Anglican Preaching

I am currently reading through Being a Priest Today by Christopher Cocksworth and Rosalind Brown. I intend to review it a little more thoroughly in the future. But in a chapter about the shape of priestly life, entitled Being for the Word, there’s some really helpful material about the role of Scripture in the life of the minister that I think should be shared:

Many denominations share a lectionary which holds us to the whole of Scripture and does not give us the option of picking and choosing as though the Bible were an anthology, or a collection of verses to be underlined and taken out of context. Whether or not our congregation follows a lectionary, priestly ministry makes us responsible to the word of God and for the word of God. The Church does not have the luxury of avoiding the hard edges of the biblical tradition, or the hard situations in life to which the word of God speaks. p. 97-98

We are given examples of some ministers, including John Donne, George Herbert and F. W. Robertson (the famous Victorian preacher and alumnus of Brasenose College). They should give us a high view of preaching, which should be driven by the Biblical text itself, and which requires a grasp of the whole counsel of God revealed in the Scriptures:

For Donne the preaching task is to convey Christ, to bring heaven and earth to each other. How, then, do we preach the word once it has taken root in us? There is no one way: John Donne preferred to take a text of no more than two or three verses and dissect it, bringing other scriptures to bear on it, reflecting on it rather than giving an exposition. In contrast, Herbert, who considered Donne’s approach to be ‘crumbling the text’ and treating it as a dictionary, took longer portions of scripture and aimed for sermons (of no longer than an hour!) that were presented with attention to the congregation’s various needs, illustrated by stories and sayings which would be easy to remember, and applied to their situation. In the nineteenth century the Anglican priest Frederick Robertson drew large congregations to his church in Brighton where he always began from the biblical text, rather than using Scripture to illustrate or support a line of thought from an external source. This is the authentically Anglican way of preaching, shaped by the word read systematically. Although the preacher may refer to current issues and events, they are rarely the inspiration for the sermon. Instead, faithful reflection on the word provides the context in which these issues can be pondered theologically and held in the light of the whole word of God.

Ellen Davis has said of Robertson’s preaching that the single most important factor in its powerful effect was his broad and profound knowledge of the Bible, which enabled him to find the truth in any one passage and present it simply, because he looked at it from a perspective informed by the whole of scripture. pp. 98-99

We are reminded of the purpose of preaching, and how all Scripture, including the oft-neglected Old Testament, is profitable for our task:

When we tell the story of God and the world we invite people into this story, not just to observe it but to participate in it within the framing story of creation and redemption. Too often we ignore the Old Testament in our preaching, and it is disturbing to discover how many Christians at the heart of their church’s life know the Old Testament only as a series of unconnected stories about a few famous people, rather than as the record of God’s dealing with a people, as the coherent story of God’s ways with a wayward world. How can we, as people who proclaim the word of God, reduce God’s word to snippets? The story of David and Goliath is a gloriously dramatic story for children, but if it remains for adults nothing more than a dramatic but isolated event we are selling people short and the story ceases to be formational, only episodic…

In addition to the awareness of its liturgical context, preaching should always recognize that people come with their own stories, joys and sorrows, so that the preacher’s task is, in part, to enable them to make the links between the gospel and daily life. At its best, Anglican preaching aims for conversion of life, for daily conversion to a more godly way of living, and therefore preaching has to help people enter into the scriptural world so that they can hear its call to conversion of life. pp 99-100

Finally, there is no place for a cult of personality to grow up around a preacher. The preacher’s duty in ministering the word to his people is that they grow up into maturity, understanding it and applying it for themselves, and his own example is important:

Our privilege is to keep the word alive in people’s hearts and minds, to give them the vocabulary of faith, to teach and encourage by word and example. The calling on us to serve the people with joy, to build them up in the faith and do all in our power to bring them to loving obedience to Christ, does not allow us to keep them as spiritual infants who are dependent on us, or shackle them to an inauthentic response. In this our own response to the word, our own example, will speak as loudly as our words. Our life during the rest of the week may be just as much a sermon as the brief time we spend in the pulpit on a Sunday. p. 101

Expository Thoughts on Song 2.8-3.5

Again, this unit seems have a common theme running through it, that of longing, the mutual longing of the lover and the beloved for one another.

1. Christ’s longing for the presence of the church (2.8-17)

The bride hears the voice of her beloved who like a gazelle or stag is leaping over the landscape to reach her.  There is eagerness, excitement, joy. He then arrives where she is (vv. 8-9). It is time for him to take her away to a much better place, to enjoy the land with him (v. 10). Winter with its rain has passed; spring is now there (v. 11). The language of flowers appearing on the earth and the time of singing arriving  (v. 12) is redemption language. See Psalms 96 and 98, Isaiah 35.1-10, Isaiah 49.13. God has come to save his people. The ripening of the fig tree and the blossoming of the vine is reminiscent of the Promised Land (Numbers 13, Deuteronomy 8.8) and this is what is promised when God says he finally comes to save his people – Amos 9.13-15, Hosea 14.5-7. God comes to save his people to take them to a beautiful and fruitful land. Sin and its consequences will be completely done away with, and it will be like being in the Promised Land again. In the New Testament, this is what we see God does in Christ. And Christ longs to see his beautiful bride, his church, he longs to hear her voice (v. 14). He doesn’t want there to be anything to spoil their enjoyment of one another in the land (v. 15). The bride reflects on her relationship with her beloved (v. 16) – ‘My beloved is mine and I am his’ echoes God’s covenant promise: ‘I will be your God and you shall be my people’. But all that is described in vv. 8-16 is future. It is not yet ‘day’. There are still ’shadows’. So until the day comes, until it breathes out the beautiful fragrance of the redeemed land, until the shadows flee, she longs for the coming of her beloved like a gazelle or stag on cleft mountains (v. 17). And that is the experience of the church. We have the future prospect of life in the fruitful new creation with Christ where he will delight in the praises of his people and we shall look on him and he on us. He says, “Behold, I am coming soon.” “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come”" (Revelation 22.12, 17). May we recognize how much Christ longs to come and take his church to be with him in his new world forever, may we recognize how wonderful that world will be, and so yearn for that coming. May we remember how he longs to hear the voice of his bride because it is sweet and be stirred to pray to and praise him in the present. Knowing that he doesn’t want anything to spoil the future world, may we repent now. And when the coldness, barrenness and unpleasantness of the present world is particularly acute, may we remember our future so that our love remains fervent and we continue to have hope.

2. The church’s longing for the presence of Christ (3.1-5)

The bride continues to speak. She may be dreaming of her beloved. He is certainly not present beside her in her bed at night (v. 1). Again, he is described as ‘him whom my soul loves’, just as Israel was to love the Lord their God with all their heart and soul. Not content to be without her beloved, she gets up and heads into the city, which we learn later is a dangerous place (5.7). The church is in the dangerous city, Babylon now, a place full of oppression and idolatry, not yet with Christ, enjoying unhindered communion with him. She searches and she doesn’t find (v. 2). She asks the watchmen where he is (v. 3). Then she finds him and holds him and will not be parted from him. She takes him back to the safe environment of her home and even her bedroom, far from the dangerous world of the city outside, where their love is consummated (v. 4). Again, she adjures the daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up love until it pleases, but this time it is the experience of longing for which they have to be ready. Until that time when we the church find Christ whom our soul loves and are taken out of the dangerous world into security, may not be satisfied but continue to long for his presence, but do so safe in the knowledge that one day we will be with him in safety forever.

Expository Thoughts on Song 1.1-2.7

It’s all well and good saying that the Song of Songs is about the relationship between God and his people, Christ and his church, and not sex, but what is the ‘cash value’? What might that look like in practice? I’ve decided to have a look at the Song again in my own devotional time, and while I’m taking a revision break, I thought I might share my thoughts with you. This is most definitely a collection of thoughts coming out of the text, rather than anything directly preachable, although I’d love to work on it in the future. I am heavily indebted to the prior work of Matthew Mason and Ros Clark in this – the previous post has a link to something Matthew has prepared and that in turn links to Ros’ work.

1.1-2.7 function well as a single ‘preaching unit’, concluding with a refrain in 2.7 and united by the theme of the mutual delight of Christ and his church. While this isn’t closely reasoned argument and doesn’t appear to be a particularly structured narrative, there appear to be three movements in this first section: 1.1-8 (‘Long for Christ!’), 1.9-2.2 (‘Delight in Christ!’) and 2.3-7 (‘Feast with Christ!’)

1. Long for Christ! (1.1-8)

The bride, the church, longs to experience Christ’s love, which she esteems far more than wine; it gladdens her more than anything this world can offer (v. 2). All our senses are meant to be engaged as we let this poetry sink into us: the fragrance of anointing oils, oil poured out evokes the environment of the temple where God meets with his people. That’s further emphasised when she later describes herself as ‘like the curtains of Solomon’ (v. 5). God is the king whom she loves (v. 3). She longs to be with him, and Christ brings her into his chamber, the place where love is to be fully experienced. This love spills over to others as they, in turn, recognize the greatness of Christ’s love, that he is worthy to be praised and they rejoice in him (v. 4). The bride, however, recognises her own intrinsic undesirability. Her skin is sun-damaged and she has rather let herself go in her experiences of life. Kedar was a people beyond the borders of Israel. Perhaps by comparing herself to them she feels like she doesn’t belong in this relationship, that she doesn’t deserve it (vv. 5-6). Nevertheless she is confident of her own standing before her beloved, that she is ‘lovely’, and so she diverts attention away from her appearance. The church knows itself to be intrinsically undesirable – sullied, scarred, decaying and far from God because of sin – and yet in Christ’s eyes she is lovely, and so can be confident, as is the bride in the Song, to come into the presence of her beloved. He is the one whom her soul loves (‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might’). The king is also a shepherd. See Ezekiel 34.11-24 – the shepherd is the Lord God who is also of the line of David, the one whom we meet in the Word incarnate. The bride is not content with second-best. She doesn’t want to be with his companions, veiled. She wants full, unhindered relationship with him (v. 7) And he wants her, describing her as the ‘most beautiful amongst women’, directing her how she may find him and welcoming her presence with him (v. 8). This all makes sense when we realise that the love Christ has for his people is a love that meant he ‘gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish’ (Ephesians 5.25-27). O that as a church we would recognize the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ and long for him ardently! O that we would remember how Christ sees us and welcomes us when we doubt his love for his people, and in our insecurities.

2. Delight in Christ! (1.9-2.2)

The church is now with Christ and he continues to delight in her (v. 9). The horses of Egypt were great and renowned – Solomon in his wealth imported horses from Egypt for his army (2 Chronicles 1.16,17). She is beautiful in all her jewellery (v. 10), just as God adorned his people with jewellery in his love when he rescued his people despoiled Egypt and the peoples of Canaan (Ezekiel 16.11-12). The bride is Christ’s saved people. Again, this love overflows to others, although this time, others too recognize the beauty of the church and long to serve and beautify her further (v. 11). The king and his bride lie together on the couch and their scents mingle. Only this time, it evokes a strange image. Nard was what Mary used to anoint Jesus’ feet in advance of his death (John 12.3-7), and myrrh, which was given to Jesus by the Magi (Matthew 2.11) was what Nicodemus used to embalm Jesus’ body after his crucifixion before it was buried (John 19.39). The church’s delight is in her beloved who died. The image shifts to Engedi, a wilderness place in Israel near the Dead Sea. Yet there are vineyards, and the beloved is like a cluster of flowers there. Christ is present with his people, described so often in terms of a vineyard in Scripture (e.g. Isaiah 5) and by his death he redeems even the creation itself, bringing life out of a dead earth, which we see, finally, in the new creation (v. 14). Christ continues to delight in his bride (v. 15) and his bride delights in him (v. 16) and she looks around at her surroundings. Are they outside, lying on the grass in a forest? Are they in a building? The house is made of cedar, the material with which the temple was built (1 Kings 5.6). Along with the fragrance of the anointing oils in v. 3, we’re meant to feel as if we’re simultaneously in a garden and a temple, or rather, the garden, of which the temple was meant to be a recreation, the world as it is meant to be, in the presence of God. Again it points us forward to the new creation (vv. 16-17). The bride describes herself as a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys (v. 18), which idea her beloved takes up and says that she is a lily among brambles. That’s how he compares her to those who are not his bride (v. 19). Again, may we grasp how Christ feels about his church. May that shape we see our brothers and sisters in Christ. May we love the church more. And may we delight more and more in Christ who died and who redeems the earth and brings us back to a restored Eden.

3. Feast with Christ (2.3-7)

Here we see the activity at the heart of Christ’s relationship with the church. The bride delights in her beloved because he is like an apple tree in a forest feeding her with sweet fruit (v. 3). Again, this echoes back to Eden, in which the fruit of the trees was good for food (Genesis 2.9) and points us forward to the new Jerusalem, in which is the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month (Revelation 22.2). This is life in a world with God as it is meant to be. It is all of grace: Christ brings his bride in his love to feast with him (v. 4), and his bride longs for the food he provides. Cakes of raisins were what David gave to his people when he blessed them in God’s name after the Ark of the Covenant was brought up to Jerusalem, signifying his presence among his people (2 Samuel 6.19). Again, this is about relationship with God being put right and the blessing that comes when he is with his people. Raisin cakes were also what were offered to/eaten before idols (Hosea 3.1), but here it is the beloved’s raisins she wants, and not anyone else’s (v. 5). Feasting is at the heart of the new creation at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19.6-10) and it’s at the heart of the life of the church as the new creation in the present, as we feast with Christ at the Lord’s Table week by week. All this longing is produced by an intense love (v. 5) and there is great intimacy between the beloved and his love, Christ and the church (v. 6). It it because of the intensity of this love, I think, that leads the bride to say what she says to the daughters of Jerusalem. It’s going to be so powerful, you had better make sure you’re ready for it (v. 7)! May this increase our longing for the new creation, and lead us to a regained sense of the importance of sharing the Lord’s Supper week by week, feasting with our beloved and being refreshed and sustained by him.

(I’m not sure how this would be expounded if it were simply a celebration of human relationships or wisdom for good relationships: tell your husband/wife how much you love him/her (poetry is good), put on a bit of scent, take a holiday in a log cabin and go out for a meal every now and then, perhaps?)

Song of Songs

While the boat has been rocked slightly, this is a reminder that the Song of Songs is about God and his people, not sex, as Matthew Mason’s utterly convincing handout articulates, just in case you’ve heard otherwise.

Jonathan Edwards on Postmillennialism

Click HERE for Jonathan Edwards’ AN HUMBLE ATTEMPT TO PROMOTE EXPLICIT AGREEMENT AND VISIBLE UNION OF GOD’S PEOPLE, IN EXTRAORDINARY PRAYER, For The Revival Of Religion And The Advancement Of Christ’s Kingdom On Earth.Based on an exposition of Zechariah 8.20-23, he sets forth a postmillennial vision and exhorts his readers to comply with a request made by certain Scottish ministers to join together in prayer that God would ‘manifest his compassion to the world of mankind, by an abundant effusion of his Holy Spirit on all the churches, and the whole habitable earth, to revive true religion in all parts of Christendom, and to deliver all nations from their great and manifold spiritual calamities and miseries, and bless them with the unspeakable benefits of the kingdom of our glorious Redeemer, and fill the whole earth with his glory.’

The scheme they proposed for two years was to pray on Saturday evening and on the Lord’s Day morning (‘these times being so near the time of dispensing gospel ordinances through the Christian world, which are the great means, in the use of which God is wont to grant his Spirit to mankind, and the principal means that the Spirit of God makes use of to carry on his work of grace, it may be well supposed that the minds of Christians in general will at these seasons be especially disengaged from secular affairs, and disposed to pious meditations and the duties of devotion, and more naturally led to seek the communications of the Holy Spirit, and success of the means of grace’) and quarterly on a Tuesday, either in private, or in a meeting of the church, or in a small prayer group. This was all dependent on other business permitting, and no one had to make any promises or was under any obligation. To guard against negligence, however, those who wanted to be involved yet who could not commit time on the specified day, should pray on the next convenient day.

This sounds thoroughly wholesome, and perhaps people would like to commit (in the spirit described above) to pray for the revival of religion and the advancement of Christ’s kingdom on earth on a regular basis, perhaps starting every Saturday evening, in addition to the other times you pray for it.

Here’s a taster of what Edwards wrote:

We may observe who they are that shall be united in thus seeking the Lord of hosts: the inhabitants of many cities, and of many countries, yea, many people, and strong nations, great multitudes in different parts of the world shall conspire in this business. From the representation made in the prophecy, it appears rational to suppose, that it will be fulfilled something after this manner:-There shall be given much of a spirit of prayer to God’s people, in many places, disposing them to come into an express agreement, unitedly to pray to God in an extraordinary manner, that he would appear for the help of his church, and in mercy to mankind, and pour out his Spirit, revive his work, and advance his spiritual kingdom in the world, as he promised. This disposition to prayer, and union in it, will gradually spread more and more, and increase to greater degrees; with which at length will gradually be introduced a revival of religion, and a disposition to greater engagedness in the worship and service of God, amongst his professing people. This being observed, will be the means of awakening others, making them sensible of the wants of their souls, and exciting in them a great concern for their spiritual and everlasting good, and putting them upon earnestly crying to God for spiritual mercies, and disposing them to join in that extraordinary seeking and serving of God.

In this manner religion shall be propagated, till the awakening reaches those that are in the highest stations, and till whole nations be awakened, and there be at length an accession of many of the chief nations of the world to the church of God. Thus after the inhabitants of many cities of Israel, or of God’s professing people, have taken up and pursued a joint resolution, to go and pray before the Lord, and seek the Lord of hosts, others shall be drawn to worship and serve him with them; till at length many people and strong nations shall join themselves to them; and there shall, in process of time, be a vast accession to the church, so that it shall be ten times as large as it was before; yea, at length, all nations shall be converted unto God. Thus (Zechariah 8:23.) “ten men shall take hold, out of all languages of the nations, of the skirt of him that is a Jew,” (in the sense of the apostle, Romans 2:28, 29.) “saying, We will go with you; for we have heard, that God is with you.” And thus shall be fulfilled,

“O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.” (Psalm 65:2)

The veil is removed

Having painted some of the broad brushstrokes of a postmillennialist outlook, my original intention was to raise some questions I had and objections that had been addressed to me, in which the details needed to be worked out in order to be faithful to the Biblical text. However, having thought over it, the Lord has given me understanding, I believe. Some of this is quite new to me (I trust it is not entirely new: what historical pedigree does it have?) and I am on scary, unfamiliar territory, but God’s word can be unsettling like that.

What about the parables &c. which speak about Jesus’ imminent return?

In the gospels, parables urging the church to be ready for the sudden return of the Lord e.g. that of the ten virgins, come in Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ questions when Jesus foretells the destruction of the temple:

“You see all these, do you not? Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” – Matthew 24.2-3; see also Mark 13.1-4, Luke 21.5-7.

There is no indication here that the destruction of the temple, Christ’s coming, and the end of the age are to be at all separated. Destruction of the temple is the final end of the age of the Old Covenant, with its apparatus finally destroyed, as Christ comes in judgment in AD 70. against those who rejected him (1 Thessalonians 1.14-16). This seems to be the most natural reading of those sections of the gospels, throwing up fewer exegetical problems. Jesus teaches that ‘this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.’ – Matthew 24.34, cf  Mark 13.30, Luke 21.32.

Matthew 24.14 – ‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come’ – is no obstacle to this interpretation. Paul teaches us that this has already happened in the spread of the gospel in the days of the apostles after Christ’s ascension:

“Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed, they have, for

“Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”" – Romans 10.17-18

“…the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing.” – Colossians 1.5-6

“…the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven.” – Colossians 1.23

The darkening of the sun and moon and the falling of the stars is apocalyptic language for the cosmic upheaval that results from the definitive end of the Old Covenant era – Matthew 24.29, Mark 12.24-25.

The coming of the Son of Man in clouds with power and glory needn’t refer to Christ’s second coming. The allusion is to Daniel 7, where the coming of the Son of Man on clouds is his coming to the Ancient of Days. This is most clearly fulfilled in the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. So in the destruction of AD 70, of the old order which rejected Christ, the dominion and triumph of the risen and ascended Lord Jesus is proclaimed.

The angels being sent out with a loud trumpet call to gather in the elect from the four corners of the earth (Matthew 24.31, Mark 13.27) is then the worldwide proclamation of the gospel, cf Revelation 14.6.

That first generation of Christians are summoned on the basis of Christ’s coming in judgment on those who rejected him to be ready and remain faithful and persevere, rather than grow lazy and immoral. Those who are ready will share in the marriage feast of the new creation (Matthew 25.10, cf. Revelation 19).

Postmillennialism is dangerous.

It might be objected that postmillennialism removes the urgency of the gospel message (if Christ’s return isn’t imminent, then why should I repent and believe?) and the pressing need to remain faithful (if Christ isn’t going to come for ages, then can’t I be ungodly for a bit now?). Not so. For a start, the prospect of death makes the gospel message an urgent thing – Luke 12.13-21 (the Rich Fool), Luke 13.1-5, Luke 16.19-31 (the Rich Man and Lazarus), Hebrews 10.27.

Moreover, judgment begins at the household of God and Christ comes in judgment to his worldly and complacent church down the ages – see Revelation 2.16. The implications of Christ’s coming in judgment in AD 70 can be validly applied to the present day. After all, whenever we preach Scripture, aren’t we always working to apply what was written to a particular people at a particular time to a different people at a different time?

All my friends are amillennialists!

Never mind. Speak the truth in love, and pray and evangelise like a postmillennalist with such boldness springing from confidence in the power of the gospel that they cannot help but be won over.

Revelation 21.5

Click HERE for the transcript of the sermon I preached on Revelation 21.5 on Tuesday evening.

The Gospel and Your Government

The third of Doug Wilson’s Blenheim Lectures.

The crucifixion was public and has public ramifications. There is no way to be faithful about Christ’s death and resurrection in private. 1 Corinthians 2.1-10 – Paul was not a showman, he was inadequate as a person and his message was the same, but God ordained this wisdom for our glory. It came through those who didn’t recognize it for the benefit of those who love him and is revealed through the Spirit. The gospel is not just about getting Smith to heaven. The message topples the princes of this world and everything under their authority. Its goal is everything in captivity to Christ. We should be doing maths to the glory of God &c.

Theologies of the Atonement

These are not in opposition (although they are often presented like that). They all have solid Scriptural basis. Our theology of the atonement has to take into account that it has such wide-reaching implications. A partial truth represented as the whole truth is an untruth.

1. Penal Substitution – see 1 Peter 3.18

2. Example – see 1 Peter 2.21. It is inadequate in isolation, leading to liberalism.

3. Christus Victor, Christ triumphing over the devil and his angels. Colossians 2.13-15 speaks of ‘principalities [political rulers] and powers [spiritual powers behind them]‘. In the Old Testament, the order was God-angels-man. In the New Testament it is God-man in Christ-angels. There has been a cosmic revolution.

Christ died as prophet (as an example), priest (as a substitutionary sacrifice) and king (ruling over all his enemies) and he rose as prophet, priest and king. As Christians we are to preach all of this. And this takes us into politics. The death of Jesus creates a new humanity – Christians. Christ’s death is juxtaposed with the old princes of the world. He was not murdered in private and raised in private and the message to be passed on to another select handful. He was tried by public authorities – the Sanhedrin and Pilate. He rose, and in such a way that proclaims his triumph over all.

God is going to inundate the world with the hidden things of God. We don’t have to worry about the depth of overdoing it with our fulfilment of the Great Commission. In Revelation, we see an innumerable host. The number saved will be greater than the number lost. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is a propitiation for the sins of the world. God promised Abram the world. What did he have to go on? Nothing. We have seen much fulfilled. At the end of history, Christ is going to present a saved world to God. We feel as if we’re in a house that is cluttered and we know something has to be done about it but the task seems hopeless. Jesus came to bind the strong man to take his stuff. The temptation for Christ was to take the gift of the kingdoms of the world by serving Satan not going to the cross. The claims of Christ are total. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, so his people are to disciple the nations, baptising and teaching them. This is a big ask, so we’d better get on with it. We have a tendency to be like the spies scouting out Canaan and being fearful. Our attitude should be more like David with Goliath: ‘He’s a giant – I can’t miss! His forehead’s the size of a billboard’. The basic creed is ‘Jesus is Lord’. Those who are not with the programme are against it. There is no spiritual Switzerland. You are either gathering or you are scattering.

My pen ran out at this point, so I’m hoping my friend John Aveson is going to type up his notes sometime soon. Thanks to David Field for his prompts.

The thrust was that we have to say something to fit in with the totality of Christ’s claims. So what Wilson calls ‘Christian-lite’ says that Christ is Lord of all my heart. Or Christ is Lord of spiritual things (Gnosticism). The pietist (like the British Christian) is all cross and no resurrection. He doesn’t believe the triumphant good news of the resurrection. He treats the path (the cross) as the destination. The climber (like the American Christian) is all resurrection and no cross. He wants to get to the destination (resurrection) without the path (the cross).

The question we have to ask ourselves is not whether we want God, but what God we want. That might sound theocratic. Of course it is. Everyone’s theocratic. The question is, “Who’s Theo?”. We need to ask what laws we want &c.

Christ is Lord of all. The Great Commission is declaring to the nations that they might as well come along quietly.

In Questions and Answers, Doug Wilson said that he believed in the separation of church and state (the governors of one shouldn’t govern the other), but he didn’t believe in the separation of God and state. We should promote both Christian education and the establishment of Christian churches, depending on our resources. There is a place for incrementalism – it’s all right to campaign to lower the gestation for abortion, for example. It’s not all right, however, to have multifaith services such as the one after 9/11. Wilson doesn’t believe in the imminent return of Christ: many of the passages which appear to speak of his imminent return are talking about the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. Wilson affirmed his Calvinistic credentials. He believes all five points. He thinks that his view that the majority at the end of time will be saved makes best sense of all the ‘world’ passages. It’s like saying the whole town showed up for the fireworks party. You can still say that even if Mrs Smith and her dog stay at home. It’s about ratios. There is a real hell for unbelievers.

Sorry that’s a bit sketchy. I guess you’ll just have to buy the lectures and listen to them (probably at half-speed).

The Gospel and Your Family

The second of Doug Wilson’s Blenheim Lectures.

We live in fatherless times. Father-hunger comes when fathers abdicate responsibility.

Malachi 4.5-6 prophesies that before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD, Elijah will come and will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest the Lord comes and strikes the land with destruction. When John is asked whether he is Elijah, he says, “No.” But like Elijah, he comes after a period of silence, he wears Elijah’s dress (2 Kings 1.8 cf Matthew 3.4) and Jesus says John is Elijah (Matthew 17.10-12). In the first century, there was a sense of expectancy. Elijah would be the forerunner to the Messiah whose task would be to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and vice versa. This is a national sin and we tend to say that with national sins, such as abortion and homosexual marriage, God will judge later. This is true, but we need to remember that many are a judgment in themselves (cf. Romans 1). God says, ‘Thy will be done.’ The hearts of the fathers being turned away from their children is a chastisement. Elijah’s task was to turn them back; the coming of Christ and establishment of the gospel has profound implications for the family.

In Ephesians 6.4, Paul gives the instruction to bring up children in the fear of the Lord. The work paideia is loaded in the Greek, used of making model citizens, sons of the polis. This is a mandate for Christian education. But it can’t happen until Elijah comes, which is connected with John’s ministry. There is no New Testament mention of this, but we can assume it happened because God’s word doesn’t fail. His message was one of national repentance.Matthew 3.1-2 was a corporate message to all Israel and spread into all the nooks and crannies of society.

The fifth commandment, in Deuteronomy 5.16, is a command with a proise. In Galatians 6.2-3, the promise is ‘that you may live long in the earth’. The promise to the Jews is that if they honour their father and mother, they will live long in the land of Canaan. When Paul is writing to the Ephesians, the command and the promise are applicable to New Israel and they are applicable to the whole world. The invasion of Canaan is a type of the invasion of the world by the new Joshua, Jesus Christ. The Mosaic Law died like Jesus and rose again. It is still applicable, in its glorified and transfigured state. This is all about the politics of Christendom but it applies to individual families. Malachi predicts and John heralds an eschatological announcement. We truncate it to be about us, but this is inadequate.

In Matthew 6.33, we are told to ’seek first the kingdom of God’ and the rest, food and clothing, will be added. These are family issues. When Jesus talks about family, in Luke 13 he talks about hating one’s father and mother. But what we surrender to God is given back 30-, 60-, 100-fold. However, we hold on to the seed. When we make our spouse number 1, we make her an idol, and she gets less love and respect than when she is not. She’s getting ripped off. If Christ is first and the wife is second, then we are connected in fellowship with the source of all grace. The call to us is to repent, to repent of having families that are too important to us in the wrong way so that they are more important to us in the right way. That which is surrendered to God in death is raised by God. That is true in our families. That is one of the primary fruits of John’s message. Jesus is not a 12-step programme, a pill, the key to personal success or a therapist. So we must repent, for his kingdom is near. God establishes our corporate citizenship and the turning of the hearts of the fathers to the children &c. is the work of the Holy Spirit. Don’t build strong families to build strong families. God has established his invisible kingdom. Seek this first, and the rest will be added.

Even in conservative circles, we see this father-hunger. This reveals our attitudes to God. It is a symptom of idolatry, and is the basis for our political situation and accounts for the paternalistic state. The solution is to preach that the kingdom of this world is becoming the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ. If we go to the family without the gospel, we get tribalism. The chief end of marriage is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. We live in therapeutic times. We want comfort for being losers not forgiveness for being sinners, which leaves us where we were. For a Christian home and a Christ-centred life, we should want the restoration of our life by the gospel to be visible in our homes.

Our current problems stem from a pathetic misunderstanding of masculinity and femininity. There has been a wholesale abandonment of roles. Paul says the head of every man in Christ, every woman, man, and Christ, God.  Authority and headship means taking responsibility sacrificially. We have allowed Muslims to influence us. We are imitating God the Father, not Allah, which looks like Jesus on the cross. ‘If you have seen me, you have seen the Father,’ says Jesus. Femininity is about submission, obedience, gratitude and responsiveness. Masculinity should be the property of men and femininity the property of women in the family. So God the Father is masculine with regard to the Son. God the Son is masculine towards us. He is the bridegroom, the church is the bride, half of which will be males. We have taken corporate identity to individual piety, which is why men have given up on Christianity. They don’t want to pray in a feminine way. And they shouldn’t. But, in the relationship between a mother and her son, the mother is taking on a masculine role and the son a feminine role. God the Father is not male. He is a Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit. But he is ultimately masculine. Ephesians 3.14 – he defines all fatherhood and a dim reflection of his masculinity is projected on to human maleness. In marriage, the man is the husband. When we behave appropriately to our roles, marriage flourishes. But males in some situations behave in a feminine way, for example, when they are subordinate in the military, or as sons. This helps them to be understanding with their wives. There is a need for fathers to model submission to authority to their families by showing how they submit to the authority that is over them.

Masculinity:

Authority – masculinity is about authority and rule, making decisions that affect others. 2 Corinthians 10.8 – authority edifies, gives, bestows. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. When that doesn’t work, women usurp authority, which is unbecoming (1 Timothy 2.12-13).

Sacrifice – the Son of Man laid down his life on the cross. His whole life was sacrificial. This is to be the model in marriage – Ephesians 5.25. There must be sacrifice in day-to-day things.

Responsibility – Christ died not just instead of his bride, but also on account of her. Husbands can re-enact Christ’s sacrificial penal substitutionary death, but they are to imitate it. When there are problems in marriage, the assumption should be that they lie with the husband. There is a difference between personal guilt and responsibility. The husband is the one with responsibility. He is answerable. In Job 1, Job takes responsibility for his children. It’s a covenantal category. Husbands need to assume responsibility for his household before God and not to blame his wife: ‘the woman you gave me…’ – see Adam and Eve in the Garden.

Initiative

Femininity:

In 1 Peter 3.1-6, Peter is instructing women who are married to disobedient husbands. Older women are to teach younger women (Titus 2). They are to instruct children (Ephesians 6.1). They are not to be in submission to other husbands (Ephesians 5.22). Remember the fierceness of the Magnificat. Femininity is not frilly. Men are effeminate when they are expressing femininity in the wrong place. Feminists are expressing their masculinity in an inappropriate place. ‘Frustration’ happens when the husband is abdicating, the wife is usurping, or both.

Submission – a wife’s adornment is to be chastity, reverence &c. She is to be a lady. It’s about demeanour.

Obedience – this is born of submission, not equated with it – Titus 2.5. The surly wife is not submissive, even if she obeys.

Gratitude – wives are to learn from the church how to be wibes. Ephesians 5.24 speaks of thanksgiving and respect.

Responsiveness

Relationship is not static. The relationship of masculinity and femininity is a Reformational grace. It’s a gift. And it comes as the hearts of the fathers are turned to their children.

Questions and Answers

What if you have a non-Christian wife? This is uncommon. If the husband is converted, and is doing what God wants him to do, then the hope is that the wife responds and comes to faith. You need to ask how you got to that position. If you were already a Christian and married a non-Christian – confess your sin. If you were both non-Christians and got married, and if the unbeliever is content and willing to live as a Christian husband and wife, then confess your family privately before God and ask that you may model the gospel.

A Crooked and Twisted Generation

There are such striking parallels between Philippians 2.14-15 and Deuteronomy 32.5 that Paul must have been thinking of Moses’ song when he was writing:

“They have dealt corruptly with him [God];
they are no longer his children because they are blemished;
they are a crooked and twisted generation.” – Deuteronomy 32.5

“Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innoent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” – Philippians 2.14-15

Of course, grumbling and questioning was exactly what the people of Israel did:

“And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ – Exodus 15.24

“And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.” – Exodus 16.2

This grumbling of course reaches its climax in Numbers 15-16 when the spies return from Canaan and say that conquest is hopeless and the people grumble against God, with the result that the present generation, excepting Caleb and Joshua, will perish in the wilderness.

I wonder if Paul’s thought here is that the Christian church is the new Israel (cf. Philippians 3.3) whose journey in the wilderness to the promised land of the heavenly city (Philippians 3.20) is fraught with danger and who must therefore not complain against God lest they too face his judgment. This becomes all the more significant when we see that the ‘crooked and twisted generation’ in which they live consists at least in part Jews who are rejecting God’s purpose and insisting on works-righteousness (Philippians 3.2-9), people whose ‘god is their belly’ (Philippians 3.19), just as the Israelites rebelled against God, craved for meat and bread in the desert, and earned for themselves the title ‘crooked and twisted generation’ in the past. In remaining content, the Philippians will fulfil their calling to be ‘lights in the world’, brightly shining in the benighted world around them. Is this not what our Lord taught: ‘You are the light of the world [same words in the Geek]…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.’ – Matthew 5.14, 16.

The Gospel and Your Church

I’m going to begin a few posts reporting and reflecting on the Blenheim Lectures sponsored by Credenda Agenda that I attended with a friend yesterday. In his words, coming home was like ‘coming down from Mount Sinai’. Wilson spoke very quickly and the process of going through the pages of notes I made is intended to help me take in what he said as much as anything else although I offer it in case some people find it useful. David Field, whom I had the very great pleasure of meeting on Saturday, has produced an outline HERE.In what follows, all emphasis is mine.

Doug Wilson began by saying that when it comes to robust theology, the church has been domesticated. Rather than being a great mastiff running after its master, the church is a yippy dog trained not to pee on the carpet. The influence of the world on the church is like telling John the Baptist what to say to Herod. “The words of a friend are faithful” and so Doug Wilson shares his burden as an outsider who may be able to see some things more clearly than insiders.

In the first talk proper, Wilson started by defining what he meant by ‘gospel’. It’s good news, and from the Greek we get the word ‘evangelical’ (one who believes the good news) and ‘evangelist’ (one who proclaims it. He emphasised the import of the gospel for individual salvation. The gospel message is that of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ for sins in accordance with the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15.1-8) and if one accepts in true faith one is saved. He didn’t want anything to detract from that. But the gospel is bigger than personal salvation. Mark 1.1 begins ‘The beginning of the gospel’ and so part of the gospel is James and John mending their fishing nets. In Galatians 3.8, God preached the gospel to Abraham. The Gentile mission meaning the nations stream to Christ is part of the gospel. To be descendants of Abraham, we need to take into account not just how Abraham believed, but what he believed. Jesus died and rose not just so Smith could go to heaven when he dies, but to reconstitute a new humanity in Christ and restore the broken image of God in man. There will be a new creation and a new Adam and a new Eve. Just as Adam was put into a deep sleep and Eve was created out of his side, so Jesus’ side was pierced after he died (John 19) for the creation of the new Eve.

The good news is cosmic. We can have no truck with liberalism, universalism or group-huggism. Granted that Jesus is king of our hearts, is Jesus the king of the world? The UK? Not, will Jesus become king of those things, but is he? “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ.” (Revelation 11.15, which we shouldn’t be able to hear without Handel going through our head!). Christ exercises his royal prerogatives through the Church. Christ fills all things. The church is the fullness of him. Ephesians 1.20-21 – Christ is the head of all things to the church. This is true true, not spiritually true. Unto Christ be glory in the Church (Eph. 3.21). The purpose of the church is to worship God the Father through Jesus in the power of the Spirit. Christian worship should be Trinitarian liturgically, structurally and dynamically. We should be asking the Father in turn to glorify Jesus on earth. We pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” not, “Thy kingdom go.” For many, this world is God’s Vietnam. It’s in a mess and God has got embroiled in it and we’re just waiting to be taken out of it.

According to Hebrews 12, in every worship service, heaven is opened. If it weren’t for free justification, we would be struck dead for the triteness of our worship. Every Sunday, Christian churches enter heaven and glorify Christ, asking God to glorify Christ on earth as we glorify him in heaven. Jesus will be lifted up in our nation, family &c. in the way that he is in our worship services.  When our worship in heaven is potent by evangelical faith, the church on earth will be potent. When it is not, then the church loses its saltiness and is fit only for trampling on by men. That doesn’t mean persecution. Persecution is the world trying to trample on the church, but the church triumphs by dying, which is the way of Christ. Today, the world is successfully walking on the church. We see it in the welcoming of an amplified Muslim call to prayer. We see it in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s comments that the incorporation of Shariah law is inevitable.

The coming of Christ to a nation is a story. It’s continuous. There will be decline and restoration. Britain is up a creek at the moment, but it has been worse than it is now. The first Christian missionary in a nation is on the offensive, not on the defensive. He trusts that it will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Saudi Arabia, England &c. will be Christian. The Bishop of Oxford is catering to another god. Not to the Muslim god. But to the god of multiculturalism – ‘Demos’. The chapter may end badly without the book ending badly. Jesus Christ is going to reign over all. He reigns in principle. God is the God of brinksmanship. We see that in the story of Abraham and Isaac. God does this so that his people will believe in the God who raises the dead.

So:

There needs to be a reformation of worship in the church

(i) Where there are Christ-honouring liturgies but no heart, there needs to be repentance and faith. God is not pleased with orthodusty. If there is form but no power, there needs to be a turning back to the meaning in evangelical faith.

(ii) Where evangelicals use liturgies designed for children’s birthdays, there needs to be repentance and faith. It is trivial.

(iii) We need to establish churches where Christ is worshipped as the Bible says Christ is to be worshipped.

If we’re befuddled by worship that is Christ-honouring and worship that is not Christ-honouring, then there is going to be trouble with other distinctions – male and female, mine and yours, right and wrong, Muslim and Christian, Trinitarian and Unitarian. Christ-honouring worship is the engine.

In Hebrews 12.29, if we’re told to worship God acceptably then it must be possible to worship him unacceptably. When we offer unacceptable worship, we are reminded that our God is a consuming fire. Repentance is not an option. We can approach the throne of grace to receive mercy because we’re screw-ups and we can do so boldly. We need reformation. We’re in a state. The temple is in decay and Josiah doesn’t even know where the book of the Law is. Because of that, we can ask boldly.

What specifically do we need?

1. Joy in worship

Galatians 4.15 – ‘Where is the joy you once had?’  Nehemiah – the joy of the Lord is my strength. That doesn’t mean maudlin sentiment or tight-lipped pietism. C.S. Lewis on early Protestantism said that Protestantism wasn’t too grim but too glad to be true. We need to return to Christ-loving, Psalm-singing, world-affirming, joke-telling worship. If not, to hell with it. Because that’s where it’s going, anyway.

2. Worship structured to renew covenant

There were a multitude of sacrifices in the OT – guilt, whole-burnt offerings, peace offerings. These must shape our worship:

Confession of sins (= guilt offering)

Bible-reading and sermon (=ascension offering – we’re consecrated to God, by the word which cuts us up – Heb. 4.12)

Weekly observance of the Lord’s supper (=peace offering, where the worshipper shares a meal with God)

3. Restoration of Psalms

We don’t know the hope of the church because we don’t sing of it. See Psalms 2, 22, 110 for example. We don’t have assurance because we don’t sing of it. The Holy Spirit is the music of God. Psalms must be sung from the heart in mutual submission (Colossians 3.12)

4. Honouring the Lord’s Day

Just as there will be a new heaven and new earth, just as there is a new Adam and Eve, so there is a new Sabbath, not at the end of the week, but on the first day. What a shocking thing it is that you can get calendars nowadays with Monday as the first day of the week. In the Old Covenant, you work 6 days and rest, looking back. The Son recreated the heavens and the earth in 3 days and 3 nights and then rested. We get to rest first – we get to eat the dessert first. It’s a foundation stone and with the rest of our time we rebuild.

The centre of every culture is ‘cultus’ – worship. Culture is religion externalised. If the church is not reformed according to the word of God, nothing else will be. Our worship at the weekend is not private. It is the means of restoring the world.  What that looks like depends on where you are and what you have to do.

Questions and Answers:

Comment on the ‘worship as singing’ problem in charismatic circles. Worship in Hebrew and Greek means service. What Isaiah is called to do in ch. 6 of his prophecy is to worship. Abraham’s sacrifice (a test of faith, not love, by the way) is worship, doing what God said to do. Isaac didn’t have a keyboard and drum kit strapped to his back.

Should we reform denominations? Yes.

Distinguish between church and kingdom. The church is the centre of the kingdom. Jesus’ reign extends over all of life. Christ rules his church through word and sacrament.

Should we seek to establish Christian churches or schools? Yes.

What do you think will happen in the end times? If you look at the world in 500 year increments, there is nothing but glory. If you look over 20-50 periods, you see peaks and troughs. We live in pockets of disobedience, but the church is advancing spectacularly. Muslims are in a panic over 3rd world Christianity. The whole world bows before Christ. The kingdom is a wheat field with weeds in it, not the other way round. It grows slowly, like leaven causing the dough to rise. Daniel 2 speaks of the small rock which grows. There will be sin and disobedience until the end. The world and all the nations will be Christian, but not everyone will be born again. Christmas is the time when everyone becomes postmillennialist, even unbelievers. ‘Far as the curse is found’ &c.

Explain a little more your exegesis of Hebrews 12.18-29 as being about the Lord’s Day service. Our default position is individualism. The New Testament is addressed collectively. ‘You have come’ is worship service language.

The last question was mine, and is something I have been puzzling over for a while, and not being quite satisfied with his answer I had a chat with Doug Wilson afterwards, and he convinced me more thoroughly. Chapter 10.25 speaks of gathering together and then moves on to a discussion of the great cloud of witnesses (in heaven) which surrounds the church. What is being recalled about Mount Sinai in chapter 12 is gathering to worship. This is what happens when Christians gather. It is on this basis that we are exhorted to offer God acceptable worship in v. 28. This kind of worship is the engine for the Romans 12.1-2 kind of worship that Paul talks about.

A friend of mine asked about the validity of using the Old Testament sacrifices as a basis for New Testament worship given their fulfilment in Christ. He got the response that New Testament worship demands it. We don’t sacrifice bulls and goats, Hebrews 12, and 13.15 make it clear that what goes on when Christians gather is New Covenant temple worship. In the latter reference, for example, we are exhorted to offer up sacrifices of praise.  Doug Wilson recommended two books on this – The Lord’s Service by Jeffrey Meyers (which I need to revisit) and From Silence to Song by Peter Leithart.

Credenda Agenda

I’m looking forward to the conference at Blenheim Palace tomorrow afternoon where there’ll be some psalm singing and Doug Wilson speaking on the Gospel and your church, government and family. I understand he went down well at Oak Hill this week. I shall be taking notes. If any readers of this ‘blog will be there, it would be great to say hello during the break.

Sermon Outline – Revelation 21.5

In chapel this term, we’re having a series entitled, “If I could only preach one sermon, it would be…” as an alternative to preaching on the lectionary passages so I thought I’d indulge myself and take the opportunity to do a bit of verse-preaching, which is quite hard work to ensure one has expounded the text faithfully. Hopefully, I haven’t set off the alarm bells at Willcox House. As ever, comments are welcome.

Introduction

Community, identity, stability – this is the motto of the world state in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, in which he presents a global society at peace in which disease is abolished, there is no poverty or want, the economy is steady and everyone is content. Isn’t this what we long for, as we open the papers and see the turmoil in the world around us, and as we look at the frustration and pain in our own lives. Can a new world be brought about, and if so how? John is given a vision from God; it’s as if the curtain has been pulled back, he can see into heaven itself and where the universe is heading. Our text is an explanation of what John sees at the climax of history, which takes us to the heart of the message of the whole Bible and is the solution to our questions and answer to our longings:

“And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” – Revelation 21.5

First we see what the future contains:

1. The present order yields to a whole new world

There will be a new creation (v. 1) – in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, this physical world in time and space, and John in his vision of the end saw a new heaven and a new earth. It will have a new people (v. 2), who come from all the nations of the world. It is new not in the sense that it is brand new, from nothing, which would imply that God’s purposes in creation had failed, but new in regard to quality. The world as it now stands is under the judgment of God because of sin. Michael Ramsay puts it well:

“When men and nations turn away from God’s laws and prefer the courses dictated by pride and selfishness to the courses dictated by conscience, calamitous results follow. God is not absent from the contemporary scene; he is present, present in judgment through the catastrophes which follow human wilfulness.”

Paul argues similarly in Romans 1 (v. 18, vv. 28-31). Sin has consequences for the whole created order – the creation was subjected to futility and is in bondage to decay, which the Bible traces back to the curse placed on the ground following the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But that old way of things will come to and end. There is no place for the world of sin and death in the future John sees. It will pass away. Instead, it will have a holy people, prepared like a bride, dazzlingly beautiful, pure and spotless, acceptable to God – what a far cry from the ugly description of humanity in Romans 1. And the world will be characterised by the description of v. 4. Peter sums it up: ‘We are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.’ In Huxley’s novel, this world evokes the following response from John, born outside the world state: “O brave new world that has such people in it. Let’s start at once.” Shouldn’t we feel this way about the vision of ‘all things new’? Isn’t this the world, the humanity, the fresh start we long for, the kind of people we want to be? We desperately need it. How will that come about?

2. The future order comes from the God who reigns

‘He who was seated on the throne’ is John’s way of describing God the Father in Revelation and he is the one who brings about this new world. The brave new world in Huxley’s novel is a horrifying place – solely artificial reproduction, some bred to rule the world, others stunted to be a menial undercless, attitudes implanted by conditioning, everyone kept happy through use of a drug, promiscuity encouraged, literature, art, culture and history all wiped out. It appals John, drives him mad and he hangs himself. It’s a parody of the optimism of those who thought that a better would could be brought about by human reason and science. But it’s right – human endeavour can only lead to a nightmarish world. That has been borne out in history – last century saw two world wars, the atom bomb, genocide. Marxism with its promise of a new era of justice, peace and prosperity if the workers would unite produced dictatorship, brutality, oppression and murder. The perfect world will not come from man – we’re powerless to deal with the root cause of why the world is the way it is – human sin that means the world is under God’s judgment. We’re part of the problem. We can’t change ourselves – all our resolutions to change fail. But God the Father does have the power and ability to do it. He sent his Son into the world to be born as a man and though he was without sin, suffered the judgment of God due to sin in the place of sinners. Death could not hold him and on the third day he was raised, in a very real sense the beginning of the new creation in this creation. It’s a work that’s continuing (the verse is in the present tense) as the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to work in us through the preaching of the gospel to produce repentance and faith and so unite us to Christ – 2 Corinthians 5.17. Those who are in Christ have a fresh start – their sins are not counted against them, they’re reconciled to God, and the Spirit enables us more and more to put to death what belongs to our old self and live to please God. The work of new creation reaches its climax at the end of Revelation. Just as Christ was raised, the dead in Christ shall rise when God judges the world by the Lord Jesus, and creation which waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. What difference should that make? All the difference in the world.

Implications

The book is a letter addressed to seven churches; God knows there will be those in the congregations who do not yet know this hope for themselves and he makes a wonderful invitation (v. 6b, 22.17b). Are you thirsty? Does the present world fail to satisfy? Do you recognize your own failings before God and long for a fresh start? God invites you this evening to come to him and receive from him the new life he offers through Christ which will last for eternity in the new creation. There is nothing you can do to achieve it – it’s a free gift for all who will accept it. The promise of v. 5 is also a call to persevere. Revelation speaks of the conflict between God’s people and Babylon, human society in opposition to God. There is much that would cause us to forsake the living water that God offers and compromise with the world and seek satisfaction there: persecution, the seduction of luxury and immorality. It is as true of Oxford as it was of Rome. Verse 8 warns of the consequences for those in Christian congregations who do. The church through its union with Christ which is visibly advertised in baptism is the new creation breaking into this world, so in the power of the Holy Spirit we must be faithful to our calling and strive in God’s strength to live out in the present thelives of holiness and godliness and love that characterise the world to come. ‘We are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.’

Conclusion

In a few moments, we’ll gather at the Lord’s Table, which is a sign and seal of God’s new creation, pointing us back to Christ’s death on the cross, bearing God’s judgment on sin, to bring about that new creation, and pointing forward to the joyous life of the world to come. Our present union with the risen Christ is confirmed and renewed as we take bread and wine and feed on him in our hearts by faith.

And that, dear friends, was post no. 300.