, triumphing over them in His Cross. If the wickedness of Man seems formidable and intimidating, you can remember that our Lord ascended into Heaven at the right hand of the Father to reign in the midst of His enemies, until they are all made His footstool. And if you are afraid of the future and you have lost hope, you can remember that He is coming again. We remember Him at His Table till He comes.

Do you see the power of this Table as we remember Him? There is power at the Lord’s Table: power to do away with guilt and shame, to dismiss doubt and fear, to undergird faith, and to fuel our hope for the future. There is an opportunity here to gird up the loins of our minds and to exercise dominion over the mind of the Flesh. The power of the Lord’s Table is activated through our faith. May the Table of the Lord never become a mere formality to us! Woe to those to whom the Table of the Lord has become nothing more than a perfunctory ordinance that we must do just to fulfill our duty of weekly worship! Surely those who think of the Lord’s Table only as a duty to be crossed off a list will receive no benefit from it. The Lord’s Table is a grace to be received with joy and thanksgiving.

When you remember a person, and not just a thing or even an event, someone like a dear friend or close relative, that memory rekindles love and affection. This is really the heart of our purpose at the Lord’s Table. Just as we remember our friends and loved ones on a regular basis, because they are in our hearts, we are to remember the Lord at His Table on a regular basis. As we remember Him our hearts are filled with love for the Lord Himself. If you remember Him, you will love Him, because He loved us first and gave Himself for us. And that love that He has for His Church is as real today as the Bread and Wine on the Table. In this loving memory is the very substance of eternal life.

Weeping and Joy

Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning (Psalm 30:5).

It seems that joy can be somewhat elusive. While we sojourn in this world, we are very familiar with tears and sorrow. The Prophet Isaiah said that our Lord Jesus was a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering (See Isaiah 53). There is this modern image of Jesus as a kind of spiritual hippie, smiling and laughing all the time. The interesting thing is that the Bible never says Jesus laughed, but it does make a point of the fact that He wept. He wept at the tomb of Lazarus. And He wept over Jerusalem. Jesus was affected by sin, death, and human depravity and unbelief.

It would be impossible for the followers of Jesus to also be unaffected by the world around them. Like our Master we weep for the things we see in our world. The idea that Christians ought to always be happy – which is just a shallow emotional response to what’s happening around us – is not realistic. Sometimes the thing that makes us sad is our own sin! We groan and long to be rid of these bodies of death. We hang our harps on the willow trees, like Israel in Babylon, because sometimes it is hard to sing a happy song in a foreign land (See Psalm 137). It is unfortunate that the modern Church has lost the tradition of the lament. The Jews were very familiar with expressing laments. We see it in the Psalms and especially in Jeremiah's book of Lamentations for Jerusalem's destruction.

It is important for believers to take their sorrows and their weeping to the Lord. Sorrow is not the end of faith, it is actually the times when our faith rises to the top and keeps us from sinking into despair. Without faith there is no hope that our weeping will turn to joy someday. Faith enables us to weather the storms of life in a fallen world. Jesus prepared his disciples for sorrow and persecution in the world. Those who teach the Prosperity Gospel – that God’s people ought always to be happy, healthy, wealthy, and free from trouble – have to explain passages like this:

Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you (John 16:20-22).

Believers must pass through sorrow in this world. This world is a prelude to eternal glory for the believer. The world may have their laughs now, but the world is in a state of decay and will one day pass away forever, leaving those who loved the world utterly desolate. Those who have all their happiness in this world are destined to lose everything. Those who are sorrowful now, being strangers and aliens in the world, will rejoice later. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Believers should have familiarity with delayed satisfaction. We are not going to get everything we want in this world because we were made for another world.

The world attempts to manufacture joy. We live in a joyless, hopeless generation. Many seek joy in a bottle of alcohol or a drug-induced high. Our entertainment industry is designed to provide us with some joy, at least until Monday morning comes and we have to go back to work. The world's joy is shallow and fleeting. Part of our national heritage is the freedom to pursue happiness, wherever we might find it. The trouble is that happiness often depends on our circumstances, and nothing more. If life is going our way, and we have the things we want, then we are happy. But these times are few and far between. Happiness can disappear almost instantly with a bad report from the doctor, a financial recession, or corporate downsizing!

Most people go through life desperately seeking to hang onto some moment in time when they were happy by recreating it or finding the next big thing. Our entire advertising industry is built on trying to push things to buy that will also buy us some happiness. Products are not sold according to what the product itself can do, but some kind of feeling or experience it can provide. Materialism is really the vain search for joy. But even those experiences that bring us a moment of happiness can deceive us and break our hearts if these are pursued for their own sake. C.S. Lewis said “I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.” All good things must come to an end in this world.

There is a deeper and lasting joy. There is an eternal joy that comes from God. Our joy is fleeting when we do not seek it from God Himself. But He is the source of all good things and we have nothing apart from Him that is either good or lasting. If we seek Him we will find Him, and with Him we find joy. Joy is never to be sought as an end of itself. Joy is actually the result of another pursuit. We are to seek after God. We seek God while carrying our own burdens, troubles, and grief. We take our troubles to the Lord in prayer.

But have you ever noticed that it is impossible to celebrate something good privately? When we are really happy we have to get together because there is an even greater joy when good things are shared. The joy of the Lord is OUR strength. Joy is a shared resource for the people of God. We are here to be helpers of each other's joy, until the Night is over and the Morning has come.

Where is Jesus?

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7).

Jesus’ humble incarnation, when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, was done only once and for a short time. Jesus only lived for thirty-three years, His earthly ministry lasting only for three years. Jesus did not come into the world to stay here with us as he was when he walked with his disciples by the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was limited by his flesh—a limitation he had accepted in order to bring salvation. The body that was prepared for him was a real body – not an apparition as some heretics have claimed – a body that would bear away our sins, be raised from the dead, and then glorified in heaven.

The disciples saw him in the middle of his upward movement from the grave to glory at his resurrection appearances. These appearances were transitional. The time of his earthly ministry was at an end and he would ascend to the Father. The ascension would not be the end of Christ's ministry but would begin a new phase. He would not be with them physically but he would not leave them alone in the world, promising to send the Holy Spirit in his place. The exaltation of Christ was really the ultimate goal so that the next phase of salvation history could commence. The next phase would require the exalted Christ. Being exalted to the highest place possible in heaven at God's right hand, Jesus could begin to administer the Kingdom of God.

Before ascending he sent his disciples out into the world to preach the Gospel. But something had to happen before they went out – they had to wait for some special power. The Divine enterprise could not succeed without Divine Power. This was not a human enterprise and could therefore not be accomplished by human strength alone, even though human beings would be the messengers. Nothing but an outpouring of power could explain the transformation of the disciples. These timid disciples became known thereafter for their bold preaching, even in the very city where their Lord was crucified. Along with their boldness these early evangelists also had a new insight into the purpose of God as the Scriptures came alive to them. A resurrected, exalted Jesus is the only thing that explains the genesis of the Church.

Jesus was leaving the World, but not leaving the Church alone in the World. Another Presence would come alongside them. Jesus promised to send the Spirit—called both the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God—to be with them. The Spirit is the Helper who comes alongside believers and dwells in them. When Jesus began his ministry the Spirit came upon him. But now the Spirit would come upon and fill all believers. And He would come to stay, not come and go as in the old days when only special endowments of the Spirit were given to men like the prophets. The limitation of having only one man filled with the Spirit is removed and the Spirit can now operate in every believer, thereby multiplying the work of Jesus in the world.

This indwelling of the Spirit is what marked the first Christians and set them apart from the religious norms of their time. God was doing something new and there would be no going back to the old system. It was the Spirit that could be seen as a powerful presence animating believers, breathing life into them and burning as fire in their hearts. Every time the Spirit filled them to overflowing their tongues were set free and they spoke about the mighty works of God! And they would not stop speaking about what they had seen and heard, even under threat of beating, imprisonment, and death. Most of these early Christians were ordinary people – blue-collar workers who had not been to school – yet they were empowered by an extraordinary Presence. It was noted that these people had been with Jesus. They were acting like Jesus, talking like Jesus. The life of Jesus was continuing in them and they were taking up where Jesus had left off after going to be with the Father. This second phase of salvation history began on the Day of Pentecost. This is the Age of the Spirit.

You can still see the Spirit moving and working in all true believers, giving supernatural confidence and boldness of speech, illuminating untrained minds, and overflowing in joyful acceptance of suffering. Spirit-controlled people are the only ones who can still do the work of Jesus. Jesus does not work through stodgy institutions weighed down by tradition and overburdened with structure. Jesus works through people set free by the Spirit and who live, move and have their being in fellowship with him. Christians are not people merely trying to advance the heady propositions of an ideology but are actively following the Presence of a living Person, doing his will on earth as it is done in heaven.

The Age of the Spirit is also the Age of the Church. Many people don’t care much for the Church. Church brings up some bad memories: doctrinal dogma, denominational splits, fund-raising, committee meetings, and professional clergy. The Spirit-filled Church of the first century somehow became the institutional Church of the twenty-first century. We have the money, the buildings, the professional leadership, and the organizational structures today. But what has happened to that Power that was so evident in the early believers that enabled them to turn the world upside down? What has changed? We know that God has not changed. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. If something has changed, it must be with us.

Where is Jesus? He is in heaven. But the work of Christ continues in the world through his people. If we want to see Christ today, we must see him in believers who are being led and empowered by the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit moves in the Body of Christ and will work today through the members of His Body to make his presence known in the world.

Holy Laughter

And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” (Genesis 17:15-17)

They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.” (Genesis 18:9-15)

One thing we notice that is totally absent from the Bible is what we would call humor or jesting. The subject-matter of Scripture is serious and not the place for foolishness and silliness. Those who laugh about serious things, including the Word of God, often show more about themselves than they realize. There is a laughter that is nothing more than mocking unbelief and a lack of reverence for holiness. Our own culture seems to mock everything. Nothing is holy. This can often mask a deep despair and hopelessness. They laugh because they have hit rock bottom and there is nothing else to do. So they choose laughter instead. Mocking laughter also betrays overconfidence and a false security in that they believe that they will not be held accountable.

God laughs at the wicked (Psalm 2), but it is not a humorous laugh. It is a sardonic laugh at the pathetic attempts of little human beings to dethrone God and His purpose. The Bible does not encourage foolish, empty laughter. Solomon has some wisdom to teach us on this subject:

I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” (Ecclesiastes 2:2)

For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,
so is the laughter of the fools;
this also is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 7:6)

But the Scriptures do speak of joy, even the joy of the Lord and the joy of salvation. It is right for us to pursue these things. The joy of the Lord is our strength! It is nearly impossible for a believer, who is a stranger and an alien in a hostile world, to continue to walk by faith and fight the good fight of faith without joy. Discouragement and spiritual depression are like poison to the soul.

There are a few times laughter is mentioned in Scripture and these happen to come at a very important juncture in sacred history. Abraham laughed when God told him that he would have a son in his old age through his elderly and barren wife, Sarah (Gen. 17.17). To mark this announcement, God even changed her name to Sarah, as He had previously changed Abram's name to Abraham to reflect the Promise He made to him. We should notice that these promises about countless offspring were made to an old man and his barren wife! God had waited until Sarah was well past the natural age of childbearing before making the clarification that the Promise would be realized through her child. There was no ability for them to naturally fulfill the promise of God. Ishmael was rejected, being born the natural way. God was setting up a situation and a scenario in which the fulfillment could come only through Him.

So Abraham laughed to himself. But it was not a laugh of unbelief. Abraham did not waver in unbelief regarding the promise of God. Abraham's laugh was one of amazement! It is the kind of laugh that is saying "who has ever heard of something like this before? Only God could do this!"

God did not make mention of this secret laughter of Abraham and he was not rebuked for it. Previously God had not clarified that Sarah would bear a son who would be the child of promise. So Abraham and Sarah were still acting in faith when they got Hagar involved. They just didn't have all the information. They had been waiting for the Promise to come, but decided to take matters into their own hands. And God used even this to teach us about the difference between salvation by grace through faith and salvation through the works of the Law.

God came to Abraham again after this, and this time, with Sarah listening at the door of her tent, He reminded Abraham of the promise of a son through her. The Lord asked "where is Sarah?" That was not because He didn't know she was listening, that was for Sarah. God had called her name. God had remembered her and had not forgotten about all her years of barrenness. The Lord would return again next year – God never is in a hurry and they had waited this long, so another year would not matter – and Sarah would conceive a child. Her barrenness would be made into fruitfulness by a Divine visitation. The Scriptures again make it very clear again that Sarah is WAY past the natural age of childbearing.

Now it is Sarah's turn to laugh--to herself, as Abraham had done! The Lord takes note this time. He does not sharply rebuke Sarah. The Lord is gentle and what He did not say to Abraham when he laughed, He says to Sarah when she laughed because this is something Sarah needed to hear. Sarah's laugh was born from years of disappointment, heartbreak, and bitterness because of her inability to conceive. It is hard to understand the bitterness of soul that would come to a barren woman in a time when her only purpose in life was to bear children. We see a glimpse into this bitterness in the tears of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, who was mocked by a fruitful rival to boot! All of Sarah's usefulness, both to her husband and to God, especially in light of the Promise they received, hinged on her ability to conceive—the one thing she had always failed to do.

Sarah denied that she had laughed, just as many of us have denied or ignored the foolish things we have done. It's human nature to try to hide our faults even though we must know that God knows. The Lord confronted Sarah's laugh, and in so doing was also dealing with all of Sarah's shame in her barrenness: "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

Christian leaders must make encouragement for the people of God a major priority in their ministries. Pastors are to be helpers of the joy of the Body of Christ. Joy is the fruit of the Spirit and is not something that can be produced by human effort. Emotionalism is a poor replacement for true, spiritual joy. Our Church gatherings should encouragement the joy of the Spirit and not the mere exuberance of the Flesh, which will always dissipate and leave us empty. Joy, on the other hand, is a kind of holy laughter that comes from experiencing the grace of God and seeing Him fulfill His promises.

The New Man in Christ: An Overview of Romans 5-8 (Part 3 of 3)

The Power of the Spirit

The power of the Spirit makes victory over the Flesh possible for the children of God. The seventh chapter speaks of conflict. The eighth chapter speaks of the victory. The struggle itself should not be interpreted negatively but positively. The presence of inner conflict is a sign of life. However, the believer can’t defeat the power of sin on his/her own. The believer has a Helper in this struggle—the indwelling Spirit.

The principle of life brought to us by the Spirit is the only power that can set us free from the principle of sin and death. We are only set free from sin in Christ, not through the efforts of self-discipline. If we could have set ourselves free from sin then the Law would have accomplished this task. But what the Law could not accomplish, because of our own weakness, God has done for us in Christ. We needed a Savior, not just another Law to keep. But Paul does not say that Christ kept the Law for us, although He did perfectly keep the Law. He kept the Law perfectly so that He could be our substitute. But sin was taken away so that the Spirit could then dwell in us. Now that we have the Spirit if we walk after the Spirit, we will keep the requirements of the Law.

Paul returns again to these two opposing principles: Spirit and Flesh. Either the Spirit or the Flesh will control our minds, and whatever the mind is fixed upon will control the deeds of the body. We live out through our bodies what captivates our minds. The person whose mind is fixed upon the desires or agenda of the Flesh cannot live unto God. In fact, that person will be a rebel who is hostile to God. The only person who can successfully live unto God must have their mind controlled by the Spirit.

Now Paul seems to be saying that if we do in fact have the Spirit dwelling in us, the presence of the Spirit will effectively end the dominion of the Flesh. If this is not the case then we don't have the Spirit and we do not belong to Christ. The Spirit of Christ dwelling in us will give life to our bodies, which were once used as instruments of sin, but will now be used to serve God. So the Believer who has the Spirit owes no allegiance to the Flesh to serve its desires. There is power to say "No!" to sin.

If the Believer's mortal body can be compared to a house, then the management of the house has changed, and this means the House is now a place God can use for Himself. If we live under the management of the Spirit then this is the evidence that we are in fact the sons of God. Sons are free to please the Father. The Sons are free and are no longer in slavery to sin and fear.

The Hope of Glory

The believer lives in the hope of full redemption, which is glorification, when the Flesh will be put away forever. One writer captures Paul's intent perfectly: "Sanctification is the End of the Age being applied to our existence now" (Graeme Goldsworthy).

Sons are also heirs which implies that there is something still to come that we will inherit. We are becoming like Jesus, the heir of all things. But we must also suffer like Him if we are going to one day be glorified like Him. The Sons of God suffer now because the work of redemption is not yet complete. Glory is the final phase of redemption and it will be far weightier than any suffering that precedes it. And suffering must precede glory, as we saw in the Captain of our Salvation.

We live in a World that has not yet been redeemed. The Creation is waiting for the glorification of the Sons of God. God is not done with Creation. Creation's glory is wrapped up in our glory, which is wrapped up in Christ's glory. God cursed the creation because of man's sin, in hope of redeeming both mankind and Creation. Creation will be set free from death when the Sons of God are finally set free from death. Creation is suffering the pains of childbirth—a new creation is being born. The Holy Spirit in us has already made us a new creation, but the body is not yet redeemed. We were saved for this glory: new bodies to match a new man and to live in a new creation. When all of that happens then the work will be finished. In the meantime we suffer and we groan, longing for the work to be finished. We are weak in our present state.

Paul's purpose is to convince us that God's purpose will be finished and nothing can stop it. There is no chance that God's purpose of glorifying those in Christ will fail or be aborted. Those in Christ will be conformed to the image of Christ. This is God's predetermined purpose. Christ is the Firstborn of a new, glorified race! God has invested Himself in this purpose. He gave His Son for this purpose. If the purpose is not completed then Christ died for nothing. The present intercession of Christ is proof that God has not given up on His purpose and His people. There is no suffering, evil power, or opposition that we face in this world that can keep us from glory if we are in Christ. The believer must be certain of this because we will go through suffering and opposition on our way to Glory. We must know that nothing can stop God's plan to glorify those in Christ because if we are not convinced of this the suffering and the opposition will overcome us. Going through suffering is not a sign of God's abandonment. On the contrary it is the love of God working for us.

Summary and Conclusion

Salvation has three distinct aspects, or phases. There is justification, where the believer's sin is taken away and a new status is bestowed. There is sanctification, where the believer lives by the Spirit unto God and puts to death the sins of the old life. And finally, in the future, there is glorification, where the believer will inhabit a new body that is free from all of the effects of sin and death. Paul, in Romans 5-8, wants to make it clear that the believer is more than just a justified sinner.

The believer is a New Man in Christ and this new principle of life in Christ Jesus will be obvious and worked out in practical ways. It is reasonable to conclude from this that if a person who is justified does not continue on into sanctification, but instead continues to be dominated by the Flesh, then that individual will not be fit for the final stage of glorification. There are truncated views of salvation that allow for a believer to feel secure while never progressing in sanctification. It should also be made clear that we do not achieve sanctification by our own efforts alone, but through the Spirit.

The New Man in Christ: An Overview of Romans 5-8 (Part 2 of 3)

The Two Men

There are two men representing two different races of men. Here we are introduced to the concept of Federal Headship where one person represents a whole group of people. The Pauline language of being "in" Christ or "in" Adam means to be in union or in solidarity. To be in union with these two men is to also possess their characteristics as the progenitors of these two distinct races of humans. Since Christ is superior to Adam then what Christ gives to His offspring is superior. Grace in Christ goes far beyond sin in Adam. So if a person is in Christ that grace will abound and be obvious in his or her life, where Adam's traits once flourished. This comparison between Adam and Christ leads us to the logical conclusion that a person who is in Christ will not be like a person who is in Adam.

Adam is called a type, or foreshadow, of Christ. But it is a negative type. It is a type that is seen in contrasts rather than direct likeness. Adam's race is marked by sin and death, which reigned over Adam's race, dominating every aspect of human life. There is no aspect of human life that is not somehow ruled over by the effects of sin and death. Adam's race is a race of sinners, but both nature and choice. Adam's race is noted for their disobedience to God's commandments. And for this disobedience God has judged and condemned Adam's race. Note that all of this was true of Adam's race even before the Law was given. The Law did not save Adam's race from his condition, but it actually increased the seriousness of the situation by bringing out the fallen nature for all to see! Every human being is like the progenitor. You cannot rise above your nature and you cannot escape Adam's fate.

On the other hand, Jesus brought the exact opposite of what Adam did. Jesus brought grace, justification, righteousness, and life. Jesus was known for his obedience. Here is how to escape from Adam's race! Now Jesus is also a man. God is redeeming humanity, not destroying humanity. But Jesus is a different kind of man, a fresh start. God has rejected Adam. But He has accepted Christ. Jesus' race will outlast Adam's.

Set Free from Sin

The New Man in Christ has died and been raised like Christ and is therefore no longer a slave to sin. This section begins with Paul answering a question that is deeply flawed reasoning. In the previous argument Paul said that where sin increased grace increases all the more. Well, someone then reasoned that if we sin even more than this will mean that grace can abound even more. More sin brings more grace, so why not sin all you can?

According to this flawed reasoning grace would become a license, even an encouragement for sin. It could have been that some were accusing Paul of teaching grace and therefore encouraging sin. It is commonly believed and taught in our day that grace means that God is soft on sin and tolerant of it, even in His people. This is a terrible misunderstanding of grace and the Gospel. The Gospel does not make sin permissible or encourage sin. Grace actually makes sin unreasonable. And you have to reach this point in your own walk where sin has become unreasonable. It is doubtful that anyone will stop sinning unless there is a radical change in thinking. This is the very issue Paul is addressing.

Sin is unreasonable because the believer has been united with Christ and his or her identity is now found in Christ. Here is how the Gospel becomes personal. The believer is so closely identified with Christ that Christ's death, burial, and resurrection become the believer's death, burial and resurrection. Remember that our identity was once in Adam so that Adam's sin became our fall. All of the characteristics of the Progenitor are transferred to the offspring. Now that we are united with Christ all of the benefits of His death, burial and resurrection are transferred to the believer. This reality is depicted in the act of baptism. Baptism depicts a death, burial and resurrection. The Old Man of sin dies and is buried and a New Man is raised to life.

Now this incredible reality has many implications. This death has brought about a new freedom from sin. That old life marked by sin has been crucified with Christ, or rendered powerless. The power of sin is broken in Christ. This means that no believer has to give in to temptation and sin. The body used to be given over to practicing sin. In fact, the body was a slave to sinful desires. This slavery has ended in Christ. The believer is, like Christ Himself, free to devote himself or herself completely to God and serving God in the body. The body, once an instrument of sin, becomes an instrument of righteousness that is sanctified unto God for His use. Now the Believer must enter into this reality consciously and purposefully. The only people who will obtain eternal life are those who are sanctified, or who continually offer themselves to God and righteousness. This act is what produces the fruit of godly character.

Inner Conflict 

The New Man and the Old Man struggle in the life of the believer. The seventh chapter of Romans has two subsections united by a common theme. That common theme is the Law and how the Law functions in relation to the Believer. Is the Believer still under the Law? Paul will argue that the Believer in Christ is no longer under the dominion of Law. We are not under Law because we have died with Christ. The Law has no power over someone who has died. Therefore, the Believer is no longer under the condemnation of the Law. Christ has taken away the condemnation of the Law, so if we are joined with Christ the Law cannot condemn us. To illustrate this point Paul uses marriage. A woman is bound to her husband unless he dies. Death releases the marriage bond and she is free to marry another. In the same way every living person is bound by the Law to obey it. However, this union arouses sinful passions and the result is death. But the believer has died with Christ, releasing him from the Law, and he is now united with Christ. The fruit of that marriage or union with Christ is not death, but is life unto God. So the Believer does not serve God by the Law, but serves God through the Spirit. This point will be developed later in detail.

But first Paul addresses a question. Is the Law the problem? No. The Law is not sin. But the Law does teach us about our sin. Law makes a boundary. Sin is crossing this boundary. The sinful nature, or the Flesh, greatly desires its freedom and its own satisfaction and regularly crosses the boundaries set by the Law. The Law stirs up the sinful nature by attempting to control it, yet the Flesh desires expression and satisfaction. So the Law is teaching us about the nature of our Flesh and thereby the knowledge of sin. The Law could not bring life it could only result in spiritual death. The Law proves that we are dead in sin. Your sinful nature will kill you. It will deceive you. So there is nothing wrong with the Law, but there is something wrong with us! The Law throws light on our sinful nature so that we can see it.

Now the Believer has been made new. But the Old Man has not gone away. The Believer is caught in this tension or conflict between the Old and the New. There are two principles or laws in conflict in the believer. It is like two men struggling against each other. There is a part of us not yet redeemed: our bodies! The New Man is separated from this principle of sin so that when a believer experiences inner conflict he can know that those sinful desires or thoughts are not from the New Man! The New Man loves the Law of God.

The New Man in Christ: An Overview of Romans 5-8 (Part 1 of 3)

The Need for this Teaching

Romans chapters 5-8 stand together as a major section in Romans and should be considered as the logical flow of thought after chapters 1-4. Paul is giving an overview or exposition of his Gospel for the Church at Rome, a place he had not yet visited. The theme of the epistle is stated clearly in 1.16-17, that in the Gospel of Christ a righteousness from God is revealed that is imputed by faith.

The first major section of the letter, chapters 1-4, contains the exposition of the doctrine of justification by faith. That section begins with Paul’s case for the universal sinfulness or unrighteousness of humanity. In other words, Paul first establishes that there is a need for a different righteousness, one that does not come by the Law. Once this need has been firmly established, Paul then unpacks the doctrine of justification by faith. He begins this discussion by establishing that the justification of unrighteous sinners is only made possible through the Cross of Christ. It is the Cross that makes it possible for God to remain righteous in dealing with sin when justifying sinners. The section ends with Paul’s great example from the Hebrew Scriptures of justification by Faith, which is Abraham.

The beginning of chapter 5 sounds like the beginning of a whole new section. And it is a new section. However, it logically follows the first major section. The logic also has to do with the problem of sin. Does justification by faith deal with the ongoing problem of sin in the life of the believer? Is the believer in Christ still a sinner in bondage to sin, only now he or she is justified? Paul now has to deal with the issue of sanctification. The believer is justified or saved from the PENALTY of sin. Is the believer also going to be saved from the POWER of sin? Or are believers simply justified sinners who continue living in the power of sin? Paul’s answer to this question is that salvation involves both justification and sanctification. While these two concepts are not the same thing, both are a part of salvation in Christ and are provisions of the Gospel message.

Paul’s development of this doctrine in Romans 5-8 contains some of the most profound theological reasoning in all of Scripture. We should not be surprised that Paul must use all of his reasoning powers because the problem of sin and its effects are not simple but are complex and far-reaching, even after the new birth. It is vital that we know what has happened to us when we were saved so our thinking will change and sanctification will become a reasonable process. This is the purpose for Romans 5-8. There was a very real spiritual work that was done when we were saved. This was the work of God and was not something that we could see or feel and we have to receive this by faith. A new man was born in you when you were saved. The Holy Spirit gave birth to this new man. Other ways of speaking about this is being born again, regeneration, and a new creation. This new birth is made possible by justification and the indwelling Holy Spirit.

The process of sanctification is when this new man begins to grow, become strong, and dominate every aspect of your life, displacing the old life that was dominated by sin. This process is not automatic. It requires your involvement and participation so that what happened when you were saved is applied to every area of your life and worked out in practical ways. You can’t participate in something you don’t understand, so this is why Paul is teaching us. Now you may not have been completely aware of what happened when you were saved, and I don’t think it is necessary or even possible to know everything just when you are getting started in the new life. It is unreasonable to expect children to know everything at once. But children must learn and grow and this is also true for the children of God. This happens to be an overlooked truth today.

Salvation is more than just justification or getting your sins forgiven. That has to be done, but it is not the end it is only the means to an end. Salvation has various stages. There is justification, sanctification, and glorification. Justification is being freed from the penalty of sin. Sanctification is being saved from the power of sin. And glorification is being saved from the presence of sin. Glorification cannot happen until you leave this mortal body. But sanctification begins now in this world. In fact, there will be no glorification without both justification and sanctification taking place. Today people tend to want to skip sanctification and go from justification to glorification. But we must think of sanctification as preparation for glorification. There will be no glory for those who are not prepared for it.

This process of sanctification begins when your thinking about yourself changes because you begin to understand what really happened when you were saved. When you understand about this new man you begin to see that living a life dominated by sin and sinful desires is no longer reasonable. You begin to see that this new man must be given the reigns of your life. The new life must be nourished so that is grows and is strong.

Paul wants to prove that justification through faith in Christ more than makes up for our former state in sin. People who are in Christ are not saved by the skin of their teeth, so to speak, but are abounding in grace. The beginning of chapter 5 is a catalog of all the benefits that come through justification, all of which abound in the believer.

The Faith of Abraham (Romans 3.27-4.25; Gal. 3.5-29)

The Bible teaches concepts by incarnating that principle in a certain personality. This should not surprise us. The most important things are always taught by people, and I mean the life of a person – not by rote or by academics. When God wanted to reveal himself to humanity, he became incarnate. A personal God revealed Himself in a person, in His Son Jesus. Jesus is the only begotten Son, but he is not the only person God has used to teach us about spiritual realities. When it came to a vital issue like faith, God also chose to teach us the meaning of this principle by incarnating the principle in the life of a person. The person who incarnates faith is Abraham.

Paul wrote Romans to give an overview of his Gospel that he preached. His theme is stated in 1.16-17. The central doctrine of Paul’s Gospel was justification by faith. This is a Gospel that includes the Gentiles. Before expounding the good news of justification Paul has some bad news: the whole human race, Jew and Gentile, are all under the condemnation of sin. So Paul shows that none are righteous, even those with the Law because they did not keep it. We are therefore in need of a different kind of righteousness, one that comes from God. This righteousness comes on the basis of faith, just like it did with Abraham. That is Romans 1-4.

But Galatians has a slightly different framework. Paul is writing to them because certain men had gone out teaching the Gentiles that they had to be circumcised. The Galatians were turning from the Gospel, and faith in Christ for justification, back to the Law to be justified. The early Christian leaders had met on this subject and declared clearly that the Gentile converts were accepted by God without circumcision and obey the Law (See Acts 15). Paul is writing to them with a lot of concern. Those who try to be justified by law instead of the Gospel have fallen from grace! There is no way to merge law and the Gospel for justification because these are two different principles. You cannot begin with the Gospel and then be perfected by the law, as the false teachers were saying. Paul’s example of being justified by faith apart from the law is Abraham.

Romans chapter 4 is based on what Paul had developed in 3.21-26. Justification is made possible by the death of Jesus. God can impute righteousness to the believer in Christ without compromising his own righteousness. (Righteousness here refers either to God’s own character or to the believer’s standing before God.) God is righteous when He imputes righteousness to believers. This righteous status is bestowed through faith. The object of this faith is the Gospel of Christ, particularly his sacrificial death.

Now Paul poses this question: “Do we have a reason for boasting?” In other words, do we have any part to play in this act of justification, for which we can take the credit, as if it came from us and not from God? No! Boasting is not possible with the Gospel.

The reason no one can boast is because we are not justified by anything we do, that would be through our works, but by another kind of law or principle altogether. There are two ways to attempt to be justified: by the principle of law, or by the principle or law of faith. These two principles are very different and cannot be reconciled. If we were justified by a principle of works, then there would be a basis for boasting in what we have done. But the principle of faith excludes boasting because being justified by faith is not based on you do. Therefore, when it comes to the basis for our justification, faith and works are opposed to one another. These are two separate and opposing principles: justification by works and justification by faith.

At this point in his argument in Romans 4, Paul brings in Abraham. Remember that the Law and the Prophets testify about this justification by faith. Paul has already quoted from the Prophets: “The righteous shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2.4; Rom 1.17). Now Paul will use an example from the Law (This is referring to the books of Law). How was Abraham justified? Was he justified by a principle of works or a principle of faith? Genesis 15.6 says that “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.” So Abraham was justified by a principle of faith, not one of works. So, even Abraham had no reason to boast. God had not even given the law and yet Abraham was declared righteous before God on the basis of a principle of faith.

So Abraham was justified by faith before the Law was given. But after the Law was given, how were the people justified before God? So now Paul quotes David (Rom. 4.6-8). David lived after the Law was given. But David was also justified by faith and he wrote about this blesses state of having righteousness rather than sin imputed. What Paul is arguing here is that God has always and only justified people through a principle of faith and not a principle of works. Even under the Law those who believed the promises of God were justified, not those who attempted to keep the Law. Even though they were covenant people, the physical children of Abraham were not justified by the works of the Law.

Paul is arguing, based on the faith of Abraham, that if people are going to be justified then this blessing is only going to be given as a gift. It is not and can never be earned by works. If it were earned by works then it would not be a gift but a wage and then the whole example of Abraham’s faith is meaningless.

At this point many people will want to go to James 2.14-26 and they make it seem that James is correcting Paul. But James is not talking about justification by faith he is talking about the nature of real faith. Abraham was justified by faith. His faith was demonstrated by his works. Likewise, true faith will be lived out or it is not real faith, it is just talk. We are justified by faith alone, but true faith is never alone, it is always proven true by works.

Now the Galatians were leaving the Gospel to go back to a principle of law. Paul also uses the example of the faith of Abraham. But Paul has a pastoral purpose. He wants the Galatians to see the folly of trying to be justified by a principle of works. So he quotes from Deuteronomy 27.26: “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” If you rely on a principle of law for justification, not only are you not a child of Abraham, you are under a curse! This means a curse by God, which is the very opposite of the promise of blessing given to Abraham. A curse from God brings death.

The implication is that no one can successfully live under the Law. No one will actually keep the Law, which is what is required.

Paul seems to anticipate the question “if all this is true then why was the Law even given?” He answers that it was added (Gal 3.19). The Law was added to what? The Law was added to the promise of blessing God originally made to Abraham. The Promise to Abraham was the original purpose of God. So did God suddenly change his mind and purpose when He gave the Law at Sinai? No! The law does not annul the Promise and the Covenant given to Abraham (Gal 3.17).

So why was the Law added to the Promise? It was added because of sin (Gal 3.19). The implication is that the promise God made to Abraham included the blessing of justification by faith. But the Law was given because of sin, not to justify anyone. The Law pointed out sin and man’s need for the righteousness promised in the covenant made with Abraham.

In both Romans and Galatians Paul makes a crucial point about this promise God gave to Abraham: it included the Gentiles. This is something even the early Church was slow to learn, that God wanted to also justify Gentiles. The blessing of Abraham was for the world and not just for Abraham’s physical descendants. The blessing would be given to the world through Abraham’s “seed” or descendant. Paul makes the point that this word “seed” in the original is singular, referring to Christ (Gal. 3.16).

The issue of circumcision, which was the sign and seal of the covenant God made with Abraham, and was also required under Moses and the Law, became a major source of controversy for the early Church as Gentiles began to believe. There were some who taught that these Gentile converts had to be circumcised in order to be saved. Hence the Jerusalem council convened (Acts 15). In line with this council, Paul argues that requiring Gentiles to be circumcised is a violation of the Gospel. Again the example of Abraham is used.

Paul reasons on the Scriptures. Going back to that crucial statement in Gen. 15.6, Paul reasons chronologically. When did this statement of justification by faith happen? Was it before or after Abraham’s circumcision? It is clear chronologically that it was before. So Paul reasons: if Abraham was already declared righteous before he was circumcised then circumcision could not have been the basis for his justification, rather, it was the sign and seal of that justification by faith which had already occurred. So basing one’s righteousness on having been circumcised rather than on faith is seriously flawed. It is actually in opposition both to the original covenant and promise as well as the Gospel of Christ.

Paul actually says that this chronology of Abraham being declared righteous before being circumcised was done intentionally by God to make room for the justification of the Gentiles by faith without the ritual of circumcision. In other words, if Abraham himself was justified without circumcision but by faith this means that Gentiles can also be justified like Abraham was purely on the basis of faith. Circumcision is not a modern issue. But don’t miss the principle. Circumcision represented something. It represented adherence to the Law. It represented a certain principle or approach to God – one of works and not of faith. And as we have already established, the principle of faith and the principle of Law or works are opposed to one another in the justification of sinners.

Remember the original argument. God justifies people on the basis of a principle of faith, not of works. This is illustrated by Abraham. Abraham was justified without circumcision. So Paul argues that this opens the door for Gentiles to be justified by faith too. Gentiles can be spiritual children of Abraham if they share Abraham’s faith.

On the other hand, circumcision represents that path or principle of works, which can never justify. No Israelite was ever justified by being circumcised. He still had to have faith in the promise of God. Circumcision by itself without faith means nothing. This is true with all religious activities and rituals. Apart from faith in the Promise of God in the Gospel morality, tradition, and even those ordinances that are commanded -- such as baptism and the Lord’s Supper, mean nothing and cannot justify us before God even though God commanded that these things be done as He also did with circumcision.

We must have Abraham’s faith if we are to be righteous in God’s sight like Abraham was. Even if we are not his physical descendants, if we have his faith, then we are the children of Abraham, and heirs of the Promise of God in Jesus Christ! Just as Abraham received a promise from God and believed we must also believe the Gospel of Christ.

Having Abraham’s faith means we must do the following things:

1. We must believe in things we cannot yet see and things we do not yet fully possess.

2. We must believe in things that are humanly impossible, knowing that with God all things are possible.

3. We must be fully convinced and not waver in unbelief.

Remember that we are trusting in the God of Abraham! He is a God who can create something out of nothing and He even raises the dead!