fire

We made a fire today:
piled branches
in a top-heavy heap
and watched
as flames licked and spat and hissed,
roared high above our heads,
flicked their tails in a column of
dense
green
smoke.
We had to stand well back,
shield our faces,
dodge falling embers,
evade choking fumes.

And I looked,
trembled,
and thought,
“It is a dreadful thing
to fall into the hands
of the living God.”

We made a fire today:
it died lower, low,
till leaves vanished,
twigs glimmered,
branches charred,
ash deepened,
coals glowed.
Tamed
(but not tame)
it invited
marshmallow-toasting,
potato-cooking,
melody-singing,
hand-warming.

And I looked,
dreamed,
and thought,
“His wrath burned out
in the body of his Son,
God becomes
refuge
comfort
sustenance
warmth;

but never safe,
never to be disregarded,
never to be taken lightly,

for our God is
still
a consuming fire.”

(See Hebrews 10:31; 12:29)

This post first appeared at The Briefing.

why God doesn't just get rid of sin

Do you ever wonder why God doesn't answer your prayers and make you instantly holy? I know I do! If God wants me to obey him - which I know he does - and if it's in his power to make me holy - which I know it is - then why do I still struggle with sin?

There have been times, after a long losing battle with sin, when I've glimpsed the answer: humility. When I "succeed" in my obedience (there's a telling phrase!) I get smug and proud. When I fail, over and over again, it humbles me. I need this, because I'm all too ready to think I can get it right!

Here's another, even better answer. I came across it the other day while preparing a Bible study on Romans. It's by David Seccombe:

Over and over again we are disappointed by our own performance. We pledge our day to God in the morning, pray for grace to overcome all trials, and in the evening look back with shame at nasty words and thoughts, greed, pride, cowardice and so on...We may venture the thought that, if God has withheld the grace of instant sanctification, desperately as most Christian would love to have it, it is because there is a greater gain to be had in the lifetime of struggle with evil to which he commits us...The daily reality of sin causes us again and again to look to our Saviour for forgiveness, and to rest our trust in him that we stand accepted by God ever and only because of his gift.

So why does God let me go on struggling with sin? Here's the answer: grace. I didn't just become a Christian by grace; I live in it every day. When I fail, then fail again, it becomes obvious even to me that I can't depend on my own efforts. I'm driven back to the Saviour. That's what sin does. It drives me away from self-assurance and to the foot of the cross.

(There's an even bigger answer: God's glory, and the glory of his Son - Rom 9:22-24, 1 Cor 15:20-28, Eph 1:3-14 cf. Exod 9:16. But that's a post for another day.)


Quote is from David Seccombe Dust to destiny: Reading Romans today 124-127.

image is by Keoni Cabral from flickr

the fear of the LORD (4a) fear on this side of the cross

Is "the fear of the LORD" appropriate on this side of the cross? Isn't it something just for Old Testament believers? Hasn't Jesus freed us from fear? (Heb 2:14-15, Rom 8:15, 1 Jn 4:18)

Last time I talked about two kinds of fear:

• the terror of God's unrepentant enemies
• the trusting fear of those who take refuge in God

You'll find both in the New Testament. Today I want to talk about the first, the terror of God's enemies on this side of the cross and how it affects us as Christians; and next time about the second, the trusting fear of those who hope in Jesus.

Do you think Mount Sinai was scary? Remember how the Israelites trembled with fear when they heard God speaking out of fire and deep darkness as the mountain shook underfoot? Well, there's a much scarier mountain than that one!

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. ...

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." ...

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire". (Heb 12:18-29, emphases mine)

I've always thought this was a pretty picture of the heavenly mountain with all the angels singing. I've only recently noticed that it's a fearful picture of the coming judgement which will not shake just one mountain but the entire universe.

This is a terrible warning to Jewish believers who wanted to return to the law of Moses. If the Israelites didn't escape when they disobeyed God's law, how will we escape if we reject Jesus, God's only Son?

"Those who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot? ... It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Heb 10:26-31)

You have to remember it's Christians - or at least people who seem to be Christians! - who the writer of Hebrews is warning here. The fear of God's judgement is one of the things which keeps us from turning our backs on Jesus.

The New Testament gives a terrible picture of the judgement of Jesus, who treads the wine press of God's fury until blood rises high as a horse's bridle. If God's enemies hid from his anger among the rocks (Isa 2:10) they now call to the rocks,"Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!" (Rev 6:16; Rev 6, 14:14-20, 19:11-21).

There is a place of refuge from this terror: Jesus, Judge and Saviour, whose death on the cross frees us "from the fear of death". Safe in him from terror of God's judgement, we still serve God "with reverence and awe", never daring to stop trusting in Jesus (if that were possible!), never forgetting that our "God is a consuming fire" (Heb 2:14-15 cf Heb 12:29).

On this side of the cross, God's greater salvation brings greater blessing and greater punishment. Let's heed the warning, and flee from Jesus' anger to his mercy, ever fearing but never afraid.

first image is from stock.xchng, second image is from Olim Art

hell: too hard to believe?

I was enjoying an excellent Bible talk by our minister John on something completely unrelated, when my mind did a flip-flop, and I realised: it's the whole deal with God.

If I believe the Bible is God's word, and God speaks the truth, and nothing but the truth, then I have to believe even the bits of the Bible I'm uncomfortable with.

If I'm uncomfortable with the idea of hell (which I am) then that's my problem, not God's.

Do I trust God to be wiser than me? (Answer: yes.) Do I believe God speaks the truth in his word? (Answer: yes.) Do I know God is absolutely just, perfectly good, completely loving? (Answer: yes.) Do I trust God to have understood all the ins and outs of how something like hell can be just, fair and loving, even when it doesn't make sense to me? (Answer: yes.)

Do I believe that my loving Father, who sent his only Son to die on the cross, and suffer the agonies of hell for me, did this capriciously, unlovingly, or unnecessarily? (Answer: no way.)

So how can I possible think I'm justified in holding my own opinion about what's right, and my preferences for what's comfortable, and my feelings about what's acceptable, above God's love, goodness, and wisdom? How dare I prefer my wisdom to his?

Then why do I hold back part of my mind in reservation when it comes to believing in hell?

What else am I holding in reservation? In what areas am I saying to God "I will believe your word if it says ... , but not if it says ... ?" How am I saying to God "I am wiser / fairer / more loving than you?"

What parts of the Bible do I find it too hard to accept?

Questions worth asking.

Further reading on hell (and I admit here and now I have avoided this topic and only skim-read these excellent-looking posts - sorry my fellow bloggers!) include Gordo's posts on hell and Honoria's posts on hell. Here's an article by J.I.Packer on annihilationism and some helpful-looking links and articles on annihilationism and hell. I should do some more reading on this topic, but I don't want to.

refuge

I had two very different morning walks early this year. One cold, one hot, miniatures of an unsettled summer.

The first walk was on a bleak and chilly morning. Leaden clouds moved restlessly across the dreary sky. A single crow flew high and lonely against the grey. Above me towered a dead gum, smooth bark the grey-white of old bones and limbs grotesquely contorted, clutching at the sky with twigs like blackened corpses' fingers. All that was missing to make it a truly cliched portent of doom was a flock of ravens cawing ominously from its branches.

I had just read these words about Jesus and the day he comes to bring judgement:

Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. (Revelation 1:7)

A day of terror and anguish for many:

They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" (Revelation 6:16-17)

How frightening must Jesus' anger be, if people would rather have a mountain fall on them than face him!

The second walk was a few days later, under a blazing blue sky. Sweat trickled down my back, promising a sweltering day to come. A gusty north wind carried the acrid odour of a distant bush-fire. Dry leaves skittered rattling across the hot bitumin of the car park, and crested pigeons fled chattering into the shelter of the trees. The air was oppressive, full of the threat of fire.

It reminded me that the safest refuge in the inferno of a bush-fire is the place which has already been burnt black by the flames. When God's anger burns against sin, there is only one safe place: where God's anger has already spent itself. In Jesus, whose pierced hands still recall the day he bore the anguish of the cross in our place, that we might escape.

I know, when God comes in his just judgement against our rebellion, I don't want to be crying for a mountain to hide me. I want to be hiding under the wings of Christ:

Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. (Psalm 57:1)

I want to look on the one who was pierced for me, and not mourn, but rejoice.

image is from stock.xchng