God Is Treating You As Children When You Are Persecuted

It is becoming more and more difficult to be a Christian. That's not to say that this difficulty is the same in every country. Since I live in the U.S.A. I can only speak for us in this country. Here the challenge is to deal with hostility in a quite differing manner than in some other places. Here we face what the Hebrews writer calls hostility in a different way than say in a predominately Muslim country. Listen to what he says.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. - Hbr 12:3-8 ESV

The Greek language has a unique word for hostility, one used primarily in this letter and once in Jude. The word is anti-logia. It would be what we call contradiction or dispute. The primary manner by which we Christians face hostility here is by indirect contradiction. In other words, much of what we stand for is considered irrelevant or narrow-minded. Plenty of examples of this:

• Christians are anti-scientific. They are the idiots who claim that evolution did not happen when all of the rest of the world knows that it did. These dimwits claim that the world is only about 6,000 years old while all the rest of the scientific world knows that our planet is billions of years old. 

• Christians are anti-scientific in another way as well. They claim that the entire world was once covered with a flood that wiped out all mankind except one family. There is no evidence of this. None! And yet they hold to this silly little concept because their sacred book says something like that. 

• Christians insist on something they call a soul. Now we all know that this is an outmoded concept. We are nothing more and nothing less than biological machines that have evolved along with all other forms of life. And soon the day will come when we will be able to download this biological information into advanced computers, eliminating the need for outmoded human bodies. We won't need then to talk about souls or spirits—a medieval, non-scientific mental construct. 

• Christians insist that their's is the only religion. What nonsense that is. As any thinking person knows, all religions have something to contribute to the mankind's search for meaning and relevance. Consequently what is called for in these modern times is dialogue, open, honest dialogue and respect. Then we'll all learn from one another. 

I could go on and on to talk about how many in the upcoming generations are taught by their teachers and the media to view Christians as quaint and well-meaning at best. Above all they are sidelined in a way that says, "We'll put up with you as long as you don't interfere. But be sure that you stay out of the way. We have far, far more interesting and important things to do." 

This, I suggest, is what much of modern hostility is about. And, if you are a Christian committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of Holy Scriptures you know what I mean. We Christians in the U.S.A. are not hauled into court directly for being Christians and then thrown to the lions. No we have to deal with the lions in our workplaces, in our schools and even in our homes. There we are challenged, mocked and despised and then driven at times to weariness and exhaustion. We get so tired of having to take up yet another confrontation, another dispute. Why, why? 

The Holy Spirit's answer to all this is (in Greek) paideia. This was the whole training and education of children. It was the work of parents, mentors and teachers. It was the task of getting children to use their minds, deal with the challenges of making decisions in the right way. It was the task of correcting them so that when they make a mistake they learn from the mistake, grow from it and become better prepared the next time they face the challenge. This is why the LORD allows us to be attacked, vilified, mocked and despised. It is part of the paideia, the discipline and training the LORD is putting us through so that we might grow up. 

More on this next time. 

The Gospel Is Written On Our Hearts

Last time we learned from the letter to the Hebrews of the LORD's plan to make a new covenant with the house of Israel. Here are the marks of that covenant as described originally by the prophet Jeremiah:

• The LORD will put His law within them and write it on their hearts
• He alone will be their God
• And they shall be His people

What does that imply? 

First, consider carefully about whom Hebrews speaks when it quotes Jeremiah's prophecy about the LORD. The powerful, undeniable affirmation in this letter and in the entire church is that Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Mary, is both the promised Messianic King, the Christ and the eternal Son of God with whom the Father is pleased. So we read again and again in the Gospels: 

• And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!" - Luk 9:35 ESV
• and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." - Mat 3:17 ESV
• All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. - Mat 11:27 ESV
• And a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." - Mar 1:11 ESV
• For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." - Mar 8:38 ESV
• And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is my beloved Son; listen to him." - Mar 9:7 ESV

 And in the Epistles

• . . . if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. - Rom 10:9 ESV
• Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit. - 1Cr 12:3 ESV
• . . . yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. - 1Cr 8:6 ESV
• Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. - Phl 2:9-11 ESV

This same LORD promises to put His law within. The LAW about which Jeremiah writes is not merely a new set of laws like the Ten Commandments or the many ceremonial laws connected with the old covenant. It is not about keeping these commands so as to gain God's forgiveness and blessings. It is so much more than that. This Torah (Hebrew) is the entire teaching about God's promises, about the Messiah, the Suffering Servant who would bear the sins of all men. It is about God's grace and mercy. We Christians know it as the Gospel, the Good News, the Evangel. It is what this letter to the Hebrews has been all about up to this point. It is the story of Jesus and His sacrificial offering upon the cross for all men. 

This wondrous teaching is written on the hearts of believers by the promised Holy Spirit. It is to this that the great feast of Pentecost pointed as it emphasizes the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit on men's hearts. The prophet Joel taught the same thing as Jeremiah. Peter quoted Joel in his Pentecost sermon. 

"'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. - Act 2:17-18 ESV

Paul preached the same message. It was the essence of his teaching. For instance, he wrote to the believers in Corinth, affirming that he was indeed a true Apostle, sent by  the LORD Jesus.

You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. - 2Cr 3:2-4 ESV

The Apostle John, in turn, writes about the internal testimony or witness of the Holy Spirit at work in men's hearts.

If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. - 1Jo 5:9-12 ESV

We who have this teaching written by the Spirit on our hearts know with joyous confidence that we are and ever shall be the children of God, the new Israel. So Paul wrote to the Galatians.

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. - Gal 6:14-16 ESV

 The Apostle Peter wrote about the new Israel in the same way.

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation-- if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. - 1Pe 2:2-10 ESV

 We who have this wonderful teaching written on our hearts know the LORD in our hearts, from the lowliest, the least to the greatest. Thus the old covenant is gone and the new has come to us in Jesus Christ. We will continue to rejoice in this as we follow the writer to the Hebrews further.

The Power Of Proverb And Parable

Do you enjoy proverbs? There are hundreds and hundreds. Samples:

• Every compliment is a facelift. 
• Look closely; beauty is within the detail. 
• Doubters ask questions believers have answered—unsatisfactorily
• Scared to death, rare; afraid to live, epidemic. 

The Bible, as you may know, has an entire book called Proverbs. It begins in this way:

The proverbs (Hebrew: mashal) of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth—Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. - Pro 1:1-6 ESV

The Hebrew word for proverb is mashal. A mashal is an analogy, a byword, a taunt or word of derision (Isa. 14:3-4). It may also refer to a riddle or a parable. So Asaph speaks:

A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable (mashal); I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. - Psa 78:1-3 ESV

 Here is an example of an intriguing mashal as analogy from The Book of Proverbs.

There are three things which are too wonderful for me, four which I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the middle of the sea, and the way of a man with a young woman [b’almah]. This is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says, “I have done no wrong.” - Proverbs 30:18-20

In the above three verses, King Solomon compares a man with an almah to three other things: an eagle in the sky, a serpent on a rock, and a ship in the sea. What do these three things all have in common? They leave no trace. After the eagle has flown across the sky, determining that the eagle had ever flown there is impossible. Once a snake has slithered over a rock, there is no way to discern that the snake had ever crossed there (as opposed to a snake slithering over sand or grass, where it leaves a trail). After a ship has moved across the sea, the water comes together behind it and there is no way to tell that a ship had ever passed through there. Similarly, King Solomon informs us that once a man has been with an almah there is also no trace of the fornication that had occurred between them. Therefore, in the following verse (verse 20) King Solomon explains that once this adulterous woman has eaten (a metaphor for her fornication), she removes the trace of her sexual activity by exclaiming, “I have done no wrong.”

This book of wisdom has several passages about the ways of prostitutes and adulterous women, all meant to warn young men about the dangers of these relationships. For instance, he uses the entire seventh chapter of Proverbs to warn them.

And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death. - Proverbs 7:24-27 ESV

A mashal may also be a story-parable. The best known, perhaps, is the one Nathan told King David when he confronted him about this very thing, his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba.

And the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him." - 2Sam 12:1-4 ESV

In this manner Nathan was able to say to David in a deeply meaningful way,"You are the man! . . . You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites" (2 Sam. 12:7-12).

Again and again the Lord Jesus taught in this mashal tradition, using metaphor, simile, comparison and parable. In my following postings I will meditate upon one of the most informative of Jesus' mashalim, the parable or mashal of the Good Shepherd in John 10:1-6, a mashal that he had to explain in detail because his disciples could not grasp its meaning.