Morning Star
I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.
Revelation 22:16
Venus now hangs in the morning sky. She is our near neighbor in the heavens. As she gathers and sends the sun’s brilliant beams our way, she announces to us the coming of dawn.
Such is Christ’s appearance. He has announced to us the coming of the kingdom of heaven. And those who are now looking to him by faith are preparing for the great and terrible sunrise of God.
The More the Merrier
I will gather yet others to him, besides those already gathered.
Isaiah 56:8
God always said he was going to do it. He was bringing all the world into his kingdom. Well it’s global now, but he’s still at it. He’s filling in the corners of heaven, like the merry hobbits who snacked late into Bilbo Baggins’ 111th birthday party.
Spurgeon once prayed that God would save his elect and then elect some more. Pretty funny, but that’s pretty much it. We cannot possibly fathom all that the Lord has in store. From our perspective, the possibilities are endless. Let’s live with this mindset and pray that the Lord of the harvest uses us to gather yet others to him.
The Reformed Doctrine of Dante
I’ve been reading The Divine Comedy. It’s not as funny as I expected, but it’s been a fascinating voyage so far. We are currently ascending Mount Purgatory. Although Dante was devoutly Roman Catholic, I think he had that Reformer dog in him. For instance, he does not hesitate to place popes in the Inferno. Even Luther could dig that.
But what about purgatory? Dante believed the fiction that suffering after death awaits those who are alive in Christ. Perish the thought! Praise the Lord that today—if today be my day to die—that I too shall be in Paradise with him who died and rose again for me.
Having said that, I think Dante’s Mount may be climbed with profit by those who believe and know the truth. The truth in this case is that the present life, not the life to come, is where we work out our salvation with fear and trembling and unalive our sins. It is here and now where we wage war by the power of the Truth. Consider, then, this gospel gem Dante speaks to weary pilgrims along the way:
May grace quickly dissipate the froth of your conscience in order that the stream of the mind may descend clearly thorough it.
When our conscience is disturbed, our thinking is muddled like troubled waters. There can be misty seasons of wrestling with sin and temptation for the believer. But let’s remember that it is God’s grace, and his grace alone, which cleanses our conscience and sets our mind at liberty. Let’s draw from the wells of salvation with joy, always drinking the sweet waters that help us to see clearly on our way Home.
When All Other Lights Go Out
It bees like that sometimes. The moonless night of the soul falls upon us all. The Scriptures speak movingly to our times of despair, commending faith in God as our true and only hope.
Who can forget David?
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Psalm 23:4
And again, Micah says:
Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.
Micah 7:8
Let us harken, then, to the words of the prophet, who tells us plainly:
Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
Isaiah 50:10
Our God is with us in all darknesses and, in due time, he will lead us out of them all.
There Is Always Hope
That’s one of Aragorn son of Arathorn’s great lines. He spoke it upon the edge of the battle of Helm’s Deep, which is remarkable because things were not looking good for him and his friends. Even Legolas despaired!
It’s easy to speak about hope when we are feeling encouraged. But it is in the depths of despair where true hope lives, just as it is in darkness where light shines. Perhaps we have forgotten that the battle belongs to the Lord? As long as that is true, there is always hope.
The Reformed Doctrine of Running Out of Steam
We all run out of energy, sometimes physically, other times mentally or emotionally. We have limited capacity and our tanks drain quickly. What do we do when there is no more strength to carry on? How can we press forward when trials weigh us down like weights? Isaiah has a good word for that:
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:28-31).
And so our job is simple. We trust. We wait. Our Father is the everlasting God and his strength will supply all our needs. He never tires of anything, especially taking care of us.
Fly the Flag
The Bible has many names for our Lord Jesus Christ, such as the Word, the Vine, the Living Bread, the Door, the Live Coal from the Altar, and the Root. The last two were spoken by Isaiah, who also calls him the Flag.
The Root of Jesse…shall stand as a signal for the peoples.
Isaiah 11:10
A signal is a flag which flies to rally the troops. So is Jesus to us. Christ crucified lifted high gathers the elect from all peoples. So may we look to him ourselves and fly the flag for others.
Rejoice. It’s the Law.
The Christian life is filled with ups and downs. The lows can be low and existential while the highs can be other worldly. On this note, it is important to remember that the spiritual and eternal spoils we have obtained in Christ are so very great that the Scriptures regularly command us to rejoice. For example, Isaiah 12:6:
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitants of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
It’s not a suggestion. Here the news is so good that we are told to shout for joy. Now, when’s the last time you did that? Yet, if we saw our salvation for what it truly is, we would do nothing but shout for joy. May the Lord help us in this great duty of rejoicing before him by opening our eyes to see.
Fireside Chat With John of Damascus
I’m reading John of Damascus and he’s dropping bars about the Holy Trinity (we won’t talk about the filioque part). He writes about the eternal generation of God the Son like this:
The holy catholic and apostolic Church, then, teaches the existence at once of a Father and of His Only-begotten Son…just as we recognize the existence at once of fire and the light which proceeds from it: for there is not first fire and thereafter light, but they exist together. And just as light is ever the product of fire, and ever is in it and at no time is separate from it, so in like manner also the Son is begotten of the Father and is never in any way separate from Him, but ever is in Him.
And so God the Father and God the Son are One. The Son exists with and from the Father in one eternal generation of the divine nature that has simply always been. He is the necessary radiance of the Father’s glory. He is also the one who became one of us and died for our sins because he loves us very much.
The Reformed Doctrine of Windy Days
It’s a blustery one here in the Twin Cities. The wind can bring diverse effects: a welcomed breeze in the dog days of summer is quite different than a piercing blast in the depths of winter. Sometimes it stills itself over glassy lakes and at other times it can knock down trees and even buildings.
The Lord Jesus employs the wind to talk about the Holy Spirit and his work of salvation.
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
- John 3:8
Let’s improve this windy day by meditating upon the freedom and power of the Spirit of God and all his good work in our lives. Let’s also trust him in all that he is doing with us and for us in his mysterious and untraceable motions.