Revelation 22

Click below for the sermon I preached today at Morning Prayer at St. Thomas’, Kilnhurst:

Revelation 22 (26:03, 5.96MB)

Easter: Confounding the Wisdom of the World

“Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” – 1 Corinthians 1.20-21

A man who was crucified, died then rose again from the dead: those events on the first Good Friday and Easter Sunday, God ordained as the means by which human beings might know him and be saved, in order to make foolish the wisdom of the world, to shame the wise (v. 27) who through their wisdom were not able to know God (v. 21), so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (v. 29).

Which is why articles such as this one by the Australian, Dr. John Dickson, and appeals to similar material, however nobly motivated by a desire to see people take Jesus seriously, actually miss the point. He aims to show that the consensus among a majority of university historians is that the basic narrative of the gospels – the existence of Jesus, his deeds which many thought were miraculous, his death on a cross and burial in a tomb, the experiences of the disciples which were interpreted as encounters with the risen Christ – is sound. He wants those who are open to the possibility of a law-giver behind the laws of nature to ‘feel rationally justified’ in also being open to claim of the resurrection of the incarnate God. To take the core of the story of Jesus as historically sound is intellectually responsible. Aside from the questionable acceptability of encouraging people to treat God’s Word written (as the Articles put it) like any other ancient text, sitting in judgment over it, this does seem to be precisely opposite to God’s purpose that faith ‘might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God’ (1 Corinthians 2.5).

Yes, we must always be ‘prepared to make a defence [apologian] to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you’ (1 Peter 3.15). That hope is the ‘inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you’, the ’salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’ and the reason for it is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1.3-5). As the apostle Paul knew, preaching the resurrection of the dead leads some to mock (Acts 17.32). ‘The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned’ (1 Corinthians 2.14). The issue is spiritual blindness not intellectual weakness. But as the apostle Paul also knew, the preaching of the resurrection also leads others, those on whom God is working by his Spirit, to say,”We will hear you again about this” (Acts 17.32). So we can be confident to keep on simply preaching the gospel of Christ crucified (and risen), through the folly of which it pleases God to save those who believe, for he chose ‘even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are’ (1 Corinthians 1.21, 28). Soli Deo gloria!

Sermon Outline: Revelation 22

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. – Revelation 22.14

Introduction

Following the attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese, tens of thousands of Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps until the end of World War Two. Many had American citizenship, but because they had either emigrated from Japan or had been brought up with Japanese culture and values, their loyalty was doubted and they were felt to be a risk to national security now that America and Japan were at war. That particular example was as much about racism as about genuine military concern, but it raises the issue of a tension in loyality when one belongs to two cultures at war.

In Revelation 22, we join John at the end of a guided tour of the city of the future, the New Jerusalem, to which we belong if we are Christians and which is breaking into this present world, seen in local congregations (Hebrews 12.22). At the same time, we live in this world in another city with its own authorities and culture and values, Babylon, which is characterised by persecution of God’s people, temptation of the world with idolatry, sexual immorality and luxury and it exists as much in our society today. It is seen wherever human beings are united together to make a name for themselves in rebellion against God. Babylon and Jerusalem are at war: with which will our loyalty lie? It can only be one or the other, not both. John’s commission from the risen and ascended Christ is to write this circular letter to struggling churches to secure wholehearted faith in and obedience to the Lord. As he comes to the end, he wants us to grasp what the world to come will be like, and then shows us how we should respond.

1. Look forward to the future (vv. 1-5)

This isn’t photography: it’s symbolic, and all the clues are to be found in Scripture itself. There will be everlasting life (vv. 1-2) in fulfilment of what God promised beforehand. See Ezekiel 47, where the river flows and brings abundant life where there was no life. The world characterised by death and decay will be transformed to be a world characterised by life. There is a tree of life bearing fruit all the year round (unlike the apple tree at the bottom of my garden) because it is watered by the river of the water of life. We first met the tree in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2-3) and had Adam and Eve eaten of it, they would have lived forever, but they sinned (what we all do by nature) and so were expelled from the Garden and the way back to the tree was barred. Human experience has been characterised by death ever since. But in the future world, there is free access all the time to the tree and its fruit: human beings can live for evermore. Life will be characterised by wholeness – the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. The emotional and physical scars of living in a fallen world of sin, conflict, hatred, illness and pain will be gone. In Genesis 3, God places a curse on the earth but now it is done away with (v. 3). How is it possible? The river of life which waters the tree of life comes from the throne of God and of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ who is the lamb that was slain, fulfilling all the Old Testament sacrifices, dying in the place of sinners, taking the punishment his people deserved. What will the future life contain? Verse 3 speaks about ‘his servants’ &c. There is one God in Three Persons. In view here is the one God in the Persons of the Father and the Son. At the end of time, he will be king and his rule acknowledged and his people will be occupied in serving him. The relationship is much closer than that between any earthly ruler and his subjects, and it is only in this relationship that we will be fully the people we are meant to be: seeing his face (v. 4) means full perfect knowledge of God (1 Corinthians 13.12) and being changed into the likeness of God (1 John 3.2). That relationship will last forever: we will be marked out as his for eternity. There won’t be anything to mar that experience. Night and darkness (v. 5) are symbolic for ignorance of spiritual truth, evil and death, but none of that will be present in the world to come because God is present, he is the light of the city, we will know him perfectly, there will be no evil, and he will give us life. Our service will have great worth: in some sense we will rule over the new creation under him. Illustration from The Last Battle: the new world is like the old Narnia but is ‘more like the real thing’, ‘my real country’, ‘the land I have been looking for all my life’. A river with the tree of life, in a place where there is no curse, where human beings in the perfect image of God in perfect relationship with him serve him by ruling his world under him – this vision of the future is of God’s original good purposes for us in his world before the Fall perfectly restored and made more glorious.

How should we respond?

2. Stay faithful in the present (vv. 6-21)

Just as God spoke his message to his people through the prophets in the Old Testament, so too what the angel has shown John is truth from God and can therefore be believed (v. 6), and the reason it matters how we respond is because Christ will surely come to judge. It is the one who holds fast to the message of the book, i.e. listens to it and does what it says, who is blessed (v. 7). What that means is illustrated in the episode between John and the angel (vv. 8-9): worshipping God alone. Our allegiance should lie with him alone; he is to be the object of our trust and service. This is a public message (v. 10). If having heard it you want to reject it, that is up to you and you will face the consequences; God in his just judgment hands those who want to reject him over to the consequences of their actions (v. 11). Christ will return and all will be judged justly according to the way we have lived our lives and we will receive what is appropriate (v. 12). Christ has the credentials to judge: as Alpha and Omega, he is the one through whom the world was made and through whom it will be brought to a close (v. 13). For some that will be good news. It’s as if we’re wearing dirty clothes – we’re unclean because of our sin and we’re unfit for God’s presence. Washing our robes refers to washing them in the blood of the Lamb, picture language about trusting in Christ who through his death takes away our sin, bearing and facing the punishment for all who trust in him, so that they are clean in God’s sight. They are the ones who enjoy the privileges of vv. 1-5, a place in the city and everlasting life (v. 14). That fits in with the statement that Christ will repay everyone for what he has done, because a mark of someone who has been washed clean through Christ is that they will start to live lives pleasing to God because of the work of the Spirit within them. It is ‘those who wash’ – present tense: Christ through John is caling for ongoing trust and obedience. As for those whose loyalty remains with Babylon, who live the lifestyle of Babylon, they will be shut out (v. 15). This message is authoritative: it comes from Jesus, whose titles signify that he is the just judge and sovereign ruler who saves his people and destroys his enemies (v. 16). So glorious is the blessing that awaits God’s people when Christ returns that the only response is to long and pray for Christ to come. John issues an invitation for thirsty people to come and take the free gift of the water of life (v. 17), free because you can’t earn it: it’s on the basis of what Christ has done, dying on the cross in the place of sinners. This is a letter to local churches: it is possible to be part of God’s gathered people and not have received God’s offer of eternal life. Is that you? Will you take it? Will you turn back to God and seek his mercy and forgiveness on the basis of Christ’s death on the cross? You will be given everlasting life, which begins in part now as God gives you new spiritual life by his Spirit and you will experience it fully in the world to come. Christ through John also issues a warning: we can be baptised members of the church, but if we distort his message, then we will face God’s judgment and our share in the everlasting life of the new creation will be taken away (vv. 18-19). Illustration: I am going on holiday, I have my passport, I get on the plane. With the passport, by the Queen’s authority, I can enter the country. To enter the country, I need to believe what my passport says is true, then act on it by behaving sensibly during the flight and showing my passport to passport control at the end. If I misbehave and my passport is confiscated, I lose the entitlement I once had, and which I could have made use of had I responded rightly. The passport is like my baptism: it promises me or entitles me to everlasting life. To enjoy that, I need to respond with ongoing faith worked out in obedience. If I respond inappropriately, i.e. add to or take away from the words of the book, I will lose my share in the everlasting life to which my baptism entitled me, and which I could have enjoyed had I responded in faith. Taking away from the words of the book is not just about false teaching, but also about failing to do what it says e.g. succumbing to the temptations of Babylon, or failing to repent of the cold orthodoxy of Ephesus or the complacency of Laodicea in its material prosperity. To encourage us, we are reminded of Christ’s certain return and John longs for Christ to bring about all he has promised (v. 20).

Conclusion

Would that be our longing and prayer as we look forward to the future and stay faithful in the present. We can’t do it without God’s help, so John ends the letter fittingly (v. 21): ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.’

Passports and Baptism

I’d like to test drive an illustration. From Revelation 22.17-19, I want to make the point that it is possible to be part of the church by baptism and yet still need to take the free gift of the water of life, and also that it is possible to be part of the church by baptism, and yet forfeit one’s share in the tree of life if one distorts the message, either by false teaching, or by not living according to it (i.e. worshipping the beast).

Assuming I have the necessary documents – passport, ticket and boarding pass, someone can put me on an aeroplane in order to give me a free holiday in another country. I need my passport to be allowed in to the country to which I am flying. My passport says:

“Her Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State Requests and requires in the Name of Her Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance, and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.”

Now, I need to claim that privilege to be able to get past Customs at my destination. I need to believe that this passport will get me into the country and so get off the plane and take the passport to the desk to show them. If I don’t and instead stay on the plane and never set foot on foreign soil, I would miss out on my holiday. Similarly it is quite possible for me to be a member of the church, baptised in the name of the Trinity, with the offer of everlasting life. In order to have that everlasting life, I need to believe the promise God has made me in baptism. I need to trust in Christ. If I don’t, I will miss out on everlasting life by not responding in faith.

I could also assume that because I have my passport, I can behave in any way I like on the plane, because I’ll be admitted to the country because of the privileges it conveys. However, a situation could be envisaged where my passport is confiscated and thus I lose the privilege of free passage I had been given, because I not responded rightly to it, I had not lived in the way that was consistent with claiming that privilege. Similarly, I can be a baptised member of the church, having received the promise of eternal life, but then not respond to that promise in an appropriate way, faith worked out in obedience and so lose my share the everlasting life to which my baptism entitled me.

The Great City

As part of my preparation for preaching Revelation 22 next Sunday, I thought it would be a good idea to read through the whole book. I’m getting that uncomfortable feeling one has when what one has always assumed is being challenged: I’m beginning to wonder if Babylon is not Rome after all, but Jerusalem. I think I’m going to have to move to Moscow, Idaho. Here are some embryonic thoughts.

For a start, the churches are being troubled by ‘those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan’ (Revelation 2.9, 3.9).

The great city referred to in Revelation is Jerusalem:

‘Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.’ – Revelation 11.8

Babylon is called ‘the great’ – Revelation 14.8.

The great city which we have already seen is Jerusalem appears to be equated with Babylon in a number of places:

‘The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.’ – Revelation 16.19

“The woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.” – Revelation 17.8

“Alas! Alas! You great city,
you mighty city, Babylon!” – Revelation 18.10

“So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence.” – Revelation 18.21

Furthermore, both Jerusalem in the gospels and Babylon in Revelation are described as the city that murdered the prophets:

“”Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the cities that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ” Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “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.” ” – Matthew 23.34-24.2

“Rejoice over her, O heaven,
and you saints and apostles and prophets,
for God has given judgment for you against her!” – Revelation 18.20

(Don’t miss the verbal link between ‘I send’, ‘those who are sent’ [Matthew] and ‘apostles’ [Revelation] in the Geek. Also notice the parallel ‘thrown down’ in Matthew 24.2 and Revelation 18.21 above.)

“And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints
and of all who have been slain on earth.” – Revelation 18.24

Q.E.D.?

I may or may not keep quiet about this in my sermon to the good people of Kilnhurst. In terms of application, though, I don’t think it makes a great deal of difference: Babylon still typifies proud humanity united in rebellion against God (see Genesis 11) which persecutes God’s people and tempts the world with idolatry, luxury and immorality. The question is: will your loyalty be to Babylon (Old Jerusalem?) which God overthrows or will it be to the New Jerusalem, which he establishes forever?

Why Newman is an Anglican

I rarely write posts on things about which others want me to write, but on this occasion, I would like to share the fruit of my ongoing reflection. I’m sure that Anglicanism has lots more going for it. I’m also sure other people have other good reasons to be Anglican, but these are mine. Given my vacillation on this subject in the past, I feel I need to give both positive and negative reasons. First the positive:

1. Anglicanism is Reformed

That is to say, it is Reformed under the word of God. Anglicanism is therefore Biblical. The supreme authority for Anglicans is Scripture, and so no one can be required to believe anything, for salvation or otherwise, that cannot be read in or deduced from the Bible, which it regards as God’s word written. Article VI, Of the Sufficiency of the holy Scriptures for salvation, begins:

HOLY Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that is should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.

And Article XX, Of the Authority of the Church reads:

It is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God’s Word written.

Furthermore, along with the other Reformed churches, Anglicanism stresses the importance of the tasks of edification and evangelism, by means of the ministry of the word, in public preaching as well as in private.

From The Form and Manner of Ordering of Priests:

And now again we exhort you, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you have in remembrance, into how high a Dignity, and to how weighty an Office and Charge ye are called: that is to say, to be Messengers, Watchmen, and Stewards of the Lord; to teach, and to premonish, to feed and provide for the Lord’s family; to seek for Christ’s sheep that are dispersed abroad, and for his children who are in the midst of this naughty world, that they might be saved through Christ forever…

And seeing that you cannot by any other means compass the doing of so weighty a work, pertaining to the salvationof man, but with doctrine and exhortation taken out of the holy Scriptures, and with a life agreeable to the same? …

Are you determined, out of the said Scriptures to instruct the people committed to your charge? …

Will you then give your faithful diligence always so to minister the Doctrine and Sacraments, and the Discipline of Christ… so that you may teach the people committed to your Cure and Charge with all diligence to keep and observe the same? …

Will you be ready, with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God’s word; and to use both publick and private monitions and exhortations, as well to the sick as to the whole, within your Cures, as need shall require, and occasion shall be given?

What is the content of the Biblical, Reformed faith which Anglicanism has inherited? The gospel of salvation from damnation due to sin, by God’s free grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, by virtue of his perfect life and sacrifical death, for those whom God predestined to life before the foundation of the world, who are thereby brought into God’s family, grow in holiness, and are preserved until they reach glory.

Article X, Of Free-Will:

THE condition of Man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith, and calling upon God: Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will and working with us, when we have that good will.

Article XI, Of the Justification of Man:

WE are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings.

Article XV, Of Christ alone without Sin:

He came to be the Lamb without spot, who, by sacrifice of himself once made, should take away the sins of the world.

Article XVII, Of Predestination and Election:

PREDESTINATION to Life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour. Wherefore, they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God’s purpose by his Spirit working in due season: they through Grace obey the calling: they be justified freely: they be made sons of God by adoption: they be made like the image of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God’s mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity.

Article XVIII, Of obtaining eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ:

Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved.

Article XXXI, Of the one Oblation of Christ finished upon the Cross:

THE Offering of Christ once made is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sons of the whole world, both original and actual; and that there is none other satisfaction for sin, but that alone.

Moreover, in accordance with the Scriptures, Anglicanism teaches a Reformed view of the sacraments, avoiding the Scylla of mere externalism or visual aid and the Charybdis of grace being mediated merely through the work being performed (ex opere operato). They are visible words, dramatic forms of the gospel, signs and seals of God’s grace which convey what they signify when by the power of the Spirit the recipients respond in faith.

From the Catechism:

Question. What meanest thou by this word Sacrament?
Answer. I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof.

Article XXV, Of the Sacraments:

SACRAMENTS ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christian men’s profession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace, and God’s good will towards us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our Faith in him.

Article XXVII, Of Baptism:

BAPTISM is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened, but it is also a sign of Regeneration or new Birth, whereby as by an instrument, they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church; the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed; Faith is confirmed, and Grace increased, by virtue of prayer unto God.

Article XXVIII, Of the Lord’s Supper:

THE Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another; but rather it is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ’s death: insomuch that to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the same, the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ; and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ… The Body of Christ is given, taken and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith.

Finally, along with the other Reformed churches, Anglicanism affirms with the Bible (not because it was forgotten by the Reformers) that children are rightful recipients of baptism, along covenantal lines. This is not unimportant, dealing as it does with how God administers his grace and grows his church.

Article XXVII, Of Baptism:

The Baptism of young Children is in any wise to be retained in the Church, as most agreeable with the institution of Christ.

From the Catechism:

Question. What is required of persons to be baptized?
Answer. Repentance, whereby they forsake sin; and Faith, whereby they steadfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that Sacrament.
Question. Why then are Infants baptized, when by reason of their tender age they cannot perform them?
Answer. Because they promise them both by their Sureties; which promise, when they come to age, themselves are bound to perform.

2. Anglicanism is Catholic

Anglicans don’t think or act as if they’re the first generation of Christians to have ever lived. They value what Christians have taught down the centuries that has proven itself to be in accordance with the Scriptures as each generation tests it afresh by God’s word written. That means, for example, the reception and declaration of the faith revealed in the Creeds. Such teaching does therefore have authority under Scripture.

Article VIII, Of the Three Creeds:

THE Three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius’s Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles’ Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of Scripture.

Moreover, Anglican congregations are connexional. Episcopacy, while not without its faults, has proven itself conducive to the well-being of the church in England, and is consistent with the connexionality seen in the New Testament church. No congregation is an island unto itself. The ministry of presbyters is ratified by the wider church as they are ordained by the laying on of the hands of bishops who have oversight of many congregations, and presbyters therefore minister in the name of the wider church. Anglicanism is also national; the nature of the parish system in this country at least means that the Church of England is geographically representative of the whole of England.

Because it embraces infant baptism, Anglicanism is also catholic in that the official, public members of its congregations span all the ages and stages of human life, displaying God’s purpose in salvation to create a new human race. No one is excluded on the ground of age or attainment.

3. Anglicanism is Liturgical

While the Thirty Nine Articles may be regarded as a Confession of Faith after the manner of the other Reformation churches, the Church of England defines its doctrine not only by these, but also by the Book of Common Prayer, which is a book of liturgy. The forms of service authorised by the church ensure that church meetings are orderly, and in accordance with patterns we see in Scripture ensure a healthy diet of corporate confession, Scripture reading and preaching, praise and prayer. Liturgy teaches God’s people how to pray and what their priorities for their prayer should be. Regular saying or singing of the Psalms inculcates in God’s people Biblical hope and gives shape and direction to our fallen emotions. Liturgy enacts on earth what is going on in heaven, in accordance with the prayer which our Saviour taught us. Liturgy gives God’s people forms of words that they will be able to hold on to when their mental faculties are otherwise waning. Liturgy serves the catholicity of the church by keeping us in tune with the experiences, hopes and longings of the wider church, not just our immediate concerns. And the Anglican liturgy is profoundly Biblical in its content and emphasis, masterfully crafted and rich.

(Notice how I haven’t argued that it’s the best boat to fish from or because they pay for ministry or anything like that. If one is to be an Anglican, one should at least be an Anglican on theological principle, not because it’s the most pragmatic option, humanly speaking.)

Now for two negative reasons, i.e. reasons why I think being an Anglican isn’t a problem, in answer to objections I myself have had in the past, and which others continue to bring up.

4. Sanctification is Progressive

I am not unaware that there are real difficulties in the doctrine and practices of some in Anglican churches today, for example, gender issues in ministry, what constitutes holiness in sexual practice, the doctrine of the atonement, the uniqueness of Christ, the reality of his resurrection, the authority of Scripture, &c. However, to distance oneself from Anglicanism on the basis of the sin and error of some and insist on an instantaneously pure church is to have an overrealised eschatology and is impatient. Sanctification of the church, as for the individual, is an ongoing work of God by his Spirit. The church will not be perfect until Christ returns. There will always be sinful and erroneous individuals within it. Where does one draw the line beyond which one separates from it? One public sinner or heretic? Ten? A hundred? A thousand? Why? The church though it sins does not cease to be the church. And the inheritance which the Church of England at least calls on its ministers to take as their inspiration is that revealed in the Scriptures and to which the Thirty-Nine Articles, the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal bear witness. That doesn’t mean we do nothing in the face of sin and error. But in this situation, the right response is not to separate, but to keep on preaching the word of God, prayerfully hoping for ongoing reformation, and disciplining those responsible, as is appropriate for our place in the church. This has ever been the experience of the people of God. The history of Old Testament Israel testifies to this. The epistles of the New Testament, and their admonitions and warnings proclaims this fact. Until the New Creation, this will always be a consequence of the distinction the Bible holds out of the visible and invisible church, the church as it is experienced by the world, believers and their children in the covenant community, among whom there will be weeds as well as wheat, those who sell their inheritance for a mess of pottage, who profess but fall away, or who remain hard-hearted, who will be condemned at the judgment, and the church as it is known by God, those who have laid hold of the covenant promises in saving faith, and so are saved when Christ returns.

5. Association is Loose

Moreover, to be an Anglican when sin and error is present within Anglicanism doesn’t mean that one is guilty by association. The Anglican structure is much looser than that. No one expects a presbyter to be in agreement with his bishop or other presbyters on everything, just as no one expects and employee for Tesco to endorse everything that is sold in all of its branches, or the behaviour of its managing directors. No one forces anyone to believe anything. The congregation can distance itself from its heretical bishop. The evangelical minister can uphold the faith against, for example, the liberals on the one hand and the extreme charismatics on the other, whether they call themselves orthodox or not. He publically and personally distances himself from the false teaching and sin and even with the individuals themselves if they are unrepentant, fulfilling his obligation to have nothing to do with such people and remaining blameless. So too for individual believers.

Regardless of its current problems, God has not abandoned the Church of England, or other Anglican churches. His word is still faithfully preached and his Spirit is still active in drawing men and women to faith in Christ and bearing fruit in holy lives. The remnant within it must not bow the knee before Baal, but prayerfully discharge its prophetic ministry of declaring the true faith in lives of godly obedience, faithfully depending on God for its Reformation.

A long time coming (updated)

As the day which marks the second birthday of this ‘blog draws to an end, I want to point out a number of Bible passages which have lately convinced me of the truth of postmillennialism, which I take to mean that over time (quite a long period of time, actually), the gospel will go out and transform the world in such a way that the nations of the world as nations will be Christian, before the Lord Jesus returns. I’m sure that much more evidence could be marshalled, but here is some.

This is the hope that is set before us in the Psalter:

“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.” – Psalm 22.27

“O you who hears prayer, to you shall all flesh come…
By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas.” – Psalm 65.2, 5

“All the nations you have made shall come
and worship before you O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.” – Psalm 86.9

“Nations will fear the name of the LORD,
and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.” – Psalm 102.15

“All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O LORD,
for they have heard the words of your mouth,
and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD,
for great is the glory of the LORD.” – Psalm 138.4

This is what we are to pray for, according to the prayers God has given us in the Psalter:

“Let the peoples praise you , O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy.” Psalm 67.3-4

“May he [God's king] have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth!
May desert tribes bow down before him
and his enemies lick the dust!
May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands
render him tribute;
may the kinds of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!
May all kings fall down before him,
all nations serve him.” -Psalm 72.8-11

God has taught us to pray for these things; do we seriously think that he has no intention to answer our prayers, that he will give us a stone when we ask for bread, or a serpent when we ask for fish? “And this is the confidence we have towards him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” – 1 John 5.14-15

This is the hope that Isaiah sees:

“It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the LORD
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
and many peoples shall come, and say:
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.” – Isaiah 2.2-3

“For to us a child is born…
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end.” – Isaiah 9.6, 7

“The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples – of him shall the nations enquire.” – Isaiah 11.9-10

In my Christmas expositions, I saw that Christ was made a light for the nations so that God’s salvation would reach to the end of the earth, and that kings as kings shall bow down before him, not just in ultimate acknowledgment of his authority but in worship, and shall serve his people:

“I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves.”

“Kings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
With their faces to the ground, they shall bow down to you,
and lick the dust of your feet.”" – Isaiah 49.6-7, 23

In Jeremiah 3, God promises:

“At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.” – Jeremiah 3.17

Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s vision:

“As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces… But the stone that struck the image became a mountain and filled the whole earth… The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed.” – Daniel 2.34, 35, 44

In Zechariah, we read:

“Thus says the LORD of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the favour of the LORD and to seek the LORD of hosts; I myself am going.’ Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favour of the LORD.” – Zechariah 8.20-22

In Malachi, God says:

“For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.” – Malachi 1.11

Jesus gives us some parables of the kingdom, again indicating that it will grow and fill the earth:

“‘The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’
He told them another parable. ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.’” – Matthew 13.31-33

In the New Testament epistles, we learn:

“The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” – 2 Peter 3.9

Classically, we have distinguished between God’s revealed will (in the Scriptures, e.g. that all must repent and believe) with his secret will (what he has decreed from eternity past, e.g. that only the elect will repent and believe). But with regard to this passage, can it be honouring to the risen and ascended Christ to say that what he wishes in delaying his return will not come to pass? Certainly, we should expect the delay to be a long time; there is no conversion factor here, but talk of ‘a thousand years as one day’ with the Lord implies that we’re in for the long haul. And why can we not say that what Christ wishes will come to pass – that all reach repentance? All, that is, in the sense of ‘all the town showed up’, referring to a majority proportion, not all without exception (the witness of the Scriptures is that there is a hell and it will be populated). That may account for the seemingly universalistic redemption passages too – “He [Christ] is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

In John’s vision of the New Jerusalem, this is what he sees:

“Who will not fear, O Lord,
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.” – Revelation 15.4

“By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day – and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and honour of the nations.” – Revelation 21.24-27

For this to be the case, kings come to faith in Christ and so because of them their nations follow, so that kings as kings and nations as nations will be present in the New Jerusalem.

The gospel is more powerful that we (would care to) imagine, transforming even the political structures of this world so that Christ the Saviour of the World is honoured.

Being a Priest Today (3)

7.

In the final section of the book, the authors consider the fruit formed in ministers. ‘Christ turns us into holy people who can bring blessing to the world because we have been reconciled to God and to others. This is our calling as human beings.’ This is what the Church is called to do and the ordained are to signify and animate this calling. Ministers are called to be holy, to train themselves in godliness, which is primarily about a relationship of commitment and fidelity to God, reflecting the character of the God with whom we are in covenant. Christ is the perfect example of this. We have a holy status by baptism and faith and in him, that also becomes our state by the work of the Spirit. Our churches need us to be holy. The priest indicates the way Christ has called us to walk, the way of Christ himself, which is attractive and compelling. Priests are public people. If people can’t see holiness in us, they may not look any further for it. When priests do not live up their calling to be what they proclaim, there is not only damage to individuals immediately affected, but there is a loss of confidence in the church. Holiness can demonstrate to others a rightly ordered life in which everything fits into place. The calling to holiness is a calling to be conformed to the image of Christ in the business of daily living. Priests need to be holy to enable others to be holy. There is a need to come face to face with our own limitations and depend on Christ’s riches. There should be an offering of hospitality. A mark of the holiness of our churches should be that those whom society and culture consider inferior or embarrassing find a home. Our own perceived wants can keep us open to God and be a gift to others. In giving ourselves, however, we must avoid the temptation to think that we are the only ones who can help in a particular situation. This is a weighty task which can only be carried out in the power of the Spirit. Priests have to have chastity, that is to be faithful and trustworthy, not using others, maintaining appropriate boundaries. It is broader than sexuality. For this, we need to maintain relationships that meet our needs for intimacy, lest we seek that intimacy in inappropriate places. There is a Trinitarian shape to this – giving and receiving love. The challenge to the single person is to identify sources of care for ourselves and receive that care, so that our ministry is not be diminished. There is going to be a challenge to satisfy our own desires, and to help serve others. We need to be sensitive to our own feelings, but also not be focused on ourselves. Prayer is required, and herein wisdom and holiness are forged. Holiness is also about obedience, which means continual transformation, responsive to God’s word. Mistakes will be made; we need to carry on and learn from our experiences, growing in maturity. We need role models, and we need to be role models for others. We need to be holiness walking. Paul called others to imitate him. The authors consider the principle of Rules of Life, examining the rhythm of our lies to see how they guide us to holiness. Obedience embraces the entirety of our physical and spiritual life. There need to be self-awareness to serve others; journal-keeping might be helpful spiritual discipline, or reviewing each day or year. Holiness is costly, dealing with our sin, which means a continual returning to the truth of Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice on the cross. Holiness is also a delight, seeing Christ formed in others by our ministry.

This is hugely challenging, not just for each individual Christian, but for the minister who if he is being faithful must be pointing others to holiness by his way of life, and whose falls can have devastating effects on the mission of the church. It throws us back to dependence on Christ for cleansing and through him the help of the Spirit in living in a manner worthy of our calling. Again this requires humility in recognizing one’s own limitations and accepting the ministry of others in helping us to grow in holiness. Certainly much discipline is required, examining one’s own patterns of life, one’s daily activities, one’s own sin.

8.

The chapter Being for Reconciliation flows directly out of the gospel. It starts by acknowledging that we are unavoidably confronted with sin, no matter how society wants to sideline this. This ministry forces us to come to terms with our own sin and weaknesses as we have the treasure of Christ in clay jars. Reconciliation is God’s initiative. We receive God’s act of reconcilation in Christ and the task of the priest is to proclaim that through Christ’s death the barrier of reconciliation has been broken down, the door is open wide and people are invited to walk through. Reconciliation goes beyond pardon (although it is certainly not less than this), intending as it does living in peace with God and others, requiring change in ourselves. The ministry of the sacraments is a ministry of reconciliation, baptism calling individuals to ‘live into’ what it signifies, being washed, made clean, clothed in Christ, and incorporating them into fellowship with others. The church is the first fruit of the reconciliation of all humanity. The Lord’s Supper points us to reconciliation – the gathering as one from many places, confession of failure to love God and neighbour, hearing God’s word corporately, proclaiming the common faith, sharing the peace, we pray together, we share a common meal together which binds us together as one body, and we are sent out together. The minister’s responsibility for his people means he should be maintaining and restoring peace, guiding God’s people through the world’s temptations. This has to be done with a view to the community, but also to the personal aspect of sin. There is a need for personal repentance and reconciliation. The authors move on to the important, but perhaps neglected among evangelicals, subject of individual ministry of reconciliation, offering those who have sinned seriously, or who have tender consciences help in coming to peace with God. There was provision for this in the BCP. At the heart of our ministry is not counselling, but being for God’s word, not preaching, but incisively, carefully and prudently ministering it to people to comfort them, and also to direct how community implications may be put right, and standing with individuals in that. There needs to be a strong confidence in God’s mercy, and create an environment of confidence in God’s love and mercy so sin can be owned, reconciliation celebrated and hope offered. Creativity may be required in proclaiming God’s mercy. Rites of reconciliation are available, which strike me as being a wise means of bringing order to matters so sensitive as this. Happily, the authors steer us clear of the direction of Roman sacerdotal confession, reminding us that the office is not vicarial – one’s own mediation is not indispensible; direct communication with God is not suspended. Again, prayer is vital as we find ourselves dealing with depths of sin and the incredible fragility of people’s souls. Repentance means an amended life and this may involve reconciliation among God’s people. Ministers are to be an example themselves.

With regard to the world, the church is God’s agent of reconciliation and reconciliation in the church is a sign of God’s future reign breaking into the present. We need to connect people with hope in a way that concretely applies to the gospel to real-world experience. The role of the minister in this is varied, sometimes tangibly showing God’s love by one’s presence in suffering well before going in with words. Reconciliation in the world should have profound political and social consequences as we’re recreated in the image of God and lives are recreated in justice. Hospitality is a demonstration of reconciliation, and we need to be prepared to move beyond the boundaries of our communities to draw people in. Ministers have to come to terms with their own wounds and sin and honestly and prayerfully seek reconciliation with God and with others themselves if they are to help others be reconciled to God. Again, accountability to another is to be encouraged.

There is much that is helpful here, but given all that has been said about reconciliation and sin and grace and love, there is remarkably little treatment of the cross of Christ in this chapter. Yet surely it is to the cross that one involved in the ministry of reconciliation must point for objective, tangible assurance of God’s love and forgiveness.

Exposition for Palm Sunday Eve

What follows is an exposition of tomorrow’s lectionary readings for Holy Communion. It is exegetical, not homiletical.

Ezekiel 37.21-end; John 11.45-end

CONTEXT

The word of the LORD comes to Ezekiel who is in exile (Ezekiel 1.1-3). In 2 Kings 24.10-17, we read that Jerusalem was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, the king Jehoiachin was deported, along with officials, soldiers, craftsmen and many others except the poor, and the treasures of the temple and the palace were taken. A puppet king, Zedekiah is appointed. This took place in 596 BC, and Ezekiel’s message in exile is that Jerusalem and the temple will be destroyed and more people will be taken into exile. This is recorded for us in 2 Kings 25 and Ezekiel 24. This took place in 587 BC. The reason for this is the rebelliousness of God’s people (Ezekiel 2.3). They have done wickedness, broken God’s laws and not walked in his ways, they have committed idolatry, even in the temple, and there have been false prophets proclaiming peace where there is no peace. God’s people are not alone: they are just like the other nations (Ezekiel 25.8) and so judgment is proclaimed against the nations who are also wicked and proud and rejoiced in the downfall of God’s people. There are shafts of light throughout Ezekiel’s prophecy, but this whole section is one where God promises rescue, restoration and blessing.

THEME

God will bring his scattered people back to the land under the rule of one shepherd-king descended from David, and they will be cleansed and so enjoy a new relationship with God forever.

A NEW GATHERING

There will be a united people of God in the land God promised to give them – vv. 21, 22, 25 and 26.

A NEW KING

They will be united in the land because they will live under the rule of one king; one shepherd will gather them together and care for them. He is a descendant of David and this reign will last forever – vv. 22, 24, 25. This picks up on what has already been said in Ezekiel 34, where we read that there will be a shepherd over God’s people who will seek them out and gather them into the land and will feed and heal them. He is both the LORD, YHWH, and a descendant of David.

A NEW RELATIONSHIP

The people will enjoy a new relationship with God. They will be cleansed from their idolatry and sin which defiled them in God’s sight and brought his judgment upon them. But more than that, they will be changed so that they will not do it any more (vv. 23, 24). They will enjoy a new covenant relationship with God, which will last forever. God will dwell with them in their midst. The covenant refrain which goes back to God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 17 and repeated to Israel in Leviticus 26.12: “They shall be my people, and I shall be their God” – vv. 23, 26, 27. The idea of the covenant of peace looks back to the end of chapter 34, where God promises fruitfulness in the land and security from the enemies of God’s people. The promise of change looks back to Ezekiel 36.25-28, where God promises to sprinkle them clean, remove their hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh, putting a new spirit, his Spirit in them, so that they walk in his ways, and again, the covenant promise is restated.
This new covenant relationship is generational, extending to children and children’s children.

Finally, there is the hint that this blessing is not restricted to the people of Israel, but extends to the nations – in v. 28, we see that the effect of what God does for his people is that the nations will know that he is LORD.

Israel’s subsequent history, including the return from exile into the land, never comes close to fully fulfilling these promises. As with all God’s promises, they find their “Yes” in Christ (2 Corinthians 1.20), and we see that in the reading from John.

FULFILMENT

This episode comes after the raising of Lazarus when many believed in him (John 11.45). Others tell the chief priests and Pharisees (v. 46) who gather together the Jewish ruling council and plot to work out what to do. They are afraid that because of the miracles he is performing, people will follow him and the Romans will come and intensify their conquest of the region, destroying the city and the nation itself. Caiaphas speaks and he is thinking in terms of the future of the nation in regard to the Romans. It is better that Jesus dies so that he doesn’t get a following and the Romans come and destroy them. However, his words have a deeper significance. As we saw earlier the nation faces death because of its rebellion. Jesus dies, so the nation doesn’t die, but lives and is gathered together in fulfilment of what Ezekiel prophesied. But Jesus doesn’t just die for the nation, but the children of God who are scattered abroad. This looks back to what Jesus has just said in John 10.16, where he says that he has other sheep who are not of the fold of Israel whom he must bring so that there is one flock and one shepherd over them. He is referring to God’s elect throughout the world, who as we have seen are in the same predicament as Israel. It is through Jesus death that they are cleansed so that they have life and a new relationship with God. In the other gospels at the last supper, Jesus says, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for the forgiveness of sins”. Jesus is the shepherd-king who is both the LORD and a descendant of David, the Word made flesh (John 1.14) who according to his human nature was descended from David (Romans 1.3). This is what we remember on Palm Sunday as Jesus comes into Jerusalem as a king before he goes to his death on the cross. As the hymn has it:

Ride on! Ride on in majesty!
In lowly pomp ride on to die.

The hope he brings is vaster than one people enjoying blessing in one fruitful country, but a new heavens and new earth which his people will inherit, where there is no pain, suffering, tears or death, where God “will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Revelation 21.3). The miracles he performed were in a sense a preview of this.

IMPLICATIONS

Individual – as we look at our lives, we may well feel that we need cleansing from the wrong we have done and we may well be acutely aware that we are powerless to change. We resolve to alter our way of life but fail. Even if we aren’t aware of it, that’s the predicament we’re in. God invites us to respond to Jesus as the people did in v. 45, to believe in him, to trust in him as our Saviour and come under his shepherding rule; it is in Christ that we receive what God promised in Ezekiel 37 – cleansing from sin, new power to live God’s way as he changes our hearts and gives us his Holy Spirit, and a new, everlasting relationship with God. At whatever stage we are in our Christian lives, we need to keep depending on Christ for growth in holiness.

Family – this promise of cleansing and new relationship with God applies to children and children’s children. This is why we have a responsibility to baptise our children, admitting them into the covenant people and signifying God’s promise to them, and bring them to respond in faith to what God promises his people in baptism.

World – we live in a divided world torn apart by hatred and war. God in this passage promises in Christ not just to unite Israel, but his people from among all the nation scattered on the earth. This is the hope we are to hold out to our world in our own proclamation and in our lives; our life as the church has to reflect that unity which is the purpose for which Christ died, welcoming and serving, rather excluding those from other countries, cultures and social backgrounds, promoting peace and integration rather than division.

In Christ, God is creating a new, united humanity in perfect relationship with him, walking in his ways as they were made to, living in a fruitful world.

Unequally Yoked

“While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to the Baal of Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.” – Numbers 25.1-3

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?” – 2 Corinthians 6.14-16

The passage from 2 Corinthians is often used as a proof-text that Christians shouldn’t court or marry non-Christians. I think this case can be strengthened by looking at the language of yoking from Numbers 25. Israel yoked himself to Baal, i.e. sacrificed to and worshipped Baal, as a consequence of the relationships of the Israelites with the Moabite women. Israel thus became yoked to Baal with the Moabite women. In 2 Corinthians 6, the emphasis is very much on the incompatibility of the worship of Christ with demons, the temple of the Lord with idols. And so Christians are not to yoke themselves with unbelievers, that is to say, be yoked with unbelievers to idols. From Numbers 25, we see that the relationship with unbelievers that leads to “unequal” yoking, yoking with unbelievers to idols, is entering into relationships with them such as marrying them or fornicating with them (although I am sure there are other forms of partnership that could equally be proscribed). So don’t even think about going out with unbelievers.

(Praise the Lord for the BCP Lectionary!)

Being a Priest Today (2)

4.

The second section of the book is about The Shape of Priestly Life and begins with a consideration of worship, that is, public worship. This, I think, is right, reflecting the fact that whatever it is a presbyter does, it is done in the context of a worshipping community, people called to offer their lives in service and witness to God, a calling that finds its expression in the congregational gathering of the church. The authors acknowledge that the calling of the presbyter extends beyond the boundaries of the church building and community to all opportunities for people’s eyes, ears and hearts to be open to God’s saving activity, but that his ministry is concentrated in a liturgical ministry of word and sacrament, preaching and teaching, the Lord’s Supper and Baptism. God’s saving purpose, as seen with Israel in the Old Testament is the liberation of people to worship him. As Augustine said, to serve him is perfect freedom. It is not bondage. God does not need our praise – his Trinitarian life is an eternal life of love in which others are invited to join, rather than serving the idols of achievement and autonomy which ultimately lead to self-destruction. This is what presbyters are ordained to see realised is the life of the church and proclaimed to the world. There’s a great summary section about the tasks of the presbyter and the people and the relationship to worship, which bears repetition in full:

Those who have been called into the ‘priesthood of the prebyterate’ are to be worshipping people, shaped by God’s ‘word of truth’ and sustained by lives of prayer. These characteristics of priestly life will lead to the fruit of holy lives that bring reconciliation and blessing to God’s people, and proclaim the good news of salvation to the nations. Worship is therefore a concentrated experience of priestly existence in which its character is formed in us and its consequences initiated.

What is true for the priestly presbyter is true also for the priestly people. God’s people are to be nurtured by the word and nourished by prayer. they are to be holy people, reconciled to each other and able to bless each other through their life together. All this is for the world. the Church is to be formed by the word so that it can speak God’s re-forming word to the world. The Church is to pray for the world, so that the world may find peace in the Prince of Peace. The Church is to be a holy people, at peace with itself, so that it can proclaim and demonstrate God’s promise to bless the world by transforming it into a place fit for God to dwell, a world where ‘a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages’ cry: “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”‘ (Revelation 7:10)

The authors affirm the healthy approach to involving those not ordained in leading public worship, according to how God has gifted them, but they go on to say that the ordained mustn’t abdicate their responsibility to call people to worship and to preside over it, not just in the acts themselves, but in the overall ethos of glorifying God and edifying his people. Through Christ the true worship leader’s act of worship in giving himself up to death, we are qualified to stand in God’s presence and serve him. We are called to be in Christ and bring others to hi so that through his priestly ministry, our praise is perfected and our lives made holy offerings to God. The authors write that ‘liturgy has immense formative power’, which I pray more people in my generation would see. God uses liturgy even from traditions with which we feel less comfortable to build us up. Our manner as well as our words are required for others’ sakes as well as our own, so that they are drawn in and transformed. Not only do we need to be worshippers ourselves, we need to have an understanding of the dynamics of liturgy and the theology of worship in order to be faithful – proclaiming the supremacy of God over the idols of this world and reflecting the Trinitarian shape of the gospel. Worship is by grace through faith; it’s a gift to be received not a duty to be performed, so even through our shortcomings it is acceptable, because it is offered to the Father through the Son in the Spirit. There needs to be an attention and sensitivity to our particular congregation’s life in order for public worship to reach and shape them. Moreover, there has to be sensitivity to what is going on in the community, the nation and the world as a whole if the worship of the church is to be consistent with its priestly duty in regard to the world. The authors then focus on presiding at the Eucharist as the clearest expression of the place of the presbyter and again, I think this reflects how the Apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer was at the heart of the life of God’s people in the days after Pentecost. Again, the one who presides must do so in a way that best builds up and helps the people. The people are gathered in order for their identity as Christ’s people, the Church, to be renewed and reformed. The authors quote Cranmer, who wrote, ‘All remember Christ’s death, all give thanks to God, and repent and offer themselves an oblation to Christ, all take him for their Lord and Saviour, and spiritually feed upon him.’ The president’s calling, they say, is to turn these principles into practice. The gathered people then engage with God’s word, for it is only when we are formed and reformed by God’s word that we can be the people of God. The presbyter doesn’t have to do all the reading and preaching, but ensures that the diet of the people is firmly based on Scripture. God’s word may be read, sing and proclaimed by various ministries within the church, and the presbyter stands under it, too. One’s own preaching should reflect that, being a pattern and example. In intercession, there is an opportunity to respond to God’s word. The authors go on to say that sacramental action is also an opportunity for lives given over in sacrifical response to God. The authors make it clear that the action of the minister is representative of the people, but they go on to say that the actions with bread and wine stand for what Christ does with us, giving thanks for us, setting us apart, and then breaking us, preparing us to be shared with the world; in the proclamation of the Lord’s death until he comes we offer our sacrifice of praise. I think I would rather keep the emphasis first and foremost on Christ in the Lord’s Supper. The breaking of the bread is primarily about his sacrifical death. With Cranmer, I would like to see our offering as a response that follows the communion, our priestly activity only being possible through Christ’s prior offering of himself. However, with the authors, I want to affirm a robust view of the Lord’s Supper that in it we have communion with Christ and his people, and that of course has massive implications – the need for reconciliation and fellowship with our brothers, and proclamation of all that Christ has done for us so that they too might share in it. That of course is reflected in the Dismissal following the communion, to fulfil our calling to be a missionary people, faithfully obeying God’s word in his world.

5. 

This chapter, Being for the Word picks up on the idea introduced in the previous chapter about how essential Scripture is, and in my opinion, this is easily the best chapter of the book. It reflects the emphasis of the New Testament on the requirement for presbyters to teach and preach, based on convictions about Scripture which the New Testament proclaims, so that people are enabled to live increasingly godly lives. As Christians, we are for Christ, the Word of God, and that entails being for the word of God in Scripture. Any minister among God’s people has to be immersed in Scripture, for God’s people are to be a people of the word. This is life-changing busines, because the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4.12-13). We need to be marinated in the word, and there must be integrity between doctrine and life; ministers are to be formed by the word. Our study of the word must be relational, motivated by love of God and his ways. The word has authority over us, interprets us, masters us and transforms us. It is the presence and self-communication of God. We are to invite others into engaging with it. The word can be threatening and disruptive. We need to know the word, which means studying it, meditating on it, allowing it to change us. We can never read one passage too many times. It is as ministers’ understanding of the Scriptures is enlightened that their lives and the lives of those they serve are shaped by God’s word and there is growth in holiness. There is to be a daily rhythm of deep, systematic, prayerful reading and meditating, and the word will meet us in different ways depending on our circumstances. We mustn’t allow the tasks we have to do to squeeze this out. We need to learn Holy Scripture, not just committing it to memory, but committing it to life, rather than just exegesis which stops short of our lives, or simply devotional readings followed by some Bible reading notes. This is vital for the ‘doctrine and exhortation taken our of holy Scripture, and a life agreeable to the same’ which is necessary for the weighty work of the salvation of man, according to the Prayer Book Ordinal. We ourselves need to be exposed to words to be resourced for proclaiming the word. The ministerial task is prophetic, unsettling, challenging and provoking as well as comforting and consoling. The word of God gives us security and enables us to have hope and vision when faced with the concerns about congregation size, finance and other practicalities. From the earliest ordination liturgies, the call of the presbyter is to teach and preach. Preaching should be simple rather than erudite: our aim is to be understood, not admired. Preaching can be in the one-off context of a funera, or regularly, week after week, which enables us to take a longer perspective: not all the work has to be done in one week. There is value in the lectionary, taking us through the story of Christ’s life, ensuring that we do not take each part of the story to be the climax. The Daily Office structures daily prayer, praise and systematic reflection on Scripture and reflected the conviction of Cranmer and those who preceded him that formation in God’s word lies at the heart of Christian living. We need to listen to Scripture in the light of the day’s ordinary events.

In preaching, there has to be double listening – listening to the word and to the world. We need to be able to articulate the voice of our hearers, listening to the world the congregation lives in, and so help them to hear God. There needs to be a relationship of love between the preacher and his hearers. In a sense, the sermon is a conversation, and the preacher has to be able to enable them to hear their own voice in that conversation, which I suppose means that people come to the word of God with their own experiences and longings and they need to be able to see how God’s word describes and addresses them. The authors suggest that God speaks through Scripture and in our prayer, but also in unexpected ways, through our enjoyment of the arts, sports events, hobbies &c, to which we should listen as part of our ongoing preparation for preaching. I am hesitant to describe these as God speaking, an activity which should perhaps be ascribed to the Son and the Scriptures alone, but that is not to undervalue these activites, which aside from their worth as good gifts of God to be received with thankfulness, keep us rooted in the real world in which we seek to minister and so can know and care for our people (which includes our preaching to them) more effectively. George Herbert spoke of ‘wallowing in the midst of their affairs’. We have to learn to reflect theologically on the word and the word to speak the word of God in the various circumstances of life, triumph as well as tragedy, seeing them in the context of God’s larger story. In our preaching, the lectionary can be helpful in holding us to the whole of Scripture, diluting the selectivity of the preacher or divorcing texts from their context. The harder edges of Scripture cannot be avoided. The preaching task is to convey Christ. Examples include Herbert who took longer texts, illustrating them to help the people remember them, applying them to their particular situation. Authentic Anglican preaching, as exemplified in the former Brasenose man F. W. Robertson starts from and is shaped from the word read systematically, referring to current affairs but not using Scripture to support a line of thought from an external source. A deep knowledge of Scripture is required to discern the meaning of a text and present it simply, informed by the rest of Scripture. When preaching, we are telling a story in  which we are inviting others to participate. The Old Testament is neglected, when it is part of the coherent story of God’s dealings with a wayward world. Our task is to best enable people to hear God’s word so it can be unleashed in them for transformation. Liturgy can be helpful in inculcating a Scriptural vocabulary. Preaching should recognize that people come with their own joys and sorrows and so the preacher should enable the people to make links between the gospel and daily life. Anglican preaching aims for conversion of life, daily conversion to a more godly way of living. To this end, preachers need to open up the Scriptural world to enable people to enter into it and hear its call. We are to serve people and teach and encourage them, but we cannot keep the people dependent on us. We ourselves have to respond to it.

There is great challenge here to be familiar with Scripture ourselves and live it out, before we begin to proclaim it to others. It is a call to humble confidence; humble, because it is other-person centred, seeking the edification and transformation of others through simple,  applied teaching of the whole counsel of God, rather than self-exalting and agenda-promoting, and confidence, because God’s word does have power to change people. It is also a challenge not to withdraw, so that we can understand the experiences of life which the people to whom we preach have, and so help to comprehensibly proclaim the message of Scripture to them, and apply it to their lives.

6. 

The authors move on to the subject of prayer, which is what people want of their ministers and is a priority ministers have for themselves. It is often an area of feelings of inadequacy and guilt. Faithful prayer is enabled by the Holy Spirit. It’s a great privilege, and is rooted in relationship with God, encompassing the cry for help and the expression of wonder, dealing with all areas of life, however seemingly ordinary. For the minister, it is to be part of the rhythm of daily life. The Daily Office is just there. There must be no pretence. We do not have to wait until we have certain feelings. God deals with us as we are. Prayer doesn’t just secure the resources we need, but is relational and transformative. Our focus should be on the one to whom we are praying, not that for which we are praying. Everyday life is the raw material for prayer, moving us for example to gratitude. In prayer, we are to be watchful for signs of God’s saving activity. Liturgy can be helpful. It helps us when we cannot articulate our own prayer. It stops our feelings being our spiritual barometer. Even if the liturgy doesn’t match our present experience, it reminds us that we are not praying alone. It lifts us from focus upon ourselves to focus on the experience of God’s people as a whole. We need time with God in prayer to sustain us. It is important to have foundations for a regular prayer life before ordination, although there should be growth and development. The help of another is important, encouraging, prompting,  and guiding, someone to whom we can be accountable; the authors suggest a spiritual director. They explore the significance prayer at different times during the day – such evening and night – and associating prayer with different daily tasks as did the Celts. There is a slight tendency to lose sight of the relational aspect of prayer, commenting on the enjoyment of repetitive prayer by children, or the security found in it by a psychiatry patient. Prayer mustn’t be reduced to a psychological tool. The authors offer practical suggestions for incorporating prayer into the rhythm of our lives – washing, dressing, tidying &c. We need to have our eyes open to our own localities and the world around us and bring them before God in prayer and praise, for there is no part of his creation where he is not present and able and willing to hear us. An important part of the minister’s prayer is his prayer for others, which in itself can increase our affection for them and prompt us to practical service. Prayer will be requested as part of our everyday ministry to others and its form can vary from the spontaneous to the liturgical. Again, there is the suggestion of tying prayer to some creative activity – one can look at what one has made and remember those for whom we have prayed when the years have passed. The authors commend the Psalms, which tell us that we can bring everything before God in prayer and speak across the centuries and apply to our very modern circumstances.

This comes as a corrective to me in a number of ways: it is so easy to turn prayer from being relational to being a time when I bring all my requests to God. I have benefitted from regular liturgical prayer, which incorporates praise as well as petition, taking the focus from me to God, shaping my priorities and directing as well as expressing my longings. Pride doesn’t want to admit inadequacy in this fundamental area of Christian discipleship, yet its necessity suggests that humbly seeking accountability with a trusted Christian would be wise. The challenge comes to incorporate prayer into the rhythm of daily life, not just at the beginning and ending of the day.

Being a Priest Today

Being a Priest Today was written by two ministers, Christopher Cocksworth, Principal of Ridley Hall in Cambridge, and Rosalind Brown. It comes from a slightly different stable from my own and I’m probably not meant to like it, but there is much that I’ve found helpful in this book in considering what it means to be a full-time stipendiary minister in Christ’s church, both from Scripture and their own practical experience.

1.

Christian ministry is relational, grounded in one’s relationship with Christ. Presbyteral ministry is to be understood in the context that God’s people, in the Old Testament and the New are a priestly people (Exodus 19, 1 Peter 2), serving God and proclaiming his works to the nations. Christ is the priest, living eternally with the Father and serving him, serving as mediator between God and the world in creation, in communication, God’s communication with us and ours with him, and in salvation, living and dying for our justification, reconciliation and sanctification. Through Christ’s priestly sacrifice for sin, in the power of the Spirit we exercise our priesthood through him and he through us, as we proclaim and live out the gospel, serving and interceding for the world. The focus on the other is the fulfilment of God’s design for humanity, created as relational beings in the image of the Triune God. The authors go on to say that being with others to be for the also requires us to receive from them, pointing to the Son’s reception of all that the Father gives, but it is unclear what they think that means for the task of the church. They write of Jesus’ natural enjoyment of others, and point to Jesus receiving the woman who anointed his feet with oil and tears and wiped them with her hair, and his words to the penitent thief on the cross. But Jesus’ dealings with others, as indeed the examples they cite show, are not so much about his enjoyment of the company of others, but of grace, and of the forgiveness and acceptance they receive when they respond in faith to him. If the priestly work of the church is to reflect that, then what is involved is not so much a receiving from others, but a receiving of others, holding out the word of God’s grace in Christ and welcoming of all those who embrace it, no matter how notorious, despised or different they are.

Among the priestly people of God, there were those appointed presbyters for particular ministries. Presbyteral ministry is pastoral (1 Peter 5.1, Acts 20.28) in that presbyters shepherd the flock, building it up and helping it to grow, protecting it and looking after the weak. They exercise oversight, and vital for this is the word of God, upon which they are to maintain a firm grasp (Titus 1.9) and which they are to labour in teaching and preaching (1 Timothy 5.17). The attitude presbyters are to have is that of humble service, exercising faithful ministry in the most adverse of circumstances for the sake of those whom they are serving, reflecting Christ’s attitude. There is emotional involvement with the people – Paul served with tears, for presbyteral service is painful and involves suffering. Presbyteral ministry is carried out in the power of the Holy Spirit, listening to the Spirit and serving in the power of the Spirit. The responsibility which presbyters have is a great one – they are caring for the church of God which he bought with the blood of his Son. Presbyters are not a class outside of or above the rest of the people, but members within it with a particular pastoral relationship that requires them to be conformed to the pattern of the servanthood of Christ the Chief Shepherd. This is recognized in ordination – the church realises its need and discerns God’s call on individuals, and then their ministry is given to them (and received from them by the church. Indeed, ordination is to service in a particular community. The bishop prays the ordination prayer and with other elders lays hands on the candidate to ordain them: it is te work of the church. Their ministry is derivative from the apostles: it is the apostolic gospel and faith that gives birth to, and enables the growth and maintains the health of the church. The diversity of ministries within the church are dependent on one another. Presbyters are live blamelessly, and are to be an example to the church. The church needs presbyters, not in that having them defines and authenticates the church, but in that their ministry serves the church, helps it to grow and be what God intends it to be. Placing the ordained ministry in the context of the task of the church reflects the emphasis of Scripture, and promotes an attitude of care, service and humility, rather than of pride and self-achievement.

2.

The second chapter deals with the priestly minister of the presbyter. The authors recognise that language of priesthood wasn’t employed in the very early church, beginning to be employed in the third century. They also acknowledge the embarrassment that some Christians feel over this language, or justify it semantically by saying that the old English preost (whence derives our word ‘priest’) means presbyteros. Interestingly, Hooker advocated a return to the term ‘presbyter’. This certainly characterises the traditions, both Independent and Anglican, which were formative for me. But as the authors demonstrate, the term ‘priest’ takes us to a number of vital characteristics of Christian ministry which this word signifies, and which in actual fact are profoundly Scriptural. The presbyter is to be an example to the priestly people of God of faith and pure, godly, conduct and love, and is to preside over the priestly activities of the church. They indicate the identity of the church, embodying and personifying in their own lives the way of life to which the church is called. They are signs of the priestly life of the church. They are representatives and mouthpieces of the priestly people. Again this is not be severed from, but instead to spring from, the priestly life of the people. This is not to exempt the church from, but empower the church for being holy. This is a high calling, for the pattern the church, and thus the minister, is to follow is that of Christ our great High Priest. They are to be holy not only as every Christian is called to be holy, but so that others might be holy too. Presbyters are thus also called to activate the calling of the church. They are means of grace, tools God uses to form his people into what they are called to be. Presbyters thus serve Christ in his ministry to make his people grow, as they watch over and animate the growth of the church. Ordination is the church’s recognition of its dependence on Christ’s discipline and training. The priestly ministry of the presbyter is concentrated in those particular situations (especially liturgical) when the priestly activity of the church is focused on the presbyter, who acts in the name of God’s people, for example, in the speaking of God’s word of forgiveness. The presbyter however, doesn’t represent the priesthood just of the local congregation, but of the whole church of which the local congregation is one manifestation. So presbyters are ordained by bishops, who have oversight of many congregations and thus connect those congregations together. The act of the presbyter is the act of Christ through the whole church directed to a particular expression of that church. There are all sorts of situations when this ministry is called upon in everyday life and society. This should be a great propellant for the presbyter to be in the world, modelling the priestly calling of the church, and also for the presbyter to help Christians fulfil their priestly calling wherever they find themselves, rather than taking their place.

Presbyters are therefore to have great love for the church, delighting and rejoicing in it as they seek to build it up. Like Paul, they are mothers, nurturing the church, caring for it deeply, painfully, and great personal cost, so that Christ is formed in it. Presbyters are also fathers, training others for ministry, supporting them, but then allowing them to exercise that ministry. It requires wisdom, identifying what needs to be done, and how Christians can be stretched and developed and shaped. The presbyter is also a physician, diagnosing and caring for individual people with their individual problems, treating them in the individual ways they require. This is vital for the health of the church as a whole. The presbyter is a navigator, guiding individuals and the church through all the storms of life and the temptations they may face, keeping the always in the paths God has laid down and fixing their eyes on the final destination, namely the new heaven and the new earth. In a similar way, they are to be shepherds, or even the sheepdog, listening to the voice of the shepherd and focusing and serving the sheep. Presbyters are to identify how Christians can be helped to move in the right direction, particularly in our hostile culture, hearing God’s word, and showing the world the way the church itself is on. Encompassing all this, presbyters are to govern firmly but humbly, leading the church to love Christ more. In setting forth the priestly nature of the presbyter’s ministry, this chapter faithfully reflects the emphasis of the ministry and exhortations of the apostles, and particularly Ephesians 4.11-12: “And he gave… the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” In doing so, it stresses the importance of personal holiness in the minister, showing forth the example of Christ to the church, and it is also greatly humbling: the focus of the presbyter is profoundly centred on the good of others and priests are ‘public persons’, representing the whole church to the individual congregation to build it up, and to the whole world, in reaching out.

3.

The authors then move to consider how the calling of the ordained priest is to be fulfilled. The answer is in the dynamic of grace, turning from confidence in ourselves and emptying ourselves, and trusting God’s promise. Grace does not end with conversion, but beginning there permeates all areas of Christian discipleship, including ministry. Pointing to the example of Moses’ leadership of Israel, they comment that ‘Moses’ recognition of his own weakness is a justifying recognition. It justifies that God has made the right choice. It is justifies that Moses is the right person for this work because it shows that Moses is in the right place to realise that the work will be completed not by his own abilities, but by God’s abiding presence and power.’ Certainly such an attitude is an essential characteristic for Christian ministry, but to suggest that God’s choice of Moses was correct because of this quality in Moses rather undermines the dynamic of grace the authors want to suggest, implying as it does merit on Moses’ part which determines God’s choice and thus causing grace to cease to be grace. In the Exodus narrative, Moses’ first, abortive attempt to deliver an Israelite from the hands of an Egyptian led to disaster, ending in murder and flight. When God calls Moses, Moses response isn’t commended as a humble recognition of his own weakness and dependence on God, but provokes God to anger as a demonstration of unbelief in spite of the Lord’s reassurance of his presence and power. God’s choice and grace precedes any genuine humility on the part man, and such an attitude is itself a work of God’s grace. It is seeing God’s choice of Moses in that light, along with the truths of which Hannah and Mary sang, and God’s demonstration of power through the weakness of Paul, that shows us that ministry is all of grace, which humbles us and shows us that of ourselves we have nothing to bring, and so all that we do has to be in dependence on God, who lifts up the lowly. Priests are to model evangelical personality, permeated by the grace and love of God in the gospel, dedicated to the formation of evangelical communities, those who are open to God’s love and willing to make that love known to the world, seeking the formation of an evangelical cultural identity, committed to the transformation of the culture of our communities and lands, through making known God’s love, setting them free. Priests are to be wise, in that they are to speak of the God who makes his ways known in Christ, who reveals himself in taking upon himself our human nature, who demonstrates his power at the cross. And as priests are saved and minister by grace through faith, they are changed by God’s work in and through them.

The dynamic of grace in Christian ministry means that priests whose ministry is to demontrate self-giving must first be those who receive. This is to reflect the life of the Trinity, of which we see a snapshot in Jesus’ baptism, as the Son receives the Spirit from the Father and is called the Beloved. As Richard Baxter urged clergy in his day, the work of grace has to be wrought in our hearts before we offer it to others, so that we do not famish while we prepare the food of others. The authors move from the need to keep our spiritual lives in order to attending to mental, physical, emotional and social health and well-being, however that might look for the individual – sleep, food, art, music, nature, networks of relationships. Now while we must remember not to divorce the physical from the spiritual – all the things we enjoy in this world are God’s good gift to be received with thankfulness, and we must be careful to make sure we do not compromise our service through self-neglect, I do think we have to be on our guard against using this to justify our own self-indulgence. Christian ministry is costly. The Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head (Luke 9.58) and the apostle Paul surrenders his right to marriage and material benefit for the sake of the gospel (1 Corinthians 9). This issue comes up again later in the book in the chapter Being for blessing. Nevertheless, the principle of Sabbath is an important one for ministers, involving more (and I would add, certainly not less) than trying to protect one day as rest, but seeking it during the day, year and sequence of years. This is wise, and enables the minister to keep on serving God’s people, encouraging dependence on God and preventing one’s ministry from becoming an idol. The authors return again to the interdependence and interpenetration of the different ministries in the church, and an ordained minister has to be open to the ministry of others, especially from those of our own congregation. Hard though it may be, it is a sign of humility sowing that ministry is by grace through faith. In this sense, the priest has a catholic personality and his role is to help form catholic communities, with lives and ministries interpenetrating, creating a catholic cultural identity, a reconciled, loving humanity. Moreover, the chief end of man to glorify God and enjoy him forever applies to the priest. Our joy is a reflection of intra-Trinitarian joy and the joy of heaven in humanity’s redemption. Ministering so that others might have this joy is costly, so joy for the minister is often accompanied by suffering and pain. Priests are to have charismatic personalities, having the Holy Spirit and the gifts of grace he gives, forming charismatic communities, recognising, enjoying and sharing God’s gifts of grace, shaped by the life of God who is three self-giving persons, creating a charismatic cultural identity, again, enjoying God’s gifts of grace.

What Ritual Can Do

There’s a great post from Doug Wilson HERE on baptism as part of his series ‘Welcome to the Reformed faith’, which is well worth a read, dealing with the covenant meaning of baptism, the tension between true and false profession of faith in a fallen world, and how it’s a key that unlocks much of the letter to the Hebrews. Here’s an extract:

Baptism in water is a covenant bond, and, as such, it can easily be compared to putting on the wedding ring in a wedding ceremony. Now nobody thinks that the metals of gold and silver have magic transformative powers — mystically changing the couple in the ceremony into husband and wife. Intention is important, which is why a wedding ceremony on a movie set doesn’t do anything of the kind, even if all the right words are said. In a similar way, a baptism performed on a movie set doesn’t accomplish anything. And yet, at the same time, the ritual of placing water on someone in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is not “just water.” The ritual transforms, but not by any kind of magic. The ritual transforms a person’s status because that is what rituals do. One moment you have a civilian, the next moment, after the ritual, you have a soldier. One moment you have a bachelor, the next moment, after the ritual, you have a husband. Before the ritual he is morally obligated to keep his hands to himself. After the ritual he is morally obligated not to. Before the ritual of water baptism, you have someone who has yet been inducted into the visible church. After the ritual, you do.

And so, we believe that when someone has been baptized in this way, that person is covenantally bound to God. He is obligated. Obligated to do what? To fulfill the terms of the new covenant, which is to repent of all his sins and to believe in Jesus. Nothing more, and nothing less, and even that is a gift of God, lest any man should boast.

The Song of Songs and Relationships

To Victoria and Simon, newly engaged

Having made notes on the Song and what it says about the relationship between God and his people, I want to point out some implications that the Song has for relationships, which I think apply both to those in relationships (married, engaged to be married, or courting with a view to marriage) and those who are not. There are both implications for how those relationships should be conducted, how we should support those in such relationships, and what we can be praying for. I don’t want to re-open a discussion that has taken place elsewhere, but considering the relationship between God and his people first and then moving on to the subject of courtship, marriage and sex is, I believe, both faithful to the intent of the text, and keeps human relationships in their right context, which is what will most lead to godly practice.

1. Dignity

The apostle Paul takes the ordaining of marriage and the bodily union which should accompany it and says that this was instituted as a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5.31-32). In the Song of Songs, we see that written large, as human relationship in all its glorious technicolour – its emotions, its longings, its activities – are all employed to speak of the relationship between God and his people. This gives heterosexual courtship, marriage and consummation great value. We must not share the view of the early and mediaeval church that sexual activity is somehow dirty or sinful. That has more in common with Greek philosophy and Gnosticism than the Bible. Nor must we share the world’s view, that treats courtship, marriage and sex as cheap and casual, something to be entered into lightly.

2. Perspective

Because marriage has been instituted by God as a picture of the relationship between Christ and his church, we must also realise that marriage is not ultimate. We must not make the pursuit of marriage or sex an idol, seeking our identity, value and meaning in those things. In the enjoyment of relationships and their associated features, we should always be looking beyond to the glorious reality to which they were created to point.

3. Adoration

The whole song consists essentially of the beloved, Christ, telling his bride, the church, how much he loves her and the church telling her beloved how much she loves him in return. Husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church, and wives respecting their husbands, should involve telling one another how much they love each other so that each of them knows. Praise and delight is to be expressed.

4. Patience (Song 2.8-17, 3.1-5, 6.1-12, 7.11-13, 8.1-3)

There is mutual longing in the relationship between Christ and his church. There is a desire for each to be with the other, but patience is required before consummation takes place. The world says of human relationships that it’s all right to jump straight to the consummation without waiting: if you’re attracted to someone, sleep with them. But Christ is patient in waiting for the consummation of his relationship with the church. If husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5.25), then until the man and the woman are married, no matter how much they long for one another, no matter how difficult it is to wait, it is right and proper for them to wait before they enter into the joys that properly belong to married life.

5. Grace (Song 5.2-6.9)

Though the bride in the Song can be lazy, complacent and self-centred at times, harming her relationship with Christ, Christ nevertheless returns to her and delights in her as much as he ever did. If husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church, then human relationships have to model grace. There will be times when through the faults of one or the other, the relationship will be difficult; there will be distance. One person may be less committed to the relationship than they ought to be. The response in that situation is not to hold it against them, to say that they must take the initiative to remedy the situation, but rather for the offended party to forgive and for both in the relationship to remain committed to one another.

6. Exclusivity (Song 1.7, 5.9-10)

Christ loves his bride exclusively and does not want another, and similarly, the bride doesn’t want anyone but Christ. So, too, husbands and wives are to remain exclusively committed to one another and not have eyes for another, but to continue to hold one another in the highest esteem.

7. Sacrifice (Song 1.12-13, 3.6, 4.6, 5.13, 8.12)

In the Song, we have seen how much imagery there is to do with the Temple and sacrifice, for example, the myrrh used in the anointing oil and frankincense for the incense employed in the temple, and how that points forward to the sacrifical death of Christ, who was presented with gifts of frankincense and myrrh and whose crucified body was embalmed with myrrh. He sacrificially loves his church. And it is this that delights the church, and leads her to give herself in costly devotion to him. Similarly, the relationship between a man and a woman is to be characterised by costly, sacrificial love and service.

8. Permanence (Song 8.6-7)

The character of the love between a husband and wife is to reflect as much as it can the love between Christ and the church which is described as a ’seal’, which is ‘as strong as death’, which ‘many waters cannot quench’ and which cannot be bought. These wedding vows should be taken with the utmost seriousness:

I take you to be my wife (husband),
to have and to hold
from this day forward,
for better for worse,
for richer for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish (and obey),
till death us do part,
according to God’s holy law,
and this is my solemn vow.

Whatever difficult circumstances life may throw up – illness, financial difficulty, temptation – we are to remain committed to our marriage and persevere through thick and thin.

Expository Thoughts on Song 8.5-14

The melodic line running through this last, short section of the Song is the security of the church.

1. Christ’s love is permanent (vv. 5-7)

This section starts, as did the previous section, with the beloved bringing his bride out of the wilderness (v. 5). Christ is redeeming his church and bringing her to the Promised Land of the New Creation. The bride is saying that she has always loved her beloved, and she asks to be set as a seal upon his arm and heart, so that he will never forget her, so that they are permanently united (v. 6). She describes his love – it’s as strong as death, that is, though death comes, Christ’s love will not be broken. There is still that union even in death. Moreover, jealousy is described in a positive context here, and that, too is as fierce as the grave; the grave cannot overcome this jealous love of the beloved for his bride. This is exalted language for love. Such a positive view of jealousy is part of the character of Yahweh – see Exodus 34.14 – it’s part of his glory, his character. This is also suggested by the description of the love and jealousy at the end of v. 6: ‘Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD’ (ESV), if that is the correct translation. This burning love cannot be extinguished (v. 7), nor can it be bought from God. No matter how much one tries to give him to take away that love, it will be to no avail. The beloved’s love for his bride is strong, inextinguishable and lasting. This is Christ’s love for the church, and we see this in the New Testament:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or faine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?… No in all these things we aremore than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8.35, 37-39

In our world of unfaithfulness, this is something to hold on to. Christ is faithful to his people and nothing can separate us from his love, neither our sin nor our circumstances. Nothing can persuade Christ to disown us when we are his. Whatever our difficulties, Christ still loves us. There is hope of resurrection here – love is as strong as death and jealousy as fierce as the grave. Death, the grave, cannot break Christ’s love for us and he in his love will bring us through it to resurrection life (and in the meantime we will enjoy his unbroken love in heaven).

2. The Church’s defence is secure (vv. 8-10)

We are taken back to the bride’s youth. Her brothers describe her as a little sister with no breasts (v. 8), but they are planning what to do when she is spoken for, when her beloved comes. This is their wedding gift to her – to fortify her, to make her strong, to protect her against any who would harm her (v. 9). That is what she will be like when her husband comes to her. She goes on to describe her present state – she is a wall with towers (v. 10), one who finds peace because of her relationship with her beloved. There is no warfare. She is secure. The language used of this little sister again confirms her identity as God’s people. She looks like Jerusalem, with a wall and silver battlements, and doors with cedar boards, with towers. Remember how Solomon brought much silver and cedar into Jerusalem (1 Kings 10.27). Moreover, the Jerusalem means ‘city of peace’. God’s people are protected and safe, because of her relationship with Christ.

3. The Church’s love is lavish (vv. 11-14)

This is the church’s response to the safety and security she has. The comparison between vv. 11 and 12 is slightly hazy, but I think it goes something like this. Solomon has a vineyard which he lets out for a price. To obtain the fruit from the vineyard, 1000 pieces of silver as rent was due. Well, the bride has her own vineyard. (Again, this identifies her as God’s people – Israel was often described as a vineyard (e.g. Isaiah 5.1-7). And she gives of her vineyard. Solomon gets 1000 pieces of silver’s worth, while the keepers of the vineyard get 200. God’s people give themselves in love generously to Solomon’s greater Son, the Lord Jesus. The image shifts to the garden (v. 13). The one who dwells in the garden is the bride (cf. 4.12). The people and the land are linked. Just as others listen to the bride’s voice, so the beloved wants to hear it. And the bride speaks, expressing her love, calling the man her beloved, and summoning him to come over the mountains to her (v. 14, cf. 2.8, 4.6). Christ longs to hear the voice of the church, his people living in their land, and his people long for him to come to them. Does this characterise our love for Christ. Do we give of ourselves in a costly, sacrifical manner? Do we meet Christ’s delight in the voice of his church with a prayer longing for him to come to us as an expression of our love for him?

Expository Thoughts on Song 3.6-8.4 (2)

2. The Church resists her husband, Christ (5.2-6.1) – continued

We left the church adjuring the daughters of Jerusalem to tell her beloved that she is sick with love if they find him (v. 8). This leads them to enquire about what is so special about her beloved (v. 9). Here we see displayed her rekindled love. She describes him in glowing terms – he’s radiant and ruddy, and if you lined up ten thousand men he would top them all (v. 10). She then describes his whole body, and the description is rich in allusion and again in this one individual we see the divine and the human. The sapphires which bedeck his body (v. 14) are what comprised the pavement when God appeared on Sinai (Exodus 24.10) and are in Ezekiel’s vision of the Lord Almighty in glory (Ezekiel 1.26). But also present are gold (vv. 11, 14, 15), ivory (v. 14), spices (v. 13), other jewels (v. 14) and cedar (v. 15). This brings us back to the reign of Solomon, the pinnacle of Israel’s monarchy. Gold, ivory and precious stones were abundant in Solomon’s reign (1 Kings 10.10, 18, 21-22, 25) as was cedar wood (e.g. 1 Kings 5.6, 8 ) for the temple and his palace, through trade and through the tribute of the kings of the earth. Again we see an individual who is simultaneously Yahweh and Solomon the glorious king at whose feet the riches of the world are laid. When the light of the New Testament is shone on this passage, we realise we are again face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, there is the scent of myrrh in the air – the scent of the temple, of sacrifice and death. Notice the relationship that the church has with Christ – he is her beloved and her friend (v. 16). God’s people have a great desire for Christ, the God-man, who has died for his people, and before whom the kings and nations of the earth bow. Notice the effect that the expression of this love has on others: they want to seek him too (6.1). Do we speak of Christ and delight in him in such a way that makes him attractive to others, that they too want to know him?

3. Christ restores his bride, the church (6.2-8.4)

This section is sheer grace. Her complacency having been rebuked and her passion rekindled, the beloved comes back to his bride. He has gone down to the garden which is full of spices to gather and graze among lilies, that is to say, he has come to her (see 4.12, 14, 5.1). Lilies as we have already seen, I think, are symbols of God’s redemption of his people – Hosea 14.5. ‘I am my beloved’s and my beloved his mine’ – the covenant relationship between God and his people is still present, and he continues to delight her (vv. 2-3). He compares her to Tirzah, a place in Israel, and Jerusalem, awesome as an army fully arrayed in its splendour (v. 4). He is still overwhelmed by her, and he delights in her as much as he always did, describing her as he has already (goats leaping down Gilead’s slopes, washed ewes coming from the river with their young, none of whom are lost, cheeks like pomegranates – vv. 5-7; see 4.1-2). He is faithfully and exclusively committed to her. Sixty queens and eighty concubines and innumerable virgins might be set before him but he chooses his bride, whom he sees as his dove, perfect and pure – she’s the only one for him (vv. 8-9). That’s how committed Christ is to his church. And the effect of Christ’s love for his church brings salvation to others – the young women, queens and concubines see her and bless and praise her; God’s promise to Abram was that he would bless those who bless him (Genesis 12.3). Others too come to know God’s covenant blessing because of the beauty of the church and Christ’s commitment to her. He goes on to compare her to the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun (v. 10) Is this further redemptive language? In Isaiah 30.26, God says that ‘the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the LORD binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow’. Christ is delighting in the bride whom he has saved. The bride goes to the orchard to see if anything is blossoming, if the vines are budding and the pomegranate is in bloom (v. 11), i.e. that the time for consummation of their relationship is there as the land is redeemed, as it becomes like the Promised Land; in Christian language, she is waiting for the New Creation, and she finds herself in the presence of her beloved again (v. 12). Others want to look on her (v. 13) and the bridegroom continues to delight in her. In 7.1, she is bedecked with jewels (like God’s redeemed people; see again Ezekiel 16.11) and she is described in the terms of an idyllic land – there’s a rounded bowl never lacking wine (v. 2), like the redeemed land (Amos 9.13-14), there is a heap of wheat encircles with liles (see above for lilies and God’s forgiven people their restored land), there are fawn and gazelles as before (v. 3), the neck is a tower, this time of ivory, and she is again compared to a number of landmarks (vv. 4-5). All except Carmel are outside of the borders of Israel; perhaps there’s an indication here that the restored land in which the redeemed people share fellowship with the Lord expands to encompass the world. There is again the purple of the tabernacle curtain (v. 5) and the association with the presence of God amongst his people. The king is captivated by her. He describes her as beautiful and pleasant (v. 6) and uses the imagery of the palm tree, (vv. 7-8) trees which were carved into the cedar of the temple (1 Kings 6.29), the symbolic garden when God meets with his people. The Promised Land is again alluded to with the comparison to the ‘clusters of the vine’ (Numbers 13.23). The beloved wants to possess his bride and enjoy her. Again, the bride wants to wait for that time of consummation with her beloved, the renewal of the land (vv. 11-13). Mandrakes are particularly associated with sexual consummation – see Genesis 30.14. The bride wants to feast together with her beloved (7.13, 8.2), and the food on which they feast, which the bride serves her husband, is the fruit of the Promised Land. She loves him so much she wished she had known him from infancy. Her longing is to bring her home, to the place where their love for one another can be fully enjoyed (8.2). This is a longing for the New Creation when the bride shall know Christ as she is known, and there is feasting in the New Creation. The beloved and love embrace (v. 3) and the pain and overwhelming forgiveness and renewed love and commitment lead her to adjure the daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up or awaken love until it pleases (v. 4). We learn from this pasage that though we may stray from Christ, try to shut him out or ignore him, yet he returns to his bride, the church. There is forgiveness, and he continues to delight in her. He is faithful and committed. May we the church remember how much Christ loves his people and wants her. Would that this would lead us to confident repentance. And may we echo the bride’s longing to be with Christ, to know and experience more fully his love, and wait with expectancy for that time of consummation, so that we can celebrate in God’s new world.

Expository Thoughts on Song 3.6-8.4 (1)

This section is quite long, but I think it is meant to be taken as a unit. The ‘adjure’ in 5.8 doesn’t quite fit the same pattern as all the others, and functions more as a hinge, leading directly into what follows rather than marking a turning point, with what precedes it in chapter 4 being mirrored in chapter 6. Moreover, the theme of coming out of the wilderness in 3.6 is repeated in 8.5, immediately after the standard refrain ‘I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases,’ indicating the beginning of a new section, or perhaps concluding this section. Because it is quite long, I will share my thoughts in two parts.

So far, the relationship between the lover and beloved has been expounded mainly in terms of the future experience of Christ and his church, but of course that relationship already exists in the present, and this section in particular raises some of the struggles in that present relationship. There are, I think, three sections. I will look at the first one-and-a-half today:

1. Christ marries his bride, the church (3.6-5.1)

Something is coming out of the wilderness, like columns of smoke (v. 6). If that isn’t meant to indicate that the identity of this individual is Yahweh, I don’t know what is. When he led the people Israel out of Egypt, through the wilderness and out of the wilderness into the Promised Land, he went as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night (Exodus 13.21). Moreover, when the redemption he will accomplish is prophesied in Joel 2.30, when he pours out his Spirit on all flesh and everyone who calls on his name is saved, he declares that there will be wonders in heaven and earth, blood, fire and columns of smoke. Yahweh is redeeming his people. Moreover, the scent is of myrrh and frankincense (v. 6), which is the scent of the tabernacle/temple, where God’s presence is symbolically located amongst his people – myrrh was used in the anointing oil for the tabernacle, its furnishings, utensils and ministers (Exodus 30.22-24), while frankincense was a component of the incense offered in the temple (Exodus 30.34-35). The carriage of this individual is made from the wood of Lebanon, with silver, gold and purple cloth included in its construction (vv. 9-10). Again, it is meant to evoke a picture of the tabernacle or temple, the latter being built from the wood of Lebanon , and overlaid with gold, with the curtain of the former separating the Most Holy Place containing the colour purple. The identity of this individual is Yahweh. Yet he is also Solomon (vv. 7, 11). Solomon was the greatest of Israel’s kings, presiding over a united kingdom when its borders were at their most expansive and when the nation was at the peak of its prosperity. In the prophets, ‘David’ is often mentioned when the intended subject is one of his descendants. I think a similar thing is happening here. ‘Solomon’ stands for one of his descendants. The individual is both Yahweh and Solomon. This we see in the Lord Jesus Christ, the descendant of Solomon according to his human nature, and also Yahweh. He was presented with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh by the Magi and by his sacrifical death of which the frankincense (as an ingredient in the temple incense) and myrrh (as we saw previously) speak, he achieved the redemption of his people. We experience this in part now, and one day we will experience it fully, as we are brought out of the wilderness by him. The relationship is secure and there is defence against the terrors of the night (vv. 7-8). Others are encouraged to see the bridegroom going to meet his bride (v. 11).

The bridegroom delights in the bride whom he is marrying. Repeatedly in this section, for the first time in the Song, he refers to his love as his bride (4.8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 5.1). In his description of her, it’s as if we’re being given a guided tour of an idealised land and people, which makes sense given the intimate connection in the Bible between the people and the land in which they live. There are doves flying through the air and goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead (4.1) and the sheep have been shorn, washed in the river and have given birth to their young, and there are none missing (v. 2). There are pomegranates in the land, the third component of the fruit of the promised land in Numbers 13 and Deuteronomy 8.8 (v. 3). We see the tower of David and the shields which defend it (v. 4), and fawns and gazelles grazing (v. 5). However, the time has not yet come for full consumation of their relationship. Verse 6 alludes back to 2.17; the winter is not yet over and the land is not yet fruitful, and so the bridegroom goes back to the mountains and hills whence he will one day come (cf. 2.8), which he describes as the mountain of myrrh and hill of frankincense. These are, as we have seen, the fragrant powders which give his litter its aroma. It’s a picture of the mountain on which the temple stood, on which through sacrificial death relationship with God was possible. So this verse still implies relationship, but relationship not fully consummated. The Lord continues to delight in his people – she is beautiful and flawless (v. 7). His invitation to her is to come with him up from the wilderness of the north, where the mountains of Lebanon, Amana, Senir and Hermon are located, which are untame, dangerous places (v. 8). She is to come out of the wilderness into the land for which she is suited. The reason is because he is entirely captivated by her (v. 9). This time, he says that she is better than wine and more fragrant than spice (v. 10). Her lips drip nectar. The reference to honey and milk (v. 11) is an allusion the Promised Land, which was a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3.8). In describing her fragrance as ‘the fragrance of Lebanon’ (v. 11), there is an allusion to God’s promise of salvation in Hosea 14.6. The bride is his redeemed, forgiven, restored people. The image shifts to that of a locked garden in which there is a fountain, bringing forth even living water (v. 12, 15). In this garden there are pomegranates and choice fruit (v. 13), and again there is the aroma of spices (v. 14). He is describing his people back in Eden or back in the Promised Land. Recall that Eden had a river running through it and the trees bore fruit which was good for food (Genesis 2.9-10).  The aroma of spices is again the aroma of the Temple or Tabernacle – cinnamon was another ingredient along with myrrh and oil for the anointing oil, while frankincense as we have seen was an ingredient for the incense. Pomegranates were carved into the temple pillars ( 1 Kings 7.20). The bride is in the sanctuary, in the presence of God. Myrrh and aloes together were what Nicodemus used to anoint Jesus body after his atoning death (John 19.39); at the heart of the church’s beauty is the death of Christ. Such is the bridegroom’s delight in his bride that he calls on the wind to stir up the fragrance (v. 16). In response, the bride invites her beloved to come to her to eat the fruits of the garden (v. 16), which he does, coming to her, gathering his myrrh and spice, eating his honeycomb with honey and drinking his wine with milk. Christ enjoys fellowship with his bride in the garden, just as God walked with the first people in Eden in the cool of the day, and this looks forward to the experience of the church the New Jerusalem, where the tree of life on the banks of the river bears its fruit and the fully redeemed church sees God’s face (Revelation 22.1-4) and there is feasting at the Marriage Supper (Revelation 19). Again, the bridegroom’s feasting with his bride begins now at the Lord’s Supper. Such activity is positively to be encouraged; the bride and the groom are to be intoxicated with love (5.1). The fact that the garden is locked and the fountain sealed (4.12) means that it is only this bridegroom and no other suitor who can enter the garden and enjoy intimate fellowship with the bride, love her and eat with her. Again, we need to recognize as the church Christ’s love for us and delight in us. We should wonder at Christ’s work on the cross that makes us beautiful in his sight. I the relationship we presently enjoy, we should hope for and eagerly await our full redemption, which will be glorious. And if Christ delights in his bride this much, we too should love God’s people, particularly in light of what we one day shall be.

2. The Church resists her husband, Christ (5.2-6.1)

But now comes a period of difficulty in the relationship. The bride is sleeping and she hears a sound at the door – it is her beloved, knocking, wanting to come in to her (v. 2). Yet she is lazy – she has undressed and had a bath and so she doesn’t want to get out of bed or get her feet dirty (v. 3). The beloved tries the door, which excites the bride’s love (v. 4). When she eventually prepares herself for him and opens the door (v. 5) he has already turned and gone. It is too late. She is heartbroken – her soul fails her. She seeks him, and can’t find him, calls for him, but gets no reply (v. 6). And so she goes out into the city, where she is attacked and beaten (v. 7). She wants to find her beloved for she is sick with love, which is what she asks the daughters of Jerusalem to tell to her beloved (v. 8). Can’t this be the experience of the church? In Revelation 3.14-22, Laodicea is neither cold nor hot – the church there is useless. Christ calls her to repent. He says that he is standing at the door of the church knocking and promising to have fellowship with those who hear him and let him in. But if the church is lazy or apathetic or complacent, prioritising her personal comfort and convenience above serving and experiencing Christ, then he turns away. The pleasure of communion with him is not experienced for a while. The dangers of the city, Babylon, the world in opposition to God may even be allowed to harm the church for a while. He does that to humble his church, to make her repent and realise how much she longs for him and to stir up a new desire for him. In what ways can the church do that? Not repenting when the preached word convicts of sin. Not evangelising if it comes at a cost. Not living in a Christian way if it comes at a cost. Individuals neglecting the preaching of the word and the sacraments because it’s not convenient. Christ may seem distant for a while, the church might come under attack or suffer problems, but this is to bring the church to the point of longing for him again.

to be continued…