Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God!
He, whose word cannot be broken,
Form’d thee for his own abode.
On the Rock of Ages founded,
What can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation’s walls surrounded,
Thou may’st smile at all thy foes.
In the law of God when a thing is written once it is binding. When it is written twice it is certain and shall surely come to pass. All who receive it and who accept the obligations1 contained in the message become the objects of that message’s fulfillment. In other words they are the beneficiaries [“heirs, joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17)] of the Word of God. Those who join in with the Word are sanctified, saved and preserved… eternally2.
It never ceases to amuse and amaze when I hear, as I so constantly do, people trying to mold the world in their own image. I’ve been writing articles about this for three years and every time I turn around, and as I look back I see dozens of articles dancing around this very issue. People want to feel a sense of control, of ownership. We struggle day after day to mold a destiny for ourselves. We strive so hard for a roof, a marriage, a savings, a career… so much toiling for so little.
Everyone is looking for signs and wonders, answers to prayer. I wonder how many actually ask the right way, and then see the results? There’s an often abused passage in the Bible that teaches one key ingredient to the process of prayer:
Sometimes it’s hard to determine where prophecy ends and life begins. C.S. Lewis wrote a book called “The Screwtape Letters” in which he describes some of the tactics of the enemy. One of those is the pining for the past, another is the dreaming of a future. These two tricks are designed to keep one looking anywhere but the present.
“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he [the unclean spirit] walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he [the unclean spirit], and taketh with himself seven other spirits [his former friends who are unclean spirits also] more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation (Matthew 12:43-45).”
Yesterday I was listening to a lecture by John Lennox on the relationship of information theory with the description of God. While most people don’t often entertain these high-minded concepts it sparked a thought in my mind that some of the most simple questions can be profound. Then I was listening to a lecture by Ken Ham on how the words and structures we all think of as common place don’t really have meaning in the modern, multicultural world. I thought to myself, there’s nothing new there. I’ve written a book on the subject, a book I started almost seven years ago.
It is difficult to empathize with the sacrifice of Jesus and understand the things that God experienced in the salvation of sinners. Each of them is unique and without equal; The two of them enjoy a position creatures of flesh and blood will never completely understand. We are given parables in scripture to furnish us a comparison by which we may be able to begin to understand. Yet, while we may be able to use earthly illustrations, they cannot begin to fathom the depths that God lowered himself to give eternal life to sinners.
In every faery tale there are some things in common. There is a beginning; inevitably it was “once upon a time.” Faery tales and parables have a lot in common; but, one is a fable and the other is the truth.
“Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; (Acts 17:22-28).”
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