Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.”
Exodus 10:21
I wonder what that sort of darkness felt like?
musings on Exodus #4
I’m under the pump to have our church’s Exodus bible studies ready for the Exodus breakfast this Saturday, but I noticed this and wanted to share.
I was looking at the promise that God makes after giving the law at Sinai:
‘Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.‘ Ex 25:8-9
I was thinking about how that promise is true for those living on this side of the cross, who don’t move around the desert setting up big tents anymore. I remembered John 1:14:
‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling (lit: ‘tabernacled’) among us.‘
But it was when my mind went to Matthew’s gospel that I noticed something really cool (which I have probably been taught somewhere or other but forgotten): ‘God With Us’ is the frame for Matthew’s whole Gospel. He begins with the account of the birth of Jesus, whom he says:
they will call him Immanuel – which means, “God with us.” (Matt 1:23)
And Matthew closes his Gospel with the risen Jesus’ words:
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matt 28:20)
That which the tabernacle foreshadowed has come true in the person and work of Jesus (and of course, in the sending of the Holy Spirit to be God’s presence amongst us and within us). And Matthew wanted to make that very clear that that’s what Jesus life, death and resurrection is all about.
Awesome.
Filed under exodus
Musings on Exodus #3
“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Ex 20:4-6)
“Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose names in Jealous, is a jealous God.” (Ex 34:14)
“What does this mean? We usually think of jealousy as spiteful envy, but how could such an attitude be worthy of God? The answer is that there is more than one kind of jealousy. Of course, jealousy can be sinful, and with us, it usually is. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word ‘jealous’ as ‘afraid, suspicious, or resentful of rivalry in love.’ This is the way we tend to be: resentful of rivalry. But the primary definition of the word is ‘fiercely protective’. And although God is neither suspicious nor resentful, he certainly is protective, especially when it comes to his relationship with his people. There is nothing God guards more jealously than his love for us and our love for him in the covenant.
According to J.I.Packer, ‘God’s jealousy is not a compund of frustration, envy, and spite, as human jealousy so often is, but appears instead as a praiseworthy zeal to preserve something supremely precious.’ When God told Moses that his name is Jealous, ‘He meant that He demands from those whom he has loved and redeemed utter and absolute loyalty, and will vindicate His claim by stern action against them if they betray His love by unfaithfulness.’ “
P.G.Ryken, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton: Crossway, 2005), 1054-5.
Musings on Exodus #2
“This, it seems to me, is what it means to ‘preach Exodus’ – to confront people with the jealous God who redeemed them; who expects their exclusive allegiance and fidelity; who wants them, mind, body and spirit; who demands their undivided attention; who will not brook any rivals for his affection; and who in his tender-hearted compassion and loving kindness is committed to doing what it takes to maintain that relationship, including provision for reconciliation and fellowship in the face of Israel’s addiction to sin”
R.Gibson, Name Above All Names: Preaching Exodus, in B.S.Rosner & P.R.Williamson (eds), Exploring Exodus:Literary, theological and contemporary approaches (Nottingham: Apollos, 2008), 211.
the kiss and tell of social networks
Users of social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, are redrawing the boundaries between what is public and what is private, writes Nick Galvin.
…
In July, MySpace drew 114 million global visitors, up 72 per cent on last year, while rival Facebook leapt 270 per cent to 52.2 million visitors in the same month, according to web measurement company ComScore.
Add in the amazing popularity of other sites, such as MySpace rivals Bebo and Friendster, and it is clear there is an extraordinary social experiment happening. It’s an experiment that involves radically redrawing the boundaries between what is public and what is private.
Among many younger net users there is now an assumption that everything should be shared and a casualness about what was once thought of as personal information that makes many older people shudder.
“I don’t know what it is like to live your entire life publicly online,” says social media expert Jeffrey Veen. “But there are kids today who are figuring it out.”
Read the whole article here.
reflections on death #1
I have been continuing to reflect on the idea that people have a fear of death, and that this fear is translated into some sort of idol worship, with the object of trying to minimise or distract from this fear. That observation gels with someone thing I read somewhere once, that whatever worldview you end up adopting, it needs to offer some sort of explanation for the 2 big realities of death and suffering.
I found a book in my local library today: Poems and Readings for Funerals, edited by Julia Watson (London: Penguin, 2004). It consists of just that – classic poems and items, all dealing in one way or another with death. It is fascinating to see the broad spectrum of responses to the unescapable reality of death. I thought I might share them here over the next few weeks or so.
The first reflection: denial.
‘Death is nothing at all.’
Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away
into the next room. I am I, and you are you. Whatever we were to each other,
that we still are. Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way
that you always used. Put no difference in your tone, wear no forced air of
solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was, let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of a shadow on it.Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same that it ever was; there is unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.
All is well.
Henry Scott Holland (1847-1928) [page 7]
But this doesn’t explain the sense of loss that gives rise to grief at all, does it?
Richard Baxter on how to test those who claim to have a prophecy
Quest CLXIV. How is a pretended prophet, or revelation, to be tried?
Answ.1. If it be contrary to Scripture, it is to be rejected as a deceit.
2. If it be the same thing which is in the Scripture, we have it more certainly revealed already; therefore the revelation can be nothing but an assistance of the persons faith, or a call to obedience, or a reproof of some sin; which every man is to believe according as there is true evidence that indeed it is a divine revelation or vision; which if it be not, the same thing is still sure to us in the Scripture.
3. If it be something that is only besides the Scripture, (as about events and facts, or prophecies of what will befall particular places or persons) we must first see whether the evidence of a divine revelation be clear in it or not: and that is known, 1. To the person himself, by the self-attesting and convincing power of a divine revelation, which no man knoweth but he that hath it(and we must be very cautelous lest we take false conceptions to be such). 2. But to himslef and others it is known, (1.) At present by clear, uncontrolled miracles, which are God’s attestation; which if men show, we are bound (in this case) to believe them. (2.) For the future, by the event, when things so plainly come to pass, as prove the prediction to be of God. He therefore … is to be heard with a suspended belief; you must stay till the event show whether he say true or not: and not act any thing in the mean time on an unproved presumption either of the truth or falsehood of his words.
4. If you are in doubt whether that which he speaketh be contrary to God’s word or not, you must hear him with a proportionable suspicion, and give no credit to him till you have tried whether it be so or not.
5. It is a dangerous snare and sin to believe any one’s prophecies or revelations merely because they are very holy persons, and do most confidently aver or swear it. For they may be deceived themselves. As also to take hysterical or melancholy delirations or conceptions for the revelations of the Spirit of God, and so to father falsehood upon God.
Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory (1673; repr., Morgan, Pa.: Soli Deo Gloria, 1996), cited in W.Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today 2nd ed (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2000), 355-6.
John Piper on preparing for sudden suffering
Recently I wrote that we seldom know the micro reasons for our sufferings, but the Bible does give us faith-sustaining macro reasons. It is good to have a way to remember some of these so that when we are suddenly afflicted, or have a chance to help others in their affliction, we can recall some of the truths God has given us to help us not lose hope.
Here is one way to remember. Five R’s (or if it helps, just pick three and try to remember them). The macro purposes of God in our sufferings include:
Repentance
Suffering is a call for us and others to turn from treasuring anything on earth above God.
Luke 13:4-5 – Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Reliance
Suffering is a call to trust God not the life-sustaining props of the world.
2 Corinthians 1:8-9 – For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
Righteousness
Suffering is the discipline of our loving heavenly Father so that we come to share his holiness.
Hebrews 12:6, 10-11 – The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives…. 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.
Reward
Suffering is working for us a great reward in heaven that will make up for every loss here a thousand-fold.
2 Corinthians 4:17 – This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
Matthew 5:11-12 – Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.
Reminder
Suffering reminds us that God sent his Son into the world to suffer so that our suffering would not be God’s condemnation but his purification.
Philippians 3:10 – …that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings.
Mark 10:45 – The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Filed under suffering
Lloyd Jones on discerning spiritual activity
I am speaking particularly to those good, honest, spiritually-minded men and women of any age whatsoever who are longing for revival and reawakening . . . For it is your very anxiety to know the fullness and the baptism of the Spirit that constitutes your danger and exposes you to this possibility of not using your critical faculties as you should. . . .
Do not rely only upon your inward feelings . . . that is entirely subjective, and while I do not discount the subjective altogether, I say it is not enough. You must not rely solely upon some inner inward sense, because that is the very thing the devil wants you to do. That means you are not using your full critical faculties; deciding in a purely emotional and subjective manner.. . .
do not be swayed even by the fact that something reported to you makes you feel wonderful . . .You may say, ‘I have never known such love, I have never known such peace, I have never known such joy’ . . . do not say ‘I feel this is right, everything in me says this is right . . .’ It is not enough. The devil is as subtle as that . . .
Lastly, do not base your judgment on the people who are . . . making their report to you . . . It is often some of the best, most honest and sincere people who can be most seriously led astray . . . The devil does not waste any of his time and energy with your smug formalist — he is safely asleep, already under the drug of the devil, though he is sitting in a Christian church.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Joy Unspeakable, (Eastbourne UK: Kingsway Communications, 1995) 193-195.
ht adrianwarnock.com
Filed under gifts, holy spirit, theology
In Anticipation 