Problem Solved!

In 1 Samuel 2, Eli the High Priest is talking to his two sons, of whom it is said they “were worthless men [who] did not know the LORD” (a ringing endorsement, indeed!).  In rebuking his wicked sons, Eli asks a question that seems to encapsulate the dilemma of the Old Covenant.  Here is what he says (1 Sam. 2:25): “If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?”  The answer that is clearly implied is, “There is no one who can intercede between God and man!  If you continue to sin against Yahweh, my sons, you are dead!”

Of course this is not the whole of Old Testament theology.  There are many OT references to God being gracious, merciful, and longsuffering.  Yet the question remains unanswered, “Who can stand between God and Man as a mediator and interceder on behalf of Man?”  Since every man stands guilty before God for his own sins, there is no one who can act as a third-party mediator.  If I myself am at odds with God, I can’t intercede for you with God.  I need a mediator myself!  As God says in Isaiah 43:27, “Your first father sinned, and your mediators transgressed against me.”  This is a big problem!  The situation is completely hopeless as it stands in the Old Covenant.

Except for one thing: God’s promise of one to come who would be able to intercede for sinners.  “He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12).  Here we find someone who can successfully mediate between God and Man.  Someone who doesn’t have to answer for his own sin, and is thus able to answer for mine.  This man is Jesus Christ: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5-6a).

Glory be to God for his amazingly wise, shockingly unpredictable, unfathomably gracious solution to our seemingly insurmountable sin problem!

My Son, Be Wise, And Hearken To My Voice

My son, be wise, and hearken to my voice—
The wisdom I impart will do you well:
Think not God left to sinful Mankind’s choice
To make his destiny in Heaven or Hell.
For long before the universe He made,
God chose in Christ those who would be His own,
And in the course of time, for them Christ paid
With blood that from His tortured body has flown;
Then as all men are born, and live their life,
God draws to Him all those that in His grace
He chose to make a part of His Son’s wife—
To see and savour of His glorious face.
             And so, my son, your end below or above,
             Is determined not by you, but by God’s love.

 

Philip Bramblet

No Need to Ask For the Father’s Love

John Owen:

In John 16:26-7 our Saviour says, ‘I say not to you, that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loves you.’  But how is this, that our Saviour says, ‘I say not that I will pray the Father for you,’ when he says plainly, ‘I will pray the Father for you?’ (John 14:16).  The disciples, with all the gracious words, comfortable and faithful promises of their Master, with most heavenly discoveries of his heart to them, were even fully convinced of his dear and tender affections towards them; as also of his continued care and kindness, that he would not forget them when bodily he was gone from them, as he was now upon his departure: but now all their thoughts are concerning the Father, how they should be accepted with him, what respect he had towards them.  Says our Saviour, ‘Take no care of that, nay, impose not that upon me, of procuring the Father’s love for you; but know that this is his peculiar respect towards you, and which you are in him: “He himself loves you.”  It is true, indeed (and as I told you), that I will pray the Father to send you the Spirit, the Comforter, and with him all the gracious fruits of his love; but yet in the point of love itself, free love, eternal love, there is no need of any intercession for that: for eminently the Father himself loves you.  Resolve of that, that you may hold communion with him in it, and be no more troubled about it.  Yea, as your great trouble is about the Father’s love, so you can no way more trouble or burden him, than by your unkindness in not believing of it.’  So it must needs be where sincere love is questioned.

The Defeat of Satan

Satan stood there glowering,
His eyes aflame with hate,
As he watched the humans crucify the Christ
And seal their fate.

His lip curled up in mockery
As he saw them kill the Son,
And he raised his fist in victory,
For his reign had now begun.

But as the sky turned dark he saw a flash
Of lightning from the clouds,
As an angel out of heaven came,
And Jesus cried aloud,

“It is finished!” as the angel nailed a scroll
Upon the cross.
And Satan’s brow grew furrowed
As he wondered what it was.

The angel turned to Satan,
And raised a finger of fire,
“You’ve had it now, you dirty snake,
You murderer, you liar!”

“Upon that scroll is written all the sins
Of God’s elect,
In helping kill the Son of God,
You helped pay off their debt!”

At first the Devil chuckled
And his smirk remained undimmed,
The Christ was dead, and that was that,
He was sure that he would win.

But as night turned to dawn,
The Devil’s eyes were worried,
And he set himself to watch,
At the place the Christ was buried.

The third day dawned, and Satan thought,
“I’ve called that angel’s bluff.
I’m leaving now. There’s nothing here,
I’ve wasted time enough.”

When suddenly, from in the tomb,
He heard a mighty shout,
The stone rolled back, a light streamed forth,
The Son of God burst out!

Satan groveled on his knees
Before the risen Lord,
Christ’s face shone brighter than the sun,
His eyes pierced like a sword.

“Listen, Satan,” Jesus said,
“You’ve served your purpose well,
And you’ll keep serving it until
You make your bed in Hell!”

“Did you think God, the Sovereign Lord,
Didn’t know what was going on?
You’re no worthy opponent,
You’re just a pathetic pawn.”

“And now my resurrection
Is the sign of God’s approval.
I’ve conquered you, you dragon,
The time is short till your removal.”

And so the Devil wanders
To and fro upon the earth,
He tries to thwart God’s sovereign plan,
He fights for all he’s worth.

But in the end, he knows
He has already been defeated,
And how? Well, that’s the story
That you’ve just heard repeated.

 

Philip Bramblet

Communion In the Father’s Love

In John Owen’s book Communion with God, he talks a little about communion in general, then writes about communion with each Person of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Spirit.  He writes, “I come now to declare what it is in which peculiarly and eminently the saints have communion with the Father; and this is love — free, undeserved, and eternal love.”

The entire section about communing with God the Father is all about his wonderful love and how we should understand it, receive it, and respond to it.  Owen points out that when 1 John 4:8 says “God is love,” it means specifically, “the Father is love,” because what immediately follows is, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”  So the Apostle John specifically means the One who sent the Son when he says “God is love.”

The biblical passage continues, “In this is love, not that we have loved God [the Father] but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”  Owen notices that the Scripture makes the Father’s love “antecedent to the sending of Christ, and all mercies and benefits whatever by him received.”  The Father’s love was prior to and foundational to the sending of the Son to pay the penalty for our sins.  Yes, God is full of wrath for unrepentant sinners.  Yes, God is just and holy and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.  Yet it is not as though Jesus saw his Father’s rage, had compassion on us poor sinners and decided to intervene.  That’s not what the Bible teaches at all.  Instead we find the Father, full of justice, holiness, and wrath, yet also full of love.  So much so that he can be called “love” itself.  And out of that overflowing love he decides to graciously show mercy on damnation-deserving rebels.  So Jesus came, as he often said, to do the will of his Father.  The Father was the original authority (as noted in a previous post) behind everything the Son did to redeem us from slavery to sin and free us from the Father’s coming wrath.

How we should meditate on the Father’s love!  It is foundational to our very existence, to the existence and purpose of the universe, and to the details of our own personal history.  If you are a believer, everything that has ever happened in your life or ever will happen — “good” and “bad” — has and will only come from the hands of a heavenly Father who has loved you from eternity past with a free, undeserved, and eternal love.  The Father’s wondrous love is so central, so foundational, so essential to absolutely everything in our lives.  It explains everything, and yet it’s an unfathomable mystery.  It exalts us to share in the divine nature, yet it humbles us to the dust.  And as Owen says, “His love ought to be looked on as the fountain from whence all other sweetnesses flow.“

Call on Jesus

Call on Jesus, dying soul,
Seek the pardon that he won,
When you see your guilt of sin,
Know your seeking’s almost done.

Call on Jesus, seeking soul,
Seek the peace that he can give,
When you love him more than life,
That is when you’ll start to live.

Call on Jesus, happy soul,
Seek his glory to make known,
When you are enjoying God,
See that it is not alone.

Call on Jesus, weary soul,
Seek his mercy and his grace,
When you fall and cannot rise,
Crawl until you find his face.

Call on Jesus, risen soul,
Seek his praises to proclaim,
When in heaven you reside,
In his presence praise his name.

Philip Bramblet