I Said What I Said
And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
Matthew 27:37
Is there any doubt that this sign on the cross was God’s truth? He can paint with squirrelly brushes when he wants to and knows how to redeem the happy accidents. As a wise tortoise has said, “There are no accidents.”
The rulers went whining to Pilate about the sign:
“Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
John 19:21–22
Thus the Lord speaks ever over his word and over his world: I said what I said!
Christ Alone
Then all the disciples left him and fled.
Matthew 26:56
On the night when Jesus was betrayed, Judas kissed him (the fear of any man from his friend), the crowd seized him, the Sanhedrin struck him, Pilate whipped him, and the soldiers mocked him and nailed him to the tree.
What probably hurt far worse was that all his friends ran away. One of them pretended not to know him three times that night. Jesus was alone on earth when God the Father rejected him from heaven. He hung on the tree as a cursed thing.
But this dying Seed bears much fruit. Through him we have escaped. Through him we have been crucified to the world and the world to us. Through him we are dead to this present evil age. Through him we shall rise again and rule the galaxies. All through Christ alone.
Wait for It
With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.
Psalm 78:72
Being clever can be a bad thing. The ancient serpent is crafty (Genesis 3:1; 2 Corinthians 11:3). Our gospel which defeats him is not “cleverly devised myths” (2 Peter 1:16). But clever can also be a compliment (and I say bring it back). Here Asaph uses it to describe King David, who had the skills to pay the bills.
As we well know, this verse is really about the Son of David who guides his church with purity of holiness and the cleverest of skill. He alone is wiser than serpents and innocenter than doves. Knowing this by faith helps us trust him when it seems like he’s snoozin’ on what’s oozin’.
Geniuses may look like fools to idiots yet the wise have been known to play that part, as our Lord did on the tree—and as, it may be, he often does with us. So when things are woeful or weary or weird, let’s wait for it. His wisdom will always win.
The Reformed Doctrine of Trusting God’s Saving Power
They did not trust his saving power.
Psalm 78:22
In a way all sins are equal, for every sin is against God (James 2:10–11). Yet in another way some sins are worse than others. For instance, Jesus spoke of “the weightier matters of the law” (Matthew 23:23). Hypocrisy may be an especially destructive sin (Matthew 24:51).
The ultimate sin in the Bible is the sin of unbelief (John 3:18). Not trusting our Creator is a denial of our entire relationship with him: he is God eternal and we are his dependent creatures.
In the gospel this relationship is magnified: he saves and we get saved. How lovely! Since by faith in Christ we have now obtained eternal salvation from sin and death, let’s also trust his saving power to deliver us in a thousand ways every day.
Drama Kings and Queens
Sin makes us volatile. We can be prone to discouragement and plain old dramatic thinking. It’s even a common struggle for believers. Check out what Asaph had to say at one point:
Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Psalm 77:8–9
That’s pretty dramatic. But we’ve all felt that way. We’ve all felt like God has forsaken us forever, like he’s never going to fulfill his promises, like he has completely forgotten about us or rejected us utterly. The Christian life can often feel like that.
But the beauty of the Christian life is that we walk by faith not feeling. The bottom line is that in the gospel God has sworn to be our God forever and ever. Say less. It’s only a matter of time until he makes all things right. So let’s be easy!
Stories We Love
We are wired to love stories. Movies and shows, not to mention books and bars, capture our imagination. Perhaps as Christians we find ourselves believing—or wanting to believe—that all stories come from God’s Story.
This could be true in more ways than one. First of all, our stories are made by us, and we are God’s story. David knew this:
Your eyes saw my embryo, and in your book they all were written—days fashioned for me when there was not one of them.
Psalm 139:16 (LEB)
Secondly, our best stories—the ones that make us cry from happiness—take after the Story of God’s love for us in the Gospel. Thus may every good hero we love (fictional or otherwise!) direct our affection to the Greater Hero, the Lord Jesus Christ, who saves us forever.
Jackpot
Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
Psalm 73:1
This Psalm is the Old Testament version of “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). This promise answers a disconnect in us: we are worried about created things while we have the Creator for our heavenly Father.
Asaph knew what was up. We all deal with it: jealousy of arrogant, wicked people. Their lives seem easy—safe and sound and secure—while they blaspheme or ignore God. But their end is not good. “So is the one who lays up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God” (Luke 21:21).
May he who is our Riches save us from true poverty. For us it is good to be near to him, our portion and treasure and joy and all.
The Reformed Doctrine of Spinners
Ezekiel’s wheels within wheels probably refers to the spinning stars of the night sky, which represent God’s rule over his creation. As such they have been associated with his providence or masterful storytelling in all things.
Nowhere do we see this more clearly than in the life and death of his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. For instance, when (according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God) he was handed over for crucifixion, it was in perfect step with God’s master plan:
“You know that after two days the Passover is coming,” said Jesus. “Then,” writes Matthew, “the chief priests and the elders of the people…plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, ‘Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar…’” (Matthew 26:2-5). And so it was fulfilled that the Lamb of God was slain on Passover.
Wheels within wheels all spinning together to complete God’s purposes in perfect time. So if we are so privileged to have enemies scheming against us in secret, let us rest assured that all is in perfect motion for maximizing God’s glory in our deliverance.
Endgame
The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Matthew 24:29–30
In the 2015 motion picture Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony Stark creates an AI super bot to protect earth from hostile alien forces (which goes horribly wrong). In his defense he contends that the Avengers need to prepare the earth for imminent invasion from the sky. “That up there,” he says, “that’s the endgame.”
The real world is not unlike this. Every man, woman, and child will meet their Maker when the God-Man Jesus Christ returns on the clouds of heaven to bring God’s justice upon this planet. Being a Christian is putting on the real suit of armor—the righteousness of Christ—ahead of time. Fortunately for you and I, he gives it freely to all who ask.
To be a disciple of Christ is to have that terrible Day squared away. We are forgiven and justified and adopted and ready for the Day of the Lord. So we can face all our other days with courage and honor, waiting for and hastening the appearance of the Lord Jesus from heaven. Let all God’s people say, “Come quickly, Lord!”
Cloudy With No Chance of Comparison
Who in the clouds can be compared to the LORD?
Psalm 89:6
God is not like us; we get that. Heavenly powers seem more like him, and in a way they are. But Psalm 89 teaches us that he is as far above angelic majesties as he is above us.
The fact is, they fear him more than we do, being more familiar with his glory. So let’s not be scared of anyone. Let’s trust and serve the Lord with boldness, knowing that his mightiest servants in heaven do just the same.