George Frederic Handel (1685-1759) was living in London when he received an invitation from the Lord Lieutenant of Dublin in 1741 to write a new oratorio. The work was called Messiah. It was arranged in three parts: the Christmas story, the Easter story, and the spread of Christianity.

What was unusual about this oratorio was its language. Breaking with tradition, Handel wrote every word of his oratorio, not in Italian, German, or Latin, but in English. Well, every word except for one word, which was left in its original language and not translated into English. For millennia this word has been used by people of all languages in the original Hebrew. It is the word, Hallelujah.

The Hallelujah Chorus in Handel’s Messiah appears at the end of part two, at the resurrection of Christ. It was at this moment in an early performance that a tradition was born.  The London premiere was held at the Covent Garden Theatre on March 23, 1743.

King George II was attending the performance and as the resurrection was announced by the commencement of the Hallelujah Chorus, he suddenly rose to his feet, apparently moved by the moment, or out of respect for the subject matter, or more likely he was just needing to get the circulation flowing in his legs.

Regardless of the reason, he stood up, and according to protocol when the king stands up everyone present must stand up too.  Nearly three centuries have passed since that day, but the tradition remains that the opening bars of the Hallelujah Chorus brings people to their feet.

In Psalm 135 we’ll see:

3 MOVEMENTS OF PRAISE SO WE WILL BE INSPIRED TO SING HALLELUJAH!

1. THE CALL TO PRAISE

Psalm 135:1Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord, give praise, O servants of the Lord,

The Psalm opens with a command that is familiar to anyone who has ever read a Psalm: Praise the LORD!  This is one of the most ubiquitous calls to worship in the Book of Psalms.

Praise the LORD is the Hebrew word Hallelujah.

Hallel means praise, worship, magnify.

U means “us” or “we.”

Jah is a common abbreviation for the name “Yahweh”.

So Hallel-u-jah, means “praise, us, Yahweh.” Or “Let us praise Yahweh.” Praise the LORD.

At its most basic, praising God is acknowledging his name, uttering his name as the cause or reason for anything we have in our lives.

We need to cultivate a habit of constantly praising God for all he does for us. Acknowledging that what we have from food, to family, from laughter to life and breath, groceries and saving grace, is all of God’s goodness to us.

If you aren’t saying hallelujah or “praise God” or at least PTL in your texts several times a day, it is because you are just not paying attention.

Don’t be like the kid on Christmas Day who unwraps a gift and forgets to hug the one who gave it.

Be the one in your world who acknowledges what God does for you.

Our highest calling as humans is to praise God. But why? 

2. THE CAUSE FOR PRAISE

SOVEREIGNTY:  ⁶ Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

This is one of the most practical, comforting, and encouraging doctrines in Scripture and attributes of God: he is sovereign. He is in charge. The seas and the deeps represent all that is chaotic, unknown, and fearful for the Israelites. The Psalmist says God is in charge in the midst of all that.

SCIENCE: ⁷ He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

A cause for praise is that God is in control of nature, weather, the water cycle, geography. Have you ever stood in a storm, felt the thunder vibrate in your bones, feel the wind whip around your face, and see the sheets of electric fire bolting from heaven to earth in terrifying scars of light across the face of the sky? It’s breathtaking. It’s mesmerizing. It’s art.

Our God is the creator of science.

SAFETY:  ⁸ He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and of beast; ⁹ who in your midst, O Egypt, sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants;  ¹⁰ who struck down many nations and killed mighty kings, ¹¹ Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan, ¹² and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people Israel.¹³ Your name, O Lord, endures forever, your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages. ¹⁴ For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.

Another cause for praise is the safety with which God covers his people. He has proven time and time again that he is able to deliver his people. Egypt is the most obvious example, how he wrought signs and wonders to break them out of 400 years of slavery. But there are two lesser appreciated examples…

In Numbers 21 God helped Israel defeat two pesky thugs – Sihon and Og – like they were flies to be swatted. God does the same for us all the time: he delivers us from danger daily.

Do you praise him for every day of not being hijacked or burgled?

d) SUPERIORITY: ⁵ For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. And ¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. ¹⁶ They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; ¹⁷ they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. ¹⁸ Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.

A final cause for praise mentioned here is God’s superiority to all rivals for our praise.

Paul used this fact in his evangelism of the Greek philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens…

Acts 17: 24 – 25 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 

When you put your trust in money or insurance or your retirement portfolio or your education or your ingenuity or whatever… you are being as foolish as a person who trusts in a chunk of metal or a hunk of wood. The false religions of the world offer no hope, no assurance, no guarantee. But our God proves his superiority to all false religions by furnishing proof of his power…

 Acts 17:^: 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

This is a cause of praise. 

Our God is alive. And he is mighty to save.

3. THE CRESCENDO OF PRAISE

¹⁹ O house of Israel, bless the Lord! O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!

²⁰ O house of Levi, bless the Lord! You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord!

²¹ Blessed be the Lord from Zion, he who dwells in Jerusalem! Praise the Lord!

When we say “Bless the Lord” we mean ascribe good words to him. Make God happy.

Those being addressed here are: The nation of Israel, the family of the high priest Aaron, the tribe of priests, all who fear God, and all who recognize Mount Zion in Jerusalem as the true religion.

This type of language confuses some Christians. “What about us?”

Remember that in the Old Testament, the only true religion, the only group of believers were the Israelites. If you forsook Baal or Marduk or any false god, you’d become Israelite, join the nation and in every way become part of Israel. In the New Testament, we don’t experience an ethnic, national, or cultural conversion. Ours is only and entirely a spiritual conversion. The church doesn’t replace Israel, nor do we become Israel; we just join them and their spiritual legacy, by faith.

CONCLUSION

It is fitting for us to praise God. We who fear his name, who trust in his salvation, who love him for who he is and what he’s done, it is fitting for us to praise him to bless him and to worship him in everything we say and do. And then to tell others about his praiseworthiness.

I don’t know how people on the pro-choice side of the abortion debate will respond to today’s ruling overturning Roe—I can only guess that there will be rage, protests, and perhaps even rioting. One thing I am sure of though is this: Molech will not speak, and he will not hear the prayers of his worshipers (1 Kings 18:26).

What a contrast with Yahweh.

This morning the Supreme Court reversed Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 case that established a woman’s right to abortion. It was a ruling that was transparently flimsy and politically motivated. There is a reason that news stories don’t quote the original case. It is embarrassing for the pro-choice movement. Written in a world without ultra-sounds or neo-natal surgery, it reads like something from the flat-earth society. It created a legal precedent that both sides of the abortion debate grant was unworkable and too superficial to pass the test of time.

When President Obama was in office, he had a Martin Luther King Jr. quote woven into a rug and displayed in the Oval Office. The quote: “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Ironically, MLK got that quote from an abolitionist preacher (Theodore Parker) who used it in an 1853 sermon against slavery. His point was that no matter what happens in America, slavery had to end. It was simply too immoral so be allowed to continue forever. This was hardly a novel or controversial point for Christians.

In an ironic twist, it is Parker’s sentiment, reiterated by MLK and popularized by President Obama, which precisely explains today’s court ruling. As kids grow up around ultra-sound pictures of their cousins, and as the racial disparities in abortion continue to grow, the great gulf fixed between the pro-life and pro-choice movements was simply not sustainable. You see it even in their names—“pro-life” vs. “pro-choice.”

This was evident back in December at the hearing before the Supreme Court in the case that led to the reversal of Roe. I blogged on it back then, but it bears repeating again. The bankrupt nature of the pro-choice movement was on display in that hearing. The government (the pro-abortion side) sounded resigned. Sotomayor was widely ridiculed by the pro-abortion movement for how she handled the questioning, and at one point she even (albeit accidentally) made a very strong pro-life argument. She mused, in open court, that a baby in the womb might not feel pain in the same way that a person in a coma at the end of life might not feel pain. Her comments were wildly out of place back in December, and of course were a perfect window into how logically incoherent her side had become. If an old woman can’t feel pain, can we cut up her body and sell the pieces? It was as if the pro-abortion side wasn’t even trying with arguments anymore, they had simply settled with emotional appeals.

After that hearing, the writing for Roe was certainly on the wall.

I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that, despite the inevitability of Roe’s collapse, God providentially used means to bring about an end to the era of Roe. A generation of conservative legal students became scholars in think tanks, professors in law schools, and advisors to presidents. They raised up a second generation of judges and advocates who began to populate the American legal scene, developing a deep bench of highly qualified judges who were familiar with abortion law and prepared to actually act on it.

The entire movement was buttressed by popular level support. Massive numbers of pro-life protesters marched on the Supreme Court every year to protest Roe. By the time the pro-abortion side realized what was happening and moved to exile conservative scholars from schools and universities, it was really too late.

And this brings us back to the contrast with Molech. God also used the prayers of countless Christians—regular prayers, annually, weekly, and in some case daily for nearly 50 years. The cumulative effect of all this was seen yesterday.

Now of course there are those who are entirely ignorant of the pro-life movement. They act like the pro-life movement is the dog that caught the car. They say things like “if you are really pro-life you now you are going to have to open clinics to care for the pre-natal health of all these women,” or, “now that Roe is struck down, you better be prepared to start adopting kids whose parents don’t want them.” My personal favorite of this genre is “now that Roe is overturned, we should pass laws mandating that father’s need to be bound by some kind of contract to provide for the physical and emotional support of the mother of their children.”

This weekend pay no attention to those ignorant people. Pay no attention to the riots at the courthouse, the statehouse, or the streets. Molech will not answer them. Instead, thank those who are in the pro-life movement, who have labored for decades for this day. Let them know that their work has value, and is now going to be directly responsible for saving lives. They could have gone into corporate law (no offense intended!) but instead they worked for less pay but more value, laboring for this day.

And give thanks to the Lord, who unlike Molech, answers prayer.

In our first installment of the series, we introduced Lynn White, Jr. as the progenitor of the modern accusation leveled at Christianity that our worldview does not contain a concern for animals. He said that

“especially in its Western form, Christianity is the most anthropocentric religion the world has seen.”

But does the Bible really present a worldview that devalues non-human creatures? It is my contention in this paper that the natural worldview Christians inherited from the Hebrew Bible demonstrates that God values animals beyond their usefulness to man and that human concern for animals is an expression of righteous behavior.    Thus, any worldview that does not reflect God’s concern for animals should not be equated with “Christianity.” White’s accusation was leveled at a strawman since Christianity upholds God’s concern for the well-being of all his creatures and their habitat. 

The Value of Man and the Value of Animals

White is correct in noting that Christians view human life as superior in value to animal life. The Bible does present this hierarchy. After all, God commands the killing of animals as sacrifices, grants humans permission to eat animals, and simultaneously condemns animals who take human life.  This inequality was established by God:

The fear of you [humans] and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image (Gen 9:2-6).

This point must be admitted. However, the hierarchy is not something which Christians need to eschew. Rather it is a matter of praise as a blessing from God: “You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas” (Ps 8:6-8, emphasis added).

Humans are undeniably invested with a privileged position in creation but the value humans enjoy in God’s economy does not imply disregard for animals. The Bible indicates that animals enjoy their own connection to their Creator, unmediated by man (e.g. Ps 104:21, 25-30; Ps 147:9; Job 38:41; Joel 1:20). Animals are entrusted to humans for their use and enjoyment, in emulation of the way God uses and enjoys them.

The value of animals to God includes their usefulness and compliance in God’s employment of them as emissaries of judgment. Evidence ranges from the ten plagues and the Red Sea to the seals, trumpets, and bowls of judgment in the Apocalypse. Examples of animals used by God for judgment or deliverance include: fiery serpents (Num 21:6); the warning that “I will send the teeth of beasts against them, with the venom of things that crawl in the dust,” (Deut 32:24); hornets to help in battle (Josh 24:12); a pair of she-bears that mauled the youths who mocked Elisha (2 Kgs 2:24); The judgment when “The LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them,” (2 Kgs 17:25); and Jeremiah 5:6; Ezekiel 14:21; 33:27, which all foreshadow the fourth seal judgment of the Apocalypse involving wild beasts attacking people (Rev 6:8).

 And yet the Hebrew Bible presents a robust regard for the natural world that extends well beyond its utilitarian value. For example, the regulation of rest on the Sabbath is extended to the livestock of Israel (Ex 20:10; 23;12) and the command to care for beasts of burden, even if they are not your own: “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him” (Ex 23:4-5).

One of the reasons Israel was to not glean every last morsel to be found on a field was so that animals could find food there (Ex 23:11). There is also, in Leviticus 22:28, a prohibition to “not kill an ox or sheep and her young on the same day,” presumably as a sign of respect and acknowledgement of the dignity of the animals.

A consideration for the morays of conservation can be seen in the injunction to Israel that “If you come across a bird’s nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long” (Deut 22:6-7).

God’s direct involvement in feeding animals is frequently taken for granted as a fact of life, for example in Job 38:39-41, “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions . . . ? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help . . . ?” and Psalm 104:21, “The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God,” and “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Ps 145:15-16) and “He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry” (Ps 147:9).

God is credited by the Psalmist for being active in the preservation of human and animal life (Ps 36:6), and for the provision of habitat for his creatures (Ps 104:10-30).

Concern for the animals under one’s stewardship is seen as a reflection of godly character and a demonstration of righteous behavior: “Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel” (Prov 12:10).

In the eschaton, the portrait of a restored ecotopia is described as a reconciled relationship between man and beast where all is reverted to Edenic coexistence:

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den (Isa 11:6-8).

Many of these examples build an implicit divine concern for animals, but Jonah 4:11 provides us with a case of God articulating his concern for animals explicitly.

Jonah 4:11 “And many animals”

The Book of Jonah provides a poignant case-in-point of God’s concern for animals, which scholars have viewed as particularly germane to ecotheology.[1]  In 4:11, God closes the book with a haunting question: “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” or “and many animals” (וּבְהֵמָה רַבָּה).

Context of God’s Rebuke

In this minor prophet we unearth a major vein of evidence that God, has concern for animals, albeit a subordinate value in relation to humans. In this account Jonah’s parochial ethnocentricity (like Israel’s) provides an apt foil for the expansiveness of God’s redemptive love. Where Jonah is concerned exclusively about preserving his own comfort from the heat of the desert (4:10) and no regard for the lives of Gentiles, God shows concern for the preservation of Gentiles and even their animals. Any view of creation must start with a recognition of God’s ownership and use of it for his redemptive purposes.[2]

The events in the book take place around the date 793–753 B.C.[3] Nineveh, “a city of bloodshed” (Nah 3:1), was the Assyrian capital, the largest city of its day. The preaching of Jonah, is thus set in a Gentile context, making it, according to Charles Feinberg “the great missionary book of the Old Testament.”[4] An Israelite prophet deployed to call a pagan nation to repentance signals to Israel that God values the souls of Gentiles. The problem starts with Jonah’s dissent, as he refuses to warn the Ninevites because he knows God is gracious enough to save them—a humiliating eventuality Jonah cannot brook.

The story commences with a command to action, namely, to arise and cry out against Nineveh. But Jonah boards a ship heading in the opposite direction of God’s commanded destination. Jonah is untethered spiritually and is existentially adrift. From this point, God’s commands, though ignored by his prophet, are nevertheless uniformly received with instant compliance by the nonhuman elements and creatures: the wind, the waves, the fish, the gourd, and the worm. Raymond Person agrees that “from the narrative’s perspective, these nonhuman characters are understood as active, independent agents who obediently respond to the Lord.”[5] Even the sailors and Ninevites bow to God. Only the obdurate Israelite prophet must be cajoled into docility. Arguably, this is precisely why God selects a defiant prophet. James Hamilton gives this insight: “The book of Jonah is about God’s glory in salvation through judgment and in some ways, it is a microcosm of the whole history of Israel.”[6] The dereliction of Jonah’s mission is a synecdoche of the greater problem: Israel was insular, ethnocentric, self-focused, and just as Jonah was. The storm results in Jonah being pitched overboard, and a great fish is dispatched by God as a vessel to rescue Jonah from death, to keep him in a holding pattern, then to deposit him on dry land, having redirected his resolve (if not his attitude).[7]

God’s Use of Animals

Instances of God exercising control of animals to preserve human life are not uncommon in Scripture. For example, where God shut the mouths of lions (Dan 6:22) or dispatched ravens to feed Elijah (1 Kgs 19). Conversely, God can use animals to take life too, as with the worms that attacked Herod (Acts 12:23), or where the wild beasts are said to turn on humans when a third of the population is eliminated (Rev 16:8). God’s use of animals shows that they are not mere bystanders in his plans, but can are employed at times as compliant participants in bring about God’s will.

Jonah preaches a startlingly brief message. And yet it is charged with a paradoxical double entendre, as this thorough explanation by R. J. Lubeck proves: “Nineveh was overturned, not by annihilation, but by experiencing a unanimous change of heart. And Yahweh sovereignly and ironically overturned Jonah’s perverted proclamation in a way that accomplished his divine purpose (the repentance of Nineveh) while safeguarding from falsity the very letter of Jonah’s utterance.”^[8] What is of significance to our study, is the intriguing response that involves animals.

Animals’ Fate Linked to the Humans’ Fate

The repentant king decrees: “Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any [food]. Let them neither eat, nor drink water. And let man and beast be covered by sackcloth, and let them cry out strongly to God,” (3:7-8).

The pagan king is clutching at straws. He has no idea what is expected of him, but he believes Jonah’s warning, he acknowledges that this God is ruler of all, including animals, so he trusts that the only hope is if God is convinced of their remorse. An extreme fast is undertaken, and the animals subjected to it. Animals are equally in danger and thus are co-opted into the outward demonstration of the universality and extent of the Ninevites’ desperation.[9] This expansive gesture was received; God relented. The animals are not actually repenting but are harnessed into the human display of repentance. The fate of the animals is inexorably linked to the fate of their stewards. When God judges the city, the animals will be collateral loss. 

Yael Shemesh conducted a thorough survey of commentaries and she concluded that scholars are almost unanimous in reading 4:11 as a rhetorical question, which demonstrates that God’s mercy extends to animals.[10] Animals’ fates are intertwined with the salvation or judgment of humans. To make this connection, Shemesh notes that the animals in Nineveh are descendants of the animals in the flood narrative (literarily and literally). God’s saving grace to Noah and his family was extended to animals, and yet many other animals perished along with the sinners in the deluge of judgment. The covenant God makes with Noah is also a covenant with all animals (Gen 9:9-11, 17).[11] The loss of animal life was a collateral loss resulting from human depravity, and so the covenant that assures humans that their future existential survival is secure must include the animals whose fates are bound with their stewards.

God’s Concern for Animals as an Object Lesson

Jonah’s reaction to God’s reprieve of judgment on Nineveh is a pantomime of rebellion. He is so angry that God acted according to his character, as he anticipated (4:2), that he throws a tantrum and requests death! The sullen prophet situates himself east of the city and he constructs a booth that proves insufficient. In verse 6, God appoints a plant to spring up to save Jonah from discomfort (4:6). This is followed by a worm (4:7) and a scorching wind (4:8), both of which are “appointed” by God to remove the comfort, as an object lesson.[12]

Then comes the probing question God poses to his prophet: “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (4:11).

God is presenting a compelling a minore ad maius (lesser to greater) argument that Jonah has compassion for a plant of undeniably lesser value because it was of some tangible benefit to him. But remarkably, he possesses no compassion on the people of greater value, nor even the “middle-value” innocent animals.

The book ends with that unanswered question hanging like a dissonant note in an unresolved symphony. It serves to underscore the absurdity of Jonah’s disregard for human life. But in so doing, the narrator accentuates God’s perspective on the worth of animals.

God considers their fate when he plans judgment. They are, after all, his creatures, created for his glory and his pleasure. As Person concludes: “If the satirical targets of the Jonah narrative are the ethnocentrism and anthropocentrism of its ancient readers, then it certainly seems likely that the readers are being asked seriously to consider identifying with those other beings that the Lord created, including even Israel’s enemies, the people of Nineveh, and their “many cattle as well” (Jonah 4:11, emphasis added).[13]

One perspective on the mention of cattle, is to see it as a dark reminder of the animal sacrifice that the Ninevites’ repentance would generate, just as the sailors’ repentance did.[14] But this interpretation is not as substantiated as the a minore ad maius argument.[15] However, even if the animal sacrifice interpretation is accepted, it is not as incompatible with a high view of animal life as it first appears to be, since it is precisely why animal sacrifice is a worthy substitute for sinful people in atonement: animals have value to man and God. And they are innocent, as opposed to sinners whose punishment is always deserved.

Douglas Stuart examines the possible interpretations and concludes that “the people of Nineveh are of enormous worth. They are human beings . . . the animals (בהמה) in turn are of less worth, but still significant . . . The gourd, on the other hand, is of minor worth. . . . [Jonah] can have no good argument, then, against the worth of Nineveh, with all its people and animals,” (emphasis added).^[16]

At the very least, this verse shows that human worth does not imply a disregard for animal life from God’s perspective. This is God’s world, and he is aware of the fate of every creature in it.

This Worldview seen in the Worldview of Christ

It is undeniable that the New Testament does not present animal life as a theme. However, the natural worldview presented in the Old Testament is never abrogated in any sense in the New Testament, and in fact traces of this worldview can be glimpsed in the life and ministry of Christ. Jesus assumes the Jewish understanding that righteous behavior manifests in care for animals when he says, “Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?” (Luke 13:15) and “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”” (Luke14:5, emphasis added).

In the teachings of Jesus, as established above, humans are clearly of more value than animals, but that does not imply that animals have no value to God. For example, Jesus says, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God” (Luke 12:6, emphasis added). And in teaching on anxiety: ^“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. . . Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt 10:29, 31, emphasis added). This lesson relies on the premise sparrows have some value, albeit lesser value than humans, and that the a minore ad maius argument applies again, just as it does in Jonah 4:11.

Jesus himself exhibited copacetic relationships with the animal kingdom, as when he proved able to ride an unbroken colt (Mark 11:2, 7). Colts take hours to break, so this seemingly incidental detail hints at a remarkable feat that may imply Christ’s extraordinary ability to relate harmoniously with animals. Also, the text of Mark 1:13 presents Jesus in the wilderness as being “with the wild animals.” Richard Bauckham points out that in Mark the concept, “to be with someone” as in where Mark records that Jesus “was with the wild beasts” (ἦν μετὰ τῶν θηρίων) “frequently has the strongly positive sense of close association or friendship or agreement or assistance . . .”[17] Also, Bauckham comments that “Mark’s phrase (‘with the wild animals’), indicating a friendly companionship with the animals, would certainly evoke, for his original readers the Jewish expectation of the age of messianic salvation.”[18]

Paul refers to Jesus as the πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως (Col 1:15), and Paul presents Christ as the one “for whom, and through whom” were all things created, in whom “all things” will be reconciled: τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν (Col 1:16-17). This fits well with the natural worldview of the Hebrew Bible.

Conclusion: Implications for God’s People

The argument that Christians do not value animals because of the systemic preoccupation with human souls, is clearly untenable. God reveals himself as a Creator who cares for all his creatures. Yes, he values humans more highly than animals (Ps 8:4-8), as we are made in his image and invested with the privilege of rulership and stewardship over the animals (Gen 1:28). And yes, he uses animals to accomplish his will (e.g. judgment and deliverance of humans) and he allows people to kill animals for human use (Gen 9:2).  Nevertheless, the Old Testament reveals that God is attentive to the plight of animals (Matt 10:29), he is actively involved in sustaining and managing the life of his creatures (Ps 147:9) and that he considers man’s care for animals to be a manifestation of righteous behavior (Prov 12:10). God considers animals as having less value than people, but more value than plants (Jonah 4:9-10), and of enough value that he chides his prophet for overlooking the collateral loss of animal life in the destruction of Nineveh (Jonah 4:11).

This mindset of concern for all creatures, as seen throughout the Hebrew Bible is assumed and demonstrated in the life and teaching of Christ and is nowhere reversed or erased in the New Testament. Therefore, it is fallacious to equate reckless disregard for animal life with Christianity, as Lynn White and others in the field of ecotheology have alleged. Far from being “the most anthropocentric religion the world has seen,”[19] true biblical Christianity is a religion that reflects Christ’s example and teaching that the Creator shows concern for his creation.

Godly concern for animals is a patently biblical worldview that, far from cultivating  detrimental attitudes towards the environment, rather has an ameliorating effect on society, the environment, and on all God’s creatures.

[1] Schalk Willem van Heerden, “Shades of Green – or Grey? Towards an Ecological Interpretation of Jonah 4:6-11,” OTE 30/2 (2017), 459–77. See Raymond Person, “The Role of Nonhuman Characters in Jonah,” in Exploring Ecological Hermeneutics, Norman C. Habel and Peter Trudinger (Atlanta: 2008); Kathryn Schifferdecker, “‘And Also Many Animals’: Biblical Resources for Preaching about Creation,” Word & World 27 (2007), 210.

[2] Ernst M. Conradie, “An Ecological Hermeneutics,” in Fishing for Jonah (Anew): Various Approaches to Biblical Interpretation,ed. by Louise Jonker and Douglas Lawrie (Stellenbosch, South Africa: Sun Press, 2005), 226.

[3] Jonah the Son of Amittai is mentioned in 2 Kgs 14:25 as one who lived and ministered as a prophet at the time of Jeroboam II (793–753 BC).

[4] Charles L. Feinberg, The Minor Prophets (Chicago: Moody Press, 1948), 134.

[5] Person, “The Role of Nonhuman Characters in Jonah,” 87.

[6] James M. Hamilton Jr., God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 246.

[7] For a thorough examination of the significance of the fish vomiting Jonah to give him a second chance to accomplish his mission, see Brent A. Strawn, “On Vomiting: Leviticus, Jonah, Ea(a)rth,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 74, (2012), 445–64.

^[8] R. J. Lubeck, “Prophetic Sabotage: A Look at Jonah 3:2-4” Trinity Journal 9 (1988), 44.

[9] Yael Shemesh, “And Many Beasts (Jonah 4:11): The Function and Status of Animals in the Book of Jonah,” JHebS 10 (2010). Also see, Kathryn Schifferdecker, “‘And Also Many Animals’: Biblical Resources for Preaching about Creation,” Word and World 27 (2007): 210.

[10] Shemesh, “Function and Status of Animals,” 3.

[11] Shemesh, “Function and Status of Animals,” 16–17.

[12] Schifferdecker, “And Also Many Animals,” 216.

[13] Person, “The Role of Nonhuman Characters in Jonah,” 90.

[14] Thomas M. Bolin, “Jonah 4.11 and the Problem of Exegetical Anachronism,” SJOT 24/1 (2010), 101.

[15] van Heerden, “Towards an Ecological Interpretation of Jonah 4:6-11,”  470.

^[16] Douglas Stuart,  Hosea–Jonah, Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 31 (Dallas: Zondervan, 1987), 211.

[17] Bauckham, Living with Other Creatures, 108.

[18] Bauckham, Living with Other Creatures, 109.

[19] White, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis,” 1205.

Repentance as seen in the gospel is ______. How would you finish that statement? If you read the title, then a word has already been planted in your mind. You know where I am going, but I want you to think about how you would close out the sentence, repentance as seen in the gospel is ______. 

If you ask the world what they think of repentance, here are some of the answers you’d collect, as illustrated through Biblical examples. In Matt 19:16–22, you see the rich young ruler who after seeing Jesus’ exclusive call upon his life, saw repentance as difficult. In Matt 9:9–13, after Jesus called Matthew to discipleship, He exposed the Pharisees who thought that repentance was not necessary. In Acts 19:21–41, after Paul was teaching about the call to follow Jesus in the gospel, the silversmiths chose to indulge in their sin over turning to Him in faith. Those appear to be the main three camps and excuses. Repentance is difficult, it’s not needed, or it’s not worth it because sin is to be preferred. That’s what the world thinks of Biblical repentance.

Having spoken about those outside of Christ, turning to those who are in union with Him, I do not believe that most people in the church think of repentance as beautiful. A statement like that might surprise you. However, in my interactions with individuals in various churches, most often repentance is thought of solely as a requirement. It is certainly necessary, don’t mistake me. The issue at hand is that repentance appears to be often seen in terms of duty and not delight. My question for you is, why isn’t it seen as both? That’s why this article exists.

Repentance is one of the sweetest words when understood in the context of the gospel. It should evoke thoughts of the grace of God. It should make you rejoice. It is a key that unlocks joy in God.

To understand why, we first need to understand what repentance is and what it is not. A short definition of repentance is this, repentance is a change in mind that is demonstrated through a change in life. Put differently, the way that you think about certain realities and situations changes, therefore, the way that you engage with them and respond to them will be different than in the past. 

The term used for repentance is “μετάνοια.” It’s a compound word made up of the prefix “μετά,” or after, and “νοια” referring to thought. The idea is of a change of mind. After something occurs you think differently about it. 

The term itself was used in ancient Greek, but not just within religious contexts. There’s an example in Polybius’ Histories of an admiral of Rhodes named Xenophantus who went out on a scouting mission to see if the Byzantines had changed their minds because of the war taking place around them. He wanted to see if they decided they no longer wanted to fight. That’s earthly repentance. In seeing the destruction, would they change their minds which would lead to a change in action, in not continuing in war?

A more modern example (albeit from the 19th century) of earthly repentance is seen in Pride and the Prejudice. When it’s discovered that Mr. Darcey paid for Lydia’s wedding to prevent the ruining of the family name, Elizabeth goes from being frustrated with Mr. Darcey, to being extremely thankful for him. This moment of realization leads to changed actions from Elizabeth toward Mr. Darcey, which is evident when she speaks with her father.

That’s what repentance looks like when expressed in the world. There is such a thing as earthly or worldly repentance, but it’s qualitatively different from the repentance that is found in the gospel (cf. 2 Cor 7:8–10). What I mean is this, the earthly type of repentance is motivated by the flesh, but the repentance that is found in the gospel comes from God. One is earthly, one is supernatural. One is from below, one is from above. 

In Acts 11:18, after the church heard Peter’s story about the addition of new members from a Gentile background, we read, “And when they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, ‘Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.’” Who gave repentance? Did the Gentile unbelievers muster up repentance by their own bootstraps? Did they just grit their teeth and do more, better? No, God granted repentance to them. It’s a divine gift. God gave the Gentiles a change of mind that led to their changed lives. Because of God’s work in them, they would turn away from their sins (cf. 2 Tim 2:25–26). 

What a gift that is! Here is why. Think with me about the gospel without repentance. It changes the gospel. Some movements, like free grace theology, teach that repentance is not part of the good news of the gospel. With a message like that, here’s what could theoretically take place. You could hypothetically have a person who has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit (new heart and all), who looks toward God by faith, is legally declared right by God because of the sufficient, substitutionary death of Christ on the cross, and someone who is adopted into the family of God, but also… someone who has not turned away from their sins. Does that sound like good news? I hope that it doesn’t. 

Repentance isn’t remaining as you are. While the summons of the gospel is to come as you are, it is never to stay as you are. God promises that you will look like Jesus (cf. Rom 8:29–30). That’s delightful, overwhelming news. Repentance isn’t only a changed mind about something. It’s not akin to someone saying, yes, sin is bad, but I’ll continue to live in it. That’s not repentance. That’s sin. 

True repentance is wonderful because it changes us. We walk in it, and God changes us as we do. Here’s what Paul says the gospel does in the elect.

“For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died has been justified from sin.”

Rom 6:5–7

Jesus has freed you from sin, believer. It’s not that you are sinless in this life, but your sins have been paid for in full, and you aren’t a slave to your former master (cf. Ps 103:12; Eph 2:1–3; 1 John 1:8–2:1). 

In conversion, a person turns away from sin in repentance, and to the Lord in faith. You are called to both of these glorious ends, and as you move toward the Lord it is God at work in you to accomplish each (cf. Phil 2:12–13; Eph 2:8–9). That is beautiful. As vile, dark, and depressing as sin is, in repentance, in having a new affection, we turn away from the life we once lived. How refreshing it is to be set free from sin’s total power! 

It’s vital to understand that the gaze of repentance is not fixed on changing for the sake of change, no, it’s seen in beholding Jesus––the very door of the gospel (cf. John 10:9; 14:6). Paul says in speaking of sanctification in 2 Cor 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” As we behold Jesus, in the moment of salvation, our desire for Him is greater than any other desire in the world. In seeing Him clearly, the heart flies to Him and away from the snare of sin. In the gospel, repentance is a gift that causes us to run to Jesus (cf. John 6:37; Matt 11:28–30). 

Bearing that reality in mind, Paul says to the philosophers and stoics on Mars Hill in Athens

“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now commanding men that everyone everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He determined, having furnished proof to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Acts 17:30–31

That’s great! All men are called to repent, not just some. I hope that you can see what a monumental grace this call is, to repent, because it is a call to Jesus Christ, Himself. When you call someone to come to Christ, you are calling them to turn from all lesser loves and treasures to Him who is the treasure hidden in the field (cf. Matt 13:44). You call men, women, and children to the Supreme Love, the only one in which their souls can truly be satisfied (cf. Ps 63:5; Is 53:1–3; Matt 5:6). 

But repentance isn’t just something that occurs in the moment of salvation… it is a lifelong gift given to the believer in Christ (cf. 2 Cor 3:18; Col 3:1–4; Heb 12:1–2). Every time we sin, we are called to repent. We are called to recognize our sin for what it is, sin… and then to forsake it for Jesus. We run back to Him, over, and over, and over again. We keep coming back home, so to speak.

Who is more glorious than Jesus? What is more glorious than coming to Him? You have the privilege, believer, of coming back to Him day after day in repentance. While you disdain sin, you should so cherish repentance. When you have a Biblical mindset concerning your offense against God, and you do a 180 to Jesus, in that, you show Jesus to be more glorious than anything this world has to offer. In Luke 9:23, Jesus says, “… If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” The call upon us is to deny our flesh, not monthly, not weekly, but daily and follow Him. We do not rejoice when we sin, but we should rejoice in the gift of repentance given unto us. Not just in salvation, but as we turn back to the Lord when we do sin. 

At which point, if you have read this far, and you are thinking, “I don’t need to repent,” here’s a question for you. Did you know that there are people that do not need to repent? And with that, it seems like this entire post has been undercut. The people that do not need to repent are those without sins. In history, there have been three people that did not need to repent. The first two were Adam and Eve before the fall, as they had no sin. The third is Jesus, who had no sin, ever (cf. Heb 4:15). That’s the comprehensive list, and if your name wasn’t on that list… then you do need to repent (cf. Rom 3:23; 6:23). You need to believe in Jesus as Lord and worship Him––forsaking your sins. Thomas Fuller urgently said, “You cannot repent too soon, because you do not know how soon it may be too late.”

If you are a believer, you need to continue in repentance. You get to continue in repentance, what a privilege we have. Jesus told the church of Laodicea who had become lukewarm in their love for Jesus in Rev 3:19, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. Therefore be zealous and repent.” The life of faith is a life full of repentance. It’s thinking about Jesus rightly and turning back to Him away from sin. John the Baptist taught about what a relationship with God looks like when he said in Matt 3:8, “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” We continue in repentance. Robert Murray M’Cheyne famously said, “The sunshine is always sweeter after we have been in the shade; so you will find Jesus in returning to Him.”

My encouragement to you in this article is this… you should not just see repentance as a duty, you should see it as a delight. When you repent, you are walking in God’s call upon your life (cf. Eph 2:10). In repenting, you are following Jesus and will look more like Him as you turn back; you are sanctified in your repentance and become more of the holy one God has declared you to be (cf. 1 Pet 2:9). Repentance is a gift. Repentance is a treasure that leads to the Treasure. Repentance is beautiful, and I hope that you see it as such. 

When you are with a compelling person, you know it. Compelling people a have an effect, and at times unexplainably so. They possess a clear and driving force, and draw out urgent attention from those of us around them. They are not arrogant–they just have impact on others. They are men and women of influence.

Now ask yourself, are you that kind of person?

I submit that what the world needs in this generation is more compelling Christians.  In fact, the name Christian means “of the party of Christ” or “little Christ” (see Acts 11:26). This should make you stop and consider who you actually are. Historically, the name “Christian” was received by the church of Antioch from a watching world.  The new Christians didn’t name themselves “Christians”…the world named them. The connection is clear–to the world, Christians represent Christ. At least that’s how the world sees it.

Consider Christ.

What was Christ like? Answer: compelling. Both his friends and his enemies could see that Jesus was not like most men. In fact, He was not like any man they had ever known before. He was most compelling. Filled with the power of the Holy Spirit (who is God), Christ left a lasting impression even on his enemies. I love the account of Jesus in John 7. Having been tasked to arrest Jesus, a few temple officers report back in a grossly unprofessional manner—jaw-dropped and empty-handed. Evidently, they had good reason for leaving Jesus alone. Awestruck, the officers gave this statement in their defense: “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks” (v 46). Christ’s words were unlike anything these men had ever heard. Confounded, the officers aborted their mission of arresting Him and just stood there in awe of Him. Impacted. Influenced. Stunned.

On another occasion, earlier in His ministry, some Jewish worshippers gathered in the Synagogue of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. Though unbelievers (as the guards were), their impression of Jesus was the same. Luke 4:22 records, “And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips.” Can you imagine the awesome wonder they must have felt when hearing him speak? Imagine their befuddlement when making the most unbelievable connection to His earthly family. Luke 4:22 ends with this rhetorical question, “Is this not Joseph’s [the carpenter’s] son?” Some things just don’t seem to fit together. We don’t read that either group was saved, only that they were influenced in a compelling way.

If Christ was compelling to unbelievers, should not His followers be compelling also? Granted, none of us can be the Son of God (Jn 20:31). He doesn’t want us to be Him, but to be believing in Him (Jn 3:16, 36) and to obey Him (Jn 8:31). He has willed for us to imitate Him (Eph 5:1-2) by the power of the Spirit and through the Word (Eph 5:18), walking daily in His footsteps, that our lives might have lasting impact and influence on others, just as Jesus’ did.

Consider with me Stephen, a compelling Christian. His full story is found in Acts 6 and 7. What was it then that made Stephen compelling? First, it was not his position in the organization of the church. You don’t need an official position in the church to be compelling. Too many imagine that if they could just land a position in the church, then they will make their difference. Not so. Position cannot make you compelling.

We meet Stephen early in the book of Acts when the Jerusalem church is not yet five years old and is in a bit of a crisis. Exploding with growth, the apostles were left with hundreds (perhaps thousands) of widows to look after. Having neither husband nor family to care for them, these precious women were in need of the church in order to eat. This was no small matter.

Unsurprisingly, as the apostles became overwhelmed with the heavy administrative load of caring for so many week after week, some of the widows were unintentionally neglected. This was not a problem to procrastinate about or pontificate over. Under the clear direction of the apostles, the congregation was tasked to survey its thousands of members and find a team of seven good men to relieve the apostles and lead the food ministry. Who would the church choose? You guessed it. The first pick was Stephen (Acts 6:5).

 Stephen stood out. His life had impact and influence. He was a good, godly man and everyone around him knew it. Stephen was compelling, a man of “good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom” (Acts 6:3). It was not his position but his life that made him the first choice. Stephen was a compelling Christian. He had only been saved a few years, evidently less than five, but he walked so closely to the Savior that he stood out.

How did Stephen live? What specifically made him stand out? First, Stephen was compelling because like Jesus, Stephen was “filled with the Spirit” (Acts 6:3, 5, 10; 7:55; Eph 5:18). In repeating Stephen’s description so many times, Luke is telling us something significant here. In Stephen our parched souls find refreshment; in him we meet a man who lived out the truths of the gospel. He was a man dead to selfish ambition and very much alive in God, living under the control of the Holy Spirit! In the New Testament, the idea of filling is the idea of controlling. Pastor Tony Merida explains:

“You are controlled by whatever fills you. If you are filled with jealousy, the success of others will infuriate you. If you are filled with lust, your sexual appetites will lead you into great darkness. If you are filled with anger, you will quarrel and even murder with your thoughts. But if you are filled with God’s power and wisdom, you will live a life like Stephen—an others-oriented Christ-exalting life.”

Tony Merida, Acts in Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary Series,101

Filled with the Spirit, Stephen was controlled by God! How compelling is that?

Jesus was filled with the Spirit. Luke introduces Jesus in the first act of His public ministry this way: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit …” Like his Lord, Stephen too was “filled with the Spirit” (Acts 6:3, 5, 10; 7:55). Luke’s particular emphasis on being Spirit-filled is the resulting boldness that the Spirit energizes His witnesses with. How the world needs to see this kind of boldness among Christians in our day (see Acts 4:8ff as another example)!

Stephen was controlled by the Spirit and therefore spoke what the Lord wanted Him to, just like Jesus did. Filled with the Spirit, Jesus spoke boldly to His enemy the devil (read Luke 4), and the devil left him. Since Stephen was filled with the Spirit, his enemies were unable to cope with the wisdom of his words (6:10). The resemblance is unmistakable.

There are other examples Luke records. Briefly, in his words, Stephen had wisdom like Jesus (Acts 6:10 and Col 2:3) and was gracious like Jesus was (Acts 6:8 and Lk 4:22). In life, Stephen lived by faith just like Jesus lived (Acts 6:5 and Jn 6:38). In his ministry of the Word, Stephen preached like Jesus preached, preaching the Christ using the Old Testament (in canonical context) (see Acts 7:1-53 and Mk 13:35-40). He even died like Jesus, praying for his enemies (Lk 23:34 and Acts 7:60) and committing his soul to God (Lk 23:46 and Acts 7:59). Stephen lived a compelling example of Christlikeness, not in his own power, but under the control of the Spirit, and not for His own glory, but for the Glory of God! 

Stephen lived like Jesus and Stephen died like Jesus. This world needs to see more people like Stephen.

Scripturally, Christ was compelling to the watching world. According to three of His apostles—Peter, John, and Paul—Christ’s followers should likewise be compelling (1 Pt 2:22-24, 1 Jn 2:6, Col 2:6-7). As we follow Jesus, we should be like little Christs to the watching world, reminding the world of Jesus’ compelling life and His compelling words. We’ll never be deity, but we are little Christs.

Christian, right where you are, remember that God has given you Himself (Jn 15:4-5). You don’t have to have a countenance like Moses or like Stephen (Acts 6:15). You don’t have to have communication powers like Stephen and exposit several passages without notes. You just need to give up your selfishness and submit to the Spirit’s power in your life. Abide in the vine and bear fruit (Jn 15:8). Yield to the Spirit. Follow in His steps. Repeat what He said, the way that He said it, and live how He lived—under the control of the Holy Spirit—and you are guaranteed to be a compelling Christian!

This is Part Three of a paper I wrote on God’s use of the environment in Jonah. Part One, providing the introduction can be found here and Part Two, providing the context and the first three chapters, here.

“And Much Cattle.”

Chapter 4

Jonah’s reaction is a priceless pantomime. He is so angry that God acted according to his character, as he anticipated (4:2), that he throws a tantrum and requests death! It is preferable for Jonah to die, than to live in a world where Israel is bypassed as the instrument of God’s glory, and where Gentiles receive mercy.

The sullen prophet situates himself east of the city and he constructs a booth that proves insufficient. In verse 6, God appoints a plant to spring up to save Jonah from discomfort (4:6). This is followed by a worm (4:7) and a scorching wind (4:8), both of which are “appointed” by God to remove the comfort, as an object lesson. (Schifferdecker, “And Also Many Animals,” 216.)

The book ends with a probing question God poses to his prophet: “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (4:11). God is presenting a compelling “from the lesser to the greater” argument that Jonah has compassion for a plant (of undeniably lesser value) because it was of benefit to him. But remarkably, he possesses no compassion on the people (of greater value), nor even the (middle-value, innocent) animals. Surely there is something worthy of consideration in the city that can activate Jonah’s pre-established capacity for pity.

The book masterfully closes with that unanswered question hanging like a dissonant note in an unresolved symphony. It serves to underscore the absurdity of Jonah’s ethnocentrism, by juxtaposing it with anthropocentrism. But in so doing, the narrator accentuates God’s perspective on the worth of animals. God considers their fate when he plans judgment. They are, after all, his creatures, created for his glory and his pleasure.

Douglas Stuart examines the possible interpretations and concludes:

[A] likely reason for the mention of animals is that they constitute the middle point in the worth scale upon which the argument of Yahweh is based. That is, the people of Nineveh are of enormous worth. They are human beings (אדם), and they are the citizens of the most important city of their day. The animals (בהמה) in turn are of less worth, but still significant in the economy of any nation or city . . . The gourd, on the other hand, is of minor worth. Compared to many animals, a single small plant would hardly be of great significance by any method of reasoning. But compared to many people, a plant is insignificant indeed. Jonah has furiously argued for the worth of a one-day-old plant (v 9b). He can have no good argument, then, against the worth of Nineveh, with all its people and animals. (Douglas Stuart,  Hosea–Jonah, Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 31 (Dallas: Zondervan, 1987), 211.

At the very least, this verse shows that human worth does not imply a disregard for animal life from God’s perspective. This is his world, and he is aware of the fate of every creature in it. Humans are of more value than animals, but that does not imply that animals have no value to God. Or, as Jesus would so eloquently state: ^“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. . . Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt 10:29, 31).

Conclusion: Implications for God’s People

In these examples we are reminded that man is not master of his environment, but is vulnerable and fragile, and at the mercy of the elements. We are also reminded that God is the one who made, owns, runs, intervenes in, and utilizes any element of creation he chooses at any time to display his power and accomplish his purposes. Human beings are in a very real sense, merely “along for the ride.”

One of the arguments against both the stewardship and dominion views of ecotheology, is that both imply untenable hubris. The idea that we can reverse the damage is a fool’s errand. God is more concerned about his creation that we are, and he is more competent to manage it that we could ever be.

The Book of Jonah is clear biblical evidence that the environment is hardly under human control. Humans are at the mercy of God’s use of the environment to accomplish his purposes. This is God’s world, and he may dispose of it any way that brings him glory or accomplishes his will for the salvation of people. The whole argument of God’s reply to a plaintive Job, is that humans do not even understand their environment, nor can they control it. There are animals they cannot tame, there are weather patterns they cannot explain.

The Psalms portray God as the sole proprietor of his creation. The frequent use of nature in the Old Testament shows that people understood God was the one in control of the weather, the fertility of the land, the animals, and every element in his world. God is not aloof from creation, having handed it over to mankind. Rather, God is intimately and actively involved in sustaining and managing his creation to the finest details. For example, he feeds the birds and not one falls to the ground without his say so (Matt 10:29).

Human beings are not co-regents, but vice-regents of this world. We have been entrusted a privileged place, but we are not ultimately responsible for it, nor are we considered to be capable of such a responsibility. The planet has an expiry date and will be renewed and restored in due time. In the meantime, it falls to us to worship God by appreciating, enjoying, and responsibly using creation to God’s glory. We are God’s chosen people, along for the ride, so it behooves us to enjoy the experience and be responsible passengers.

Let me make a guess. The last movie you saw, book you read, or song you heard dealt with good and evil at least to some degree. 

Was I correct? Did the medium of communication speak about or platform something good that was done or did you see an admirable character quality displayed? Did the form of media you engaged with speak about someone who was hurt, sad, or lonely?  

Now, I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet, I am simply highlighting the prevalence of good and evil in our lives. That was just an external illustration, but we know there to be an internal reality as well (cf. Gal 5:16–26). 

Having said that, it wasn’t always this way. What I mean is this, before the garden there was no evil. Evil as we know it did not exist. The omniscient God knew evil was coming, and it is part of His plan to receive the utmost glory (cf. Rom 11:36; Eph 1:11; 1 John 3:20). However, evil was not eternally manifest. It has a beginning.

The words good and evil appear in 55 verses in the Bible. Some notable examples include Prov 15:3, “The eyes of Yahweh are in every place, Watching the evil and the good.” Is 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” Amos 5:15, “Hate evil, love good…,” Matt 5:44–45, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good…,” you get the idea. 

Those words appear in frequency nearly once per book of the Bible, together in a verse. Yet, there is an expression that exists far less frequently in the Bible that I want to give a view towards in this article. It’s the expression of “good and evil” in that particular order. That line only occurs seven times in the Bible and is linguistically distinct from other usages. I think we would all do well to see the progression on display and the God-intended connections that should be made back to the Garden of Eden. 

The phrase “good and evil” is used four times between Gen 2–3 in the garden. The first appearance is seen in Gen 2:9, “And out of the ground Yahweh God caused to grow every tree that is desirable in appearance and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” God created everything out of nothing which included the world and the trees that fill it. Notice how this is worded, God made the trees in the garden in a desirable way. God wants His people to delight in what He has made, not so that glory would be robbed from Him, but rather to bring Him glory. When Adam would eat the mouth-wateringly delicious fruit in the garden it would be a reminder of the oh so good God who made it. When eaten rightly, God will be glorified (cf. 1 Cor 10:31). 

We also see that in the garden is “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” If you are familiar with the book of Genesis, then you are likely familiar with how the first chapter ends. Gen 1:31 reads, “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” Does God’s very good creation include this tree here? Yes, it does. The tree isn’t inherently evil, it’s inherently good. The only thing that could make this tree a conduit for evil would be if God, say, gave a command to enjoy everything but this tree for food, and then if His creation sinned against Him… doing evil instead of good. 

Which brings up the question: what is good and what is evil? After all, we are looking at various passages that speak about each, so let’s define our terms. The simple definition of good is this, that which accords with who God is. How can I say that? Let’s give a view to the beginning of the conversation that Jesus had with the rich young ruler. Matthew writes,

“And behold, someone came to Him and said, ‘Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?’ And He said to him, ‘Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’”

Matt 19:16–17

How does Jesus define goodness? God. It’s that simple. 

Our Triune God is goodness (cf. Ps 100:5). Any goodness that occurs in this world is a reflection of the One who is the substance of what good is. So if that’s what good is, that which is in line with God, then evil is that which is not in line with God. Evil is that which goes against God. That’s a basic definition of sin as well. 

This brings us to the second chapter of Genesis.

“Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.’”

Gen 2:15–17

God tells Adam to work unto Him, and to enjoy the produce that He made with one exception. Adam cannot eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” for in the day he eats it, he will die. In Hebrew, the word death is written twice at the end, conveying the idea of surely, guaranteed, no questions about it, it will occur. There’s even some suggestion given the wording that the expectation is that Adam will do evil. The word “כִּי” which is translated as “for” in Gen 2:17 is most often translated in a resultative or causal fashion (eg., because of). It seems to be implied that because or since Adam will eat of the tree that he will die. God knew it would occur.

While Adam lived longer than the day in which he ate the fruit, he would die spiritually that very day in their being separated from God which he had never experienced before. In addition, every day subsequently would be a day of dying moving toward his physical death. Adam is in the very good garden, with God, and lacking nothing aside from a wife (cf. Gen 2:18). God would provide the wife for Adam in Eve. Everything is very good, this provides the appropriate backdrop and weight for the committal of evil.

Then, in chapter 3, Adam and Eve do commit evil against God. We read,

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.’’ And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” 

Gen 3:1–5

The serpent is Satan (cf. Rev 12:9). Before Satan fell with the desire to be like God, (something that Adam and Eve already were, in being made in God’s image) all he knew was goodness (Ezek 28:13–18; Is 14:12–14). Satan’s temptation to Eve then is him providing what he discovered through sin… evil. You’ve likely heard the expression before that misery loves company. That’s the idea. The fellow angels were not enough, he wanted everyone and everything to be against God (Rev 12:7). 

So, at this point, all Eve knows is goodness. Right? So what is the temptation then? I realize you will likely say “to be like God.” Yes, that’s true. But functionally, the temptation is to know evil. Satan doesn’t word it that way. Like a shady salesman, he disguises and conceals what he desires. What Satan is really saying is, “Eve, all you know is the goodness and sweetness of your loving God, don’t you want to know evil, betrayal, heartbreak, pain, sickness, and death too?” That wouldn’t sell as well. So, he positions pride. “If God knows about that which is against Him and what will come about, don’t you want to know too?” With this temptation, he is leading Eve by the hand toward the death of Jesus. If she falls, then Jesus the Son of God must die. If she moves forward, then evil will truly enter into and corrupt the creation, beyond certain angels.

Pause with me for a moment. Think back with me to Gen 2:9. God’s produce is inherently desirable, He made it so. They had so much to enjoy. But here’s what temptation does, it makes that which is bitter appear sweet; it is perfume on a corpse; it’s lipstick on a pig. Gen 3:6 reads, “Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, so she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” What is the effect of committing and now knowing evil? Verse 7, “And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.” They go from being unashamed before God to ashamed (cf. Gen 2:25). Sin brews concern for self over concern for God. They hide from God. Their relationship with God is broken and dead.

God shows Adam and Eve the error of their ways and the consequences which would now come. He explains that because of their sin, the Seed of the Woman would now be bruised on the heel. Since Adam and Eve sinned, Jesus would die. Man needed a substitute. But there is also the expectation built-in that He would one day bruise the head of the serpent (cf. Gen 3:15; Rev 13:8). Right there, in Gen 3 is a brief explanation concerning the death of Jesus and His subsequent victory over Satan, which implies that He will be raised from the dead. 

Toward the end of Gen 3, we see the last example of the phrase “good and evil” in the books of Moses. Thus far God used the phrase, then Satan, and now God does again.

“Then Yahweh God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us to know good and evil; and now, lest he send forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever’—therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.”

Gen 3:22–23

Because of evil, that which mankind now knew in sinning and eating of the tree that would reveal evil, man was now moved east of Eden. Humanity would continue to move east of Eden not only geographically but spiritually as well. By Gen 6:5, that which was very good, “was only evil continually.” Even still, amid the devastation that lies in the wake of the phrase, “good and evil,” there is some hope as well. 

But, at this point, what I want you to grasp is that we can never go back to the garden. In this life, we will never be in a place where we only know “very good.” Those days are gone with the wind. The highest level to which we can rise in this life is to the point of the original temptation to sin. What I mean is this, there is no such thing as only good, now the best is that we would be like God in knowing good and evil, and acting like God in our response to it––doing good. It’s a bit ironic. This is as good as it gets for us as those that live east of Eden (until glory). 

We have three final pit stops along the way. The first is found in 2 Sam 14:17. After Absalom, King David’s son fled after murdering his half-brother, Amnon, David was broken up inside. Terrible family events and sins had taken place. David missed his son who had been gone for three years (this was before Absalom sought to steal the kingdom from David and have him murdered), yet to bring him back after the sin he committed would cause a stir in Jerusalem. But Joab, knowing the king well, saw this as an opportune time to scale up the ranks in the king’s book. So he sent a woman from Tekoa to David, with a plan to bring Absalom back for his selfish gain.

Within her story, we see the line of 2 Sam 14:17, “Then your servant-woman said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king be a resting place, for as the angel of God, so is my lord the king to listen with discernment through the good and evil. And may Yahweh your God be with you.’” The woman of Tekoa, motivated by Joab, takes us back to the garden. Again, this phrase is distinct. She asserts that she trusts David and that he would be discerning good and evil like an angel of God. Originally, who knew “good and evil?” Only God. Then who knew “good and evil?” Satan and the angels. And then who knew “good and evil?” Humanity and creation (cf. Rom 8:18–22). 

Notice the change here though. She commends the king, not as one who simply knows (דַּעַת) “good and evil,” as we saw in the garden, but one who discerns (שׁמע), or hears and weighs between “good and evil.” What was once a curse for man in knowing “good and evil” because all man knew was good, now is the highest order we can rise to, particularly in discerning between “good and evil.” The righteous are not those who only know good, rather the righteous are those who out of a love for God discern between good and evil and walk in the paths of goodness. 

King Solomon knew this. The greatest gust of wind in the sails of man in this life, to navigate it well, is seen in being able to not only know good from evil but chart the course to live in goodness, to live in God. 1 Kings 3:5 reads, “In Gibeon, Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what I should give to you.” How would you answer that question? I imagine the world would answer it in one of four ways. The first is this, “I ask for three more questions like this one,” so as to procure more things for oneself. The second, third, and fourth, would be for items that are prohibited for the kings of Israel in Deut 17:14–17. I had a professor in seminary (Paul Twiss) who used to refer to the big three sins here, in his elegant British accent, as “girls, gold, and giddy-up.” That’s what the world would request… family (spouses or offspring), treasure (cash, gold, stocks, Bitcoin–maybe for some of you), or other earthly possessions (horses, cars, houses, etc). 

Solomon asks for none of the above. Solomon fears the Lord, and as he says in Prov 9:10, “the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom.” We see Solomon’s response in 1 Kings 3:8–9, “

“… Your slave is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a numerous people who are too many to be numbered or counted. So give Your slave a listening heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this glorious people of Yours?’”

1 Kings 3:8–9

What does Solomon ask for? He asks for the ability to rightly approach the door that the fall opened. What is the purpose that he asks for this request? He wants to help the people of Israel. In order to help them, he needs the ability to distinguish between good and evil himself, and then he will be a gift that keeps on giving to others. God grants Solomon his request for “discernment to listen to justice (cf. 1 Kings 3:11).” 

God’s summary statement of the reality of the garden is significant. What if we read this back for a moment? “The tree of the knowledge of justice (Gen 2:17),” “you’ll be like God knowing justice (Gen 3:5),” and “for as the angel of God, so is my lord the king to listen with discernment through justice (2 Sam 14:17).” I don’t want to read too much into this, aside from the fact that in eating from the tree, justice was now needed, and the call is now to be of a just mind–in light of the existence of evil.

The call for justice is precisely what we see as we leave our second pitstop and transition to our final one. After speaking about Jesus Christ as our high priest, unlike that of the Levitical priesthood, in Heb 5:14 we read, “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern both good and evil.” Why does this come up? Well, there’s a lot to say about Melchizedek and Jesus’ priesthood, but the Hebrews cannot bear it because they were not grounded in the basics of the faith. They should have been teaching others, but they needed another lesson in the essence of the gospel, that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ who is our righteousness. That leads us to see that solid food is for those who are mature and built up in Christ, those who are pursuing Him and not backing away. It’s for those who have practiced (“γυμνάζω” is the word from which we get our English word, “gymnasium”) and exercised spiritual muscles, so to speak, such that they can discern between good and evil in life. 

The call upon every one that loves the Lord is seen here. It’s the culmination of this phrase from the garden. We have moved from knowing good and evil, to discerning good and evil, to being mature and trained in our discernment of good and evil. The last category is where we are to stand. We are to mature in the faith, by the Spirit of God at work in us, who through training enables us to discern good and evil. For the mature Christian, this kind of discernment and judgment should be as natural as possible. We’ll never live in the good of the garden but via discernment we can live as close as we can to Eden in living for good.  

From the fall, the highest call upon mankind is that we would, out of a love for God, live in this world full of good and evil in a manner that glorifies Him. While the world has an understanding of good and evil (cf. Rom 2:15) and chooses evil (cf. Rom 3:11), we are to be those of whom Ps 34:14, “Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.” We are to be those that Amos 5:14 speaks of in this way, who “Seek good and not evil, in order that you may live.” We are to be the good guys (… and girls). 

But here’s the kicker, and this is so important. We do not seek good, simply for goodness sake. Do not miss that. We seek good because we seek after God. The motivation for goodness is the love of God poured into our hearts (cf. Rom 5:5). It’s because we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good that we can discern effectively between good and evil (cf. Ps 34:8). We live in the manner that we do because of the gospel. It is out of our abounding love for Christ that we seek to live like the One that we love who is the essence and definition of goodness. And if you love the Lord, we have such a hope because we know and understand that one day evil will be thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 19:20–21; 20:10, 14–15). We know that we will not be corrupted by evil or sin any longer because we will, as 1 John 3:2 says, “… we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” Oh how my heart yearns and longs for that moment and I trust yours does as well, seeing Jesus… seeing goodness forevermore. 

I hope this trip to the garden and back helps your understanding of good and evil. My prayer is that this short study causes you to cling to and live for our good God all the more in this world that is full of evil. 

“Father, Long Before Creation” is one of my favorite hymns because it is a hymn about one of my favorite doctrines: the covenant of redemption. The song was written by Chinese Christians who were facing startling persecution in the cultural upheaval of the 1950’s.  At some point it was translated into English and eventually Andrew Osenga (at the time part of Cademan’s Call) wrote joyful music to accompany it.

The hymn’s background helps explain why both the song and the doctrine of the covenant of redemption are so comforting. When faced with a world that seems to be falling apart, rather than going forward to heaven, or backwards to the cross, the hymn instead directs the worshiper to a time before nations existed and before people rebelled. In fact, the song draws us back before Genesis 1:1—and not just a day or two before Genesis, but “long before creation.”

What was God doing before creation? Well, in many ways the answer is obvious: He was being God. Creation has a starting point, but of course God does not. So before he created time, God was simply existing.

What does “simply existing” look like for God? Well it looks like the Trinity: it looks like love, fellowship, joy, life, and communion. And then, “long before creation,” God decided to have his love, fellowship, joy, life, and communion break out of the Trinity. God purposed to create a universe so that he could create people, so that he could redeem people, so that he could display the love he has for us in Christ.

I use expressions like “God decided,” or “God chose,” or “God purposed.” But when the Triune God decides, chooses, or purposes to do anything, he does so in a Trinitarian way. The Father, Son, and Spirit decide, choose, and purpose together in a fixed and sure way. The Bible has a word for an inviolable plan made between persons: “covenant.”

This is where the concept of a “covenant of redemption” comes from. The phrase, “the covenant of redemption” points back to the time “long before creation” when God “hath chosen us in love.” But of course we were not participants in that choice—we were not parties to the covenant, the promise, or the eternal purpose of God, because this decision of God took place before creation.

So the covenant of redemption is not made between God and man, but rather is made between the Father, Son, and Spirit. Because they all act together, they all planed, purposed, chose, and decided to act in order to bring about creation and redemption.

Part of that plan is, of course, election. Hence the song says “Father, long before creation thou hast chosen use in love.” This echoes Ephesians 1:4, where Paul says that the Father has chosen us “in him before the foundation of the world.” But the covenant of redemption includes more than only election. Long before creation, God not only elected us, but also planned and purposed the means of salvation—namely the sending of the Son, the cross, and the resurrection. Thus Jesus can be said to be the “lamb slain from before the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). Because the plan of redemption focuses on the lamb, the lamb receives the glory for salvation. Hence, the song ends with:

Loving Father, now before you

we shall ever sing your grace

and our song will sound forever

when we see you face to face

giving glory, giving glory, to the Lamb upon the throne.

It is right to see the Lamb as the recipient of glory and honor for salvation, because the Son of God was not a passive agent in our salvation, nor was he only a submissive actor; he did not save us merely because the Father told him to. Rather, the Son, as God, was an architect of this plan. Or, to say it differently, he was a party to the covenant of redemption.

The covenant of redemption is a uniquely Trinitarian doctrine. It reflects the shape of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity declares that there is one God who eternally exists in three persons—the Father begetting the Son, the Father and the Son spirating the Spirit. One, two, three—all eternal, all personal, all without beginning or end, all possessing the same will and essence, yet all working together to plan and purpose our salvation. Thus we are said, as part of the covenant of redemption, to be chosen by the Father, in the Son. We are said to be saved by the Son, through the Spirit. This process (Father to the Son to the Spirit) reverses itself as we give glory back to God. We sing in the Spirit, through the Son, to the Father.

Or, to return to the hymn at hand again, we are chosen by the Father, to be “firmly fixed in Christ alone.” We come to be in Christ alone through the Spirit, who is “love so deep, so moving” that he “draws us close to Christ above.”

This is the glory of the covenant of redemption. One cannot appreciate the covenant without a broad understanding of the Trinity (one God, three persons, working in unison with a shared nature). But when our minds contemplate the eternal workings of God, from the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit, we are prepared to stand against the persecutions and disappointments of the world.

Though the world may change its fashion,

yes our God is ere the same.

The knowledge that God’s love for us is eternal should root us and strengthen us. His love for us is not an accident. We are not merely matter in motion, but rather were planned, purposed, crafted and chosen by God to be recipients of both grace and trouble. This is the brilliance of “Father Long Before Creation.” It reminds us that while the nations may rage against us:

God’s compassion and his covenant,

through all ages will remain.

This is part two of a series I’m posting in installments. These posts comprise a paper I wrote on God’s Use of the Environment in Jonah, as part of a bigger project in the field of ecotheology. Last week we saw Part One, in which we examined the Context: Theocentric Ecotheology in Jonah. Today will begin to examine the book, chapter by chapter.

Content: Rise of the Nonhumans

Chapter 1

The story begins with a command to action, namely to “arise” and to “cry out” against Nineveh, but it is followed by arising to abscond in the opposite direction. Jonah was told in 1:2 by God to “arise”, “go”, and “call out”.  But although he ostensibly complies by arising, instead of “going” he “goes down” to Joppa, and “goes down” into a ship. Jonah is attempting to remove himself from God’s narrative. He is on the ship, sleeping. He is not contributing in any way to the voyage or the salvation of the Gentile mariners; he is just along for the ride. The next action is: “But Yahweh hurled a great wind on the sea,” (1:3). This is the first mention of the environment. The sea is not man’s natural habitat.

The sea was for ancient Israelites a mysterious and threatening entity. Sailors are stereotypically a superstitious breed, precisely because they acknowledge the capricious unpredictability of the sea and even the otherworldliness of that zone. The mariners in Jonah 1 are no exception, calling out to gods, casting lots, and desperately trying to assuage the sea. But God is dealing with Jonah, and these hapless men are just along for the ride. 

In the Old Testament, the sea recurs as an instrument of God in his judgment and deliverance of people. Sandra Richter notes some key examples: God constrains the oceans at creation, he uses the deluge to judge the wickedness of mankind, he parts the Red Sea to extricate the fleeing Israelites from their predicament, and then closes it over the heads of the Egyptians; she concludes that for the Israelites “the sea evoked a mixture of myth and theology, fear and wonder.” (Sandra Richter, Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2008), 146.)

In Jonah 1:4 the source of the perilous tempest is unambiguous: “But Yahweh hurled a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea so that the ship threatened to break up.” The word “hurled” evokes an image of a weapon, like a spear, being propelled with force, aim, and intent to inflict injury on a target. The wind and the sea are God’s instruments. And this fact is freely acknowledged by Jonah in his sheepish admission of guilt: “And he said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land,’” (1:9). But Jonah opted for the unpredictable sea over God’s predictable mercy on the Gentiles. He is untethered spiritually and is existentially adrift.

From this point, God’s commands are uniformly received with instant compliance by the nonhuman elements and creatures: the wind, the waves, the fish, the gourd, and the worm. Raymond Person agrees that “from the narrative’s perspective, these nonhuman characters are understood as active, independent agents who obediently respond to the Lord.” (Person, “The Role of Nonhuman Characters in Jonah,” 87.) Even the sailors and Ninevites bow to God. Only the obdurate Israelite prophet must be cajoled into docility.

Arguably, this is precisely why God selects a defiant prophet. James Hamilton gives this insight: “The book of Jonah is about God’s glory in salvation through judgment and in some ways, it is a microcosm of the whole history of Israel.” (James M. Hamilton Jr., God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 246.) The dereliction of Jonah’s mission is a synecdoche of the greater problem: Israel was insular, ethnocentric, self-focused, and therefore wholly ineffectual at advancing God’s plan to reach the world, just as Jonah was. In the perilous tempest, the pagan seamen cast lots to identify the culprit, and the lot falls serendipitously to Jonah. Why? Because God controls gravity and centrifugal forces (Prov 16:3). They call Jonah to account, who identifies himself as one who fears Yahweh “the God of Heaven, who made the sea and dry land” (1:9). Jonah suggests they “hurl” him overboard, but they are reluctant to commit murder and so they row hard for the dry land (1:12-13). But these humans are powerless to master their environment. They “hurl” Jonah in the sea, and as anticipated, the squall dissipates. The sailors cry out to God because of what they heard from Jonah and what was revealed in nature. This is a foreshadowing of events to come.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 (in the Hebrew, but 1:17 in ESV) says Yahweh “appointed” a great fish to swallow Jonah; the animal is an instrument that God deploys to provide deliverance. The fish was God’s vessel, used as a submarine to rescue Jonah from death, to keep him in a holding pattern, then to deposit him on dry land, having redirected his resolve (if not his attitude).

At this point Jonah is removed from the action of the story and is a piscine passenger to God’s plan—along for the ride. This setting “in the belly of the fish” is significant because it shows the ongoing, sustaining power of God to save Jonah from certain death. The prayer is answered when God “spoke to the fish” and it regurgitates its passenger (2:10).

Chapter 3

Jonah preaches a startlingly brief message. Jonah 3:4…“Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

What is of significance to our study, is the intriguing response that involves animals. The repentant king decrees: Jonah 3:7–8: …Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

The pagan king is clutching at straws. He has no idea what is expected of him, but he believes Jonah’s warning, he acknowledges that this God is ruler of all, including animals, so he trusts that the only hope is if God is convinced of their remorse. An extreme fast is undertaken, and the animals subjected to it. Animals are not just along for the ride but are equally in danger. So, they are roped into the repentance. This expansive gesture was received; God relented.

At this juncture, it warrants pointing out that God achieved his goal, despite the inept prophet. In the same way, God would reach the world with salvation despite ineptitude of Israel. But the story is not over.

Right now, my wife and I have a three-year-old in the home. I do not think of the word “no” as a precious word all that often, though I hear it quite often. It’s also not a word that I think of as a promise all that much within the context of my daily life, given that it’s infrequently used in that way.

At first glance, you might have thought we’d be speaking about the precious promise of yes. We will begin there, but the purpose of this article is to speak about a glorious, divine no. In reality, it’s not just one “no.” It’s not even a set of two “no’s” like your English translation will suggest. It’s a string of five of them. This set of “no’s” is designed by God to comfort and strengthen your soul in this life amid the waves of temptation that billow your way. 

To fully appreciate this promise, we need to begin first with a divine yes. The divine yes is communicated, albeit in different terms, in the garden of Eden. In Gen 1:26–27, there is an intra-Trinitarian conversation that takes place. The fruit of it concerns the creation and role of man in the garden. God then makes them male and female in His image. 

What was their purpose? It’s seen toward the end of the first chapter.

“God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.’ Then God said, ‘Behold, I have given to you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has the fruit of the tree yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that creeps on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food’; and it was so.”

Gen 1:28–30

God gives Adam and Eve a divine thumbs up (so to speak). They were to do three things: fill the earth, rule over it, and enjoy the fruit of the land. 

What was this created goal meant to stir up and evoke in Adam and Eve? Worship. As they live following the will of the Lord, out of their love for Him, they will glorify Him (cf. 1 Cor 10:31; Col 3:17; 1 Pet 4:11). God gives Adam and Eve, a yes in the garden, to delight in Him through His creation. 

At this point in history (and only this point), there is no notion of separation from God, desertion, forsakenness, isolation, or anything of the sort. There is simply an unbridled, full, flourishing, vibrant walk with God. The most precious gift in the garden wasn’t the lush fruit unaffected by sin, it wasn’t the perfect communication that Adam and Eve had with one another, it wasn’t the gleaming colorful landscape… no, the greatest gift was in knowing God without sin. On the heels of the garden, what Adam and Eve would have missed most would have been their unencumbered fellowship with God. 

After the fall, the most precious promise for God’s people is that of His relational presence–something that was guaranteed before the fall. The most satisfying promise east of Eden is that God will not abandon those who, in their sin, deserve abandonment. When Adam and Eve sinned, God did cloth them, but then He did not draw them near, He sent them away. In Gen 3:24, we read, “So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.” From this point, sin had broken perfect fellowship with the Lord and the highest gift from God is seen in Him never leaving or forsaking us. This is the precious promise of no. No, God will not leave us.

God gives the precious promise of no, in various places, at various times, for various reasons in His word. The first iteration of this promise is seen given to Jacob in his dream where God stands above the ladder on which the angels are ascending and descending. In Gen 28:15 we see God promise to Jacob, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. And I will bring you back to this land; for I will not forsake you until I have done what I have promised you.” God promises Jacob four marvelous things. First, God promises He is with him. Out of the overflow of that fountain come all the other promises. Second, God will sustain Jacob in his travels; third, He will bring Jacob back; fourth, God will not forsake or desert Jacob at any point along this journey toward having descendants (cf. Gen 28:14–15). 

To be clear, for something to be true, all God needs to do is say something once. Whenever God says something in a similar fashion to something He’s said before, say at the beginning and end of verse 15, that’s something that we as readers especially need to focus on. The heart of verse 15 is that God will remain with Jacob. He explains that reality twice. That’s what Adam and Eve, post-fall, longed for, and that’s the precious promise that God’s people throughout history have desired.  

In Deut 31, God expands upon this promise and gives it to Joshua and Israel.

“Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ‘Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which Yahweh has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance.’ And Yahweh is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Deut 31:7–8

God would later directly give this same promise to Joshua directly in Josh 1:5–6.

The people were on the cusp of entering God’s land, which in their day, was enemy territory. War was on the horizon. Being fallen individuals, I imagine some were scared even in light of God’s past promises (cf. Lev 26:6–8; Deut 28:1–14). At times we all are prone to fear the unknown. That’s what makes the Proverbs 31 woman so great. Prov 31:25 says, “Strength and majesty are her clothing, And she smiles at the future.” She smiles at the future, that’s how we should all be, in knowing that our good God is sovereign (cf. Ps 100:5; 1 Tim 6:15). That’s how we should always be, Israel included. 

God steps into Israel’s reality and promises that He goes before them and is with them. It’s a cherry-on-top promise built upon the covenant promise. Beyond that, again, as further emphasis, He declares He will not forsake them. He won’t leave or fail them. The context concerns them entering the promised land. There is a scope, and how sweet that promise would be on the horizon of the unknown. 

The final iteration of this promise in this format in the Old Testament is seen in 1 Chron 28:20. We never see David receive this promise, but we see David give it to his son, Solomon. “Then David said to his son Solomon, ‘Be strong and courageous, and act; do not fear nor be dismayed, for Yahweh God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of Yahweh is completed.’” Could a new king receive any better encouragement? God will remain with Solomon as the temple is built, and he should be bolstered in that news. God will ensure its completion as He leads Solomon. With that, this phrase never again appears in the Old Testament.

Whether you are aware of it or not, there’s a question that rises to the top of this brief survey. What does each of the promises that I just listed have in common? God promises He will be with certain individuals throughout history as they accomplish particular tasks. With Jacob, God would be with him on his journey to find a wife, so that he would have children. With Joshua and Israel, God would be with them as they journeyed to the promised land. With Solomon, God would be with him as he built the temple. With each promise, there is a moment of completion in mind. Don’t miss that.

It is true, God was with His people in the Old Testament in a general sense (cf. 1 Sam 12:22; Is 41:10). It is also true that God is omnipresent, such that it can be said that He is near to all people (cf. Jer 23:24). Paul goes beyond the language of nearness in Acts 17:28 in saying, “for in Him we live and move and exist…,” it’s by God that we have our being––that’s true of everyone.

However, as we come to the New Covenant, with the dawning of the permanent indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit, God dwells and abides with His people in a more direct fashion (cf. Jer 31:33; Ezek 36:25–27; John 14:17; Rom 8:9). Jesus spoke about abiding with the disciples, who were believers in Him while the Old Covenant was still in effect, in a distinct manner that showcased a New Covenant blessing (cf. John 14:23; 15:5). God would dwell in His people and never leave them, not just an individual or two, not only for a specific appointment or task, but always. This is a different dispensation from when God removed His Spirit from individuals who turned against Him, would turn away from Israel, and take His manifest presence from the temple (cf. 1 Sam 16:14; Judges 6:13; 2 Kings 21:14; Jer 23:33, 39; Ezek 8–11). 

Bearing that in mind, the follow-up question for you is this, is this promise of “no” ever given without a moment of completion in mind? Is there ever a forever promise of God’s presence with us, in the same configuration that we studied above? The answer is yes. Oh, that is such sweet news. The final place we see this promise given is in the New Testament. The Lord gives it to His church. We see it promised to a church in particular that because of severe persecution was being tempted to go back to the Old Covenant and their old way of life (cf. Heb 10:32–39). We find the promise in Heb 13:5. We read, “Make sure that your way of life is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.’” The quotation is from Deut 31:7–8, which we studied earlier, yet this time, without a moment of completion in mind. Heb 13:5 is the only place in the Scripture where we see this promise in this arrangement given without qualification. It’s a New Covenant, everlasting promise. 

What a balm for a weary soul. It is a grace and a gift to see this promise laden throughout the Old Testament for saints moving along on their pilgrimage, and what a tremendous gift it is that this same promise has been granted to the body of Christ!

We first read a warning statement placed in the text that’s there for our highest joy in the Lord. The way and conduct of a person’s life must not be greedy, it cannot be consumed with money. The same word there is used for the qualification of an elder in 1 Tim 3:3, “free from the love of money.” Money cannot and must not have a hold on God’s people. While money isn’t inherently evil, it should be viewed as a potential danger (cf. Mark 10:17–31; 1 Tim 6:9). 

Instead, positively, God’s people should be content with what they have. We can be a satisfied people, in plenty or lack. This is a reality that the world knows nothing of. It is always wanting but never having. It is always craving, coveting, longing for the things of this world, for things that can never satisfy. God says this to those individuals in Isaiah,

“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight your soul in richness. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that your soul may live; And I will cut an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful lovingkindnesses of David.”

Is 55:1–3

Superb refreshment and the bliss of contentment are found in the Lord alone. 

This is exactly where the text goes next. “… For He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.’” That’s God’s choice word toward His children. Do a quick count here. How many “no’s,” or prohibitions do you see in that sentence? I see two of them in English. There are five of them in Greek! You may not read a lick of Greek, in which case the expression, “it’s Greek to me,” will certainly apply. Even still, I want you to see this so that you get a feel for the presence of these negations. We see, “… αὐτὸς γὰρ εἴρηκεν· οὐ μή σε ἀνῶ οὐδʼ οὐ μή σε ⸁ἐγκαταλίπω.” The “no’s” are in bold.

Now, in English, if I say, “I will not not eat.” What does that mean? It means I will eat. Why? The second “not” cancels out the first. It’s a grammatical rule called a double negation in English. I imagine, some of you are thinking at this point, if you weren’t before… do those negations cancel out so that this text actually means, “for He Himself has said, I will desert you, I will not ever forsake you?” The answer is an absolute, no––though the latter half still rings true.

Greek and English function differently here. In English, the negatives cancel out, but in Greek, each negative particle doesn’t cancel the other or lessen the force, it’s the opposite. Each particle strengthens the next. That gladdens the heart in considering this passage. You could translate this promise in this way, “for He Himself has said, “I will not… I will never desert you, and I will not… I will never… I will in no circumstance forsake you!” While that translation is a bit verbose, it communicates the heart of this text. It is stronger here than in our English translations. 

Keep in mind that the book of Hebrews is written to a tempted and suffering people, and this promise pursues these people with hope and beacons them to remain faithful to God. How could you consider leaving a God who is utterly faithful, a God who never ever ever leaves or forsakes His people? 

This is the desire of Eden from the moment of the fall, fleshed out in a blanket statement for God’s people. God will not abandon you. Let that truth hit you afresh. God doesn’t tell us this to encourage waywardness, rather, it’s an encouragement to come to Him (cf. Rom 6:1; Matt 11:28–30). While friends, family, and even brothers and sisters in the Lord at times will desert you, or leave you in death, the Lord will not. He won’t ever do it. This is God’s guarantee to you. Even in seasons where God may seem to be more distant, in coming to this promise you are reminded that God has not left you or turned away from you. Our hope must be anchored in the forever settled word, and not in our ever-changing feelings.

Stacking one similar concept upon another, He will not forsake or desert you. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, we see Paul deserted. Paul says toward the end of his life,

“Be diligent to come to me soon, for Demas, having loved this present age, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.”

2 Tim 4:9–10

This warning is more haunting in light of the context of Heb 13:5 concerning riches. Paul was deserted by Demas for riches. Paul was left alone. He was forsaken by Demas but not by God. And yes, in case you were wondering, this is the same word that Jesus cried out in issuing forth Ps 22:1 on the cross. Matt 27:46 says, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” As Jesus began to bear the weight of the Father’s wrath for our sins at around noon on the cross, we see God forsaken of God. 

What Christ experienced in dying for your sins on the cross, in the One who knew no sin experiencing forsakenness as a man, He suffered that for you so that you would never be forsaken of God. It’s by Jesus’ suffering, that the Lord will never leave you. Through the salvation you have in Jesus in belief in His perfect life, substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection… you have Christ’s robes of righteousness, everlasting life, and an unbroken, unfailing relationship with God. He will never desert you. Oh, the wonder of the cross, oh the splendor of our God. 

It’s not often that a hymn gets the thrust of a text a bit more comprehensively than a Bible translation, but that’s the case with “How Firm a Foundation,” which appears to be based on the preaching of John Rippon. The last stanza is an exposition of Heb 13:5… and a translation to a degree. It reads, “The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its foes; that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake.” I hope that hymn has additional definition and color now when you sing it. 

Amid temptation and affliction, draw this deep well of a promise to mind for spiritual refreshment. It is the promise that God will not leave you. He is with you, and nothing will separate you from Him (Matt 28:20; Rom 8:31–39). Run to Him, worship Him, glory in Him… our Great God who says “no.” He will not leave us, He’s always with us. That’s the precious promise of no.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to post each, each Monday, a successive installment of a paper I wrote on God’s use of the environment. This is a building block in a larger project I am working on in the field of ecotheology. I hope it is profitable for someone out there.

Introduction: Along for the Ride

In the beginning, God created an ecotopia where all creatures subsisted in copasetic collaboration. God invested his image-bearer with the prerogative and competency to “fill,” and “subdue the earth,” and to “exercise dominion over all the animals” (Gen 1:28). Sin and the curse (Gen 3:17-19) left man’s task with increased difficulty and diminished competency. “Skip scene” to the modern era. Human ingenuity has produced mixed results. We conserve and consume, we enhance and exploit, we restore and ravage the environment. And our world is exhibiting signs of fatigue. Symptoms of the malaise are undeniable.

Some have suggested Christianity as the cause. In 1966, Lynn White, Jr., inculpated Christianity in his seminal address at the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, in which he declared that “especially in its Western form, Christianity is the most anthropocentric religion the world has seen.” (“The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis,” Science 155, number 3767 (March 10, 1967), 1203–07.) This indictment reverberated through the field of ecotheology, and its disruption is still felt today.

White’s thesis was that Christianity diffused the Occidental world with the biblical mind-body dualistic worldview, and as animistic religions (along with their reverence for nature) were marginalized, a devaluation of the material world was inevitable. Christianity is therefore rendered as the taproot of the ecological crisis. This idea has been proliferated in countless subsequent ecological treatises.

One response of Christians has been to concede the diagnosis and to offer correctives. The proffered solution is to forge an ecological hermeneutic, which “demands a radical change of posture in relation to Earth as a subject in the text.” (Habel, “Introducing Ecological Hermeneutics,” 3.) Norman Habel explains that an ecological hermeneutic involves viewing the earth, the entire ecosystem, as a subject with intrinsic worth, not as a resource to be used by humans, and that “we dare to identify with our non-human kin in the narrative.” (Habel, “Introducing Ecological Hermeneutics,” 7). What he means is that the text should be read from the perspective of nature; he offers an example in which he paraphrases the creation account in a first-person perspective of earth.

This capitulation to White’s accusation must be rejected. Besides the specious hermeneutical methodology, this approach is too reactionary. To combat an anthropocentric perspective, the corrective on offer is a geocentric perspective; it merely replaces man’s prominence with that of the earth.

An alternative response to White’s allegation is found in the many cogent rebuttals Evangelicals have provided to refute White’s thesis. A typical multi-pronged rebuttal is framed in the following way:

(1) Christianity is not the only religion to value the immaterial, nor is exploitation of the environment a uniquely Western problem,

(2) Christians do not teach domination, but responsible stewardship,

(3) Christians do not all believe that the earth will be destroyed/replaced, but that it will be transformed/renewed, (and

4) ecological dangers are not simply a result of human failing, but are part of God’s direct involvement in his creation as he uses it to accomplish his purposes.

It is this fourth aspect of the argument I intend to support as I present the Book of Jonah as an example of the theocentric biblical worldview that envisions God as owning and managing the environment, while humans are mostly powerless over nature.

People are not in the driver’s seat of creation, as it were, but merely passengers along for the ride, with all other creatures. The biblical narratives display God’s dexterous use of the environment to save and to judge. Evidence ranges from the creation account to the ten plagues and the Red Sea, to the seals, trumpets, and bowls of judgment in the Apocalypse. The Old Testament presents a robust regard for the natural world. The Book of Jonah provides a concise anthology of cases-in-point. I will show that God uses the environment as his instrument: to display his power, accomplish his will, to bless and to judge as he chooses.

Context: Theocentric Ecotheology in Jonah

In this minor prophet we unearth a major trove of evidence that God, not man, governs nature. The narrator’s acutely theocentric worldview stands in sharp relief to the comical solipsism of Jonah. In this way Jonah depicts Israel. The account reads like a parody of Israel’s ineptitude as a kingdom of priests, embodied in the recalcitrant prophet. Jonah’s parochial ethnocentricity (like Israel’s) provides the perfect foil for the comprehensiveness of God’s expansive redemptive plan and his all-encompassing love.

Where Jonah is concerned exclusively about preserving his comfort (4:10), God shows concern for the preservation of Gentiles (and even their animals).  Any view of man’s relationship to creation must start with a recognition of God’s ownership. God uses it for his glory and his redemptive purposes.

The events in the book take place around the date 793-753 B.C. Some find the idea that a fish ingested a person and regurgitated him alive three days later, hard to swallow. However, a literal interpretation of the story is not necessary to make the point of this paper. There are cogent arguments in favor of the account being historical, not fictional. First, Jonah the Son of Amittai is mentioned in 2 Kgs 14:25 as one who lived and ministered as a prophet at the time of Jeroboam II (793 – 753 BC). Second, Jesus regarded Jonah as a historical person in Matt 12:39-41. Third, for the typology to hold weight the account must have literally taken place. We can be certain that Jonah is a type of Christ, for Jesus makes this connection for us in Matt 12:39 – 41; 16:4 (cf. Luke 11:29-32).  The “three days and three nights” in the belly of the fish represent the time Jesus is in the tomb (Matt 12:40). If the story of Jonah were allegorical, an accusation could be levelled at Christ’s time in the tomb as being allegorical. Nevertheless, for the purposes of this paper, the portrayal of God’s power of nature does not require a literal interpretation of the account in Jonah.

Nineveh was a massive Assyrian settlement of roughly 600,000 inhabitants. Israel had been set apart by a covenant relationship with God, to be a beacon for the nations (Exod 19:5-6). This was essentially a “come and see” strategy of reaching the world, as opposed to the “go and tell” mission of the New Testament era. But Israel, in her unfaithfulness to God, failed miserably.

Then, in the Book of Jonah, for the first and only time in the Old Testament, the pattern of “come and see” is reversed. An Israelite prophet is deployed to call a Gentile nation to repentance. This inversion of the mission signals to Israel that God’s stated purpose of reaching the world with salvation is not dependent on Israel, but on God.

The problem starts with Jonah’s dissent, as he refuses to warn the Ninevites. He knows God is gracious enough to save them—a humiliating eventuality Jonah cannot brook. This is where God conscripts his nonhuman creation, and where our study will find its shape.

Over the past few decades, there has been a tremendous emphasis placed upon exposition in the church. The benefits of this are too many to count. A revival has taken place where a number of churches have moved away from a surface level study of God’s word (like skipping a rock on the ocean), to an in-depth comprehensive study of the text––exposition (like dropping an anchor down to the ocean floor).

After all, if God’s word is breathed by Him and therefore sourced in Him, then it is incumbent upon us as His people to draw the last drops of sweet nectar that we can from every single word. Paul tells Timothy

“All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

2 Tim 3:16–17

Since the Scriptures are profitable to equip us for every single good work prepared for us, we should not just know a little bit of them, we must live in them (cf. Matt 4:4; Eph 2:10). 

To that end, many pastors have written books on the topic of expository preaching. That is, preaching that seeks to understand a text within its larger context and draw out the God-laden meaning from the words and grammar that has been used by the Biblical writers. G. Campbell Morgan put it this way, “The sermon is the text repeated more fully.” That’s the idea. 

In a related but slightly different direction, in 2010, Ken Ramey wrote a book entitled, Expository Listening. His work is a primer on how God’s people should approach listening to an expository sermon. It is based on passages like Jas 1:22, “But become doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” Building off of the momentum, in 2017, Josh Neimi released the book entitled, Expository Parenting. The book aims to show parents that they must expose and lay bare the pure milk of the Scriptures to their children. 

With that being said, you opened this article expecting to learn about a different type of exposition. At this point, I do want to speak about expository singing.

Now, there are two ways that we might approach this topic. The first would be more for worship leaders. Expository singing could mean the way that writing hymns and spiritual songs should be done, based on the exposition or explanation of the meaning of the Scriptures. That’s one way, but that’s not what I intend with this article. 

The second approach is seen in thinking about expository singing, not from the approach of creating content, but rather based on how we approach the songs that we sing to the Lord each Sunday (or throughout the week). Well-written hymns and spiritual songs are expository in nature. The Scriptures are the light unto our path, and good praise songs will emphasize the light of the Lord through His word and bring us near to Him (Ps 119:105).

With that in mind, there are four principles that I want to deliver to you that should cause you to enjoy God more through song when rightly appropriated. In finding your enjoyment in God, you bring honor to Him in fulfilling your created purpose… the exaltation of His name (Ps 34:3). 

Here is a question for you, what makes a good Christian song? Is it the date in which it was written (a pre-1900 hymn with preferably some old English mixed in)? Is it the melody that the song has or its tempo, upbeat or slow? What about the instruments used or lack thereof (drums, guitars, cymbals, harps, a cappella)? How about the number of times the chorus is sung? Here’s the answer. None of those make a good Christian song, inherently. 

What makes a good praise song is the words. It’s the content. After Jesus’ ostensible disciples depart from Him, there’s this precious interaction between Jesus and his disciples…

“So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you also want to go?’ Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.’”

John 6:67–68

Where else can we go, but you Lord? We sing songs that make much of the God of our salvation. 

But here’s the rub, how many of those words do you actually think about when you sing them on Sunday morning (or ideally throughout the week)? It is so ingrained in our culture and in our world to value songs that have catchy beats and rifts and then to mindlessly puppet the words the artist sings. That has no place in Christianity. This is the first principle of expository singing, we must be engaged singers. 

We must be engaged singers

There are two quotes that I use often but have never been able to find (if you can identify them please let me know). The first is from Charles Spurgeon (at least I think) concerning sanctification, “we must move, but He must move us.” I love that quote, but I can’t find it anywhere. The second pertains to our topic. Paul Washer once said (at least I think) that “we never lie more than in our singing of songs of praise.” Why would Paul Washer say that? 

It’s all too common for people to sing glorious lyrics on Sunday morning but not truly mean them. If I told you, “I like your outfit,” but I didn’t mean it, what would you call me? You’d call me a liar. But doesn’t that happen with how we approach God through song? Yes, I said “we,” I am guilty of this too. Here are some relatively well-known lyrics… through introspection, answer as to whether or not you meant them fully when you last sang them.  

“My soul finds rest in God alone; All glory, laud, and honor to Thee, Redeemer, King; I will tell the wondrous story how, my lost estate to save, in His boundless love and mercy He the ransom freely gave; When morning gilds the skies, My heart awaking cries, May Jesus Christ be praised; I will not boast in anything, No gifts, no pow’r, no wisdom.”

My Soul Finds Rest in God Alone; All Glory, Laud, and Honor; I Will Sing of My Redeemer; When Morning Gilds the Skies; How Deep the Father’s Love

To be an expository singer, one must be engaged with what he or she is saying. Our words matter to God. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in saying,

“You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.’”

Matt 15:7–8

We are not to be a people that go through the motions, but rather, we are to be a people motivated by joy to declare the truths of God.   

Words are important to the Lord. I know this is a text that concerns the judgment of unbelievers, but it’s helpful for us to see what the Lord thinks of idle words or those that flow unguarded from the mouth. In Matt 12:36, Jesus says, “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.” We are not to be idle singers but rather engaged singers. 

I do recognize that out of the gate some of you might be thinking, “this is a bit more of a tense article than I was expecting on the topic of expository singing.” We are starting hard out of the gate, but all of this is shared for your joy. There is more joy to be found in Christ when we sing the rich content of Scripture-saturated songs with our minds engaged. It’s what God desires, and it’s where we find our delight––in meditating upon Him.

We must be responsive singers

The second principle of expository singing is this, and it piggybacks off the first point, we must be responsive singers. What I mean is this, we must not be those that sing empty words. We should mean what we say, and we should act upon what we say. 

For example, if we sing “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” what should our response be? To aid you here with the lyrics, 

“Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere; go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born.”

John Wesley Work Jr.

The heart of the song is evangelistic. When Jesus was born into the world, the appropriate response was to tell others that the Messiah had come. When we sing that song today, our response should not be indifference, it should be the same resolve to tell others about Jesus. 

After teaching among a crowd, Jesus had a fascinating encounter with a woman within the crowd in Luke’s gospel account.

“Now it happened that while Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.’ But He said, ‘On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.’”

Luke 11:27–28

Sometimes you may have the tendency of thinking that the only blessing in the Bible given for heeding what is written is found in the book of Revelation (Rev 1:3). Yet, here we see Jesus say the blessing is for those that heed God’s word at large. When we are singing Bible-based songs, our response should be seen in obeying the call of God’s word. It’s joy-motivated obedience, and through obedience, we find even more joy in the Lord. 

We must be wholehearted singers

The third principle of expository singing is that we are to sing with our whole heart. God delights in external obedience when it is fueled by the whole heart. In Deut 6:5, we see the model of how we are to live. Moses tells the people of Israel, “You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Jesus tells us the same (cf. Matt 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). In Micah 6:8 we read, “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does Yahweh require of you But to do justice, to love lovingkindness, And to walk humbly with your God?” God’s people are to do justice, but the motives of the heart matter to God, we are to love lovingkindness. In Hos 6:6, we see an exposition on 1 Sam 15:22, “For I delight in lovingkindness rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” What matters most to God is what fuels our obedience, and it should be love. 

When we come before the Lord in song, it’s not enough to merely be engaged with the words intellectually, it’s not even enough to follow through on what we sing, we must be a people that love God in these realities. That’s what the Lord desires.

In 2 Chron 25:2, Amaziah is at first commended and then rebuked. “And he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, yet not with a whole heart.” Hannah says of God in 1 Sam 2:3, that “… with Him actions are weighed.” God knows the heart and knows our reasons for singing. Built into the New Covenant we see that we are to be those that love God with our whole heart. Jer 24:7 reads, “I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am Yahweh; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.” God is speaking of Israel, but the broader application of the New Covenant through Jesus’ inauguration of it extends to the church at large (Luke 22:20). As Jesus shed His blood for His people, the New Covenant is for them––per His argument. 

All this being said, when the rubber meets the road, you may come to church on Sunday morning and not be in a place where your whole heart is engaged. Pray to the Lord at that moment. Pray that the Lord would cause you to delight in Him and that He would receive the worship He is due from your lips. Pray that you would be like David whose soul thirsts for the Lord, whose flesh yearns for Him (Ps 63:1–4). That’s a prayer that the Lord delights in answering. 

We must be expository singers

This brings me to the final principle. We are to be expository singers. Yes… I did just give you the title of the article as the final point. What I am emphasizing here is that we are to be a people, if we are physically able, that do sing to the Lord from our hearts that are enraptured by Him. 

If you have heard of the Shepherds’ Conference before, then you might be aware that The Master’s Seminary students open the conference in song. It’s an impactful and special moment to see men in ministry, who are training further for ministry, belt out songs to the Lord… at least most of them do. 

Being a student at The Master’s Seminary in the past, I have had the opportunity to have a behind-the-scenes look at the rehearsal process for the conference opening. I remember every year, the music director would tell us, “some of you are audio, others of you are video.” What he meant by that was, some of you can sing on key, others of you cannot, if you cannot, please refrain from singing… but look like you are singing. It certainly made for a more pleasurable listening experience for the conference attendees. 

Here’s the concern. Some people bring that mentality to church every Sunday. It’s understandable for a conference performance to have some people be video only, but God loves the frequent singing of His people. Ps 33:2, “Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre; Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.” 1 Chron 16:23, “Sing to Yahweh, all the earth; Proclaim good news of His salvation from day to day.” We are to be, as Paul says in Eph 5:32, “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.” 

Not everyone has been gifted vocally, but we have all been called to sing. Ps 100:1, “Make a loud shout to Yahweh, all the earth.” We are to be a people who sing His praises, and who do so corporately. Ps 149:1, “Praise Yah! Sing to Yahweh a new song, His praise in the assembly of the holy ones.” It is a grace given to us in the Christian life, and out of the overflow of our hearts, our mouths should burst forth in praise. 

My hope and prayer is that you would love being an expository singer because expository singing doesn’t end in this life (Rev 5:9; 14:3). Ps 89:1, “I will sing of the lovingkindnesses of Yahweh forever.” Ps 30:12, “… O Yahweh my God, I will give thanks to You forever.” Ps 145:2, “Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.” An appropriate way to respond to what you’ve seen of the Lord in this article is found in the title, be an expository singer. Pick out one of your favorites and make much of the Lord through song. He’s worthy of it. 

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Goldilocks. You know the rest of the story. The part I want to highlight for us is the status she accorded to the third bowl of porridge she tasted: it was just right.

Cosmologists, in a rare display of jocularity, chose the moniker “Goldilocks effect” to refer to the remarkably perfect balance of temperature, gravity, atmospheric pressure, galaxy location, solar situation, axis tilt, rotation speed, and gaseous composition. In short, everything about our planet needed for us to exist is “just right.”

So everything is just right. But for how long?

What’s to stop it from changing?

What sustains its perfect balance?

These are questions irking scientists the world over. And the answer is found in Colossians.

We have seen the two main diagnostic questions that determine if a person is a sheep or wolf.

1) Is Jesus God? [Yes] And 2) Was Jesus created? [No]

In answering the question “Was Jesus Created?” we looked at…

4 ASPECTS OF CHRIST’S RELATIONSHIP TO CREATION

We saw his Ranking and his Role and his Ruling of Creation – today…

4. Christ’s Running of Creation

Col 1: 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

The doctrine of Christ’s running of creation …

1.      GIVES HIM GREAT GLORY

There is a contagious view spreading in the consciousness of Christian thinking. It is the view that God designed and initiated creation, with a set of self-sustaining natural laws, and then just stepped back and let it happen—the so-called ‘Clockmaker theory.’ Clockmakers construct a clock, then they wind it up and step back and let it run.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the Clockmaker theory … except that it’s not true.

Hebrews 1:1-3 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, …, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.                       

Christ’s sustaining sovereignty is seen in his ongoing involvement in every level of creation. The proportions of this claim are staggering. He upholds all things by his power. That means all life, all physical laws … centrifugal force, Coriolis force, the second law of thermodynamics, electromagnetism, gravity … every single sinew of creation and strand of DNA is held together by the word of his power.

Do you know why there is a Goldilocks effect, and why it will stay ‘just right’? Because Jesus is the One keeping it just right.

Christ’s running of Creation…

2. GIVES US GREAT COMFORT

In him all things hold together.

This doctrine is a safety-net, a security blanket for comfort. It puts your mind at rest. Science-fiction films depict a world overrun by machines or aliens. Environmental alarmists predict existential threats, from climate change, to mass extinction, to widespread flooding, to a coming ice-age. Doomsday prophets are always in a tizzy about this or that weapon of mass destruction or a super-bug virus or something.

But this doctrine is our comfort. Let me put your mind at rest today…

All things are held together by Jesus Christ.  To the tiniest detail.

Matthew 10: 29-30 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

This is not poetry, it’s science. It’s not rhetoric, it’s theology. It’s not an overstatement for the sake of literary effect, it is a theological certainty for the sake of your stress levels.

This is the most practical result of admitting Jesus is Lord: trusting that he is in control … of everything.

You might say “I don’t think God micromanages everything. I don’t think he is in control of every single thing that happens. Can’t he make an ecosystem where sparrows are born and die at the correct rate? Does he really have to give permission every time one dies?” 

Well … it’s what the Bible says. It’s what Jesus said. I don’t know what else to offer you. Stop thinking with your fallen logic and rely on the truth of God’s word to shape your opinions.

Ecclesiastes 7: 14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other,….

Lamentations 3: 37-38 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?

Amos 3: 6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?

Deny that God is governing matter and upholding all things by the word of his power, and all sense of security evaporates. The reason we can rest in God’s sovereignty is because it doesn’t take a lunch break. He never slumbers nor sleeps. He is constant.

Today Jesus is feeding the sparrows and not one will fall to the ground apart from his will.

Today every cell in your body is held together by him. Everything. From the crime rate, to the economy, to the weather, it all holds together by the power of the word of Jesus Christ.

So when gasoline prices soar, when cancer calls, when the interest rates go up and you might lose your house, … don’t panic. Jesus is holding your planet, your country, your family, your body, and your very soul in his hands.

Call on him to help you. He is the only one who can hold your marriage together, he is the only one who can sustain you in your job. He is the only one who can keep your company from imploding. Call on your Creator and Sustainer.

Jesus Christ reigns and sustains. He orders and he ordains. He keeps everything just right.

One of my favorite directors is Peter Weir. His thought-provoking film, The Truman Show, is about a person named Truman, who is adopted by a TV network as an infant, and raised on live television. Every moment of his life from childhood onward is recorded for the world to see. But he is completely oblivious that his whole life is a spectacle for an audience. He lives in a town that is surrounded by water. His family, friends, and everyone in the town are all paid actors with earpieces and are told what to say to him by scriptwriters. Even as an adult (played by Jim Carey), Truman has never left the island town. And except for a few little hints (like the time a guy trying to get on TV parachutes onto the set) he has never been given any reason to suspect that the world is watching his every move and that everything in the town exists for his benefit.

Many people live their lives as if they are Truman. They think that they are the center of the Universe and that everything revolves around them. But the Bible shatters that illusion and tells us once for all around whom the Universe really revolves.

We have seen the two main questions to ask a person to determine if they are sheep or wolf.

1) Is Jesus God? [Yes]

And 2) Was Jesus created? [No]

In answering the question Was Jesus Created?, from Scripture we looked at…

4 ASPECTS OF CHRIST’S RELATIONSHIP TO CREATION

We saw his Ranking and his Role – today…

3. Christ’s Ruling of Creation

Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him.

Christ not only created the universe, but he actively rules it. Like a king on a throne, he issues decrees, judges, rules, and delegates. He follows up, rewards, and punishes.

The words thrones or dominions refers to both human and angelic seats of authority, much like the chair of a meeting is a seat of authority.

And the words “rulers” or “authorities” refer to the person with that authority, like a king, emperor, president, prefect, or traffic cop. A seat of authority is a position held in which one has the right and the power to make decisions. They have been ‘authorized’ to execute decisions. But by whom? Well, Paul says – by Jesus.

You might ask ‘Are you telling me that Jesus created the presidency in the United States? Did he create the Imperial reign of the Roman Caesars? Did he design the Chinese dynasties? Did he create the monarchy in England, the democracy in America, the clan councils in Scotland, the tribal chiefs of Zulus?’

Absolutely. 16 For by him all things were created…

Jesus not only created the visible and invisible matter of creation, but the very ordering and administration systems in creation. God could have created the world and then let humans run the place on their own. But he didn’t. And you might ask did God place Hitler, Stalin, or Robert Mugabe into office? Did he allow my maths teacher to rule over me?

Daniel 4: 17 … the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will, and sets over it the lowliest of men.’

Romans 13:1-2 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

Simple application: Submit. Human authority is Jesus’ way of governing you.

High schooler, that means your teacher. And your parents! Employee, that means your boss.

Every institution, from the government to the school board, to the mothers’ committee at pre-school, was created by Jesus and he authorized them to govern, for which they will be held accountable.

Does it mean their decisions are all good? No. But, authority doesn’t have to be right to be obeyed.

The only time we rebel is if they tell us we must sin. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the three friends of Daniel who refused to bow down to the king. Or Peter and John who were told not to preach by the court. But God told them they must preach.

So, submit to authority, and you are submitting to Jesus your Savior.

Now observe the next part of verse 16…all things were created through him and for him.

The chief end of everything is Jesus Christ. What’s the meaning of life? Jesus. Why were we created? For Jesus.

We live in a Christocentric Universe. I remember when I first discovered this glorious doctrine in Scripture, of Christ’s glory being the reason for everything in the universe.

Pleasure exists so you can get a glimpse of what it would be like to enjoy Jesus. Pain exists so you can get a glimpse of what it would be like without Jesus. Heaven exists for us to bask in him forever. And hell exists and is terrible so that you can fully understand how much Jesus hates sin and loves God’s glory, that he would be willing to die to save you from it.

Paul also put it this way: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36)

We live in a Christocentric universe.

Is Christ fishing for compliments? No, God is demanding them!

And that’s not vain in a Christocentric universe. Christ is the center of everything.

And it is in beholding his glory and declaring his glory that you will be most satisfied.

In a world that revolves around Jesus, it is not wrong for me to boast in him, it is not wrong for him to desire my praise.

Parents, don’t just teach your children that it’s wrong to boast. Tell them why it’s wrong to boast. Because they are not Jesus. That’s why boasting is wrong. As the Bible says…What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? (1 Corinthians 4:7) Therefore, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:31.

Don’t rob Jesus of his glory. He gave you your talents, for him. He gave you children for him. He gave you money for him.

Do you play the piano or the guitar? Can you teach? Can you arrange flowers? Can you make money? Can you drive? Why do you think you can do that? In a Christocentric Universe, the answer is simple: for Christ!

Glory in him. Talk about him. Thank him. Don’t take glory from him. 

Next time we will see the final aspect of Christ’s relationship to creation – he runs it!

“To live is Christ, to die is gain.”

Senior testimonies at TMS are incredibly encouraging. Seminary is not easy and hearing about the Lord’s faithfulness in allowing someone to go to seminary, pay for it while providing for his family, and pass the classes, all while preparing to serve the Lord full time is incredibly encouraging.

That’s why I paid close attention to DJ Mattson’s testimony. I’ve heard hundreds of testimonies over the years but this one was one of the most encouraging. He described how he thought that seminary might kill him, and how he was confident of the Lord’s calling regardless. Because for him, “to live is Christ, to die is gain.”

Twelve days after giving his testimony, DJ graduated. He walked across the platform, received his diploma, moved his tassel from the left to right side of his cap, descended the stairs, and died.

I never had the privilege of meeting this man of God, but was greatly encouraged by this testimony. I heard from many people who knew him that what stood out about DJ was his faithfulness. When he moved to Los Angeles for seminary, he threw himself fully into ministry at Grace Church. He spent time on campus, and invested in people’s lives. He maximized his experience there, serving and shepherding.

I can’t imagine what his family is going through… the excitement of graduating seminary, the eagerness to serve a church, and then to see in such a stark way that the Lord had other plans. But if anything about seminary is true–in fact, if anything about the gospel is true–then Christians have to agree with DJ when he declared that for those who live for Christ, death is gain.

Because of DJ’s reputation, and because of the dramatic way he went to heaven, I wanted to make sure others could hear his testimony. After graduation, DJ never got the chance to preach in a church. So my this testimony be his parting message of gospel assurance:

I don’t know why the Lord has chosen to do this but I do know that the Lord will use this also for His glory and for the good of his church. May we all learn to number our days and we live for His glory every second we have here on earth.

If you think of it, pray for Rick’s wife (Judy) and for his family. Pray for comfort, and for encouragement that only comes to a heart that trusts the Lord. But most of all, remember DJ’s declaration:

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Philippians 1:21

Understandably, Theodore of Mopsuestia isn’t a household name. And maybe it shouldn’t be (it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue). All the same, this condemned church father can help us read our Bibles rightly if we would have discerning ears to hear and open eyes to see.

First, let’s put his heresy charge on the table. Though he was involved in several theological debates during his lifetime (350-428 AD), Theodore was never regarded as a false teacher during his lifetime. He was good friends with John Chrysostom while they attended school together, and even enjoyed Emperor Theodosius’ favor as a plain-sense preacher. He served as the bishop of the church in Mopsuestia, not far from Antioch where he had studied, for over 25 years, and was beloved by the people he served.

After Theodore’s death, two church councils took issue with his writings. At the Council of Ephesus in 431, the bishops at the meeting opposed Theodore’s writings because they believed he de-emphasized the full deity of Christ. In 553, over a hundred years after his passing, Theodore was formally denounced as a heretic by the Second Council of Constantinople. According to the council, good ol’ Teddy Mop had wandered into Christological heresy by teaching a form of Nestorianism, that Christ was two persons, not one. Because of political rivalries, Theodore’s association with the school at Antioch, and because of the changing nature of the word “nature” in Greek, Teddy found his posthumous head on the Orthodox chopping block and was summarily condemned.

Now, having reviewed the evidence, I don’t think Theodore did teach that Christ was two persons. He famously referred to Christ as “indwelling of good pleasure in one person” and said that Christ’s divine-human unity could be expressed as “both natures are united and that one person is effected by reason of the union.” Fred McLeod has published a helpful volume making this argument, and I find his case compelling. I commend it to you if you’re all that interested.

Regardless of whether you think Teddy Mop was a christological heretic (and I don’t think he was), there’s still a gift to be gleaned from his writings because of his consistent hermeneutic. Theodore’s followers gave him the title “The Interpreter” because of his insistence on a literal, grammatical, historical approach to reading the Bible which he explained clearly throughout his writings. Over and against the strong allegorical impulses emanating largely from the bishops of Alexandria, Theodore urged Christians to stick with the plain, ordinary sense of every biblical text.

We need that same reminder – to read God’s Word plainly – just as much today. And we can find just such a reminder in Theodore’s writings. In particular, he wrote a treatise called Against the Allegorists that’s full of helpful summaries of biblical hermeneutics. Below are some of his statements from that work and others that can help us read our Bibles well.

Here’s Teddy’s take on how many layers of meaning there are to any given biblical text:

“There is but one sense in all the words present in the divine Scriptures.”

That is, the Holy Spirit didn’t hide a secret, second layer of meaning in the words of Scripture that the human authors didn’t know about. Whatever the author intended, that is the one meaning of that text forever, and it’s precisely what we’re after when we interpret Scripture. You don’t need a special set of glasses, a decoder ring, or a fancy Ph.D. to read the Bible. All you need is to listen to each author and find the one meaning that he intends.

When it comes to reading the historical books of the Bible, here was the bishop’s advice:

“So we are careful not to be found going beyond the narrative element of what has been written.”

To find the author’s intent in a narrative, Teddy argued, look no further than the actual story itself. If the details of a story become a springboard into some fanciful allegorization (like Origen’s reading church polity into the decks on Noah’s ark), then you’ve left the text behind entirely. Theodore was certainly aware that the biblical authors wrote narratives with theological implications in mind, but he advocated that we never extract our theology from a text by ignoring the text itself.

One key to guarding against a spiritualized interpretation, according to Theodore, was to make sure that your answer was falsifiable, and thereby proven from the text itself. Here’s how he said it:

“For it is the task of an interpreter, especially one who is accurately explaining [the text], not only to affirm what he says with authority but also to reject through his words the contrary opinion.”

If we can’t say both positively what a text means and negatively what it doesn’t mean, then we don’t understand it. Truth is always on a razor’s edge, which means that in order to say “Yes, and amen,” you have to say “No, no way” as well. We need to be able to articulate what the Bible doesn’t say to clarify what the Bible does say. And if we can’t be proven right by showing what’s necessarily wrong, then it’s likely that we’ve wandered into imagination instead of interpretation.

And to stave off any who would be tempted to flirt with allegorization of a text, here’s what Theodore said about the church father Origen and his allegorized writings:

“[Origen] would never have willingly shown an interest in any interpretation filled with the insane blasphemy of the pagans, once he studied the true intent of the Scriptures and inquired into what is the meaning of every word… all the words of divine Scripture and to have found in them, as it should be, the invisible truth of the Church’s teaching.”

Over and over and over again, Theodore reminded his people (and us today) that the only right way to read the Bible is to look for the one, clear, plain meaning of the words on the page. To Teddy, anything more was just superstition.

So, when you’re doing your devotions this week, or in your Bible study, or listening to a sermon, remember to heed the advice of this old, excommunicated church father: “When I interpret [a passage], I fully respect its text…” Give honor to God’s Word by interpreting it with the author’s intent as your clear focus, and you’ll follow in the footsteps of the good bishop from Mopsuestia.

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

-We’d like to talk to you about your eternity.

Here we go again, I thought.

I told them that I believed in God.

-We do too.

The God of the Bible.

-We do too.

I believe in Jesus.

-We do too.

The Son of God.

-We do too.

Jesus is God.

-We do too.

Well, now I had gotten further than with my previous visitors, but was there still a problem?

Last week we learned that there are two Yes/No questions you need to ask to strip the sheep’s clothing off any wolf.

1. DO YOU BELIEVE JESUS IS GOD?

But the question “Do you believe Jesus is God?” still leaves a tiny sliver for skinny little wolves to squeeze through. There is one more question you can ask, that will strip even the most diehard wolf of his sheep’s outfit…

2. DO YOU BELIEVE JESUS WAS CREATED?

Christ’s relationship to creation is the lifeblood of our whole faith. We are mere creatures, so we are stepping onto holy ground in this text. But over the next couple of weeks we are going to meet our Maker.

4 ASPECTS OF CHRIST’S RELATIONSHIP TO CREATION  

1. Christ’s Ranking in Creation

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Asking “Do you believe if Jesus is God?” is only going to weed out the first breed of wolf. The second breed you can flush out with this question: “Do you believe Jesus was created?”

And Colossians 1:15 is the rope on which the tug-o-war teams are pulling.

The crucial question boils down to, what does the word ‘firstborn’ mean?

Prototokos.

The word can mean one born chronologically first. BUT ‘firstborn’ (in Hebrew and in Greek) also refers to the one who is the ranking sibling irrespective of birth order, the one with pre-eminence, the one who gains the inheritance. Even if he is not the oldest.

Like Jacob who stole the blessing, the inheritance, and the position of being the firstborn, even though Esau was born first.

Lest you think this is some sort of hermeneutic gymnastics, answer me this question: What is the title given to the wife of the President? First Lady – right?

Now let me ask you, is Dr Jill Biden, the first lady to be created? Is she the first lady to be a president’s wife? No, but she is the ranking lady. She is the pre-eminent lady. On an airplane do they call it “first class” because you get there first when you enter the plane? No, but because it’s the highest class.

So clearly, even in English the word ‘first’ can also mean both pre-eminence, or chronology. It is the context which determines it.

Let us examine the context of Paul’s statement. In verse 18 Paul says that Jesus is the “firstborn from the dead”. Clearly Jesus was not the first person to be raised from the dead – but he is the most pre-eminent person to be raised.

Also, in the context we see other reasons to believe that Paul is not saying that Jesus was the first person to be created, he says

• 16 For by him all things were created,…
• 16….all things were created through him and for him.
• 17 And he is before all things,…
• 18 And he is the head of the body, the church…
• 18…that in everything he might be preeminent

It could not be clearer from the context that Paul is using the word ‘firstborn’ in its sense of pre-eminence, not chronology. Jesus is not the head creation. He is the Head of Creation. This is his rank: Firstborn.

2. Christ’s Role in Creation

Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible . . .

Jesus was not created. He is Creator. And Jesus was not part of a team of people. He did not help make and organize creation. He created it all.

Jesus was not on the receiving end of creation. He was dishing it out. And not only creation on earth – but also in heaven.

Did you know that God didn’t always live in Heaven?

Only God is eternal. Heaven is not eternal. Angels aren’t eternal. Satan isn’t eternal.

Before heaven, before angels, before streets of gold, before a throne, God existed.

But you know who was there? Jesus.

Jesus existed in eternity past. It messes with your mind. This will cause insomnia.

Don’t picture empty space, with Jesus floating in it. There was no space. There was no dimension. There was only the Trinity.

Jesus created everything that is visible. Everything you can see. Do you want to know what Jesus thinks is beautiful? Look at his creation. Jesus made the night sky, and the sunrise, the Grand Canyon, and Mount Everest, the Knysna forests, and the Savannah grasslands, butterflies and vultures. Everything your eyes can feast on is a banquet of beauty that Christ created.

And Jesus also created everything that is invisible – everything you can’t even see, because it is too small or too far away, or has no corporeal existence.

Jesus made you. Your visible and your invisible: your body and your soul.

CONCLUSION

If you honor Jesus as your Lord and Savior, as your Creator God, then you are fulfilling your design. But that comes with a serious implication for those who do not submit to Jesus as Lord:

Jesus owns you, body and soul.

He made you. So he has rights over you.

He commands you to repent of your sins and be his servant. Because he made you he has the right to judge you and to punish you. He died to buy a church of redeemed worshippers out of their sin, but if you refuse to submit to your Creator, you will meet him only as Judge, and not as Savior.

I implore you today, get right with your Creator before it’s too late.

They say that April showers bring May flowers. Well, that might ring true for many parts of the country, but in central Texas, it’s usually May showers that bring June flowers. There’s quite a bit more rainfall in May. It’s always beautiful seeing the Indian paintbrushes, Indian blankets, and pink evening primroses rise up and cover the fields. The scenery from our God far surpasses even the most alluring Bob Ross paintings, as the landscape is dotted with radiant colors that seem to dance with the wind. 

But as you know with flowers, as beautiful as the bright reds, the vibrant yellows, and the glowing pinks are… they do not last for long. That is especially true in the middle of a Texas summer. The rains have usually gone, and the heat scorches the once blooming and thriving floral landscapes. The colorful vista becomes light brown, with a dull green intermingled. 

Something similar can occur within us, it’s something we are prone to in our fallenness. When the heat of trials are turned up and the fires are stoked, a certain flower that is designed to remain constant in the Christian life, begins to wither in us all at particular moments in time. The flower that I am speaking of is that of Christian contentment. Yet, it is a flower that does not have to fade or droop over from exasperation. 

Christians have such a treasure that the world does not possess. By the grace of God, everyone who has believed in Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for sinners as a propitiatory sacrifice to the Father, who has risen gloriously from the dead, can be content––always. That’s moving news! However, it might not sound all that earth-shattering to your ears at first (or your eyes in this case since you’re reading this), but let me illustrate. 

For the people of the world who remain at enmity with God, their contentment is only superficial. The burden of their sins remains fastly strapped to their backs. It cannot be shaken off permanently even with a seared conscience (cf. Matt 27:5; 1 Tim 4:2). There is a settled recognition that something is wrong and that judgment will come because of it. The contentment of the world, when it does appear, it never lasts because the object of their contentment is never sure (cf. Matt 7:24–29). 

For some, it might be difficult to remember the discontentment that you had in your life before coming to love Jesus Christ. It might be tough to remember the fear of your guilty standing before a holy God. What liberty and freedom you have now. That knowledge of a perfect Judge which once made the skies sullen now makes them bright in the light of the gospel of Christ. 

Having said that, even in salvation… as precious as that reality is, discontentment isn’t entirely absolved around us, or in us. For some of you, you do love the Lord Jesus, and you know all about discontentment in your life, even as you are reading this article.  

There are at least two reasons for this. First, the world around us thrives on discontentment. Second, what became natural in us because of the fall, in our flesh, is discontentment. 

It should come as no surprise that most people in this world are not content. Satan both knows this and loves this reality. He does everything he can to fan the flame toward more unsettledness in the world (always wanting but never having). It’s why in the United States last year according to Forbes, 300 billion dollars were being spent on advertising. For some perspective, it would take 9,500 years to count to that number without sleeping. Don’t let your head spin too much on that. 

The number $300 billion is not consumers buying products. It’s only companies paying for their products to be displayed on TV, on the internet, and in print. Just for some additional perspective, that amount of money is more than the GDP of the 41st most wealthy country in the world, which is Chile, which is in front of Finland, Egypt, Portugal, Greece, and most other countries. That’s a lot of money. And that’s just for the US. When you add in the rest of the world by the same article approximately one trillion dollars were spent on advertising in 2021. The advertising business is predicated upon causing you to believe that you need something that you don’t presently have when you have probably been living just fine without having whatever they’re selling and didn’t realize you “needed” their trinket until you saw their message… just some food for thought.

Discontentment is not just bred through looking at advertisements alone. That’s something we all know. It can come through the relationships you have, even with brothers and sisters in the church. It can happen when you go over to someone’s house and see that they have the new this, that, or the other name it appliance. It can be when a family talks about the vacation they just went on to the mountains or through wanting to keep up with the Jones’. Or maybe it’s through social media in seeing someone wear a certain brand of clothing or living in a certain house or doing something in particular that causes you to think… “if only I had that… if only I were there too.”

Dissatisfaction can happen almost anywhere, at any time. There is a battle for your contentment, and it’s a battle that began long before you or I were born. You can trace the battle for contentment all the way back to the garden. Think about what the god of this age says to Eve, “For God knows that in the day you eat from it (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 

We can postulate what went on between Eve’s ears. “You mean, serpent, there’s more to life than what I currently know? There’s more that I can have in this world? I have been misled and duped?” This leads us to the underlying accusation, the place where Satan wanted Eve. It’s where he wants you, and me, “Why would a good God withhold that from me?” That right there is an affront to and a charge against a perfect God. It’s nothing new, and it’s what we battle against today. 

The goal of this brief post is to show you that God has given you, Christian, a Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. I have seen no better definition of contentment than that of the puritan pastor, Jeremiah Burroughs in the aforementioned work. He wrote in 1648,

“Contentment is the inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, freely submitting to and taking pleasure in God’s disposal in every condition.”

Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

With those words, Burroughs, based on Scriptural texts (of which we will consider), opens the doors of your heart for greater joy in contentment in Christ.

There is only one word used in the New Testament for contentment. That sounds simple enough. But here’s the kicker, the word is found in three different forms (as a verb, adjective, and noun). The forms have slightly different nuances. 

The verb form is “ἀρκέω.” It is used eight times and speaks of sufficiency or satisfaction (depending on the context). The idea is that there is nothing that is lacking. For example, Paul says in 2 Cor 12:10, “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions and hardships, for the sake of Christ, for when I am weak, then I am strong.” Paul was saying that amid all the hardships he went through: the beatings, imprisonments, sleepless nights, etc, he was sustained and content. 

At which point, the world would say, “that’s simply not possible.” But the reason for this state was due to the Lord Himself. In 2 Cor 12:7–9, we see the key turn in the lock of the truth revealed in verse 10.

“Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me⁠—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

2 Cor 12:7–9

It is by the grace of God that Paul was content in the midst of his adversity. Paul could be content because of what God accomplished in him, and he knew that God had a plan (cf. Matt 25:9; John 6:7; 14:8).

In Paul, we see that Christian contentment is freely submitting to the Lord’s will, in placing himself under the hand of God. Paul’s heart was like Christ’s, “Your will be done.” The wordsmith Burroughs says here,

“Many men and women will in general say that they must submit to God in affliction; I suppose that if you were to go now from one end of this congregation to the other, and speak thus to every soul: ‘Would you not submit to God’s disposal, in whatever condition he might place you?’, you would say, ‘God forbid that it should be otherwise!’ But we have a saying, There is a great deal of deceit in general statements. In general, you would submit to anything; but what if it is in this or that particular case which crosses you most? -Then, anything but that! We are usually apt to think that any condition is better than that condition in which God has placed us. Now, this is not contentment; it should be not only to any condition in general, but for the kind of affliction, including that which most crosses you. God, it may be, strikes you in your child. -‘Oh, if it had been in my possessions’ you say, ‘I would be content! ‘Perhaps he strikes you in your marriage. ‘Oh,’ you say, ‘I would rather have been stricken in my health.’ And if he had struck you in your health -‘Oh, then, if it had been in my trading, I would not have cared.’ But we must not be our own carvers. Whatever particular afflictions God may place us in, we must be content in them.” 

Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

But notice this… Paul’s submission is done with pleasure. That is a word that everyone (myself included) desires to hold at arm’s length with suffering. That’s because we know one day, suffering will be gone (cf. Rev 21:3–5). No difficulty will be found there. So there is a right longing, but it’s not the right time. Suffering for the Lord in this life produces an eternal weight of glory according to Paul in 2 Cor 4:17. 

The reason Paul says what he does in verse 9 is because of God’s grace, he will be glad. And that gladness in the Lord is not based on his present circumstance based on verse 10. He can be glad and boast in his weakness so that Christ will be magnified. It’s not ultimately about him, but rather about Him–that’s what contentment is all about.

Now, the same verb is used passively in Luke 3:14, 1 Tim 6:8, Heb 13:5, and 3 John 10. In other words, a Christian is brought to this state. In those passages, the word speaks of satisfaction. Satisfaction is a lovely word for the Christian. David says in Ps 17:5, “​​As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.” Wonderful. Jesus says in Matt 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Glorious.

The same idea is communicated with our verb for contentment in an earthly sense. Paul says,

“For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.”

1 Tim 6:7–8

Here we see that contentment is an inward and quiet resolve. Paul says, if in this life all you have are food and shelter, with that you can be content. You are not lacking anything you need for satisfaction. Why? It’s simply because you know the God who provides you with Himself and your creaturely needs. The knowledge of God brings you to that place. 

Christians aren’t to be cantankerous. Christians aren’t to be envious or covetous. We are to be a satisfied people. John Rockefeller, who is regarded as one of the wealthiest men who ever lived, was once asked, “How much money does it take to make a man happy?” He answered, “Just one more dollar.” The world has an unquenchable appetite. But for the Christian, our appetite should be sated in the Lord.

After speaking from Ps 73:25, which says, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth,” Burroughs writes,

“If God gave you not only earth but heaven, that you should rule over sun, moon and stars, and have the rule over the highest of the sons of men, it would not be enough to satisfy you, unless you had God himself. There lies the… mystery of contentment. And truly a contented man, though he is the most contented man in the world, is the most dissatisfied man in the world; that is, those things that will satisfy the world, will not satisfy him.”

Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

We were made to enjoy God in His creation, tracing all our delights through Him. 

 This brings us to the second form of the Greek word for contentment in the New Testament is “αὐτάρκεια,” which is a noun. It is a compound word made up of the words αὐτός (self) and ἀρκέω (our previous form of study, which is a verb for sufficiency). The word can be used for external sufficiency or internal sufficiency (contentment). An example of external sufficiency is seen in Paul’s words in 2 Cor 9:8, after speaking about God’s love for the cheerful giver. He says, “And God is able to make every grace abound to you, so that in everything at every time having every sufficiency, you may have an abundance for every good deed.” God provides for the church physically so that she can care for others. That is an example of gracious submission to God’s plan based on His supply. Then in 1 Tim 6:6, Paul uses the same word of an internal reality. He writes, “But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment.”

Isn’t that a curious statement? I initially would think in reading this that Paul would say that godliness is a great means of gain, period. We might think he would end his train of thought there. But no, he says godliness is only a means of gain if one is content. In other words, our devotion to the Lord is a means of gain as we rest in the sufficiency in who our God is and in what He has provided. Whenever our hearts are always craving more, in an indirect way we are telling the Lord that what you have graciously supplied is not enough… put more directly, who You are is not enough.It’s not to say that you can’t desire to be out of a trial like Paul or the Psalmist or that you cannot desire a new vacuum when yours is on its last leg, but everything must be held with the open hand of “Your will be done,” in a posture of joyous trust. 

The final usage of the word for contentment is seen in Phil 4:11. It is used as an adjective. The word “αὐτάρκης” also means self-sufficient. The idea isn’t suggesting that one doesn’t need the Lord–in being self-sufficient, but rather, because one knows and loves the Lord, one can be entirely satisfied in Him. Paul is writing from jail, not from the Four Seasons. He’s possibly been there for around a year at this point, and in Philippians, one of his shorter letters, he writes about joy seven times, more than in any of his other letters. Again, joy and jail are antithetical to the mind of the world, but not to a Christian centered in Biblical contentment. Paul says,

“But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived thinking about me; indeed, you were thinking about me before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in abundance; in any and all things I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” 

Phil 4:10–13

Far from being just a verse to quote before a football game or a swim meet, Phil 4:13 is explained by what proceeds it. Paul very clearly teaches us that situations in life and circumstances do not dictate contentment. This is the gracious spirit that Burroughs speaks of in his definition. Paul is cool, calm, and collected. If he doesn’t have a meal at night, if things don’t go the way that he wants, even in a situation of abundance… he can be content. What levels Paul out is Christ. He is balanced in life by Him.

Contentment isn’t, to borrow from the words of Winston Churchill, “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” No, it isn’t out playing a perpetual game of hide-and-seek. If you love Christ contentment is accessible to you. It is a flower that should remain forever blossomed in your life. That’s God’s design for you, and there is always more joy to be had within the outstretched arms of His good calling for your life.  

God is good. His ways are sure. If you can trust God for your salvation, the fate of your eternal soul, you can certainly trust Him in the darkest of trials and remain content. I love that, to that end, in Ps 145:9, the psalmist doesn’t write, the Lord is good when you don’t suffer. That’s not what he says. In fact, you won’t find those words in your Bible because they aren’t true. Instead, he writes, “Yahweh is good to all.” The Lord is good, that’s who He is. In other words, God is good all the time. What that means is, that the goodness of God is not predicated upon our circumstances, and if God’s goodness isn’t predicated upon our circumstances then our contentment certainly shouldn’t be. 

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment is rare in at least two senses. It is rare in that Christ is the object of our contentment. Christ is rare. He is the pearl of great price and the treasure hidden in the field in our salvation. But the jewel of contentment is also rare in that few people have the contentment that the Lord affords us (my hand is up as being a work in progress here, though you can’t see it). 

It’s all too easy for us to excel in parts of the definition that Burroughs provided, without all of it and it’s to our own detriment. Again, he wrote, “Contentment is the inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, freely submitting to and taking pleasure in God’s disposal in every condition.” 

It’s natural in our fallen state to sinfully complain to others about our trials (cf. Ex 15:24; John 6:43, 61; Acts 6:1). It’s natural to become aggravated in trials and to push back against the Lord (cf. Job 13:23–24; 33:8–12). It’s natural to become envious of others (cf. Gal 5:26). It’s natural to do all of the above without love in our hearts and taking pleasure in God’s disposal (1 Cor 13:1–3). But there is a better way. The supernatural walk in the Spirit rests in contentment (cf. Eph 5:18). There is a battle for your contentment, and it’s one that the Lord desires for us to win. We have seen that described by Paul. 

Christian, do not be down on yourself. Run to new heights in the love of God in Christ, by trusting in Him and adoring His hand toward you in seasons of ease and difficulty. The good God that you serve has provided the fertile ground from which the good works He has prepared for you to walk in will sprout (Eph 2:10). He has a purpose in everything that comes to pass, as all occurs according to His will (Ps 115:3; Eph 1:11). In rain or shine, draw strength from the Lord to rest in Him. 

You can have true, lasting contentment in this life. Not just contentment with relation to the forgiveness of your sins, but in all areas of life. Even when the trials are raging on, the flower of contentment need not wither if you cling to the Lord, satisfied in His caring hand. 

Ever since the Roe vs. Wade case main-streamed abortion in the United States, the ability to take the life of one’s baby has achieved a religious status. Judging by responses to news that Roe vs. Wade may be overturned, people have certainly responded as if their idols were under attack. I think it is helpful for Christians to understand that abortion does indeed function as a sort of sacrament in our society. But we are not alone.

In the Old Testament, the Israelites found themselves surrounded by nations that offered their children as a religious sacrifice. Molech worship appears to have been common place among the Canaanites, and according to Stephen in Acts 7 (Acts 7:43) it became a prominent feature of Israelite culture.

Who was Molech?

According to the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, Molech (also spelled Moloch) was a Canaanite god who was worshiped primarily by parents burning their children as a sacrifice. Customs appear to be varied. Sometimes it was an oldest son, sometimes the ashes were built into the family house (as in, they were put into a jar, and placed literally in cornerstone of a house). The general idea appears to be that the act of sending the child to the realm of the dead prepared the way for the rest of the family to be received by Molech in the afterlife. In other words, children were sacrificed for the wellbeing of their parents.

It is impossible to understand Molech worship in the Old Testament without beginning with Abraham. If you recall, Abraham was promised that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky (Gen 15:5). This promise would be fulfilled through his seed, which is the same word used in Genesis 3:15 to prophecy the savior. In other words, Abraham’s promise entailed that through him a son would be born who conquer sin and the devil, and through whom his family would be able to have their relationship to God restored.

When Abraham finally had a son through whom the promise would come, God commanded him to take the Son to Mount Moriah (Gen 22:2) and “offer him there as a burnt offering.” Abraham obeyed, tied Isaac up, and was ready to take his life when God stopped the knife, and instead provided a ram as a substitute. It would take over two thousand years, but eventually God would provide Jesus as the lamb. He would be crucified, perhaps on the very same spot where Abraham had gone to offer Isaac. Ever since Eden, there has been resident in human DNA the knowledge that a child will save us. But ever since Mount Moriah, there has been a war in humanity–should a parent look to Christ for salvation, or offer up their own offspring on altar instead?

But, returning to Abraham, after God stopped his sacrifice of Isaac, Abraham’s family was not able to settle in Israel. Instead, they began working their way toward Egypt. Why? Because the wickedness of the nations that occupied that land was not yet sufficient to warrant their eradication (cf. Gen. 15:16).

Five hundred years later, when the Israelites finally left Egypt to return to settle in Israel, that was no longer the case. By that point, the Canaanites had fully thrown themselves into the worship of Molech. And God warned them about this before they entered the land:

 “Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name. And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in whoring after Molech. (Lev 20:2-5).

God knew that child sacrifice was thriving in Israel, and so he warned the Israelites of it. It was so evil, he said, that anyone who did it deserved to die. But also, God said that anyone who looked away—who pretended not to see how evil it was—that person too should be cut off from Israel. In other words, there was no room to say “not my family, not my problem.” The evil of child sacrifice is so extreme, turning the other way was itself a cowardly act sin.

But Israel did indeed fall into Molech worship. It began, both tragically and ironically, with Solomon. He married foreign wives, and allowed them to worship foreign gods, including Molech (1 Kings 11:7). I called this ironic because remember the hope of Israel—that God, through the line of Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David, would provide a son who would be the savior. Yet what happened? Those in that line began to sacrifice their offspring to Molech. They’d rather kill the child in front of them than wait for the child God would provide.

This wasn’t confined to Solomon either. Others in David’s line also worshiped Molech. King Ahaz burned his son in the fire (2 Kings 16:3). Manasseh built an altar to Molech in the temple itself (2 Kings 21:5), and also burned the Davidic heir in the fire as a sacrifice to Molech (2 Kings 21:6). The practice was widespread throughout Judah (Jer. 32:35).

The practice was finally stopped by brave King Josiah, who cut down the high places and put an end to the Israelite practice of “burning their sons and daughters as an offering to Molech” (2 Kings 23:10). In fact, after Josiah’s revival, Molech disappears from the pages of Scripture—until Stephen’s rebuke in Acts 7.

When I was a younger Christian, I read about Molech worship and had more questions than answers—did it really happen? Would people really burn their children to death to secure a more prosperous future for themselves? But over time it simply became more and more clear that the United States is basically where Judah and the Canaanites were: child sacrifice is simply a part of our culture—a sacrament, really. And if the right to do it is infringed or revoked, don’t be surprised when people respond with a religious fervor. After all, abortion is a religion as old as Molech.

–Knock knock.

-Who’s there?

Well, that’s what I  said. But instead of an answer, I got a question: “Do you have time to talk about the future?”

Insurance, I thought. I opened the door and saw two faces, plastered with smiles. Middle-aged men wearing black suits, each toting a book. Not insurance. They wanted to talk to me about Jehovah.

I told them that I believe in God.

–We do too.

The God of the Bible.

–We do too.

Ok, I believe in Jesus.

–We do too.

The Son of God.

–We do too.

I mean I believe Jesus is God.

–Of course Jesus is a god, how else do you explain his miracles and power?

Did you just say ‘a god’? Because I believe that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh, the second person of the Trinity, co-equal in essence with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

Silence. I thought I had stumped them.

Then, like a gatling gun: ‘That was a development of later Christianity, but the Bible never uses the word Trinity and never teaches that Jesus is God, and did you know that Jesus never claimed to be God?’ 

And you know how you freeze up? You know how all your Sunday school lessons evaporate from memory, and suddenly you cling to some faith somewhere in you, but you honestly have to admit that you don’t know why? That’s what happened to me all those years ago. So in this blog I want to reinforce what separates Christians from every all religions, cults, -isms, and philosophies.

2 CRUCIAL QUESTIONS TO TEST FOR A BIBLICAL VIEW OF CHRIST

If you believe that the Bible is true, then you need to believe in the Jesus Christ of the Bible. You do not need a PhD in theology to stand your ground. You only have to know the Yes/No answers to two simple questions. You can strip the sheep’s clothing off any wolf with just two questions and the answer to both is found in Colossians 1:15

1. DO YOU BELIEVE JESUS IS GOD?

Colossians 1:15: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

From the time that Paul was writing until today, there have always been those who teach that Jesus is not God. The reason there is so much confusion in the church and among people who want to believe the Bible but end up believing strange doctrines is that people do not use all three steps of basic Bible interpretation: Observe, Interpret, Apply.

OBSERVE.

Let us make sure we know what the verse says.

-‘He’ refers to the closest antecedent, God’s beloved Son, in whom we have redemption. So it is Jesus we are talking about.

-‘is’ is in the present tense, it doesn’t say “He was the image” or “He became/resembled/seemed to be the image of God.”

-‘the’ is very important. Some teach that we are all the image of God, and Jesus is one too, but Jesus is not an image – but the image.

-‘image’ is the word eikon, as in icon. It means copy or likeness. But Εἰκών (“image”) means more than mere likeness or similarity; it includes the ideas of representation and manifestation. That which stands for something else. Like a desktop icon for MS Excel. Click on it and you access the fullness of Excel. Click on Jesus and you access the fullness of God.

-‘of the invisible God.’ In other words, Jesus is not one of many gods, he is not a likeness of a god, but the likeness of the God.

-‘invisible’ means the God he represents is otherwise invisible.

Then … INTERPRET.

At this point, we could look at commentaries, Greek grammars and dictionaries, but most importantly we should look at other verses in Scripture. So let us simply look at what the rest of the Bible says. Is Jesus God?

Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

Matthew 16:13-17 … “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” … 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Philippians 2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The deity of Christ is not a later development in Christianity, it is found in the Bible.

Did Jesus claim to be God?

John 17: 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed….…11… that they may be one, even as we are one.

John 10:30-33 I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”

John 8:56-59 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

John 14:8-11 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?….Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

When Jesus claims to be God, it demands rejection or acceptance, but nothing in between.

In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis makes this well-known statement, “Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.”

Now … APPLY.

Jesus is God. You need to make a stand. Are you for him or against him? No lukewarm dabbling with the Bible will do. You must be willing to renounce yourself, take up your cross. You must be willing to be cut off from your earthly goods, your family, friends, ambitions, and goals. And you must want to live for Christ.

This is the most dramatic statement a person can make. It is the most devastatingly decisive step a sinner can take: to turn from sin and turn to Jesus.

Next week, the second crucial question to test for a biblical view of Christ.