Justice

I've been thinking lately about a question I hear posed a lot: how can God punish our finite sins with an infinite punishment (hell)?  How is that fair?  Here is an analogy that I have used, that even kids can understand.

If your big brother says to you, "Go and do this for me," and you say, "No!  I want to do what I want to do," you'll probably get punched or yelled at.  But that's it... because he's just your big brother, and disobeying him isn't that big of a deal.


If your parents say to you, "Go and do this for me," and you say, "No!  I want to do what I want to do," you'll probably get sent to your room, or spanked.  The punishment is greater, because it's important to obey your parents.


If there was a king, and he called you and said to you, "Go and do this for me," and you said, "No!  I want to do what I want to do," what do you think would happen then?  You would probably get thrown in the dungeon or beheaded, because it's the KING, and you must never disobey the King!


So what do you think should happen to us when the omnipotent, glorious, eternal Sovereign God, King, and Judge of the entire universe, who is infinitely holy and pure and beautiful, who created us for himself, says to us, "Go and do this for me," and we say, "No!  I want to do what I want to do!"  Surely, infinite woe must be the portion of any soul who would dare to insult the King of the universe to His face.

The severity of the transgression increases with the glory of the One transgressed against.  As J.I. Packer wrote, "There can be no small sins against a great God."

Praise God that we have an atonement great enough to cover the height of our iniquity!

The Valley of Trouble

In Joshua 7, the story of Achan is a cautionary tale about the consequences of sin.  Even though God commanded the Israelites to destroy every single thing in Jericho, Achan stole some of the silver and gold.  God punished the Israelites by giving them defeat at the hand of their enemies, and when it was found out that Achan was to blame, the consequences for him were even more severe:

"And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had.  And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor... and all Israel stoned him with stones.  They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones... Therefore to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor."

"Achor" means trouble.  They named the valley that because, as verse 25 says, Achan had brought trouble on them, and now God brought trouble back to Achan.  At first glance this seems like a very sobering story, and in many ways it is.  But God is not done with the Valley of Achor.  Hosea 2 describes God's ultimate plan for the valley of trouble:

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
And there I will give her her vineyards,
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope."

Isn't it just like God, to take the place where sin brought defeat and judgment and destruction, and turn that very place into a door of hope?  God is always turning the valley of trouble into a door of hope.  He did it with Achor, bringing hope out of trouble.  And we see it most clearly at the cross, where evil was subverted and destroyed and made to serve the infinitely good purpose of bringing many sons to glory.  John Piper writes, "At the all-important pivot of human history, the worst sin ever committed served to show the greatest glory of Christ and obtain the sin-conquering gift of God's grace.  God did not just overcome evil at the cross.  He made evil serve the overcoming of evil.  He made evil commit suicide in doing its worst evil."  This is the ultimate message of the Valley of Achor.

And I know that in my life, God frequently makes the valley the place of greatest fruitfulness.  Often, I think, He brings us into the valley of trouble for the express purpose of demonstrating that He is the One who brings hope from trouble and mercy from sin.

Such As I

This is a poem I wrote early this last summer, after reading Charles Spurgeon's Evening devotion for May 27th.  The devotion is based on 2 Samuel 9:8- "What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?"  Spurgeon writes, "If Mephibosheth was humbled by David's kindness, what shall we be in the presence of our gracious Lord?  The more grace we have, the less we shall think of ourselves, for grace, like light, reveals our impurity... At best, we are but clay, animated dust, but viewed as sinners, we are monsters indeed.  Let it be proclaimed in heaven as a wonder that the Lord Jesus should set His heart's love upon such as we are.  Dust and ashes though we be, we must and will 'magnify the exceeding greatness of His grace.'"  Pondering on that astounding and humbling truth, I wrote this poem called "Such As I."

Such as I, filthy unclean

One who cov'nants with the grave

Such as I, can You call me

Even I, condemned depraved

As one who cov'nants with the grave?

A worm and nothing more am I

And less, for I a sinner be

A rebel transgressed a thousand times

And all the curses fall on me

For I a cursed sinner be

How then can One so holy, pure

And set apart from mortal's death

Bear my curse and own my blame

Taking punishment from wrath,

Who stands apart from mortal's death?

Such as You, O Son of God

And gracious, incarnate Son of Man

Could e'er unite such great divide

And rescue me from Satan's hand

O gracious, incarnate Son of Man

Such as I, once stained with shame

Now spotless, blameless, faultless stand

Robed in white and washed in red

Before the holy Great I AM

I spotless, blameless, faultless stand

Thoughts on the Election

I have been enormously helped towards thinking biblically about today's election by John Piper's and Justin Taylor's blogs on this subject.

In his interview, Piper reminds us that we need "a healthy dose of the sovereignty of God" when thinking about the election.  He says:

"God governs this election, and He's gonna get elected the one He wants elected, and if it's the person we think will be hurtful, then we need to be hurt.  Sometimes people say, 'God's gonna judge us if do abortion or if we have gay marriage, or if we elect a pro-choice president or something.  Well, He's not going to judge us because of that; that IS the judgment!  Abortion IS the judgment.  The spread of radical gay activism IS the judgment."

What Piper is saying is Romans 1-- God's judgment against humanity is, three times from verses 24-28, that He "gave them up" to impurity, to dishonorable passions, to a debased mind.  God is sovereign over sin; the extent of evil in the world is God's judgment against that evil.  In other words, God says, "You want abortion?  Very well, reap the consequences of your slaughter.  You want gay marriage?  Very well, reap the consequences of your perversion."  Abortion is the judgment.  Gay marriage is the judgment.

So today, on this historic election, as we go to the polls to exercise our right to vote and to exercise our duty to pursue God's prescriptive will for leaders, we need a big dose of the sovereignty of God.  God is in charge of this election, and He will govern the result-- whether towards restraint of evil or judgment on evil-- to the praise of His glory.

Eternal Power, Strong To Save

Here's another poem, one that I wrote a couple weeks ago in the midst of listening to John Piper's sermon series, "Spectacular Sins and their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ" (which, by the way, I highly recommend for a worldview-reorienting study)

Eternal power, strong to save

Which once raised Christ up from the grave

Justifying godless men

And cleansing sinners from their sin

Oh the power of the Gospel!

Quickens deadened hearts to life

All the glory to the Giver

Of our sight, to see His light

Brilliant wisdom from the first

Saw and ordered evil's birth

To bring the cross, first Adam fell

Yet God still has done all things well

Oh the wisdom in the Gospel!

Plans above the minds of men

Bringing wickedness and trouble

To naught and glory in the end

Christ the wisdom and the might

Using darkness, bringing light

Great the strength He now displays

When hardened rebels full He saves

Oh the glory of our Savior!

Who took our place our praise to win

To buy us back so we could know

And love the God who cancels sin