The Wonderful Combat, Sermon 5.6

12 Friday Aug 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Lancelot Andrewes

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Lancelot Andrewes, mercy, The Wonderful Combat

V. [Why we Should not Tempt God]

Now follows the reasons why we may not tempt God.

There be two sorts of tempting: the one, by ignorance; other by unbelief. It is the manner of surgeons, when they are to dress a wound, and know not how far, nor which way it goes, to tent it: In the same manner is God (after the manner of men) said to tempt us, sometimes to prove what is in our hearts, and whether we will keep his commandments, Deut. 8. 2. as he did the Israelites forty years. To this end he both made them hungry and fed them with Manna[1].

[Tempting God by Doubting God]

We sometimes tempt God, as if the arm of his power had received a wound, or his eye a hurt, as if he could not help or discern our wants, as well now as before, because he brings us not water out of the rock Num. 20. 10[2]. But such miracles now are not agreeing with his will, which must content us: he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, Rom. 9. 19. and we must not despise the riches of his bounteousness and patience, and long suffering which leads to repentance, Rom. 2. 4[3]. The Lords hand is not shortened, that it cannot save[4]; nor his ear heavy, that it cannot hear, because he doth not reprove us, we think him like us, Ps. 50. 19[5]. When God holds his peace, we think his tongue is cut: but I wil not alwaie hold my peace, saith God, Mal. vlt[6]. But how shall I know this? say men nowadays, as Zacharias knew his wife was with child, Luke 1. 18. who (when he would not believe the angel that told him so, but would needs have a sign, was stricken dumb, Behold thou shalt be dumb til the day. Here is a sign for incredulity: he had been as good have believed without a sign.[7]

[Misusing God’s Mercy]

The second kind of tempting, proceeds of over-much familiarity, when as we think we may be bold with God, and that he will take it in good part, and therefore we will put him to it, (as we say) we will try both him and his angels, what metal is in them, and what they can do. We are to think upon the name of God, as of a heavy and weighty thing, that is not upon every small occasion to be taken up and removed.

We are not to account it as a feather, that we may lightly toss up and down at our pleasure: & even so are we to esteem of the mercy of God.

It is not to be advocated upon every vain trifle, for that were to use God as we are wont to use our jugglers [distractions]. Come on let us see what you can do, show us a miracle, say they, Exodus chap. 7. ver. 11.[8] So, Herod desired to see Christ, that he might see some miracle of him, as in the thirteenth of Luke, the eight verse[9].

It is a heavy case when men stand thus affected toward God, when afterwards in the two & twentieth of Luke, verse 64. they blindfolded him, and bad [asked] him who stroke [had hit] him.[10] We ourselves would not be so used, we could not endure to see our friends used so: how much less ought we to use God in that manner? especially, that attribute quality, or property of God, which of all others, he would have to be most magnified, that is, his mercy?[11]

He must needs take it very heinously [as something hateful] to see that [mercy] abused, since (of all the rest) he makes most account of it. Howsoever he could be content to serve, yet would he not be a servant to our sins in any case, Isaiah 43. 24[12] especially not to be made a pack-horse (if I may so say) for our sins to lay load on, even till his back aches. He saith by Amos, chap. 2. ver. 13. that he is pressed under us, as a cart is pressed that is under sheaves[13]. Let us not make a dung-cart of Gods mercy[14], let us forbear him that service of all other.

Notes

God puts in circumstances which prove and improve our faith. Sometimes, God gives us deprivation to teach us to rely upon him alone. Sometimes, God gives us abundance to prove that we will not put our hope in stuff.

And yet, we easily turn and fail in these tests. Rather than improving our faith, they prove our lack of faith.

When we suffer lack, we demand a miracle of God. We expect water to come from the rock, when God requires us to wait upon him. We then begin to think that something has gone wrong with God! We act as if God can no longer hear or see. We speak as if God were somehow unable to provide for us. Yet, the trouble lies with us alone. We are called to be patient and wait upon God; not to demand that God serve us.

To demand miracles of God is to tempt God.

In abundance we can also tempt God. The primary application which Andrewes raises here is our abuse of God’s mercy. He uses a few images which truly make plain the nature of our “tempting God” when we abuse and expect his mercy.

First, he likens our abuse to the men who put a blindfold over the eyes of Jesus and then beat him, demanding, “who hit you.”

Second, in an even more apt image, he says we treat the mercy of God like a “dung cart”: a foul, stinking cart carrying rot, and disease, and dung. We sin and we expect the mercy of God to carry our sin off so that we no longer have to suffer its ill effects.

[1] Andrewes is using the word “tempt” in a manner consistent with the underlying word used in the Greek New Testament. When we use the word “tempt” now, it has the connotation of being a solicitation to commit a sin, typically a seduction of some sort. But the word “tempt” here has the connotation of “test.” Our faith can be tested by lack: we can believe God will not care for us. Our faith can be tested by abundance, leading us to be lackadaisical. In the wilderness, God gave the Israelites both abundance and hunger to prove their faith.

We should not consider such testing to reference an ignorance in God, but rather a display to us. When my faith is tested, the truth of it becomes plain to me.

[2] In Numbers 20, God miraculously provided water from a rock. There are times when are angry and act is if God had something wrong with him so that he could not perform the miracle which we were presently expect. The absence of the miracle is because God has determined that such a miracle is not warranted at this time.

[3] Andrewes here underscores the absolute freedom of God in salvation (and in all his actions). When we complain of why God saved this one and not that, God replies, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.” It is God’s sole prerogative to so act. And, at the same time, God’s patience and mercy are made available to all to give them time to repent: which mercy and forbearance we reject unless God intervenes.

[4] This is an allusion to Isaiah 50:2 (ESV)

² Why, when I [God] came, was there no man;

why, when I called, was there no one to answer?

Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?

Or have I no power to deliver?

[5] Psalm 50:18–22 (ESV)

¹⁸ If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,

and you keep company with adulterers.

¹⁹ “You give your mouth free rein for evil,

and your tongue frames deceit.

²⁰ You sit and speak against your brother;

you slander your own mother’s son.

²¹ These things you have done, and I have been silent;

you thought that I was one like yourself.

But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.

²² “Mark this, then, you who forget God,

lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!

[6] “I will not always hold my peace.” The reference at this point is unclear.

It may be a reference to Isaiah 62:1 (ESV)

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,

and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet,

until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,

and her salvation as a burning torch.

[7] When the Angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias to announce the birth of John (the Baptist), Zacarhias seemed to not believe this could be true. Gabriel provided a sign: Zacharias would be unable to speak until the baby was born. As Andrewes says, Zacharias would have been better off just believing the angel without a demand for proof.

[8] Exodus 7:8–12 (ESV)

⁸Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’ ” ¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. ¹¹Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. ¹²For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

[9] Luke 23:6–12 (ESV)

⁶When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. ⁷And when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. ⁸When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. ⁹So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. ¹⁰The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. ¹¹And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. ¹²And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other.

[10] Luke 22:63–64 (ESV) ⁶³Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. ⁶⁴They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?”

[11] This is a striking argument: To abuse and presume upon the mercy of Christ is like the men who beat the blindfolded Jesus and said, “Who hit you?” The mercy of God is to be highly praised and exalted, not abused and misused.

[12] Isaiah 43:24 (ESV)

²⁴ You have not bought me sweet cane with money,

or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have burdened me with your sins;

you have wearied me with your iniquities.

[13] Amos 2:13 (ESV)

¹³ Behold, I will press you down in your place,

as a cart full of sheaves presses down.

[14] We must not use God’s mercy like a garbage truck, fit only to carry off what we wish to throw away.

Edward Taylor, Meditation 38 “What a thing is man?”

24 Thursday Mar 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Edward Taylor

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Edward Taylor, law, mercy, poem, Poem Analysis, Poetry, Poetry Analysis, Psalm 8

Meditation 38

1 John 2:1

Oh! What a thing is man? Lord, who am I

That thou shouldst give him thy law? (Oh, golden line)

To regulate his thoughts, words , life thereby.

And judge him wilt thereby too in thy time.

A court of justice thou in heaven holdst

To try his case while here he’s housed on mold.

Prosody:

OH! what a THING is MAN? LORD who am I

That THOU shouldst give HIM thy LAW? (Oh, GOLDen LINE)

To REGulATE his THOUGTS, WORDS, LIFE thereby.

And JUDGE him WILT THEREby TOO in thy TIME.

A COURT of JUSTice THOU in HEAven HOLDST

To TRY his CASE while HERE he’s HOUSED on MOLD.

I take the first syllable as accented due to the exclamation point; this shifts the accent from the first syllable. This changes tracks the cadence of the original question, “What a thing is man?” The paired accents with the pause: MAN? LORD place the weight of the questions on the word “LORD.” The accent on LAW with a question mark (and double pause) create a secondary focus on LAW.

The three accented syllables in a row in the third line draw attention to the scope of the law.

The fourth line is interesting because it lacks a “thou” before “wilt”, which must be then implied by the accent on “wilt.”

The couplet follows standard iambic.

Motto Verse

The motto comes from 1 John 2:

¹My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: ²And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

³And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

1 John 2:1–3 (AV) The imagery comes from a law court:

“CASE I. Here is comfort in case of discouraging fear.—“O,” saith a believer, “I fear, my grace is not armour of proof; I fear, the cause will go against me at the last day.” Indeed, so it would, if thou wert out of Christ: but as, in our law-courts, the client hath his attorney or advocate to plead for him, so every believer, by virtue of the interest, hath Christ to plead his cause for him: “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1.) What, though Satan be the accuser, if Christ be the Advocate? Christ never lost any cause [that] he pleaded. Nay, his very pleading alters the nature of the cause: Christ will show the debt-book crossed with his own blood; and it is no matter what is charged, if all be discharged. Here is a believer’s comfort:—his Judge will be his Advocate.”

James Nichols, Puritan Sermons, vol. 5 Peter Vinke, “Of Original Sin Inhering” (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 470. And:

“So saith the Apostle 1 John 2:2. I write unto you, little Children, that ye sin not, and if any man sin, (that I shall take notice of by and by) we have an Advocate with the Father, and he is the propitiation for our sins: So that when an ungodly man sins, there the sentence of death comes out against him; But the Lord saith concerning his Children, Let their souls be pardoned, for I have found a ransom: Thou sayest, the best have their sin; True, but one man hath a ransom, hath a price paid for his sin, and thou hast none, none for ought thou knowest: In that condition wherein thou art, thou canst not know that thou hast any: Here’s the difference between Gods dealing with his Children & others, one sins, and the Lord acknowledges a propitiation presently, a ransom, a price, a pardon that’s laid in; but he acknowledges it not for thee.”

Jeremiah Burroughs, “The Fourth Sermon,” in The Difference between the Spots of the Godly, and of the Wicked (London: N.P., 1668), 90–91.

Summary:

Who am I, that you, God, would give me to me the law by which you judge me? You give it to me in this life that it will regulate the course of my life. And this law is good, it is “a golden line” (measure).

Allusions:

Line 1

Oh! What a thing is man?

3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Psalm 8:3–5 (AV) A common scornful jibe of some atheists is “Do you really think God cares about something as insignificant as human beings on out of how who knows how many planets in a universe of trillions of stars?” Same question in the Psalm.

Line 1-2

Lord, who am I

That thou shouldst give him thy law?

David has inquired of Nathan the prophet as to whether David can be a “house” (a temple) for God. Up until that time, Israel had a tent, not a fixed building. God replies that He will build a “house” (a dynasty) for David and that an everlasting king will come from that line (the Messiah, the Christ). David replies to this news:

¹⁸Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? ¹⁹And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord GOD; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant’s house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD? ²⁰And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord GOD, knowest thy servant.

2 Samuel 7:18–20 (AV) This is an interesting allusion: In the poem, the immediate concern is the “law” why the motto is the Christ’s advocacy. This allusion ties the ideas together.

Line 3:

To REGulATE his THOUGTS, WORDS, LIFE thereby.

This is a concept which is found in various ways throughout the Bible, particularly the Old (or better, First) Testament. For example:

5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

Deuteronomy 4:5–8 (AV)

7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

Deuteronomy 6:7–8 (AV)

Lines 4-6

And JUDGE him WILT THEREby TOO in thy TIME.

A COURT of JUSTice THOU in HEAven HOLDST

To TRY his CASE while HERE he’s HOUSED on MOLD.

The matter of a last judgment is found a few places. This is perhaps most particular behind these lines:

12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

Romans 2:12 (AV)

As for the housed on mold – or made of dirt—there is a lovely image Psalm 104. Rather than being an image of our disgrace (we are just dirt and water, a bag of chemicals), the image of condition is a picture of God’s mercy to us:

⁶The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. ⁷He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. ⁸The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. ⁹He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. ¹⁰He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. ¹¹For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. ¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. ¹³Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. ¹⁴For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

Psalm 103:6–14 (AV)

How to Live Together, Romans 12, Chapter Three “Jesus Loves Even Me”

01 Wednesday Dec 2021

Posted by memoirandremains in Church Conflict, Romans

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Church Conflict, mercy, Romans 12

Chapter Three

If there is only one song I can sing

When in his presence I see the great King

This will my song for eternity be

O what a wonder that Jesus loves me

Jesus Loves Even Me

Jesus Loves Even Me

Friends on the Beach

After two hours of flight, the jet lost power. Kept aloft by the power her massive engines, the mass of metal and plastic stuffed with hundreds of human bodies lost its will to fly. All those human beings experienced terror which they could not have imagined; the complete helplessness of being alone with gravity overtook their minds.

The pilots who somehow kept their wits, managed to bring the airplane to a sort of landing along the beach.

When the missile came to a halt, broken into pieces, scattered over half a mile, the dead stayed silent. The wounded moaned and cried in pain. The living untangled themselves and poured onto the beach to find the other living souls.

At first, they have a profound basis for fellowship, they talk of their experience in being saved from death. They work together to rescue others. Even though in most areas of their lives they remain perfect strangers, in this one new world they are connected in ways which transform how they understand one-another.

Those who watch a concert together or cheer for the same sports team have known something of this intimacy. But here, it is deeper: we have together comes to the gates of death and were not taken.

This creates intimacy which they would not have otherwise gained except for years of friendship.

Then overtime, the overwhelming sense of joy and terror which had thrown them together begins to fade. The differences which had kept them strangers before begin to resurface – only this time it is mixed the intimacy of having shared an escape from death.

By being both extremely close and strangely distant, the distinctions which are unimportant among strangers become matters of the gravest consequence. Things which would be overlooked among those who had never spoken become the basis for the sharpest quarrels.

Cliques develop; the divisions of live from before the airflight become the basis for new divisions among those who survived.

This is the Church—only it is far more vicious among the church, because we can justify our prejudice and our unkindness with the thought, I am serving God: you are working against God.

If only we kept in mind the unspeakable grace of our salvation, the depth of sin and despair, the greatness of God’s mercy, how different would be the life of the church. But when we forget how we came to be here; when we begin to take our salvation for granted; when we fail to see the end will be glory; then how easily we slide and how dangerous we can become.

The Mercies of God

If a look at human madness is grim, an eye upon the mercy of God is unmitigated joy. To consider ourselves without God is a matter of profound sorrow and hopelessness:

remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Ephesians 2:12.

But to be in Christ, to be reconciled to God, to know the mercy of God, that is a matter of joy:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:1–2.

This hope in the glory of God is focus of our lives. To open a Christian hymnal is centuries of praise for mercy of God, And Can it Be, O Sacred Head Now Wounded, There is a Fountain. Anyone who claims to know Christ and is not constantly struck by the wonder: How could Jesus love me? What endless depths of love must the Father have to give his Son? How can the Spirit so patiently work upon my heart?

There is mercy in God, a mercy which lies beyond all compare, a mercy which produces in our heart, “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” 1 Pet. 1:8

So just as we cannot understand the commands of Romans 12 without a clear understanding of the persistence of indwelling sin, so also, we will never be able to fulfill the commands without a certain knowledge of the boundless mercy of God.

As we will learn, one of the chief reasons commands to not think of ourselves too highly, and to bless those who persecute us, seem unreasonable, even impossible is because we do not rightly esteem the mercy of God.

The mercy of God begins at the Fall of Adam.

The command was unambiguous and without appeal, “for on the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.” Gen. 2:17 How Adam understood death, when it was not a thing he had experienced, we can only imagine. For us who have watched a parent or child or friend die, the finality and darkness of death is unquestioned. Once one has stood at the side of a grave, or closed another’s eyes with heartbreak, we know death. It is our inheritance which the executor will always convey.

But something happened when Adam sinned. There was certainly a death, because the relationship to God was severed. But the curtain of bodily death did not fall in an instant. Instead, God pronounced judgment, inflicted penalties, and drove the first pair from the Garden, but he did end Adam’s bodily life in that moment.

In fact, in the midst of that judgment, God showed his love toward all his creation. Notice the scene: There is the Serpent who we will come to know as the Arch Rebel against God. There is Adam and Eve fresh from their rebellion. God without question could have ended the existence of all three of them, but he does not:

God’s willingness to preserve the fallen spiritual creatures in spite of their rebellion is matched by his desire to keep the human race in being. This is a mystery that can only be explained only by his deep love for his creatures. Looked at in a purely rational light, it would not have been surprising if God had decided to wipe us out and start again.

(Gerald Lewis Bray, God Is Love: A Biblical and Systematic Theology (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2012), 473)

God then begins to pour grace and mercy onto his creation. He makes a promise in the midst of his first judgment:

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.”

Genesis 3:15. Someone will come and bruise the head of the serpent. God is thereafter lavish in mercy. He calls the idolator Abram to a knowledge of him and showers promises upon Abram. Gen. 12:1-3. He redeems Israel from Egypt because he wants to. He choses David because he wants to.

When Israel rebels with the Golden Calf, God relents at the intercession of Moses. Moses then in awe of this God seeks to the glory of God. God grants his wish – as much as Moses can bear—and passes by Moses proclaiming his name:

⁵The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. ⁶The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ⁷keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” ⁸And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.

Exodus 34:5–8. The accent is upon the mercy, the forgiveness of God. As James will write, “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” James 2:13

When Israel finally becomes so stubborn in her rebellion that the northern tribes are gone to Assyria and then Judah taken to judgment in Babylon, when it seems that the mercy of God has failed, he promises a new and better covenant:

³¹“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³²not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ³³For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Jeremiah 31:31–34.

It is that New Covenant which Paul proclaims in Romans. We can only think about the barest outlines. First, grants blessing received by faith, not earned by work:

⁴Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. ⁵And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, ⁶just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

⁷ “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

and whose sins are covered;

⁸ blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

⁹Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.

Romans 4:4–9. Paul will insist elsewhere upon the utter graciousness of this gift:

⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:4–9. Faith is the means by which one grants love and friendship to another. If someone promises you friendship, you can only receive it by faith and trust. If a young man bursting with love were to tell his beloved of his inmost heart and if she were to disbelieve him, no love would come to her.

Among friends, among those who love, this rarest of gifts is exchanged by faith. One’s wrath does not need to be believed, by love must be received.

No God faces an insolvable problem when he seeks to bestow mercy upon those have sinned against him. If God were merely to forgive, God would be unjust. If God does not forgive, God is unmerciful.

But God is both just and justifier, both perfect judge and full of mercy. He does this by an exchange whereby God, God the Son, obeys on our behalf and pays the penalty on our behalf:

⁶For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 5:6–11. And the proclamation of this exchange Paul saw as the key to his ministry:

¹⁶From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:16–21.

There is astounding mercy: We utterly wretched, dead in our trespasses and sin, rebels, zombies a life in death, have found mercy and made righteous by life and death of Christ: a life and death credited to us; while our sin and misery are credited to him.

Would you die for a friend? Would die for an enemy? Would you die to save someone who hated you? Would you give you son to do for your enemies so that your enemies would reconciled to you. Do you even begin to understand what that means?

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16. Once, when my infant son lay near death, I thought how I would willingly give my own life to save his. I thought further how I could give anyone else to save him. And as I had this thought it struck me, that the Father gave his Son to save me—his enemy. Do nothing to soften the depth of that gift. You cannot say, He is God and I am human. The Father loves the Son more than we love anything. The Son is worthy of more than any son of ours. The degradation to the Son to submit himself to the law, to be saddled with sin, to be struck in death, are things we cannot understand.

Glory Makes Reconciliation

The mercy of God is a movement from election to glory:

²⁹For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Romans 8:29–30. If you have been redeemed, you will be glorified. If you are in Christ, nothing in creation can keep you from being forever with Christ:

³⁸For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38–39. If you have received mercy from God in Jesus Christ, that mercy cannot be lost. If you are in Christ, you will without question receive “praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Pet. 1:7.

One thing which will make the commands of Romans 12 seemingly impossible is because not one human being upon this planet can begin to fathom the depth of the Father’s love as shown in his Son. We lack the capacity to contemplate so things as they deserve.

And yet God calls us to think of his love and mercy. He welcomes our poor musing.

We contemporary Christians are in such a hurry to do something for God that we never take the time to think about this wonder: not to do something, but just to gaze upon this mystery and be humbled.

And then we have the greater mysteries: Why did God choose me? It is not because we have earned a thing. We do not value this mercy. Why did God not save the one next to you? We think ourselves so clever in complaining that God does not save all. That is nothing. Why did God save any. But God has chosen “to the praise of his glorious grace.” Eph. 1:6. This is a love which nothing can end, no power can sever. Rom. 8:38-39.

Until you have settled in your mind, the depth of your sin—even now persisting—and the unfathomable mercy of God, continuing uphold you, you will either reject or twist the commands which Paul gives for the life of the church.

So when you look to this commands and you see your flesh pinched by “I don’t want to do that,” or “I don’t think I can.” Think to yourself: Ah, there is my indwelling sin; there is that sin which continues to dog me like a cough which one cannot shake, an infection of the soul which will never ease. When you feel yourself rebel at these instructions, think, God loves me and has shown such mercy to me and all that he asks is that I love those for whom Christ died and that I show mercy on those who continue to rebel against the will of God. You must think, I will love not because this human deserves such love but because Christ deserves such honor. The mercy I have received is the mercy I will show, even to my enemies.

1. Stop and take the time to merely think about the mercy of God. Contemplate the love of the Father in the death of Christ. When you look upon the cross, think to yourself, this is how deeply the Father loves me.

2. How many times has God shown mercy on your sin, today?

3. How often have you refused to show mercy to others? Think of one occasion.

4. Memorize the words of this hymn, And Can it Be:

And can it be that I should gain
An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
- Refrain:
  Amazing love! How can it be,
  That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
’Tis myst’ry all: th’ Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.
He left His Father’s throne above—
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For, O my God, it found out me!
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’ eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Edward Taylor, Oh Wealthy Theme.4

01 Saturday Aug 2020

Posted by memoirandremains in Christology, Edward Taylor

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All office fulness with all office gifts

Embossed are in thee, whereby thy grace

Doth treat both God and man, brings up by hifts

Black sinner and white justice to embrace:

Making the glory of God’s justice shine

And making sinners to God’s glory climb.

Office: At this point, Taylor is using the standard theological language of “office” to describe the work of Jesus Christ. It is a reference to particular aspects of Christ’s work as prophet, priest and king. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 23-27 read as follows:

Q. 23. What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?

A. Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet [a], of a priest [b], and of a king [c], both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.

[a]. Deut. 18:18; Acts 2:33; 3:22-23; Heb. 1:1-2

[b]. Heb. 4:14-15; 5:5-6

[c]. Isa. 9:6-7; Luke 1:32-33; John 18:37; 1 Cor. 15:25

Q. 24. How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?

A. Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his Word [a] and Spirit [b,] the will of God for our salvation [c].

[a]. Luke 4:18-19, 21; Acts 1:1-2; Heb. 2:3

[b]. John 15:26-27; Acts 1:8; 1 Pet. 1:11

[c]. John 4:41-42; 20:30-31

Q. 25. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?

A. Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice [a], and reconcile us to God [b]; and in making continual intercession for us [c].

[a]. Isa. 53; Acts 8:32-35; Heb. 9:26-28; 10:12

[b]. Rom. 5:10-11; 2 Cor. 5:18; Col. 1:21-22

[c]. Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; 9:24

Q. 26. How doth Christ execute the office of a king?

A. Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us [a], and in restraining and conquering all his

and our enemies [b].

[a]. Ps. 110:3; Matt. 28:18-20; John 17:2; Col. 1:13

[b]. Ps. 2:6-9; 110:1-2; Matt. 12:28; 1 Cor. 15:24-26; Col. 2:15

What Taylor means is that Christ fulfills the work of prophet, priest and king in the Incarnation, and that also Christ has the “gifts,” the abilities to fulfill such work.

Treat God and man: Christ, in his unique position as God Incarnate can deal equally with God and with Human Beings. He can communicate between the two as a bridge before the finite and infinite, the creator and creature.

Justice and mercy: The concept which causes Taylor to so praise, is that Christ, by means of his unique position being God and Man, can reconcile two completely opposite demands.

Justice by its nature requires satisfaction of the guilty party. If one is guilty, it is unjust for the law to ignore the demand. To understand this point, perhaps you need to feel it.

Imagine that someone you dearly loved was victimized by a brutal criminal. This criminal was then brought before a judge, where the fact of the crime was unquestionably established. However, the judge simply determined to let the criminal free without any penalty. You would rightly be angry: the law was unjust in permitting the guilty to go free.

Thus, God – to be God – must be perfectly just and cannot ignore crime.

However, this presents an unsolvable problem for humanity. The wrong done to an infinitely perfect being does not permit an easy resolution. What could we possibly do to satisfy the justice of God?

The prophet Micah put it this way:

Micah 6:6–7 (ESV)

⁶ “With what shall I come before the Lord,

and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

What we need is mercy from God.

How then can God be perfectly just (fully punishing crime) and merciful (passing over crime)?

Jesus as God and Man stands in for humanity. God’s justice is brought upon Jesus who suffers as a substitute and thus obtains mercy for human beings. In the act of faith and repentance, God transfers our guilt to Christ and Christ’s righteousness to us and so the sinner and justice “embrace.”

Richard Sibbes, Sermons on Canticles 1.7 (An imperfect garden)

10 Friday May 2019

Posted by memoirandremains in Richard Sibbes, Song of Solomon, Uncategorized

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37205931061_d1d143b2fa_o

(Photo courtesy of wallboat)

The previous post in this series may be found here

He next comes to a peculiarly encouraging aspect of Christ’s Garden.

The church desires Christ to come into his garden, ‘to eat his pleasant fruits,’ where we see, the church gives all to Christ. The garden is his, the fruit his, the pleasantness and preciousness of the fruit is his. And as the fruits please him, so the humble acknowledgment that they come from him doth exceedingly please him. It is enough for us to have the comfort, let him have the glory.

This discussion of Christ’s Garden and Christ’s produce raises a number of biblical allusions to the Garden. Adam was created and placed into a Garden. Jesus was buried in a Garden — and Mary Magdalene found Jesus in the Garden, “supposing he was the gardener” —a second Adam. God compares Israel to a vineyard. Isaiah 14. Jesus picks up on that image in the parable of the wicked tenants. The New Heavens and New Earth are a garden. Solomon sought to re-create Eden as a man-built Garden (Ecclesiastes 2).

But the most on point use of this imagery is found in John 15:

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

John 15:1–8 (AV).

Think of this imagery: there is fruit brought forth through us — but it is not from us. We produce, but in a state of dependency. We do not bring forth our own; it is Christ’s work.

Sibbes helps here, because he underscores an implication of this fact: Since the fruit does not come from us, it is not about us. Thus, our imperfections do not detract from Christ’s pleasure in his own work. We are only to give glory to him for his work in us — despite our weakness:

It came from a good spirit in David when he said, ‘Of thine own, Lord, I give thee,’ &c., 1 Chron. 29:14. God accounts the works and fruits that come from us to be ours, because the judgment and resolution of will, whereby we do them, is ours. This he doth to encourage us; but because the grace whereby we judge and will aright, comes from God, it is our duty to ascribe whatsoever is good in us, or comes from us, unto him; so God shall lose no praise, and we lose no encouragement. The imperfections in well-doing are only ours, and those Christ will pardon, as knowing how to bear with the infirmities of his spouse, being ‘the weaker vessel,’ 1 Pet. 3:7.

A thought on “weaker vessel”: our marriage is merely a metaphor for the true marriage between God and his people. We, however, try to work the metaphor backwards. We try to read our marriage in terms of Christ’s. Thus, when we come to “weaker vessel” (for instance) we are concerned with the concrete in our own life rather than Christ’s kindness and condescension toward us.

Here then is encouragement:

Use. This therefore should cheer up our spirits in the wants and blemishes of our performances. They are notwithstanding precious fruits in Christ’s acceptance, so that we desire to please him above all things, and to have nearer communion with him. Fruitfulness unto pleasingness may stand with imperfections, so that we be sensible of them, and ashamed for them. Although the fruit be little, yet it is precious, there is a blessing in it. Imperfections help us against temptations to pride, not to be matter of discouragement, which Satan aims at.

Our imperfections are for our good: God uses our weakness to demonstrate his strength. Our fault comes from falsely thinking ourselves strong. Gladly let us admit our weakness and our reliance upon Christ’s strength & grace.

It is the devil’s work to make us think of ourselves; rather let us think on our Savior:

And as Christ commands the north and south wind to blow for cherishing, so Satan labours to stir up an east pinching wind, to take either from endeavour, or to make us heartless in endeavour. Why should we think basely of that which Christ thinks precious? Why should we think that offensive which he counts as incense? We must not give false witness of the work of grace in our hearts, but bless God that he will work anything in such polluted hearts as ours. What though, as they come from us, they have a relish of the old man, seeing he takes them from us, ‘perfumes them with his own sweet odours,’ Rev. 8:3, and so presents them unto God. He is our High Priest which makes all acceptable, both persons, prayers, and performances, sprinkling them all with his blood, Heb. 9:14.

And our consolation:

To conclude this point, let it be our study to be in such a condition wherein we may please Christ; and whereas we are daily prone to offend him, let us daily renew our covenant with him, and in him: and fetch encouragements of well-doing from this, that what we do is not only well-pleasing unto him, but rewarded of him. And to this end desire him, that he would give command to north and south, to all sort of means, to be effectual for making us more fruitful, that he may delight in us as his pleasant gardens. And then what is in the world that we need much care for or fear?

Study Guide: Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment 10.5

15 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in Jeremiah Burroughs, Study Guide, Uncategorized

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idolatry, Jeremiah Burroughs, mercy, Study Guide, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

Contentment Fits us for Mercy

1 What relationship does Burroughs draw from receiving mercy from God and contentment?

2 Burroughs makes multiple analogies help illustrate God’s actions. Recount them and explain how they apply.

3 When we are discontent, what must we believe about God’s power? Goodness? Wisdom? Strength?

4 When we are discontent, are we seeking what God has provided for us, or what we have determined we deserve?

5 Read James 1:2-4. What does God here intend for those who fall into trials?

6 Read Romans 5:1-5. What does God intend for those who fall into trials?

7 Read 2 Corinthians 1:8-9. What does God intend for those fall into trials?

8 When we are discontent in a trial, what do we seek?

9 Look again at Burroughs’ definition of contentment?

10 Contentment is a willingness to receive what God has to give us.

11 All temptation preys upon discontentment: We are in a circumstance. We face X, but we desire Y. We are not content with what we have at present. Temptation comes along and offers to us Y, at the cost of disobeying God. The temptation takes place in the distance between what we have and what we want.

You Current Reality

You What you desire

You may become angry, covetous, deceitful, slanderous, envying, lustful, stealing, et cetera to get what you want. At one level, discontentment is a desire to sin and a desire to not be satisfied with what God has provided.

This relates to idoltary as follows:

An idol is a thing which use to get what we want. Israel prayed to Baal because they thought Baal could make them rich, et cetera. When we throw a fit and demand that God give us what we want because we want it, we are treating God as a servant, as an idol. In such a circumstance, what can God give to us?

This is how idolatry functioned in Old Testament. The fundamental problem with the Israelites in the Old Testament was that they reserved for themselves the prerogative to determine what they needed and when they needed it, instead of trusting the Lord. The self-oriented hearts of the Israelites then looked to the world (the neighbors in their midst) and followed their lead in blowing to gods that were not God in order to satisfy the lusts of their self-exalting hearts. When this is comprehended, it portrays the terrible irony of Israelite false worship. When the Israelites followed the lead of their neighbors and bowed before blocks of wood, that act of false worship underlined their desire for autonomy and, in an ironic way, was an exultation of themselves even more than of the idol. The idol itself was incidental; (in our world it could be a pornographic picture, a spouse as the particular object of codependency, or an overprotective mother’s controlling fear attached specifically to her children) the self-exalting heart was the problems, which remains the problem today.

The main problem sinful people have is not idols of the heart per se. The main problem certainly involves idols and is rooted in the heart, but the idols are manifestations of the deeper problem. The heart problems is self-exultation, and idols are two or three steps removed. A self-exalting heart that grasps after autonomy is the Grand Unifying Theory (GUT) that unites all idols. Even though idols change from culture to culture and from individual to individual within a culture, the fundamental problem of humanity has not changed since Genesis 3: sinful people want – more than anything in the whole world – to be God.

Heath Lambert, The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 148. Considering this: how can one who is insistent upon God bowing to his will expect anything from God.

12 Read Psalm 131 and explain how the psalmist is at peace. How does this relate to contentment and temptation?

When the godly are burdened and afflicted that way and the wicked are hardened and go unpunished and God sits in wait for them as if the affairs of this world were of no concern to him, what can be said but that he appears to be doing one thing but is doing another and does not wish to reveal that he is the Judge until he knows the time is right? Now, if we want to know why, we will be left in confusion. Consequently, we must conclude that God’s judgments are secret and astonishing and surpass human understanding and that our minds fail us, but that we must revere God’s secrets, which are not known to us even as we confess that he is just despite the fact we find what he does strange. Moreover,

John Calvin. Sermons on Job, Volume 2: Chapters 15-31 (Kindle Locations 7559-7564). The Banner of Truth Trust.

Compare and Contrast: Job 11 & Romans 11 (The Wisdom of God)

12 Friday Feb 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in Job, Mercy, Romans, Uncategorized

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Romans 11:33-26:

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

And Job 11:6-9:

For he is manifold in understanding. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves. 7 Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? 8 It is higher than heaven-what can you do? Deeper than Sheol-what can you know? 9 Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.

They both see the God’s wisdom as unsearchable, but they go in different directions. Zophar tells Job that if Job makes himself good enough, God will reward him:

Job 11:10–20 (ESV)

¹⁰ If he passes through and imprisons

and summons the court, who can turn him back?

¹¹ For he knows worthless men;

when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?

¹² But a stupid man will get understanding

when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man!

¹³ “If you prepare your heart,

you will stretch out your hands toward him.

¹⁴ If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,

and let not injustice dwell in your tents.

¹⁵ Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;

you will be secure and will not fear.

¹⁶ You will forget your misery;

you will remember it as waters that have passed away.

¹⁷ And your life will be brighter than the noonday;

its darkness will be like the morning.

¹⁸ And you will feel secure, because there is hope;

you will look around and take your rest in security.

¹⁹ You will lie down, and none will make you afraid;

many will court your favor.

²⁰ But the eyes of the wicked will fail;

all way of escape will be lost to them,

and their hope is to breathe their last.”

Paul sees precisely the opposite in the wisdom of God. It the mercy of God toward the disobedient which causes Paul to praise the wisdom of God:

Romans 11:25–36 (ESV)

²⁵Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,

he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;

²⁷ “and this will be my covenant with them

when I take away their sins.”

²⁸As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. ²⁹For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ³⁰For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, ³¹so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. ³²For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

³³Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

³⁴ “For who has known the mind of the Lord,

or who has been his counselor?”

³⁵ “Or who has given a gift to him

that he might be repaid?”

³⁶For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

God’s Mercy and the Problem of Evil

10 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in Gerald Bray, Uncategorized

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Gerald Bray in God is Love has an interesting understanding of the problem of evil: Evil exists because God is merciful. This sounds counter-intuitive at first, but the argument is sound:

Logic and justice demand the appropriate punishment, but God’s love and mercy are greater than they are. In spite of everything his rebellious creatures have done and everything they so richly deserve, God has reached out to them and allowed and allowed them to remain in existence as a sign of his great love for them and of their continuing importance to him as beings he has made and over he he remains fully sovereign.

God is Love, p. 353. So we when we look to the cross, we must realize that it is the sheer mercy and grace of God that Pilate continued to exist and the soldiers were not instantly judged for their blasphemy. It is mercy and grace that the wood persisted and the nails could do their damage.

Bray pushes back and sees a greater wonder:

The preservation of Satan and his angels, and the limited but still significant authority given to them, is the great mystery of the world. If God had eliminated them after their revolt, there would be no problem of evil now because they would have been able to tempt Adam and Eve to fall away. The spiritual warfare in which they are engaged would not exist and the human race would presumably be fulfilling its God-ordained purpose in a world that did not know the power of evil. But this paradise was not to be. By allowing Satan to survive, God acquiesced in a situation in which a force opposed to him would hold sway over an important part of his created universe, and would hold sway over an important part of his created universe, and would be free to tempt the first human into following him. Why did God do this?

Ibid. Why indeed?

Have mercy on me

01 Tuesday Sep 2015

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“His first prayer is one suitable for all persons and occasions, it breathes a humble spirit, indicates self knowledge, appeals to the proper attributes, and to the fitting person. Have mercy upon me, O Lord. Just as Luther used to call some texts little Bibles, so we may call this sentence a little prayer-book; for it has in it the soul and marrow at prayer. It is multum in parvo, and like the angelic sword turns every way. The ladder looks to be short, but it reaches from earth to heaven.”

Spurgeon on Psalm 9:13

The Peaceful Gates of Heav’nly Bliss

27 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Atonement, Christology, Isaac Watts

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Atonement, Hymns, Isaac Watts, mercy

Hymn 108

Come, let us lift our joyful eyes
Up to the courts above,
And smile to see our Father there
Upon a throne of love.

Once ’twas a seat of dreadful wrath,
And shot devouring flame
Our God appeared “consuming fire,”
And Vengeance was his name.

Rich were the drops of Jesus’ blood
That calmed his frowning face,
That sprinkled o’er the burning throne,
And turned the wrath to grace.

Now we may bow before his feet,
And venture near the Lord;
No fiery cherub guards his seat,
Nor double-flaming sword.

The peaceful gates of heav’nly bliss
Are opened by the Son;
High let us raise our notes of praise,
And reach th’ almighty throne.

To thee ten thousand thanks we bring,
Great Advocate on high;
And glory to th’ eternal King,
That lays his fury by.

Isaac Watts, The Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts