While Wiley suggests that he is a glass half-full kind of a guy, I think his real gift is a prophetic eye for seeing the ways in which things can go (or have gone) wrong. I mean, he’s a relatively cheerful cynic, but he’s at his best when he’s pointing out threats and liabilities — what we have lost, or what we are potentially in danger of losing. While he affirms his postmillennial bonafides at the end of the book, he does so by citing Jonathan Edwards dying of an experimental smallpox vaccine — again, pro-future, but not a sentimentalist — a keen eye for how things can go sideways. 

As with good conversation partners, the fun is in the friendly back and forth — the what-a-bouts, what-do-you-means, etc. 

So here are a few thoughts and questions that I have been chewing on, stimulated by Chris’s book. 

Derivative & Digital
First, what does it mean that what men make is less real? I know what Plato and the Greeks seemed to mean by it, and I know that Christians have played with this notion as well. And maybe time has something to do with it. Maybe our creations are more provisional — they take longer to establish their reality. But I do wonder if perhaps some of what is manmade will last and be granted a sort of honorary status alongside the things that God has made. Something like this seems to be implied in the creation narrative, when God, having created and named, turns and asks Adam to begin naming the animals. While Adam is not creating ex nihilo, he is in some sense joining in God’s creative work. Tolkien called us “sub-creators.” Or what does it mean that the kings of the nations will bring their treasures into the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:24)? This was implied by the rough map God drew for Adam in the garden: four rivers leading to different lands, with treasures down the rivers. Man’s work was designed by God to make/build/invent, and while it is certainly derivative, some of it is worthy to bring back to God.   

If language is the fundamental type of this imitation (naming), perhaps this maps onto the analogue vs. digital distinction Wiley discusses. I wonder if what we’re learning is a new language (digital) that is better for some things and worse for others. Language has more literal modes and more metaphorical modes. Analogue is a more literal, continuous mapping of the world, whereas digital is more metaphorical, representing a particular shape of reality. As we have descended into our postmodern trash heap, if you try to explain everything by use of metaphor, you descend into meaninglessness (including your claim that everything is metaphor). The same thing would be true of digital. Some things need to be analogue. But everything depends on *what* it is we are talking about. It also depends on what our duties are in any given moment. Sometimes it would be degrading and disobedient to translate an analogue into a digital representation. God prohibits something like this for Himself in the Second Commandment: God is so glorious and other, He requires a perfect analogue, but all of our attempts are clunky digital representations and therefore are idolatrous. Only Jesus is the perfect analogue. And I would argue something analogous (ha) for replacing real flesh and blood preachers with digital/video sermons — in general, that’s an unhelpful downgrade. But sometimes, perhaps on the mission field or in evangelistic settings, obedience may require playing the video sermon as better than nothing.    

Manmade Holiness
We see sometime of this in the tabernacle and temple which are full of artistic works. On the one hand, there was no chisel heard near the building site of the temple (that probably indicates something about our topic), but clearly many tools and technologies were employed in the construction of these holy places. Gold, timber, bronze, metallurgy, architecture, sculpture, weaving, dyes, etc. And the point here would simply be to underline the possible connection between of manmade products and holiness. Holiness not only inhabits God’s creations, but the logic of redemptive history is that God’s holiness will also inhabit (some of?) man’s creations. God’s people were forbidden from making any kind of carved or molded image of God, but they were commanded to carve and mold other images to represent the holiness of God (e.g. cherubim, palm trees). 

Of course the golden calf is the great cautionary tale, and this lines up with the Babel temptation. Humanistic man is constantly tempted to consolidate power (Babel) and misuse the gifts of God (idols). This is why I think Wiley’s opening fable/parable about a world in which neuro-robots and demons/idols are indistinguishable is a very fair warning. I also appreciated his later story that pictured a thoughtful Christian family using AI/robots with care and discipline. But the story that was missing is the one in which Christians are thoughtfully using the new technologies for confident dominion and conquest, in which secular humanistic schemes are being undermined by intelligent Christians — or one in which we say God loves this. It is holy to Him. 

I’m thinking of the end of Zechariah’s apocalyptic prophecy, where he says everything in Jerusalem will be inscribed with “Holy to the Lord.,” not only the pots and pans but even the bells on the horses (Zech. 14:20). That’s remarkable. That’s human technology that God says is now “holy” to Him, set apart, sacred, and what is meant is that it is able (and fitting) to draw people closer to Him. I would argue that cars are certainly in that category now. If the bells on the horses alerted people to where horses and carriages and plows were and would one day serve holy purposes, how much more so automobiles carrying millions of people to their jobs, missionary work, and church every Lord’s Day? — and yes, even with their bells and alerts (although I would argue that the seatbelt alert seems rather Philistine).   

The Enoch Factor
Wiley argues that Christians must stay grounded in God’s creation and the reality He has made. All of our creative work must be done in humble submission to His original creative work. Our work must glorify and extend His creative work, not deform or modify with Babylonian hubris. As Lewis pointed out, humanistic hubris is ultimately a kind of animalistic self-destruction (think Nebuchadnezzar in the fields howling at the moon) — but this really can do a fair bit of damage before it completely unravels. Revelation says that those who are filthy will continue in their filthiness, and those who are righteous will continue in their righteousness. So evil men will grow in their evil, even if it will eventually sputter out. But God’s people were made to fight and resist that kind of madness — growing in wisdom and maturity. 

Many years ago, James Jordan wrote an essay called “The Enoch Factor,” in which he pointed out that because pagans are not bound by the law of God (or at least try to rebel against it) and are impatient people, they often build cities and invent technologies before God’s people (see Genesis 4). 

He writes: “For a variety of reasons, the heathen often make more rapid initial cultural gains than do the righteous. The heathen are willing to enslave other people to work for them. The heathen don’t take one day in seven to rest. The heathen expend no psychological energy in repentance and striving against sin. Thus, the heathen get there first. This is what I call “the Enoch Factor.”

We see the Enoch Factor in Genesis 4. Not only did Cain build the first city, but his descendants became “fathers” (experts, teachers) of the sciences of animal husbandry, music, and metallurgy. The first poem in the Bible is put on the lips of a descendant of Cain (Genesis 4:20-24).

The Enoch Factor means that very often great advances in technique (not in philosophy) come from pagan sources. Usually the heathen get there first, and then the believers come after.”

Unbelievers can sacrifice marriages and children for their careers. They can lie, steal, cheat, and kill to build their cities, make their discoveries, and craft their technologies and works of art. God’s people are called to take dominion and be creative, but we are required to honor God’s law at every step of the way, and to even retrace our steps in repentance when something goes sideways. 

Pagans hand their kids smart phones when they are in elementary school and do not think about how to protect them from the dangers. Pagans have free access to internet and AI in every room in the house with no protections or accountability. Pagans build cities and practice the corporate theft of “eminent domain.” Pagans dive into in vitro fertilization and do not scruple the destruction of millions of tiny human beings. Pagans deform healthy bodies with plastic surgeries, sex change operations, and hormone therapies. 

But Christians understand the way God made the world. It takes time. It takes wisdom. Of course this can degenerate into cowardice and laziness. Christians must be courageous, bold, militant, and creative, but we must also honor God in all of our dominion pursuits. And this means honoring marriage vows, raising our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, telling the truth, refusing to steal, protecting all human life, and honoring the Lord’s Day. 

God made the world in such a way that it works best when we work and draw and invent in harmony with His canvas — with these limits firmly in place. But, and this is the part that takes faith, within those limits, Christians should go hard. Within those limits, Christians should go the hardest — with nuclear, with AI, with robots, with weather and fertility and the arts. 

Our Comparative Advantage
Maybe the sharpest, brightest dividing line in how Christians approach technology is the firm conviction that only the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ takes away human sin and corruption. Only His death and resurrection overcomes the curse of death. All the humanistic (and transhumanistic) attempts to achieve eternal life are clearly false gospels. Those are golden calves promising life and health without submission to Christ, but of course they never do.  

But what does it mean that God took on a human body? God the Creator became a sub-creator. And it cannot be an accident that that He was a carpenter! He built things, designed things, made things, like Noah, like Bezalel, like Solomon, like Galileo, the Wright Brothers, and Elon Musk. I’m not sure I agree that anything a human can do for himself he should do for himself. I mean, a man could walk to the store for himself, but why should he not drive? Well, I would say that it all depends. A man might decide to walk to the store because he knows he needs the exercise or because his wife loves it when he walks with her and holds her hand. On the other hand, a romantic sentimentalist may prefer walking, but he really should drive because he has other responsibilities to honor and what he *should* do is use his time in a more productive way. I borrowed a friend’s excavator this last summer, and man, am I thankful for diesel engines and hydraulic power. I *could* have dug that long ditch over many days (and months), but I don’t think I *should* have. But I do agree with the principle that there must be touch points with God’s reality. It would not be wise or productive for everyone to be farmers or mechanics, but some men ought to be. The economic principles of specialization, comparative advantage, and division of labor are biblical and Christian principles, so long as they are not abstracted from the rest of the biblical worldview. We are not machines; we are human beings made in the image of God.  

Conclusion: Our Sherwood Forest
I like to think that maybe when it comes to technology, Christians should think of themselves as living in Sherwood Forest, slowly building communities of wisdom and creativity — I think this probably fits with Wiley’s use of St. Anthony in the desert. We are the outlaws because we are constantly fighting the world, the flesh, and the devil. But we are not escapist communities; we are communities of resistance, communities of true science and learning and technology and the arts. But we are not aiming these gifts at primarily serving ourselves or our own hubris, but primarily we are thinking about the mission of God, the design He has embedded in the universe, and how we may continue to sub-create with Him — naming/creating in imitation of His naming/creating. But we should also constantly have battalions of our merry men focused on sabotaging the evil around us. I can imagine armies of software engineers using AI to hack into the porn industry, constantly bringing down their servers with bots and viruses. I imagine the use of AI and robots deftly assisting accountants in finding every loophole in IRS code to evade every unlawful tax. I can imagine, technology that helps Christians rescue babies from murder. Maybe in some dystopian future, women go to fully automated, robotically run abortion mills. And maybe Christians hack the servers so that the babies that are “aborted” are actually saved and rescued, like the early Christians did on the hillsides outside of Rome.  

Of course, we will have the Bible translated into every known human language with the help of AI in the next few years, and then we can turn our efforts to building out full libraries of the greatest poetry and literature ever written, making them accessible to every language. And maybe some AI analysis helps evangelists and missionaries reach cultures in new and unexpected ways. AI and robots cannot (must not) replace the image of God, but they can assist us, just like God’s creations (animals, plants) always have. In the Christian AI future, Christians are constantly going back to the God’s good creation, studying what He has made and what He has said about it — constantly checking our work against His work and going slowly enough to double check and erase our mistakes. But in the AI future, Christians use robots to sabotage evil and create good, true, and beautiful things that assist human beings in taking dominion. 

It really is a mystery how a man and a woman come together. In Proverbs 30:18-19, it says, “There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.” The word there means miraculous, difficult, hidden, and it doesn’t seem too much of a stretch to say “mysterious.” 

Everything from the first time you met, and how you met, and all the circumstances that led to that moment. And the details that followed, the dates, the conversations, the prayers – a million details that go into it all. Sometimes movies like to play with going back in time and imagine what happens if one or two details are changed and what might not have been. What if Alahna hadn’t been welcoming people and handing out bulletins one random Sunday at church? What a mystery.

But it’s not just the meeting and the dating and the courtship, it includes this day. How is that by vows before God and witnesses and a sexual union that God actually makes two people into one? It’s what the Bible calls a covenantal union, but it’s a real union. It’s not just a contract. You can sign a contract on a rental house or to take a job, and if it doesn’t work out later, you can mutually agree to rip up the contract and no harm, no foul. But in a covenant, you can’t break it without doing violence. No matter how hard moderns try to pretend that they can do this surgery casually: “We’ve mutually decided on a new chapter for our family.” What God joins together, you cannot separate without great violence and pain. 

But the union doesn’t stop after a few months or years. When you meet couples who have been married for many years, you begin to notice so many similarities between them. Sometimes couples even begin to look like one another in certain respects. 

And Paul says, this is all a glorious mystery, but the really astonishing thing is that this points to the covenantal union between Christ and His Church. It’s remarkable enough to think that a man from one family can join together with a woman from another family and that God actually unites them in a true covenantal bond that begins a lifelong process of becoming like one another, but stop and think: as wonderful as that is, it’s still two people, two human beings. 

But the Bible teaches that that is a picture of what God has determined to do with His people. The infinite God, the Creator God, Absolute Goodness, Absolute Purity, Absolute Exhilarating Life has determined to be united with people. Now that’s a mystery. That’s a miracle, a glory – it seems impossible. 

And that’s exactly what John saw in his vision: a new heavens and a new earth, and the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:2). And he heard a voice declaring from heaven, Behold, they are husband and wife: they shall be His people, and He shall dwell with them and be their God. And of course, when that Great Wedding Day comes, all of the tears will be wiped from every eye – there will be no more death, no sorrow, no crying (at least not the sad kind), no more pain, because Jesus Christ will have made all things new – the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. 

And so today, as we celebrate this covenant union, we look in faith not only to God’s great blessing on Levi and Alahna, we look in faith to the Great and Final Wedding Day of history, when we are fully united to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. There was just another family wedding two weeks ago, and Levi and Alahna, no doubt you were very happy to be there, but I do not doubt that you were also thinking about this day in anticipation. And so all of us at every wedding are invited to think about the Last Wedding, the Final Wedding. For we are the betrothed. This whole world – God’s creation is engaged to be married. The covenant has been signed in the blood of Jesus Christ, and that day is coming. The dead shall rise and the bells shall ring and the trumpets will sound. And all will be well. 

So Levi, your job is to love Alahna like all of this is true. Love Alahna like that Great Wedding really is coming. Love her like Christ loved Church and gave Himself for her. Love Alahna and lead her in greater holiness. Teach her about the love of Jesus in what you say, and how you say it, and in what you do, and how you do it. Let the shape of this ceremony and this day influence every day to come: you’ve left your father and mother and are being joined to your wife. She is your own flesh and blood. She is your own body. Take responsibility for her; care for her – like Christ loves the church. 

Alahna, your job is to respect Levi and to submit to him like this vision of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is true. Look to Levi like the Great Wedding really is coming. Respect him and honor him as the Church respects and honors Christ. Listen carefully to Levi just as the Church listens carefully to Christ. A bride is adorned in a glorious dress because you are the glory of man, and today you become the particular glory of this man. Just as you are adorned today, let this glory influence every day to come: this is your glory to glorify God by glorifying your husband and his home. And let the center of that glory be the glory of grace – the glory of free grace. Which is what all of this is – pure gift, undeserved blessing from the hand of a supremely kind God. Thanks be to God. 

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen. 

“But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Mt. 23:5-12).

There’s a little pharisee lurking in every human heart — the desire to be seen by men, respected by men, exalted by men — desiring to please other men. 

“The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe” (Prov. 29:25). The fear of man is caring what men think and allowing their opinions to dominate your thoughts and decisions. It’s allowing whether you are likely to receive praise or blame, love or hate, affirmation or criticism – it’s allowing that to affect what you say, what you do. 

When Jesus had healed the blind man and they cast him out of the synagogue, it says, “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (Jn. 12:42-43). This love of the praise of man interferes with obedience and courage.

But the irony is that aiming at the praise of man is a great way to be less useful, less helpful, less potent. Jesus points here at the path of true greatness, true usefulness, true exaltation. It has to do with keeping your eyes fixed on who the True Teacher is, who the real Master is, who your faithful Father is – that is what true humility and service is. 

Of course the evangelical longhouse has created a culture that pretends humility: a servant is someone who does whatever the women’s committee demands or whatever all the respectable guys say. But Jesus wasn’t a snowflake, and He made a lot of people mad. Jesus didn’t go around doing whatever anyone demanded of Him. Neither should we.

“I receive not honor from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?” (Jn. 5:41-44) Again, notice how seeking the honor of men gets in the way of really believing, true obedience. Jesus did the Father’s will perfectly and faithfully because he did not receive honor from men. But He did seek the honor that comes from God alone. He did seek that glory.  

Clearly there is a duty to honor faithful men, fathers, pastors, and others in authority over us, but there is a corresponding duty for those men not to “receive” honor. I think it was John Bunyan who when he had finished preaching and had come down from the pulpit was told by someone that it he had just preached a very fine message, and Bunyan replied that he knew because the Devil had already told him. 

But to be a servant, a true servant, you are grateful when your service blesses other people, but you don’t do it for the kudos. You don’t do it for the “likes” or for the “shares” or for the “follows,” for the recognition, for the praise. A servant does it for His Master, and a servant does it because he knows it needs to be done. Think about all the ordinary things that have to be done to keep your house running, the church running, and you do them all the time and you would do them even if no one noticed. Occasionally someone might notice and thanks you, but you don’t “receive” that honor like some kind of feather in your cap.  

“So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10). 

So a servant is someone who concentrates on their assignments and duties because a servant understands that he is a man under orders. Those assignments and duties come chiefly from God. This is the danger of titles and greetings. Trying to please men is a great way to not get much done because everyone has a different idea of what you ought to do. Trying to keep everyone happy with you is an exhausting, not to mention, impossible task. It’s distracting, confusing, disappointing, and frustrating. The most effective leaders are men who keep God as their Father and Christ as their Master and Teacher. They strain all of their energy into completing His assignments.  

I don’t understand Jesus to be absolutely forbidding the title “teacher” or “father,” since elsewhere the apostles use those very words, but like the admonition to cut off hands and pluck out eyes, the point is to do whatever it takes to kill this sin. Do whatever it takes to cut off the lust for the praise of man. Do whatever it takes to keep your eyes fixed on Your Master, to seek the honor that comes from the Father. This is true humility. It is not doing whatever anyone asks of you. It is doing whatever Your Master and Father command You. And it is that humility that God loves to exalt. Amen.

I’m not sure why I hear these questions in the King James Version, but I’m just reporting. 

Of course, around these questions are accusations of checks for 7K and collaborating with Mossad to exterminate Palestinians and perpetuate wars with Iran and lack of courage to stand against Zionism, and other such bits of nonsense. Apparently, people are not aware of the paid trips I have taken to Ireland, Canada, and just recently, Iowa. And let me just tell you, Iowa is full of cornfields. I don’t think people are paying close enough attention to those cornfields. Totally sus.  

But there are answers, people. There are answers for anyone who would like to, you know, actually know the answers. 

Five Answers
First, I’m still waiting for my first $7K check that many people have told me is most certainly coming. And let me just tell you if this is how Israeli corruption works, there is no way they’re getting anything done. I think we’re going to be OK, people. 

Second, we do affirm with all orthodox believers that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life – no one comes to the Father except through Jesus the Messiah. Jews must accept Jesus, just like Hindus, Muslims, and atheists, and Mormons have to accept that Jesus is the one and only God come in the flesh and not a normal dude who became a god and got his own planet. 

When I visited the Wailing Wall, it was one of the saddest things I ever saw — perhaps the closest I’ve come to feeling Paul’s intense provocation at all the religious zeal (in Athens) directed in utter and complete ignorance and idolatry. The One they seek has come, and He is not bound by temples made with human hands. They search the Scriptures thinking they will find eternal life, but they speak of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. There were no warm, fuzzy feelings for me there: just a deep sorrow for a lost and blind people, some of whom became my friends. If that’s Zionism, well, we could use lot more of it.

Third, we are not dispensationalists who believe that the Jews have some kind of parallel track going on. The promises of God to the Jewish people are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and all of those who trust in Jesus Christ are the true Israel of God. Jesus is not waiting in Heaven for the Jews to reestablish bloody sacrifices in some new temple in Jerusalem before He can return. No, Jesus will return after He has put all of His enemies beneath His feet (1 Cor. 15:25). He is reigning in Heaven now, and the last enemy He will put down is death itself when He returns and raises the dead (1 Cor. 15:26). Of course, among those He is putting under His feet are unbelievers of every tribe and nation, including modern Israel and the Jews. 

Fourth, the modern nation state of Israel is not synonymous with the ancient nation of Israel. They are no longer “God’s people,” in the same sense that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were. They have rejected their Messiah, which puts them at odds with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – Jesus said that Abraham rejoiced to see Him. It may be that God intends to give that estranged people that same land forever, but that promise cannot be fully fulfilled in any kind of good way while they continue to reject the center of that blessing, which is their Messiah. 

Fifth, and this is where, as they say, the foot really touches the banana peel. The New Testament insists that Jews be considered “enemies for your sakes” concerning the gospel but as touching the election, “beloved for the fathers’ sakes” (Rom. 11:28). This is why thoughtful, Bible-believing Christians cannot simply lump all unbelievers into the same basket of lamentables. God’s Word makes a distinction. It is true that every son of Adam and daughter of Eve is lost apart from faith in Jesus the Messiah. But the Jews have a history that matters, that God Himself insists matters. All the other nations of the earth are under the wrath of God until or unless they repent, as are the Jews, but the Jews have the added notoriety of having previously been elected as God’s special, chosen people. And the Bible says that matters. God remembers that history, and He loves that history, and we are required to as well. 

Our Apostate Older Brother
The Jews are branches that have been cut out of the covenantal vine because of their unbelief. There is some debate among Christians about how/when they may be grafted back into the vine (Rom. 11:24). But regardless of those details, the Jews are to be regarded as estranged family members of the covenant, our apostate older brother. 

Imagine if Jesus had told a parable about this. He might have described a man who had two sons. And let’s say the younger son was a real hellion, and he demanded his inheritance and ran off and wasted everything on prostitutes and booze until he came to his senses and came home to his father begging for forgiveness. And let’s just say for the sake of argument that in the story the father took the younger son back, and threw a huge, extravagant party for him. But let’s say that the older son in the story who had remained with the father the whole time became extremely angry and bitter and refused to enter the party. It would be just like that – and here we are: mostly Gentiles, younger brothers all, descended from blue-faced pagans, received by the Father with full forgiveness, and the party’s been going for about 2,000 years, but our older brother is still largely kicking stones out in the driveway. 

He really does need to come in to the party and quit his fussing, but he really isn’t just like all the other unbelieving nations of the earth. To the extent that he continues to study Torah and identify with that broken and severed covenant, he is beloved for the sake of the fathers, and to the extent that he continues in his hard-hearted rebellion, an enemy of the gospel.

Sons of Belial & A Book Recommendation
Now add to this one more phenomenon, and that is the tendency of the nations to hate that older brother. And I don’t mean telling the truth that the older brother needs to repent and accept Jesus and come into the party. And I don’t mean calling out particular evils or sins committed by our older brother. By “hate,” I mean ethnic and cultural malice. I mean spiteful prejudice. I mean unjust treatment. I mean vile invective. I mean blaming that ethnic people collectively for the evils of the world. 

This means that faithful, Bible believing Christians have at least two duties in this situation. Christians must continue to tell the truth about the lost position the Jews are in, and we must do it in a way that does not hand rocks to the sons of Belial with dog eyes who are talking and seething like that one mob in Gibeah.

Our loyalties must be aligned with God’s, and that means whatever corruption is laced through the Israeli government ought to be completely exposed and condemned, and unbelief in Jesus the Messiah ought to be confronted. But wherever there is common grace sanity, especially of the sort based on Old Testament morals, we are cobelligerents against progressive-woke paganism, Islamic jihadism, and every form of civilizational nihilism. 

While I do not doubt that atrocities have sometimes occurred, the brain-virus that claims that Israel is committing “genocide” is simply ridiculous. There are Palestinians in Israel that are respected citizens. I rode a bus into the West Bank several times and walked through Palestinian-run cities and settlements. If that’s a “genocide,” they are doing a really bad job of it. 

And yes, I’ve read that a school got bombed as well, and assuming that’s true, that is awful, horrific and every civilian, non-combatant life that was taken is an absolute tragedy. Every instance of non-combatants being harmed is awful. I am pro-life in every nation, and no nation gets a pass. But there’s a massive difference between aiming to kill unborn babies (like Planned Parenthood) and aiming to stop the terrorism and attacks. That’s not some “special status.” That’s simply the right to defend yourself. And even if you think Israel “occupied” the land unjustly back in the day, that does not justify random vigilante attacks on Israeli civilians, any more than the Nez Perce Indians have the right to start randomly blowing up civilians in Idaho for stealing their land (which we did). 

But if anyone really wants to know what I really think, I would recommend the book Son of Hamas, written by a Palestinian man who grew up in a devout Muslim family in the West Bank, and slowly came to change his mind about the Israelis (without sugar-coating real failures and abuses), and eventually converted to Christianity.

Post Script
And since some of you are hanging around hoping I will actually address the issue of “paid trips to Israel,” let me just say that it all depends — same with taking donations from various sources and donors, having certain vendors at your conferences, or being friends with the rich and the powerful. It all depends on whether there are actually any strings attached, whether you are carrying any water for them or not, and whether you have any integrity or not. But if you are primarily obsessed with the potential hooks coming from a particular nation and ethnic group, the chances are really good that you actually have hooks in you from some other direction that you’re studiously ignoring.

The very short version is that when God’s people gathered for corporate worship in the Old Testament, they often offered specific sacrifices in a specific order: sin offerings, ascension (whole burnt) offerings, and then peace offerings – which included a meal (e.g. Lev. 9, Ex. 24, 2 Chron. 29). When the New Covenant urges Christians to offer their bodies as living sacrifices and to “draw near” to the presence of God by faith, these are not just generic metaphors; the best way to understand those invitations is through the theology of the sacrifices and covenant making ceremonies. We do not offer bloody sacrifices, but we draw near by confessing our sins, consecrating our entire lives to Christ (through Scripture reading and the sermon), and by communing with Him (at the Lord’s Supper). Add to this the Call to Worship at the beginning of the service and the Commissioning/Benediction at the end, and you have what is sometimes called the 5 C’s of Covenant Renewal Worship. This pattern is faithful to the Protestant regulative principle and honors historic and traditional precedent, and I am an advocate for all Christians to embrace this general order and theology. 

The Temptation to Overcorrect
At the same time, I believe some of the churches that have embraced Covenant Renewal Worship suffer from what I would call the Saul’s Armor Problem. There was nothing wrong with Saul’s armor that we know of. It was perfectly good bronze age armor, probably some of the best that money could buy. But it didn’t fit David. It was too heavy. It was too clunky. It would have gotten in the way.

I say this as someone who has been fully embedded in the liturgical renewal work of the last few decades. I say this as someone who grew up in some of the tensions of the traditional vs. contemporary worship battles. John Frame was my worship pastor when I was little kid. And while I appreciate some of his concerns, I’ve definitely landed firmly on the traditional side of things. I am fully committed to recovering predominant Psalmody – learning to sing all the Psalms, our primary prayer book. Weekly communion should be normal, just like John Calvin tried to convince Geneva to practice (unsuccessfully). 

Nevertheless, whenever a renewal movement breaks out, the temptation is to overcorrect. If one is good, then three is better, and if three is good, why not seven or fifty-seven? But what I have experienced in my circles is a tendency to put every liturgical option into every service. And I’m assuming all the best motives here, but it’s like going to a restaurant and having them bring you plates of prime rib, turkey, ham, and a hamburger all at the same meal. It all looks good, but it’s just too much for one meal. And the kinds of things I mean are: processions, robes, candles, congregational prayers and responses, chants, etc. 

Worship should clearly be full of the Psalms, prayers, Bible reading, a message explaining a passage of Scripture, and a simple celebration of the Lord’s Supper. And the congregation should be engaged and involved in the service of worship. It is not a performance up front; it is more like an army being led into battle. But there’s a difference between a joyfully ordered simplicity that helps a people worship in spirit and in truth (on the one hand) and a complicated, ponderous, heavy burden that can make all kinds of theological sense on paper but just doesn’t fly. 

I certainly want to leave room for some cultural differences as well as personality differences. One pastor may be able to lead a liturgy that is a little heavier in a way that everyone is blessed, but I fear that many pastors have adopted forms more because if one is good, two is better rather than what is actually edifying and prudent. A strong case can be made for congregational participation in worship. But the Bible does not say that means they must say something at every part of the service. The Bible encourages thoughtful prayers, but that doesn’t mean every single one must be scripted and read by the congregation. And if a prayer is based on a psalm has been set to very memorable music, doesn’t that count? A congregational hymn is a congregational response.

Something Else Going on?
Sometimes there’s something else going on; it isn’t just honest liturgical renewal. Sometimes there’s something gnawing in a man’s soul and he thinks if he just keeps tinkering with the liturgy something will click. And so it tends to get increasingly strange or esoteric and generally more ceremonial and ornate. Maybe more robes. Maybe candles. Maybe incense or some kind of processional. Maybe another chanted psalm. If it feels ancient and awkward maybe it will do something to my soul. But not only is that superstitious and will-worship, it’s incredibly unkind to the people who are gathering who actually want to meet with their Maker. While Protestant worship has sometimes erred on the side of austerity, there is a true glory in simplicity. 

Yes, worship is the work of the people, but it’s supposed to be Sabbath work – restful and rejuvenating work. And some liturgies are simply too heavy, too complicated, too ornate, too busy, and they do not allow God’s people to simply hear the Word read and explained, offer their prayers and praises, and celebrate communion with their God. Yes, all that may be technically done, but there’s so much clutter and busy-ness that it’s buried in making sure you’re reading along with all the responses and not losing your place in the worship book that is nearing the length of a Russian novel. OK, I slightly exaggerate. 

I grant that some communities and cultures may truly feel right at home in a slightly more complicated liturgy, and if it really is from the heart and seeking the Lord and not merely playing dress up, then praise God and I do not object. But perhaps in our fear of seeker-sensitive entertainment worship, we have sometimes veered into an opposite ditch of theologically-esoteric worship – the kind that can only be understood after many years at seminary and several shots of James Jordan – and I say that with all kinds of gratitude for what I’ve learned from James Jordan. 

But I would argue that worship should be “high folk,” meaning it should be orderly, biblical, reverent, and the highest expression of glory that ordinary folks can muster honestly. I grant that there is a real wisdom call here, and again, I want to emphasize that I think there is real freedom here within the constraints of Scripture. But the question I would ask is whether we are loving the sheep in front of us and the scattered sheep in our land well. We are required to obey God in worship. We are not allowed to do whatever the sheep demand. But given the constraints of God’s word, are we ministering that word in our worship services in the most effective ways? Or are we following the words of well-intentioned scholars or theologians?

Conclusion
Maybe some services could use Saul’s sword or shield; maybe others would be perfectly fine with just the five smooth stones of Covenant Renewal Worship. Pastors wisely consider the time of the meeting, how long the meeting lasts (or at least they should!), and so it’s perfectly fine to consider how many prayers, how many responses, how many parts do we need to remember. 

In the American context in particular, where we suffer from an anti-liturgical, low evangelicalism, wise pastors should ask how to help their people use the means God has provided to meet with their God. John Frame’s concern back in the 1980s with traditional worship was that it might be unintelligible to modern people. He argued that the forms of contemporary worship spoke in a language that the common people could understand. I think he took that principle too far and underestimated the ability of folks to learn to speak in more biblical dialects as well as underestimated the potency of certain cultural forms to dumb down and distort biblical worship (see Neil Postman). But I do think he was making a fair point that we should take on board as we seek a true reformation in worship. 

Christ commanded us to feed His sheep. We do not believe that means the sheep are allowed to dictate what they will eat, but neither does it mean that various ideas of “gourmet” get to dictate the menu either. Sometimes parents err by letting their kids run the show, but sometimes parents err by not remembering their kids’ frames.

Prayer: Father, we ask You to make this Word living and powerful in our lives – show us clear and meaningful applications and obedience so that we would not be merely hearers of the Word but doers, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction
This chapter continues the story of the corruption of Gibeah and the tribe of Benjamin, with judgment falling on them and on the rest of Israel. This teaches lessons about the covenant, just war, and the difference between punishment and discipline. 

The Text: “Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh…” (Judges 20:1-48)

Summary of the Text
Having sent the pieces of his murdered wife to the tribes of Israel, 400,000 Israelite soldiers gathered together at Mizpah to find out what had happened (Judges 20:1-3). The Levite explained that the men of Gibeah had attacked him and killed his concubine and asked them to give their verdict (Judges 20:4-7). Israel made plans to support their army and sent messengers to Benjamin demanding that the men of Gibeah be turned over to be tried for their crimes, but Benjamin refused and gathered together 26,000 soldiers, plus the 700 left-handed slingers of Gibeah (Judges 20:8-17). 

Israel inquired of the Lord who should the lead the attack, and the Lord said Judah, and the next day they attacked and were defeated with the loss of 22,000 men (Judges 20:18-21). They wept before the Lord and sought His counsel once more, and the following day they attacked again and were defeated again, losing another 18,000 (Judges 20:22-25) – a loss now totaling 10% of the army. Israel once more wept before the Lord and offered sacrifices, with Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, leading the worship, and the Lord promised to deliver Benjamin into their hands (Judges 20:26-28). For this third attack, Israel set an ambush for Gibeah, and after drawing the main force out of the city, closed the trap and the Lord destroyed them (Judges 20:29-39). The city was utterly destroyed and burned, and the soldiers who fled were tracked down and put to the sword (Judges 20:40-48). 

Cutting Covenant
In the Old Testament, the word for “make” covenant is literally “cut” a covenant, going back at least to God’s covenant with Abraham where God passed through the cut-up parts of animals (Gen. 15:9-17). In this sense, every sacrifice was a mini-covenant ceremony, with animals cut up and offered to the Lord (Lev. 1-3, Ps. 50:5). At Sinai, God cut His covenant with Israel: God’s fiery presence came down on the mountain, and the people “cut” sacrifices to seal the covenant (Ex. 19-24). 

The meaning was at least two-fold: on the one hand, there is a complete consecration to God in the covenant: God’s fiery presence passes through the parts of the animal and the idea is that God intends to fill and entirely claim His people (cf. Rom. 12:1-2). God wants all that we are. This is what your baptism means. He wants your words, your thoughts, your work, your money, your marriage, your parenting, your household culture, your politics. 

At the same time, there’s a warning: In Jeremiah 34, Zedekiah makes a covenant with the people of Jerusalem and as part of that covenant, the men of the city promised to release their slaves, which they did initially and then apparently took them back. God says that when they made that covenant, they “cut the calf in two and passed between the parts” (Jer. 34:18), and therefore God will destroy them because they have broken the covenant. 

It seems likely that the Levite is drawing from this imagery when he calls Israel with the pieces of his wife. King Saul will do a similar thing with a heifer in 1 Samuel 11, calling all of Israel to war. The symbolism is that the covenant has been broken and therefore justice must be done, with the threat that if you don’t muster, you will be breaking covenant and complicit with the covenant breakers and liable to the same punishment (1 Sam. 11:7, Jer. 34:20). Covenant is inescapable, loyalty is inescapable: who’s side are you on?

Holy War & Just War
In the Old Covenant, God sometimes supernaturally destroyed horrifically evil peoples (e.g. the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah). Later, God gave special authorization to His people to do this in the land of Canaan because of its great wickedness (Gen. 15:16, Dt. 7:1-2, 20:16-18). The language God used was “devote to destruction” [haram], and Jericho is the clearest example (Josh. 6). This is in a very strict sense what is called a “holy war” – the battle is likened to a whole burnt offering – everything goes on the altar and burned. 

But remember at Jericho Achan who took some of the “devoted” things, and when Israel went up against Ai, they were defeated (Josh. 7). After Achan’s sin was found out, he and his family were destroyed (like Jericho) (Josh. 7:25). Then, on the second attempt, Joshua planned an ambush attack almost exactly like the one we have here in the third battle of Gibeah in Judges 20. 

Putting all of this together, the first two battles of Gibeah indicate that Israel had not reckoned with their own complicity in Gibeah’s sin, and therefore God sovereignly disciplines them by taking a “tithe” of their soldiers: they had not faithfully driven out the Canaanites and they broke covenant going after other gods (Judges 1-2). The fact that Phinehas is mentioned (Judges 20:28), tells us that this event happened early in the days of the Judges (Josh. 24:33), and it underlines the problem running through the whole book. 

When Jesus came He taught that because of the gospel and the pouring out of the Spirit, wars of “utter destruction” are no longer necessary or allowed (cf. Lk. 9:54-56). But in a fallen world, ordinary war will still sometimes be required. This distinction was already being introduced in the law of Moses (Dt. 20:10-15, 19-20). Just wars require legitimate authority to use force as well as a just cause (Rom. 13:1-4), specifically the principles of punishing criminals and defending the innocent and weak and judicious with proportionality (Gen. 14:13-16, Ex. 21:22-25, Dt. 19:18-21, Amos 1:3-13), as well as pure intentions for true good and peace (Rom. 12, Mt. 5).

The Lord Jesus rules over all the nations of men, and therefore our wars must be just, and in that sense, holy or else He will judge us and destroy us. The warning stands: with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Do you who say that a man should not commit adultery – do you commit adultery (Rom. 2:22)? Do you who say that a nation should not commit genocide commit genocide against the unborn? Jesus said that it will be easier for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than the cities that refused to believe in Him. Our gruesome slaughter of babies makes the Nazis look tame. And the solution is repentance. 

Applications & Conclusion
Every Lord’s Day, we pass the “cut up” parts of the body of the Lord among us. What are we doing? It a proclamation of the broken covenant in Adam: all have sinned. All have “Achaned” and troubled Israel. 

It’s also a summons to war against all evil – beginning with your own. Are you on the Lord’s side or on the side of Gibeah? Are you on the side of Jesus or the Devil? If you don’t join the war, you are complicit in the wickedness of the land. But if you join, you must leave all of your wickedness behind. If you bring any of that sin with you into the camp, we will be defeated by our enemies. It is not enough to be “conservative” or “anti-liberal.” We cannot win without God’s blessing. 

In Genesis 15, when God made the covenant with Abraham, the most striking thing about the ceremony is that only God passed through the cut parts of the animals. And so when we had broken the covenant, God Himself came and was “cut up” for us on the Cross. 

Hell is the ultimate punishment for sin – it is God’s ultimate Holy War, which Christ took for all who trust in Him. But in this world, God still disciplines the sons that He loves (Heb. 12:6ff) – as witnessed by the two initial defeats of the armies of Israel. Sometimes God presses upon us because of specific sins we need to deal with, and sometimes He presses upon us to simply train us in greater holiness – but it is His covenant love – it is His determination to make us holy and happy. 

And it is important that we understand and teach this distinction to our children. There is a massive difference between parenting based on covenant loyalty and parenting based on individualistic autonomy. Are your children just other people in your house doing things or are they your body, part of Christ’s body, little saints for whom Christ died? This means intense teaching and correction in the early years but with eyes of faith and hearts full of patience. 

Children are little mirrors showing you your own weaknesses and sins, and you can either resent that or you can smile and thank God for giving You exactly what You need and stay in the fight. 

Prayer: Father, we thank you for Your covenant faithfulness to us, for sending Your only Son to take the penalty for our covenant breaking, so that we might not be destroyed. Father, we cry out to You for our covenant breaking nation: we know that we deserve Your righteous judgment. But if you had mercy on Sodom when only Lot was there, how much more so, will you have mercy on our land? So we ask for Reformation and Revival. We ask for You to destroy the Sons of Belial in our midst and that You would establish Your justice. Raise up generations of faithful men who raise faithful children, in Jesus’ name, who taught us to pray…

Prayer: Father, we know that all Scripture is breathed out by You – it is all good and profitable – and yet some parts of difficult and challenging. Please use this portion of Your Word today to do the good work it is meant to do in our lives and make us more like Your Son, Jesus, in whose name we pray, Amen. 

Introduction
The Bible is Rated-R, and that is because it deals honestly with the horror of human sin. This chapter is one of the darkest episodes in all of Scripture, and so it is an opportunity to look our sin straight on. 

The Text: “And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem-Judah…” (Judges 19:1-30) 

Summary of the Text
In those days when Israel lived as though they had no king, a Levite had a wife (a concubine is a wife without a dowry) who was unfaithful and then fled home to her father’s house (Judges 19:1-2). Her husband had compassion on her and went after her to reconcile, where he was welcomed by her father with warm hospitality over the course of five days (Judges 19:3-9). As the Levite returned home with his wife, he stopped in Gibeah of Benjamin for the night, where he was taken in by a man of Ephraim (Judges 19:10-21). While the Levite was being hosted, certain ‘sons of Belial’ surrounded the house and demanded that he be brought out of the house so they might rape him to death (Judges 19:22-23, cf. 20:5). In his place, the man’s daughter and the Levite’s wife were offered, and ultimately the Levite’s wife was given, who was abused all night and died at the door of the house in the morning (Judges 19:24-28). When the Levite arrived home, he cut her into twelve pieces and sent them to the tribes of Israel, causing great shock and alarm (Judges 19:29-30). 

Israel is Sodom
This episode clearly paints Israel as becoming like Sodom (Gen. 19). And this is a theme that the prophets return to (Is. 1:9-10, 3:9, Jer. 23:14, Ez. 16:46-56, Rev. 11:8). In Ezekiel, the condemnation against God’s people is likened to Sodom whose sin is described as arrogant greed and refusal to help the poor and the needy (Ez. 16:46-56). This is sometimes used to soften their sexual violence, but that was clearly part of their lack of hospitality (Jude 7). 

A central element of this story is the theme of hospitality. As in Genesis, you have the hospitality of Abraham (Gen. 18) contrasted with the animalistic hostility of the men of Sodom (Gen. 19). Here, you have the hospitality of the concubine’s father (Judges 19:3-9) and the man of Ephraim (Judges 19:16-21) contrasted with the animalistic hostility of the men of Benjamin in Gibeah (Judges 19:22-25). 

In the ancient world, the treatment of strangers was often a test of basic human piety. Even in the pagan world, the mistreatment of guests (or hosts) was considered a grave evil. In Ovid, Jupiter and Mercury come down as strangers in disguise and those who welcomed them were spared a great flood. The Cyclops in the Odyssey is a prime example of the perversion of hospitality, where the host plans to feed upon his guests (e.g. the men of Benjamin). Some of this ancient code is echoed in Hebrews: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Heb. 13:2).  

Applications
Hospitality & God’s Law: While the men of Gibeah clearly have the greatest sin, the Levite and the man of Ephraim reveal certain pagan habits of thought (also Lot in Sodom) – the idea that handing over a wife or daughter was a lesser evil than being sodomized or murdered. In the ancient world, and in some honor cultures to this day, allowing a woman to take the hit was considered more honorable – perhaps in this case especially because the concubine had been unfaithful. But God’s law protects the lives and honor of women just as much as men, thereby teaching a very different honor code.    

While we do not face that exact kind of pressure at the moment, there are temptations to sacrifice your family for hospitality. Of course, Christians are to be given to hospitality, but your first duty is to your family (1 Tim. 5:3-8). True religion is care for orphans and widows, but the first rule is to not create any new ones. Hospitality is to be an overflow, not stealing from your family.

Hospitality and Immigration: We might be tempted to think that this kind of barbarity only existed in ancient times, but we have recently been treated to the disclosure of gang rape of Israeli women during the October 7, 2023 Palestinian attacks as well as rape gangs in the United Kingdom. Part of the scandal in the UK was the fact that it was covered up by law enforcement for fear of being accused of racism or religious bigotry, since most of the perpetrators were Pakistani and Muslim. 

But cultures that celebrate polygamy, child-brides, and the second-class legal standing of women and non-Muslims will feed the baser instincts of men. And just to be clear: part of the point of this story is the fact that no race or religion is exempt from this threat. But if you’ve adopted two kids from another country, it is not racist or bigoted to call a moratorium on adopting more kids – especially if you have good reason to believe they are troubled and you already have your hands full. And the same thing is true of immigration. 

Our Vile Affections: Part of the reason we need a moratorium on immigration is because we have our own in-house violent sexual predators in the form of the LGBT movement. Scripture presents sodomy and homosexual sin as not merely unnatural and vile, but these sins are inherently violent – they are sadistic and masochistic – delighting in harm and self-harm, as illustrated by Genesis 19, Judges 19, Ezekiel 16. As Jesus said of Jerusalem, “It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgement, than for thee” (Mt. 11:24). The blood of millions of unborn babies cries out alongside the destroyed lives of millions of more children lied to, abused, and chemically and physically maimed. We may not have Pakistani groomers, but we have drag queens grooming children in public libraries.

Our Plague: There is something like the story that Nathan tells David in this story for us – the twelve pieces of the woman are put on display to shock and awaken. There ought to be a kind of rising rage about the men in this story. And there is a plain sense in which a minister of the gospel is authorized to point and say, “you are the man.” The amount of sexual debauchery and filth that fills the screens of professing Christian men puts us right up there spiritually and morally with the Levite and the men of Gibeah. Christ teaches that holy men need a kind of holy rage to deal with this sin – plucking out eyes and cutting off hands – that means doing extreme things – getting rid of phones, quitting jobs, doing whatever it takes – confessing and repenting. We need generations of men who will say with Job, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look upon a maiden?” (Job 31:1).

Conclusion
What is remarkable is how the Gospel takes so much of this story and gloriously inverts it. We are the unfaithful wife – playing the whore with all our sins, and God came for us: God came for His own, but His own did not receive Him.  

But instead of turning us over to the death and Hell our sins deserve, God offered His only Son in our place. 

We rightly flinch at the thought of a brutally raped woman cut into twelve pieces, but the Cross is an even greater atrocity. We killed our Maker. We crucified our King. And all of our unfaithfulness was laid upon Him. For He made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin: that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).

A different code of honor indeed. 

Prayer: Father, make us generations of men and women who are faithful to You and to our marriage vows. Grant us a joy and hospitality in our families so that we have joy and hospitality to share with those around us. Have mercy on our nation, so that we might not be overrun by those who hate You. Turn us back to You, for the honor and glory of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray…

But notice that it doesn’t say that when God builds, we don’t have to work or guard. No, the point is that God is the One who makes our work fruitful. God is the One who makes our watchfulness affective. In both cases, people work and watch; the difference is between the work that is actually fruitful and the work that is worthless – the difference is between staying awake in a way that actually guards the city and the kind that just makes you exhausted and the barbarians still take over. 

So this Psalm is about the kind of work that actually builds houses and families that last, and the kind of watchfulness and care that actually keeps cities and nations safe and prosperous. And the secret sauce – if you want to call it that – is children. The Psalm says, behold, children are the inheritance of the Lord. 

That isn’t the Psalmist changing the subject. He hasn’t presented the challenge of building houses and guarding cities and then randomly pointed out that children are really cute. 

No, the point is loaded in the word “inheritance.” An inheritance is the wealth and resources that are handed down from one generation to the next for building houses and cities. An inheritance is sometimes a house or a car, a business or property or savings or investments. But the whole point of an inheritance is to give new generations a head start. And here it says that God’s inheritance – and notice that – this is the inheritance that God gives – the wealth and resources that God gives to His people. He gives them children. He gives them more people. 

People are made in the image of God. That means that there is nothing in all of creation as valuable as people. Nothing in all of creation reflects the glory and creativity and potency of God as much as people do. So how does God build houses and guard cities? He gives His people children. The work of raising and training children and watching over them, is the work that God wants His people to do in order to build strong houses and have safe cities. 

That kind of work is not worthless work because children are like arrows; they are reinforcements. They are weapons and resources for building and guarding. And happy (or blessed) is the man who has a full supply of them. And here’s how you know God is still talking about houses and cities: He says those children will grow up and stand with you in the city gates speaking with your enemies. 

Now, this is a wedding, and some of you might think I’m jumping the gun a little making all this fuss about children, but first off, I can assure you that there are parents and grandparents in the front row who don’t mind me talking about children at all. And second, as we noted at the beginning of the ceremony, one of the central purposes of marriage is children. 

And as it turns out, children are multipliers. That’s one way you could summarize Psalm 127: children multiply your labors and make them actually fruitful. Children are reinforcements. But that means that children will multiply whatever it is that you have as a husband and wife. 

This really is an encouragement when you’re in the trenches and things seem desperate or difficult. When you’re laboring diligently trying to keep your 4 year old out of the state penitentiary, and you fall into bed exhausted at night and you glance over at your exhausted spouse and grin and give each other a fist bump – if the spirit between you and your spouse is sweet like that, if you are in joyful fellowship, then be encouraged: what you are giving to your children is joyful fellowship. 

Of course there’s also a warning: if you’ve read a bunch of parenting books or attended conferences about Christian parenting but there’s tension between you and your spouse, if there are harsh words and bitterness, then the warning is: watch out. There’s a good chance you are actually passing all of that bad juju on to your kids. Nothing against parenting books or conferences, but joyful fellowship with God and one another is the central thing. All the methods and techniques are only as helpful as the peace and joy you share. 

And so, we are establishing a new house today – a new Christensen house, and this means that we fully expect God to bless this house with His favorite wedding gift, His inheritance and reward of children. But in order for that to be the blessing it is meant to be, you must be establishing a culture of joyful fellowship now. As you have heard many times and have seen in your own households growing up, this is only possible when you both are committed to confessing your own sins and forgiving one another – keeping short accounts. Christians are not people who do not sin; Christians are people who know what to do about sin. And what we do is confess it, turn away from it, and forgive it. 

Abe: you are being assigned the task today of being the lead builder, the foreman on this house project, but that will only be a blessing if Jesus is the Master Builder, the General Contractor overseeing the whole thing. You are being given the responsibility, but part of taking responsibility is understanding that this will only go well if God is active on your job site. This means that you must continue seeking Him with all that you are, and wherever you fail, making it right quickly. Mistakes don’t get better by pretending they didn’t happen. Mistakes get better by owning them and making them right. Loving a woman as your own body is an assignment that is daunting to every man, but it is the kind of assignment that makes you a better man. Loving Lillian means laying your life down for her, which does not mean doing whatever she wants, but it does mean doing whatever she needs, as defined by the Word of God. 

Lillian, you are being assigned the task today of being Abe’s Assistant Site Manager. Your task is to help Abe carry out the instructions of the Master Builder Jesus Christ. Abe is ultimately responsible for executing the plans, but you are responsible for helping him. You do this by honoring him and making his home a warm and welcoming place. In the beginning, God gave Adam the mission of taking dominion over the whole world, and God gave the woman to Adam because he needed a helper that was suited to him. You are being given to Abe as his helper, and that really is a great glory. Respecting an imperfect man will not be easy, but it is a potent ministry that will making building your house a lot more affective. Just like Abe, when you fail at this work, the next most important work you do is making it right. Confess your sins, seek forgiveness, and stay in fellowship. 

As you both do this you will already begin building a house that God is building, and we trust that in His good timing, He will bestow on you a beautiful inheritance, arrows and reinforcements – making you fruitful in every way. 

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen. 

What is Forgiveness?

Forgiveness is a promise to not hold a sin against a person for the sake of the blood of Christ.

There are three important elements to this definition. First, forgiveness is a promise. It is not a feeling. It is not trust. It is not a magic memory eraser. It is a promise, a commitment. Second, forgiveness is a promise not to hold a grudge, a commitment not to hold on to any resentment or bitterness about the offense. Resentment and bitterness would be defined as any kind of angst, any kind of desire for revenge. Third, this kind of promise is only possible because of the blood of Christ. This is what makes forgiveness possible even if the person asking for forgiveness doesn’t mean it or still doesn’t understand the depth of their sin. Christ paid for the sin. He suffered, bled, and died for both sides of reconciliation — to pay for the guilt of the sinner and to satisfy the desire of those sinned against for justice. This means that blood of Christ enables us to have forgiveness even in those cases where the offender hasn’t even repented. In those cases, you cannot complete the transaction of reconciliation, but you can have forgiveness ready for them, whether or not they ever ask for it. 

So Jesus teaches that His disciples must be willing to forgive those who sin against them seventy times seven, which is clearly meant to illustrate as many times as they may come asking for forgiveness in any given day (Mt. 18:20-21). The standard is the willingness of God to forgive us for the sake of Christ. How have you been forgiven? How many sins have you been forgiven? You can’t count that high. How many times a day is the blood of Christ covering your sins? You can’t count that high. So we are required to forgive as we have been forgiven: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32). 

Not the Same Thing as Trust

At the same time, forgiveness is not the same thing as trust. Forgiveness is not the same thing as there being no consequences. Forgiveness does not entitle anyone to any privileges. Forgiveness restores fellowship in Christ. Fellowship means there are no grudges, no animosity — you can come to the Lord’s Table together. But fellowship is a blank slate with no demands, no requirements other than basic Christian charity under the law of God. In other words, if you steal from your employer, and you confess and seek forgiveness and he joyfully forgives you, there is nothing at all inconsistent with that forgiveness and for him to require you to pay back what you have stolen and to fire you. He is free to forgive some of your debt, and he is free to give you another chance, but he is not under any obligation to do so. 

Likewise, a woman who has committed adultery and confesses and seeks forgiveness should be forgiven by her husband, but that forgiveness does not demand that he continue in the marriage covenant. The Bible clearly teaches that he is free to divorce if the covenant has been broken in that way, and he is free to remain in the marriage. Forgiveness does not mean there are no consequences for sin. Likewise, forgiveness restores fellowship but it does not guarantee friendship. Sometimes trust is so strained or broken that close ties and friendship have been destroyed. A lack of forgiveness can make these broken bonds worse, but true forgiveness can still decide that it best not to be close friends anymore.

The Possibility of Rebuilding

At the same time, forgiveness is the ground upon which trust can be restored. Forgiveness restores the fellowship, and fellowship is the clean slate that makes trust possible. And this is one reason why it is a mistake to conflate forgiveness and trust. Sometimes someone thinks they cannot forgive because they do not trust. Sometimes this is because they do not feel the emotions of forgiveness. They still feel badly hurt, wounded, and broken-hearted. But it’s not a sin to feel hurt; it is only a sin to nurture those hurt feelings. If you touch a hot stove, it’s not a sin to feel the burning sensation. It’s only a sin if you refuse to put your fingers under cold water. The cold water in this case is the promise of forgiveness. But as anyone who has ever burned their fingers knows, even after a few minutes under cold water, your fingers can still hurt. So you have to keep them under the cold water or apply ice, etc. Likewise, you should forgive even when it hurts, and you should keep applying the forgiveness as long as it hurts. Forgiveness doesn’t magically restore trust, but forgiveness is what allows you to heal in order for there to be any possibility of restoration of trust. 

Sometimes married couples get into bad cycles of fighting and arguing, and many times this is because the sins from the day before (or the week/month/years before) never got confessed and forgiven. The Bible says that the only way you can have true Christian fellowship is by walking in the light as God is in the light (1 Jn. 1:7). But since we are sinners, and sin is darkness, the only way to stay in the light is to stay in fellowship, and that is only possible if the blood of Christ is constantly cleansing us. Confession of sin and forgiveness should be as natural and ordinary as taking showers and doing the dishes. Christians are not people who do not sin. Christians are people who know what do about sin. We know how to clean up our messes: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9). 

Jesus said that having unconfessed sin is like having a log in your eye (Mt. 7:3-5). It’s like having mud all over your windshield. You can’t really see what’s going on. Many married couples and many families do not confess their sins and forgive one another, and they are going around most days running into one another and when they try to sort it out, it turns into a bigger mess and nasty arguments and bitter fighting. The reason is because they have logs in their eyes, sometimes months or years of sin and guilt and resentment and bitterness. Whenever there is a collision it’s never just about the presenting issue, it’s about months or years of sin and hurt and pain. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Christ died on the Cross so that everyone who trusts in Him can get clean. If you confess your sins to God and to everyone you can think of that you have sinned against, the promise is actually mind-blowing: He promises to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we confess the sins we know about, God promises to forgive us and cleanse us of all of them – even the ones we’ve forgotten about or don’t even know about.

And when you’ve been completely forgiven, you can see clearly. But until you’re forgiven, you can’t see your husband accurately, your wife accurately, your kids or your parents or friends accurately. But when you’ve been forgiven, when the joy of your salvation is restored. You can see clearly, and sometimes trust can be rebuilt. And even in those situations where there doesn’t seem to be any human possibility of rebuilding trust, you can still be free of that weight and you can slowly heal, with real joy and peace in your heart.  

Photo by Michael Olsen on Unsplash

Prayer: Father, please use this text to remind us of Your great mercy and grace. Equip us to obey you and serve you in every area of life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction
The message of the whole Bible is that God’s grace is greater than you can possibly imagine. It is an ocean that has no coasts, no bottom. His mercy endures forever. 

This story of the birth of Samson is one of the places we are reminded of this, and it reminds us of the grace of God because it points so clearly to the birth of His only Son, Jesus Christ. 

The Text: “And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years. And there was a certain man of Zorah…” (Judges 13:1-25)

Summary of the Text
While the judges may have provided some measure of stability, Israel turned back to their evil ways and the Lord delivered them to subjugation under the Philistines (Judges 13:1). But remarkably, without Israel crying out, God began preparing deliverance by appearing to a barren woman and promising that she would bear a son who would be a Nazirite warrior who would fight the Philistines (Judges 13:2-5). When the woman told her husband, he prayed and asked God to deliver the message once more, and God answered and appeared again and repeated the instructions (Judges 13:6-14).

Manoah offered to honor the angel of the Lord with a feast, but the angel proposed a sacrifice be offered to the Lord instead (Judges 13:15-16). When Manoah asked what the man’s name was, he said he could not tell him because it was too wonderful, but when the sacrifice was offered, the angel ascended in the flame on the altar and Manoah and his wife fell on their faces on the ground (Judges 13:17-20). Knowing that this was the angel of the Lord Himself, Manaoh feared for his life, but his wife reassured him (Judges 13:21-23). And the woman bore the son as she was promised and named him Samson, and the Lord blessed him and filled him with His Spirit (Judges 13:24-25). 

Nazirite Vows
A central element of this story is the repeated instructions to avoid the fruit of the vine and that Samson will be a Nazirite – repeated three times (Judges 13:4-5, 13:7, 13:14). A Nazirite vow was taken by ordinary Israelites for special priest-like missions – usually temporary but sometimes, as in this case, permanent from conception (Num. 6). In the Song of Deborah, she sings praise to God for the people who “willingly offered themselves,” but literally it’s for the “loosening of the locks of hair freely” (Judges 5:2). This is a poetic reference to the Nazirite vow, which many of the men apparently swore when they joined the armies of Barak. Paul also took Nazirite vows in Acts during his missionary journeys (Acts 18:18, 21:24). Just as priests were required to wear a covering on their head while they ministered in the tabernacle/temple (Ex. 28:36-38), the Nazirite vow included not cutting hair while on this mission and functioned as their covering and indicated that their mission was dedicated/holy to God.  

The priests were forbidden from drinking wine in the tabernacle in order to distinguish carefully between holy and unholy, unclean and clean (Lev. 10:9-10), and so Nazirites also completely abstained from the fruit of the vine while on their holy mission. The Nazirite vow was an Old Testament type that pointed to the coming gift of the Holy Spirit that would anoint all believers and set them apart for mission and war. 

Part of this is reversed in the New Covenant: whereas Old Covenant priests never sat down and were forbidden all wine in God’s presence, in the New Covenant, we get to sit down and rest in Christ and share a taste of wine in His presence. At the same time, there is still an abiding warning: sobriety is necessary for making careful distinctions, especially in battle (1 Thess. 5:6-8). This is why Christians are warned not to be drunk with wine but filled with the Holy Spirit by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:18). This means that the buzz of alcohol (or drugs) is a false Holy Spirit, an idol that you are seeking peace and joy from, that only the Holy Spirit can actually give. And your judgment is being impaired.     

Samson was a type of the only faithful Savior who is full of the Spirit, whose judgment is always righteous, and who delivers us from all our enemies.

The Barren Gives Birth
After the Fall into sin, one of the central marks of the curse is difficulty and pain in conception and childbearing (Gen. 3:16). And despite many improvements in this area, it is still one of the great reminders today of Adam’s sin (e.g. barrenness, miscarriage, pregnancy complications, pain, etc.). And yet that curse was pronounced alongside the promise that the seed of the woman would crush the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). At the very point where the curse makes itself known and felt, God promised to demonstrate His power and mercy. It is therefore no accident that so many of the stories of the Old Covenant are stories of barren women giving birth: Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, Ruth, and Elizabeth. And here, it is a nameless woman, known only to history as “Manoah’s wife.”  

Where sin destroys, God still brings life. But the point is also that God is determined to do this through the seed of the woman, at the very point of the curse. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). All sin is barrenness. It is fruitlessness. It is turning away from the light and life of God and turning toward darkness and emptiness. And this theme culminates in the ultimate “barren” womb of the virgin and the barren womb of the tomb. We serve the “God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did” (Rom. 4:17). 

Conclusion: The Grace of God
While Israel was doing evil and being oppressed, God was preparing their salvation. This is the nature of grace – completely undeserved. While we were still enemies, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8-10). 

In fact, there is some indication that God may have been doing this with three different barren women all around the same time leading to the births of Obed (Ruth), Samuel (Hannah), and Samson (wife of Manoah). 

But of course you would not have known it – you could not have seen what God was doing. It looked like the Israelites were doomed. It looked like the Philistines would rule them indefinitely. But God was starting a revolution in the wombs of barren women. It would be years before anyone knew. But faith knew. Faith in the living God knows. 

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1). One of the foundational things that faith knows is that God made everything that we see out of nothing (Heb. 11:3). But the most glorious thing that faith knows is that God has come for His lost and rebellious people, born of a virgin, born under the law, to redeem those under the curse of the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Gal. 4:4-5). And as sons, we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us (Rom. 8:37). In the very places where sin does its worst, God’s grace shines forth.

And that is why His name is wonderful. His name is Jesus, which means Savior.

Prayer: Father, help us to be preoccupied with Your grace. In all that we do, make us constantly remember what You have done for us through Your only Son, Jesus Christ – let it shape our work, our thoughts, our families, and our nation, and we ask in His name, who taught us to pray…