However, relying upon the biblical story told through the prophet Isaiah, John tells us that this is exactly how the story was always intended to unfold. John quotes from Isaiah 53:1, “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Isaiah is speaking of the Suffering Servant who “lifted up” (Isa 52:13) as Jesus spoke of himself (Jn 12:32). The Messiah will be exalted, but his throne will be a bloody throne, just like his earthly throne in the Temple, the ark of the covenant. The arm of the Lord has been revealed as it was in the Exodus (Ex 6:6), but it is through the suffering King who bears our griefs, carries our sorrows, and is wounded for our transgressions. Who would believe such a message? Obviously not Israel.

But this too was prophesied through Isaiah. When Isaiah was commissioned in the Temple vision (Isa 6), God told him that his preaching would further Israel and Judah’s blindness, deafness, and hardness of heart. The purpose of his preaching was judgment on these rebellious people, not their salvation. They don’t believe the message (“the report”) because that is what God intended.

The one Isaiah saw exalted and who commissioned him is the glory of God that performs all these signs before Israel. Rejection of Isaiah was rejection of the one who sent him, and the one who sent Isaiah stands before them. The story within the story is that Israel must be hardened so that God’s purpose of salvation for the world can be accomplished (Rom 9—11). God’s plan was always “failure.” This was the only way to greater fruitfulness.

God’s metric for success is and has always been faithfulness. Faithfulness is never failure in God’s economy. We tend to measure ministries by nickels and noses. Men don’t tend to flock to pastors of small churches who have faithfully shepherded God’s people for years to seek their counsel. We are drawn to those who are bringing in the numbers. The man who has fought and struggled with little outward success is looked upon with suspicion. Maybe he should be. Maybe he hasn’t been faithful, and that’s the reason for the troubles he’s faced. But it is possible that, like Jesus and Paul, he might need to be judged by a different standard.

The same is true in other situations in life. Maybe that business venture failed because a man refused to compromise morals with his partners. Maybe that man lost his wife because she didn’t want to be faithful.

The metric God uses is faithfulness. Sometimes the fruitfulness of that faithfulness is seen immediately and steadily. Sometimes it is seen in the future, even after someone’s death. Faithfulness will always be fruitful, but it will not always be “successful” in the short run. Our concern is faithfulness. Be faithful in everything: what you say, how you say it, what you do, and how you work. Be faithful wherever God has put you, even if it is in a difficult place to be “successful” in the short run. Your faithfulness is never failure

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Introduction

The God of the Bible is addressed as a “He,” and never a “She.” God the Father is repeatedly called Father and given the pronoun “He” (Dt. 32:6; Ps. 103:13; Is. 64:8; Mal. 2:10; Mt. 6:9; Mt. 7:11; Jn. 5:19-23; Rom. 8:15; 1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 1:3). God the Son is repeatedly called Son and given the pronoun “He,” even bec…

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There are endless Scripture passages that I could go to in entering into this discourse. One of my favourite passages in talking about the fight against sin and for holiness is Colossians 3.

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God… Put to death therefore what is earthly in you… and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Col. 3,5,10)

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Another favourite passage is Ephesians 6:10–13 and forward:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm…”

Throughout the Scriptures, the imagery for fighting sin is martial imagery.

Of course, those who would fight and would fight effectively, must not only hate what is in front of them, but also love what they are fighting for. In order to fight against sin, you must know what is true, good and beautiful that you are fighting for.

For example, a man may be fighting off some sort of sexual sin - pornography usage, lustful thoughts. To fight that sin, you must not just hate the sin, but you also must love something more than the sin. You must love Christ, you must love the Triune God. And in loving God, your loves will be rightly ordered. You will fight the sin with an affection for your own wife. You will fight the sin if you are not married by dwelling upon the beauty of a chaste life and the joy of walking with God, with the hope of potentially getting married in the future.

For that reason I want to lay out a list of tools in the tool-belt of fighting the wiles of Satan.

(1) Confession of sin. There is no greater tool that Satan uses to oppress Christians than the guilt and the shame of unconfessed sin. When that sin has been confessed and forgiven, he loves to remind the Christian of it so that you will be hampered in your war against evil and against the Evil One.

We read in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” James writes in James 5:16: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

(2) Speaking the truth. Satan love the shadows, the spin, the grey spaces of the night. He hates the truth because the truth sets men free (Jn. 8:31-32). That is because Satan hates Christ and Christ is the source of all truth, beauty and goodness.

We read in 1 John 1:6: “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” The Apostle John also pens in John 3:20–21: “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” The Apostle Paul uses martial imagery again in Romans 13:12: “The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

(3) The Church. A man was not supposed to do this all alone. I have already quoted from James 5:16: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” Notice the one anotherness here. Obviously it is helpful to confess your sins to a pastor and to receive counsel from that pastor. But there is also a priestly aspect to the congregation and those within the congregation as we reflect Christ to one another. The healthiest congregations of the church are where sin is exposed in a healthy manner and tended to by individuals and communities in obedience to Jesus Christ, always acknowledging the mercy and grace of His loving sacrifice.

Of course, the ministry of the Word & sacrament is pivotal in the battle with sin. The Lord’s Supper being one of the major places where the Lord Himself nourishes our faith and gives us strength to go out into the battle again. The ministry of the Word is necessary for encouragement, rebuke and exhortation in this ongoing warfare.

(4) Prayer is a major tool for waging war. Paul includes in the full armour in Ephesians 6 the line “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayers and supplications.” When a Christian is too stubborn and proud to get down on his knees and call out to God in prayer, that is a sign that he will lose the fight. God has given prayer as a means by which we fight against the evil one and win in the evil day.

(5) Singing. Singing is a form of prayer. Melody can be a powerful tool for evil, but also for good. Remember that King David calmed Saul down with melody. In Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, Paul acknowledges that the singing of Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs plays a central role in the life of the congregation. In James 5:13, James calls on men to pray when they are in trouble and to sing when they are cheerful. In Zephaniah 3:17, God sings over the salvation of His people.

But singing is also warfare. In II Chronicles 20, singing plays a central role in the defeat of Jehoshaphat’s enemies. In Acts 16:15-26, the Apostles sing in prison. In Psalm 59:16, King David sings in the face of threats.

This should not fall flat on the ears of the Christian, that song is a tool of war against sin and evil and temptation and the Devil.

(6) Meditation. By meditation, I don’t mean emptying your mind, but filling it with truth beauty and goodness, especially with the holy Scriptures. God commands Joshua in Joshua 1:8: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” This is descriptive of the righteous man in Psalm 1:2: “but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Our Lord Jesus Christ is the righteous man, and demonstrates through the gospels His deep knowledge of the Scriptures in teaching the people and refuting the errors of the teachers of that day. We must meditate on the Scriptures in union with Him.

(7) Holy laughter. This is not often included the list of tools, nevertheless the Bible is full of references to joy. In Nehemiah 8:10, Nehemiah tells the people “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Our Lord demonstrates His joy by rejoicing over His people with song (Zeph. 3:17), but also laughing at the vain conspiracies of the nations against Him and His Word (Psalm 2). Throughout the Scriptures we see the mockery of evil from Elijah, Ezekiel, the Apostle Paul, and our Lord Himself.

Now, of course we must distinguish here between the mockery of what is evil and the mockery of what is good. Too many young men have taken good advice on mockery, and turned it on what is good in our age, reflecting the foolishness of the young friends of Solomon’s son Jeroboam, rather than imitating the humor and mockery of our Lord and His prophets.

If there is one principle target of our mockery, that is the Devil himself, as Luther so aptly displayed in his example.

To laugh as you face trouble and battle with the Evil One and his minions is quite fitting in response to the command of James in James 1:2–4: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Joy and laughter will blow away the clouds of moroseness and sorrow that afflict the embattled man.

With that I’ll leave you for today and invite you to add anything you think I missed in the comments. Of course, the focus of this article was on the major Biblical tools, but there are many supplementary tools for this battle, like exercise, diet, sleep etc. Don’t forget about those. But what I have laid out above is of the highest value.

Pastor Nathan Zekveld

Note - This article has been cross-posted today on both Kuyperian Commentary and Nathan Zekveld’s Substack.

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b) What Cape Verde—a nation of roughly half a million people—accomplished is the pinnacle of excellence: a country unknown to much of the world emerged on the world stage and took on the greatest team in the world, Argentina. From Vozinha to Duarte, a tiny country showed what a concentrated strategy can look like when applied rigorously and methodically. Lots of life lessons here.

c) Germany’s might in 2014—defeating Brazil 7–1 and then winning the World Cup—was the end of an era of greatness. Germany’s talents have lost their competitive sense of the game. You cannot simply rely on Bayern Munich’s excellence to propel the nation to glory. Even if Neuer were 25—he’s 40—he still could not have protected a weak defense and an unimpressive squad.

d) Around five billion people engaged with the World Cup in 2022. I suspect that number will increase this year. It’s a testament to American capitalism, creativity, and marketing. Fox One’s line-up with Henry, Ibrahimović, and Lalas is hilarious, tense, and informative—a perfect combination.

e) Messi is far superior to Cristiano Ronaldo. He may not have scored as many goals, but he is a player who can always change things; he can do the unexpected at any moment. Ronaldo is fabulous, but predictable in his capacity. Messi plays like a man who sees three seconds into the future.

f) Mexico made the Azteca Stadium look like a coliseum. Those players fought hard, and aside from Norway, they had my favorite fans.

g) The future of Brazilian soccer will require a form of national congress, a Vatican-level, Constantinian gathering of the intellectuals and practitioners of the game. We need to reconsider the sport anew: how to develop midfielders, wingers, and true 9s who can get the job done. And we need the speedy retirement of the philanderer and aficionado of self, Neymar. He has taught an entire generation of players to cherish the nightlife and manage their portfolio of doom.

h) Futebol is remarkably musical. Every move is a stanza, and every goal is a refrain. The reason it is hated by so many is that it has achieved a status of power that can never be revoked. It provides the chants of a generation and hearkens to national pride in a way no other sport can.

i) Hoping the U.S. national team shows the Belgium players how to get to Dallas International Airport after this evening.

j) Take a look at that picture below. David Pivtorak is right: “A thousand years ago, this is the last thing you saw before your skull was caved in by a battle axe.” That was the face Brazil saw before its predictable death.

Paul speaks of “empty deceit” in Colossians 2:8, and there is an entire lifestyle of empty deceit marketed and available right now. It’s especially targeted at young men, though women fall for it too. People of all ages can be taken captive. We might call it gamification.

Gamification is the direction the world is trending. Amp up everything. Join the ap…

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From that time until this, our two-hundred-fiftieth birthday, the American flag, going through all of its iterations, has flown in times of war and peace. The flag embodies our history, good and bad. Because of what it stands for, it promises and anticipates future independence and freedom. Waving the flag in national pride is a statement. When we greet our national heroes with flags, we are not only celebrating them, but we are also saying that they embody what the flag stands for and have preserved and moved the purpose and promise of this country forward.

What our American flag is for us, palm branches were to the Jews of the first century. When Jesus entered Jerusalem to crowds waving palm branches, it was what we might call “a political” or “nationalist” statement. The crowds didn’t simply pick up the closest thing to them to wave. They were declaring in symbol as well as with their words, “This is our King, our deliverer, the embodiment of our history and promise for our future.”

A little over a century before Palm Sunday, Israel greeted Judas Maccabeus the same way after his defeat of Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus had conquered Jerusalem and desecrated the Temple. Judas led a guerrilla warfare revolt that eventually drove him from Jerusalem. The Temple was rededicated, and Judas was proclaimed king.

The Jews knew exactly what they were doing when they waved palms before Jesus. The palm branch became a national symbol, even being used on coins as a revolt against Rome. Palm branches told Israel’s story from the time God delivered them from Egypt and protected and preserved them in the wilderness as they dwelt in leafy booths. Judas, and now Jesus, embody that history.

Jesus never rebuked them for this display of national pride. Even though they didn’t understand the depth of the story being told, they were in the ballpark. Jesus was the embodiment of Israel’s history and the promise for its future.

Though not completely analogous since America isn’t a chosen nation as Israel was chosen, our flag-waving gratitude to God for all that he has done in our country is not a bad thing. There are some, even within our circles, who downplay national pride (in the best sense of that word), so that it seems to turn into practical disdain for our country. All that matters is the kingdom of God, so there is no celebration of our national history. It is almost as if America and her history and culture have nothing to do with the kingdom of God. So many bad things have happened and are happening in America, why would we celebrate this country? Well, it’s not like bad things didn’t happen in Israel’s history, but God, in his providence, blessed the world through Israel. God has blessed us and the world through America, even with all the horrible things that have gone on. We can be thankful for that even while mourning our sin and calling our country to repentance.

There are others in our circles who seem to want to make American nationalism the be-all-end-all. It is almost as if the kingdom of God doesn’t survive if America fails. We must preserve America at all costs. There are problems with this as well. Just as Israel was expendable, so is America … even more so than Israel. God has done and is doing great things through America, but he is writing a deeper story through her history that will last long after America is but a page in a history book. This doesn’t mean that we and our country are insignificant. God doesn’t do insignificant things. Creating and sustaining one of the greatest countries in world history is no insignificant matter.

However, even while we celebrate the wonders he has done, we must recognize that he is transforming all of it into something new and more glorious. There is nothing wrong with celebrating our heritage and loving our country, but there may come a time when God tells us, our children, or our children’s children to let it go in order to enter a more glorious future, just as he did with Israel.

Jesus came in as a Jew, embodied all the history of Israel, entered as Israel’s king, and then transformed everything for Israel’s sake and for the sake of the world. He is writing a deeper, more profound story than the history of America. He is remaking the world. America is a part of that, but only a part. We can’t be near-sighted so that all we see is America, and we can’t be so far-sighted that we lose sight of our place and part in God’s grand kingdom work.

Jesus is King of America. He loves our country. He has blessed our country, and we ought to be thankful for that. We ought also to use our privileges as Americans to advance his kingdom purposes, not only in America, but for the whole world

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Is America worth saving? As we celebrate our 250th anniversary, this is both a provocative and important question. Yet, it needs further defining before it can be answered. As a Christian, it takes on its own complexities.

If by “save America,” the question refers to saving individuals, then few Christians would disagree with an affirmative answer. Of course, we should seek the salvation of our American neighbors. This is the mission of the church: to preach the gospel and win souls for Christ from every nation, including ours. But that is not the question I’m asking.

Rather, I’m asking, “Should we seek to save and preserve America’s institutions, structures, and culture? Are these things worth saving?” Such a question is far more controversial, both inside and outside the church. Nonetheless, I still believe the answer is a resounding yes. Before I explain why, let’s consider two common objections.

Objections to “Saving America”

First, some reject the idea of saving America because Christianity should only concern itself with saving souls. Individuals like David VanDrunen argue that culture, politics, and human institutions all belong to the common kingdom and thus cannot be saved. The reach of Christ’s redemptive work is limited only to individuals and to the church. While Christianity certainly isn’t less than saving individuals, it is also more.

The New Testament provides a much broader and more glorious view of the impact of Christ’s work. All things, in heaven and on earth, were created through and for Christ, and he is uniting all things “by the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:15-20). All here does not mean all without exception, but rather speaks to all types of things. The blood of Christ’s cross is reconciling all types of things to himself. This includes things in heaven and on earth, seen and unseen. All means all. What exactly this will look like in the new creation, I cannot address here, but we must recognize that Christ’s work is more, but never less, than saving the fallen human race. Through the blood of Christ’s cross, God is making all things new.

Second, many today believe America is unworthy to be saved because she is systemically rooted in evil, racism, and every form of oppression. For some, America’s institutions, structures, and culture are too sinful to be saved. Through the influence of various shades of critical theory, the woke attack and impugn the character of our nation. One must ask, by what standard can these critics judge our nation? Many of them reject any notion of God and a universal morality. If truth is relative and all that is left is power, then America is not evil because there is no evil.

There is a universal moral standard. God is there, and he is not silent. America has never been morally perfect, and we know it. The founding of our nation was deeply shaped by Reformed thought, particularly its view of man’s sinfulness. For this reason, our nation was never intended to be a utopia. Our founders knew better. Washington’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation recognized this as he called the nation to repent of her sins. One of the reasons America’s structures are worth preserving is its realistic and biblical view of man. Man is both uniquely valuable and endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights. Yet, it also recognizes that we are sinful and cannot be trusted to usher in a utopian government. Therefore, wisdom dictates that we separate powers and hardwire checks and balances into our very society. This balanced view of the fallenness and worth of man laid the foundation for both the perseverance and refining of our government for these last 250 years. For this, we should be grateful.

Why America is Worth Saving

This reality moves us to why our nation’s structures, institutions, and culture are worth preserving and saving. Not now, nor ever, has our nation been perfect. Right now, the sins of sexual immorality, abortion, and the mutilation of children often find their epicenter within our borders. These sins are worthy of God’s judgment. Yet, these evils reflect a deviation from the ideals of our founding. It is our ideals, not our betrayal of them, that are worth preserving.

America is worth saving because her ideals are good, true, and beautiful. Unlike any other nation, America has been shaped by a distinctly Christian and Protestant view of man, God, and government.[1] Our ideals of human rights, the supremacy of the law, individual liberty, limited government, and that the state cannot save us spring forth from centuries of Christian political theory.[2] America’s greatness is found in that she is, to this point, the pinnacle application of Protestant political thought. America’s ideals work because they are true. Being true to reality, these ideals produce goodness and beauty in this world.

These ideals have made the world an objectively better place.[3] American culture, as it aligns with these ideals, is worth preserving. The greatness of our nation waxes and wanes as we either embrace or reject the beliefs that formed the foundation of our ideals.

Ironically, such preservation will only come if individuals return to the beliefs that shaped these American ideals—the Protestant faith as it is applied to all of life. America is worth saving because her ideals are rooted in the truths revealed to us through the Christian faith. Preserving such truths, under the redemptive reign of Christ, is a worthwhile pursuit.

As we celebrate 250 years of the American experiment, it is right for us to be thankful to God for our cultural inheritance. It is right for us to mourn how we have failed to live up to the inheritance. It is right to petition God, and to seek through the preserving and saving of the American way of life.

[1] Donald Lutz notes that America was uniquely shaped by “radical Protestant sect

s” in The Origins of American Constitutionalism (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1988), 7.

[2] For more on this, see Mark David Hall, Did America Have a Christian Founding? Separating Modern Myth from Historical Truth (Nashville, TN: Nelson Books, 2019). Also see, Gary Amos, Defending the Declaration: How the Bible and Christianity Influenced the Writing of the Declaration of Independence (Charlottesville, VA: Providence Foundation, 1989).

[3] For more on how Christianity positively changed the world see Tom Holland, Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World (New York: Basic Books, 2019); Vishal Mangalwadi, The Book that Made Yor World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012); and Steven Smith, Pagans and Christians in the City: Culture Wars from the Tiber to the Potomac (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2008).

The same is true in our relationship with Christ. There is a time when things are exciting. We are learning new things. Our minds are being renewed. But as we grow older and are given new responsibilities, we allow them to become distractions to our primary relationship. They are all good things, like rearing children and working the job. We are blessed with these ever-growing opportunities, but slowly, they become the primary focus. Your relationship with Christ in and through his church becomes just another activity on a crowded calendar. Those activities aren’t as important, and any excuse will do to avoid them. Besides, it’s not as if they are strictly “required.” A son’s baseball game, a daughter’s gymnastics demonstration, or a child’s musical performance aren’t strictly required either, but everything will be planned around them because they are important to you. And they should be. We plan and pour ourselves into those activities that are important to us. This reveals where our love is.

When Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with the extremely expensive nard in John 12, it was a demonstration of extravagant loyalty. It wasn’t strictly required. She, most likely, paid her tithe as was required by God’s Law. That was fundamental loyalty. Because she lived close to Jerusalem, she probably even attended Passover, though, technically, she wasn’t required to do so. Only the men were required to attend. So, she probably already went above her strict requirements. The nard that was worth a year’s wages was gaudy love, so much so that there were some who were offended by what they considered waste. However, like the bride in Song of Songs 1, who is overcome with desire and affection, Mary wants to give the best she has, not because it is strictly required or because she is afraid that if she doesn’t, Jesus will send her to hell, but because she loves Jesus.

Granted, Jesus had recently raised her brother from the dead and, no doubt, she is feeling a deep sense of gratitude. She is overwhelmed with emotion. But she had already confessed her loyalty to Jesus even before he raised Lazarus from the dead. Her loyalty was already there.

We are not going to remain in a “red-hot” love all our lives. No one can live that way. But the danger is that we don’t cultivate our relationship with Christ and allow apathy to creep in so that one day we wake up and just don’t care. What’s more is that this apathy is contagious in our families. What is important to parents becomes important to children. That is, children know what you genuinely love and what you simply endure. They will endure with you while they are at home, but if you simply endure your Christian duties so that they are not a part of your deepest loyalties and your fundamental identity, they will not only notice, but they will not become what they love in the future. This is why apathy is such a problem in second- and third-generation Christians.

Cultivate extravagant loyalty to Christ. Fight slow-killing apathy

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So, as the AI maximalists continue to produce entire news-journal cycles completely out of nothing, the church will not need fewer rhetoricians; we will need more. We will need men who know how to speak because they have first learned how to listen, men who can distinguish between borrowed eloquence and embodied/enfleshed conviction.

Yes, AI can arrange words, but it cannot suffer with a congregation, nor can it offer comfort from on high. It cannot bury the dead, baptize the infant, rebuke the wayward son, or stand before the saints with tears when a prodigal returns home. It can mimic urgency, but it cannot possess the burden of the ministerial presence.

This means we are going to need to test rhetorical skills a lot more. We will need to ask not merely, “Did he produce good content?” but “Can he speak with judgment? Can he comfort without mechanical sentimentality? Can he answer objections in real time? Can he take a doctrine and make it sing before the people of God?” I can assure you that it must come from the man himself and the Spirit who indwells him.

The next generation of pastors, teachers, and leaders can't be judged simply by polished manuscripts. A polished manuscript may now prove very little. Anyone can prompt what they will into existence. God made men creative, but the manipulation of language, or the contradiction between the language written and the language spoken, is a reversal of the co-creative powers from the dominion mandate.

Ultimately, we will need to know whether a man’s words come from formed affections or from the arrangement of machines. In my estimation, the renewal of rhetoric is the next pastoral warfare.

Jesus was causing problems for the Jewish authorities. He was revealing not only that the world they were living in was coming to its prophesied end, but he was also revealing their rebellion against the God they said they worshiped. He was performing signs like a greater Moses, announcing a greater Passover and Exodus. No matter how much the aristocratic Sadducees and the Pharisees hated one another, they liked their present power, even under their Roman overlords. The tensions they had with one another and with Rome would be solved if they killed Jesus. This was Caiaphas’ solution after Jesus gained even more followers subsequent to raising Lazarus from the dead. “One man must die for the people” (Jn 11:50). Kill Jesus, and we will resolve the tension.

Caiaphas’ mentality is classic scapegoatism that continues to be reflected in our human relationships. Our marriage is a wreck, and it’s because the counselor is not giving us the answers. My personal life is all out of order, and it’s because President Trump went to war with Iran. My friendship is a disaster because of this third party. So, we fight the scapegoat. He is the distraction that draws the focus of all our anger, so we don’t need to home in on the genuine issues. If the scapegoat is undefeatable, all the better, in some cases. I am then interminably in a fight with something other than my sins. If he can be defeated by cutting him off, we are then left again dealing with the real issues, so we begin the cycle again.

While Caiaphas meant to engage in the cyclical scapegoatism, his words were sovereignly chosen and had a deeper significance than he knew. As high priest, he was prophesying (Jn 11:51-52). God has always intended to provide a true “scapegoat,” a Passover Lamb who would die for the people and create genuine peace. God accomplishes this by defeating the sin that caused the tensions. Because I have a place where I can deal with my sins, I am able to live in true peace with others, not merely as a temporary arrangement of co-belligerents. Because I am at peace with God, I can be at peace with others instead of always seeing them as my rivals or the cause of all my problems. I can take full responsibility for my sin because I am forgiven, and that forgiveness gives me freedom, allowing me not to see everyone as a threat.

God has provided the true scapegoat. If you trust him, you will need no other

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2) Membership is kingly citizenship before the Second Coming; one cannot roam alone on earth because earth’s life is to be modeled after heavenly life, which is communal (Mat. 6:10).

3) Don’t expect me to listen to your interpretation of the Bible when you don’t listen to the rules of the church for whom Christ died. To take up your cross and follow Jesus is also to follow his Bride.

4) Hebrews 13 says that you are to submit to the leaders over you. When you decide to remain autonomous concerning church membership, you are refusing to obey this imperative. You cannot submit to a leader when you despise the church he serves.

5) It is true that finding a church comes with difficulties. One needs to find a place where not only the creed is followed but also praxis aligns with one's particular values and vision. However, this is not a reason to “shop” around endlessly.

6) When someone says to me, “I’ve looked for a church & can’t find a place,” they are generally saying, “I don’t want to find a church because it will infringe too much on my liberties,” or “I can’t find a place that holds to every little detail of doctrine I subscribe to.”

7) Membership is testing your obedience to the fifth commandment and your allegiance to a greater society.

8) Membership is a sign of a healthy Christian community. Those who refuse to join a local church are acting in accordance with their own creeds and symbols. Those who join are acting in accordance with the church’s historic creeds and symbols.

9) In sum, unless you are in a deserted part of the country where no Trinitarian churches exist or on brief temporary assignment somewhere, it is your Christian duty to join a local Trinitarian congregation, whether it lines up with all your distinctives or not.

But why is Jesus weeping when he knows that he is about to raise Lazarus from the dead? Shouldn’t he be strutting in among all the mourners with utmost confidence and maybe a bit of joviality? Not at all. It is not appropriate for the situation. Jesus’ tears come from his “groaning in his spirit” and being “troubled” (Jn 11:33, 38). The word translated as “groan” has more of the idea of being angry. Jesus has immersed himself in the world of affliction and tastes the bitterness of death. He is angry and torn up inside because the one who has the power over death, the devil (Heb 2:14), creates this disorder, destruction, and with them, pain. Jesus has come to undo the effects of sin and its death, but until the work is completed through his own imminent death and our final resurrection, there is grief.

When we imagine this scene in our mind’s eye, we see the human Jesus weeping at the tomb. But John wants us to see more. Jesus’ weeping isn’t merely the display of his humanity. Jesus’ weeping is the perfect revelation of the Father. Jesus is the heart of the Father and reveals the Father (Jn 1:18). Jesus isn’t crying as a mere human experience. He is revealing the grief of God. God himself grieves with those who grieve.

Many Christians, especially those of the Reformed persuasion, have an Aristotelian view of God as the Unmoved Mover. God is without “passions,” as the Westminster Confession of Faith says, and we take that as God having no emotions. Any time God is described with any emotion, it will be said that these are anthropomorphisms, describing God in human terms. One major problem with that is that we are made in the image of God–theomorphs–not the other way around. We have emotions because they reflect something true about God himself.

God is not aloof. He is not the unmoved God watching as we writhe in grief. Jesus reveals that God weeps with us.

We do not understand why God ordered history the way he did, allowing evil that causes our pain and grief, so that even he suffers with us. His ways are incomprehensible to us. God became flesh to enter our suffering with us and for us to lead us through it to resurrection.

Mourn, but mourn in hope

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In John 11, Jesus attends a funeral, a funeral that, according to the man’s sisters, could have been avoided if Jesus had been there (Jn 11:20, 32). Two sisters saying the same thing at different times provide a double witness to what they believe was Jesus’ failure. There seems to be an angry edge to their statements. That is not surprising. Anger is part of the grieving process, and it is ultimately directed toward God, who could have changed the fate but didn’t.

Even in their anger, both sisters had hope. That hope was confessed by Martha and was common among the Jews: her brother, Lazarus, would rise again on the last day (Jn 11:24). From the beginning of creation, resurrection was inscribed on everything. When the land from which man was created emerged from the primordial waters on the third day, culminating in rest on the seventh day, it was an image of resurrection. When Adam went into a death-like sleep and awoke glorified, that was an image of resurrection. Sin entered the world and would have halted the process of moving from glory to glory through death and resurrection were it not for God’s grace. But full and final resurrection was always God’s plan.

God’s plan is that the resurrection would come in two parts: a first resurrection and a final resurrection. These resurrections would occur on the third day (the day the land emerged from the waters) and the last day (the seventh day, the day of enthronement rest). These resurrections were typified and enacted in the third and seventh day baptisms recorded in Numbers 19. Anyone who had contracted death by touching a dead body had to be “resurrected” through the ashes of the red heifer, cedar wood, hyssop, scarlet, and running water. The first baptism was on the third day of the week, and the final baptism was on the seventh day of the week. Two baptisms. Two resurrections.

Martha knew all this. God promised resurrection from the beginning of the Scriptures to the end. The patriarchs and prophets all declared it. Every seed that was ever planted proclaimed it as it had to die in order to bear fruit (cf. Jn 12:24). Lazarus, a faithful man, would rise again on the last day.

Jesus declares to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (Jn 11:25-26). Jesus is the I AM, Yahweh, God of Israel, who delivers his people from slavery, not merely the slavery of the Pharaohs of the world, but from that which empowers the Pharaohs of the world: sin and its death. United to Jesus by faith, though you may die physically, you will not experience the second death, a life in hell (Rev 20:6). Death will serve you, leading to greater glory (cf. 1 Cor 3:21-23).

Our resurrection is still in two stages: baptism and final resurrection. When you are baptized into Christ, you participate in the third-day, first resurrection (cf. Rom 6). Your baptism anticipates a “seventh-day” resurrection, our resurrection on the last day (1 Cor 15). As you participate in Christ’s first resurrection, trusting him, you have hope for the final resurrection. Death is not your master but your servant.

Do you believe this? Do you believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? Do you believe it when you face your own mortality or the illness and death of loved ones? Do you believe this when it looks as if the enemy is winning and you are distressed? Do you believe this? What you believe … or better, in whom you believe … will determine if you face death in the comfort of hope or in the emptiness of hopelessness

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Didn’t God tell us that sexual perversion, the murder of the unborn, wicked government officials, and many more evils in our society are the disorders of his creation that he intends to solve? Why is he not doing something about them now?

Why God delays when he can do something about it if he wants is a question that haunts God’s people. Yet God has always been, in some ways, a God of delay. He could have made the world and everything in it instantly, but he took six days. He could have sent his Son immediately after the fall, but he delayed for four thousand years. He could have set the world completely right immediately after Jesus’ ascension, but he delays until this present day.

God has his reasons.

In the story of Lazarus’ resurrection recorded in John 11, we receive a glimpse into the story of the God who delays. Jesus’ close friends, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, are in distress. Lazarus is ill to the point of death. Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters, send word to Jesus about his friend’s condition with the obvious expectation that Jesus, who has healed complete strangers, will come and heal him. Jesus receives the message and waits two days before going. The way John records the story, Jesus waits because he loved them (Jn 11:5-6).

There are, no doubt, deep Scriptural themes running in the background of this personal story. Jesus waits two days and then, on the third day, he leaves to resurrect Lazarus from the dead. Third-day resurrection, connecting Lazarus to the themes of Scripture and Jesus’ own death and resurrection, is certainly theme music behind this scene. But Jesus isn’t merely ticking theological boxes, autistically fulfilling some sort of checklist. He delays because he loves them.

When he tells the disciples that Lazarus is dead, he follows it by saying, “and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe” (Jn 11:15). The disciples, the sisters, and the Jews who will later join in the scene all needed to see that Jesus is the resurrection and the life (Jn 11:25-26). Immediate relief from their distress merely to extend this mortal, old creation life was not what was best for them. They needed to know that Jesus is the Lord of death. Even though he delays, he has the power and will raise them from the dead. Jesus has eternity in mind.

We desire immediate relief from our distress. That is understandable. We know that much of what we suffer is that from which God has promised to one day deliver us. We know that death that rips us apart, tearing our bodies and spirits as well as separating us from others, is not God’s goal for us. It is an evil from which we want relief. But God delays, and he does so for a purpose. One reason God gives us the story of Lazarus is to teach us to trust him in the delay. He has not forgotten us. He doesn’t hate us. He is not enjoying watching us suffer. He loves us and has a purpose, a purpose we don’t understand completely at this time. But you can trust a God who entered our afflictions, took them upon himself, and was delivered from them through resurrection. His path will be our path. Resurrection follows suffering and death. Always

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Jesus ran into this problem with the Jews, no less, at the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah), recorded by John (Jn 10:22-42). Jesus answers the two questions that John’s Gospel sets out to prove (Jn 20:30-31): 1) Is Jesus the Christ? and 2) Is Jesus God?

At the Feast of Dedication, anyone claiming to be the Christ would have expectations placed upon him set up by Judas Maccabeus. In 168 B.C., Antiochus IV, “Epiphanes,” conquered Jerusalem, outlawed Judaism, turned the Temple into a pagan temple, built an altar in it, and sacrificed a pig. In 164 B.C. Judas led an army of guerrilla warriors to expel Antiochus’s armies and rededicate/reconsecrate the Temple. The Jews crowned him king, and his family reigned for the next century. The Feast of Dedication was an eight-day feast of lights that celebrated (and still celebrates) this event.

This is what the king of Israel, the Christ, does. He will be a greater Judas Maccabeus who will throw off the yoke of Rome with military might. The Jews want Jesus to answer the question directly: Are you the Christ? (Jn 10:24).

Jesus told them that he had already told them; he told them when we spoke of himself being the good shepherd. He is the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy (Ezek 34:11-31). He is “David.”

But he is more than David. He is David’s Shepherd. He is Yahweh. He and the Father are one.

The Jews understand him to be saying that he is God, and they pick up stones to stone him. Jesus doesn’t correct them, saying, “You’ve got it all wrong, boys! I’m only a man. I meant that the Father and I are on the same page. That’s all.” No. He turns to his works, the signs he has been performing, and then appeals to Psalm 82. God, the one who inspired the Scripture that cannot be changed, called earthly judges “gods.” Elders of Israel are called “gods” (Ex 21:6; 22:7-8). Judges stand in God’s place, receive his name, his authority, and are to act as he acts. What do judges do? They deliver God’s people, just like all the judges in the book of Judges. What is Jesus doing? He is delivering God’s people. He is doing so at a more fundamental level as he breaks the power of sin and death, freeing, for example, a man from blindness (Jn 9). He is dealing with the root of the problem, but he is doing what God does.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the closing words of Psalm 82: “Arise, O God, and judge the earth, for you shall inherit all nations.” He arises as God to judge, and as the Christ, he inherits all nations (cf. Ps 2). Both questions are answered: 1) He is the Christ, and 2) he is God.

The Jews failed to see God for who he was because of the lies that they created in their minds about who God was. The same is true today. We imagine God to be what we want him to be. Voltaire is attributed the saying, “It is said that God made man in his image, and man returned the favor.” People fill “God” with whatever they want. He is the Hindu pantheon, Muslim Allah, the god of the Mormons, or simply a “higher power.” People act as if choosing a god is like walking into an ice cream shop and choosing a flavor: your flavor may be different from mine, but they are all ice cream. The problem is that if we create false images of the real God, we have created a lie. You may want to believe that God is Santa Claus, who never gives anyone coal in his stocking, or that he is a divine genie to give you what you wish. Then, when your god doesn’t come through, you become disillusioned with “religion,” becoming angry and bitter toward God.

We must stay humble before the Scriptures, seeking to understand God as he has revealed himself and not what we simply wish him to be. Only then will we know him truly and know his salvation

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Is it really that big of a deal in Scripture? Luke draws attention to the historical event of the Ascension of Christ at the end of his Gospel and the beginning of Acts, but I suppose we have to know the history of the resurrected Christ before the church received the Spirit. The Ascension only takes up a few verses in Scripture, right? Not really. The historical record of Jesus’ ascension is limited to a few passages, but many ascensions are fulfilled in Jesus’ ascension.

From the beginning, God’s plan for man was to ascend to rule the earth, replacing angelic rule. According to Psalm 8 as interpreted by Hebrews 2, man was created “for a little while” lower than the angels. Angels were tutors and guardians for man, assigned to lead him to maturity. One day, when the man matured and was able to handle the responsibility, he would rule over the angels, the principalities and powers, as Paul calls them in his epistles.

The angelic being assigned to the first man led the man and woman astray. Man fell short of the glory of the rule that God intended for him when he fell into sin (Rom 3:23). From that point forward, salvation meant ascension.

The story of the Ascension was prefigured in the “ascension offerings,” which are normally translated as “burnt offering” or “burnt sacrifice.” (The Hebrew word has nothing to do with “burning” or even “offering.” The word means “go up,” or “ascend.”) Ascension offerings predated the Tabernacle. Noah (Gen 8:20) and Abraham (Gen 22) offered ascensions. Moses told Pharaoh that the children of Israel were going into the wilderness to offer ascensions (Ex 10:25). Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law and Midianite priest, offered ascensions (Ex 18:12). Ascensions were codified in Leviticus, being the first offering prescribed, revealing something of the primacy of the offering as it, in some way, embodies all the other offerings. The bronze altar was the altar of ascensions (Ex 35:16; 38:1). The morning and evening offerings were ascensions (Ex 29:42). The worshiper ascending to God is salvation.

Every promise for God’s Son to rule the nations was a promise of ascension, and those promises are peppered throughout Scripture in direct statements as well as types and shadows. Jesus humbled himself and became obedient unto the death of the cross in order for the Father to exalt him (Phil 2:5-11). The immeasurable power that God has for his people was demonstrated in the resurrection of Christ and seating Christ at his right hand “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come” (Eph 1:20-21). Jesus was exalted above the angels and crowned with glory and honor (Heb 1—2). Jesus’ ascension to glory fulfilled the destiny of man. Ascension was the point of it all.

Jesus doesn’t ascend alone. He is our Ascension Offering. The cross was the beginning of his “lifting up,” his ascension (Jn 3:13-15). His blood was displayed, he was “skinned” (disrobed), and then he ascended from death to resurrection and then to the right hand of the Father. We who are united to him ascend with him to sit in heavenly places (Eph 2:6).

Our ascension with Christ means that we share authority in his mission, an authority that conquered sin and is able to shape the world after the fashion of heaven. This begins with ruling our own hearts and bodies and then extends to whatever God has put in our hands. We bring order where evil has created chaos. We bring life where sin has produced death. We do so because we sit in rule with the ascended Christ

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A better way to translate Jesus’ words in John 10 is that he is the Noble Shepherd. He is the faithful, courageous shepherd who does whatever it takes to protect and provide for his flock. What will deliver his sheep is his laying down his life for them. Through this act, he will provide the shed blood to open the door to communion with the Father. Even in submitting to death, Jesus is not the powerless, weak man overcome by stronger forces. He lays down his life. No man takes it from him. He has the authority to lay it down, and he has the authority to take it up again (Jn 10:17-18). He lays down his life and takes it up again in resurrection to destroy the wolves that attack his flock.

Jesus expects his undershepherds, the pastors of his church, to image his nobility. When Paul left the elders in Ephesus, he told them that wolves would rise outside the church and within it to attack God’s sheep (Ac 20:17-31). It was their responsibility to see that Jesus’ sheep were protected. They must be willing to give up their lives to do so. This may not mean being martyred for Christ (though it may), but it may mean being called “ungracious” by people within the church who believe that we can have wolves as pets or, at least, allies. A pastor must be willing to be hated by people in the area for calling out sin and correctively disciplining people who refuse to repent of sinful lifestyles. A pastor must fight the wolves who attack from without and within; these are the false teachers, seducers of society, as well as the inward sin that seeks to find justification within the church.

Just this past week, Sam Allberry’s alliance with wolves was revealed to be as dangerous as Jesus said it would be. Allberry defended Christians identifying themselves with their sin of same-sex attraction. Instead of condemning the desire as sinful in itself, as Paul does in Romans 1, he made every attempt to dress up this wolf like a sheep. Coddle the sin, but don’t give in to it. However, no matter how sophisticated his arguments were, in the end, the sin he coddled bit him. He befriended the wolf, shared his character, taught others to do so, and has done great damage to the flock of God.

Allberry is not the only one who does this. Anywhere a pastor tolerates sin to grow within the church, he is dancing with wolves. Wolves don’t play, at least not for long. They are dangerous. The pastor must be more dangerous, meeting them with greater force and killing them (cf. Col 3:5). He must do this because it is good for the sheep. It is what it means to be a noble shepherd

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The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ac 7:55–56.

Like Isaiah, Stephen is granted sight beyond the veil. He sees heavenly life before martyrdom. Isaiah sees the Lord enthroned and is commissioned to speak a word that will both reveal and judge. Stephen stands in that same line, but with greater clarity. Isaiah saw dimly, but Stephen sees sharply.

As the stones fall on him, perhaps stones that were sent from Saul himself, who presides over the execution, he sees “the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” This is a courtroom reversal. Earth condemns, but Heaven renders the true verdict. Jesus stands because he is the true and faithful witness (see Rev. 1 & 4).

As James B. Jordan would note, Stephen is Isaiah intensified. The temple vision has given way to the enthroned Christ Himself. To echo Leithart, martyrdom is vindication. Christ stands to receive His witness. Stephen’s Bible narrative is vindicated by the ferocity of the demon-possessed Sanhedrin.

Stephen is the new Isaiah, but now the vision is fully opened, and the prophet-deacon is welcomed in.

Is it just my experience, or is society consumed with mental illiteracy? Either they can’t conjure up harmonious thoughts or can’t think harmoniously. If you are like me, after a few days without reading, you begin to feel a sharp pain right in the middle of your forehead… well, maybe I am exaggerating a bit. Of course,…

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This is nothing new, and it will not end with this generation. Jesus dealt with the Jewish leadership of his day, both official and unofficial, who were bad shepherds of God’s people. In John 10, on the heels of healing the blind man whom the leadership excommunicated, Jesus tells the leaders and the people how he has come as the true shepherd.

When Jesus speaks about sheep, shepherds, and sheepfolds, the minds of scholars and laymen alike go out to the fields where shepherds keep watch over their flocks by night. There is, of course, some reference to this, but Jesus’ words in John 10:1-5, John says, are a proverb or a parable (Jn 10:6). This means that this is a dark saying, difficult to understand. It is not an illustration.

The “sheepfold” in John 10:1 is literally the courtyard of the sheep. The word “courtyard” is never used to speak about a sheep pen or corral out in the field. It is used throughout the Scriptures to speak of the courtyards of the Tabernacle, Temple, and other palaces. The courtyard of the sheep is the Temple.

The door of which Jesus speaks is the door of the Temple, the place where animals’ blood is shed so that the worshiper may have his sins forgiven and the way open for him to commune with God. When Jesus says, “I am the door,” he is saying that he is the place of sacrifice, the place where blood will be shed so that the way to communion with God will be open.

The evil shepherds who have come before him, which included priests, judges, kings, self-proclaimed Messiahs, and the present rulers in Israel, were all thieves and brigands who tried to avoid the door, the way of sacrifice, and enter another way. They are the evil shepherds spoken of by Ezekiel (Ezek 34), Jeremiah (Jer 23:1-3), and Zechariah (Zech 11). They didn’t minister to people at the Temple, instructing them in God’s law, providing sacrifice for the assurance of forgiveness, and communion with God. They fleeced God’s people, stealing what belonged to God.

Jesus has come as the new Temple. He will provide the abundant life (Jn 10:10) promised in the Scriptures.

Jesus is the Chief Shepherd (1Pt 5:4) who expects his undershepherds to image him and shepherd the flock of God (1Pt 5:1-3). While many people have all sorts of expectations of what a pastor, a shepherd, should be and do, Jesus’ Temple context is informative as to how shepherding or pastoring primarily takes place. The sheep need to be led and fed primarily in worship. The sheep need to hear that their sins are forgiven, given instruction in God’s word, and fed the Lord’s Supper. This is the place where their souls are healed. They don’t find this unique healing through reading books or listening to podcasts. This healing can only take place in the context of this worship. There are many other things that a pastor may do depending on his situation, gifts, and opportunities, but leading in worship around Word and Sacrament is the fundamental imperative for every pastor, and he is to give himself to it because it is necessary for the life of Jesus’ sheep

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