Made Clean and Whole

All of Jesus’ miracles are remarkable, but one that stands out to me involves ten lepers that He encountered on a journey to Jerusalem.

Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. (Luke 17:11–16)

Why does this particular miracle stand out so prominently? Because the healing was topsy-turvy and backwards. Jesus came into an unnamed village when this small band of men living near, but outside (see Lev 13:45–46), the city asked for mercy from their affliction—an expected reception from those with incurable infirmities who had heard of the Miracle Worker. Jesus’ response is another matter.

Go, Show Yourselves

Moses had received specific instructions on Mt. Sinai for the cleansing of one no longer afflicted with a leprous disease. In summary, the process from Leviticus 14:1–32 was:

• Priest meets a formerly leprous person outside the camp for examination.
• Kill one bird in an earthen vessel to capture its blood.
• Dip the live bird, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop in the blood; sprinkle the person to be cleansed; release the bird.
• Person shaves his head, washes clothes, and bathes.
• Person lives outside his tent seven days, after which he shaves all hair, washes clothes, and bathes again.
• On the eighth day, the priest makes the atoning sacrifice based on what the person can afford and anoints the person similarly to the priest.

Jesus told the ten men to take the first step of initial examination, and as they went, all were cleansed: the leprosy had been healed. We can imagine the joy the men felt when they discover what had suddenly occurred. Probably their pace quickened as they began their trek to Jerusalem; however, there was a complication for one.

He Was a Samaritan

Jesus told the Samaritan leper to go to the priest as a witness. While there were no specific Levitical laws which forbade an outsider from going through the cleansing ritual, there were some preventing foreigners from being part of the worshiping community. In view of this restriction, Jesus’ command to the men becomes more stark. While the Lord’s favor might have been expected toward the Jews, none was toward outsiders, especially the despised Samaritans. This man would become a witness to the priests that divine favor was not reserved for the Jews, but would be extended to all who believed in the Father and the One whom He sent. The Samaritan not only had a physical healing but a complete one through faith.

So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:11–19)

Jesus told a different Samaritan that something new was in the offing. While journeying from Judea to Galilee, Jesus took His disciples through Samaria rather than going around the region as most Jewish travelers would do. His encounter with a Samaritan woman of ill repute (John 4:1–26) made clear that worship before God would no longer be dictated by location and ancestral lines but in spirit and truth through faith (John 4:21–24).

The Way Made Open

One does not need to dwell long on these accounts to understand their poignancy and application. Here were two individuals—separated from God by both blood and uncleanness—made clean and whole through Jesus’ word and promise. These serve as a precursor for our own entry into the family of faith. We who had no place as unclean outsiders are made presented clean and holy through faith by virtue of the great transaction on the cross at Golgotha. There a new and living way was made open, so that all who are baptized into Christ and believe on Him are now full beneficiaries of God’s abundant grace. What a blessing! May we also with a loud voice glorify God and worship Him who made us clean and whole.

The Cure for What Ails

Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”… And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.” (Mark 5:25–28, 34)

One cannot help but see every person’s desperate condition. This unnamed woman, through no fault of her own, bore a grievous burden that caused her to be unclean and separated her from those around. Every human avenue had been pursued to no avail, but nothing in this world could free her from suffering and bondage. She had neither access to God nor fellowship with His people. In effect, this woman had the same status as any Gentile: without Christ, alien from God’s people and provision, and stranger from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (Eph 2:12).

But then she does the remarkable: she acts in faith to gain the only One who could heal what was ailing her as Peter Chrysologous recounts:

No seas were ever so troubled by the ebb and flow of the tide, as the mind of this woman, pulled to and fro by the sway of her thoughts. After all the hopeless attempts of physicians, after all her outlay on useless remedies, after all the usual but useless treatment, when skill and experience had so long failed, all her substance was gone. This was not by chance, but divinely ordered, that she might be healed solely through faith and humility, whom human knowledge had failed through so many years. At a little distance apart from Him stood this woman, whom nature had filled with modesty, whom the law had declared unclean, saying of her: She shall be unclean and shall touch no holy thing [Lev 15:25]. She fears to touch, lest she incur the anger of the religious leaders, or the condemnation of the law. For fear of being talked about, she dares not speak, lest she embarrass those about her, lest she offend their ears. Through many years her body has been an arena of suffering. Everyday, unceasing pain she can endure no more. The Lord is passing by so quickly. The time is short to think what she must do, aware that healing is not given to the silent, nor to the one who hides her pain. In the midst of her conflicting thoughts, she sees a way, her sole way of salvation. She would secure her healing by stealth, take in silence what she dares not ask for, guarding her respect and modesty. She who feels unworthy in body, draws near in heart to the Physician. In faith she touches God. With her hand she touches His garment, knowing that both healing and forgiveness may be bestowed on this stratagem, undertaken due to the demands of modesty, and not as she otherwise would have preferred. She knew the gain she sought by stealth would cause no loss to Him from whom she took it.… In an instant, faith cures where human skill had failed through twelve years. (Sermon 33.4)

Notice the change. Once an outsider, this one is called daughter. She who had been separate from any benefit that may come to God’s people is now in a covenantal, familial relationship. No longer on the outside looking in, she now has full benefit as a fellow heir of the promises of blessing to Abraham, drawing close to worship and fellowship with God’s people.

What might be the most remarkable takeaway from this story might be that every person coming into this world has the same basic condition—hopeless and without God. Our natural inclination is to turn to the wisdom found in this world to find a cure for our condition, yet none can be found. We might be able to ease it somewhat with a salve applied to the conscience, but our condition continues to deteriorate. There is but one Great Physician who can heal the whole person. His cure cannot be earned or purchased. Only by grace through faith might we receive what Christ has so richly provided by taking our greatest ailment, sin, upon Himself and in exchange bestowing on us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph 1:3). This is where true healing occurs.

Salvation Has Come

Psalm 98 (LXX)
Sing a new song to the Lord
    for He did wondrous things;
His right hand and His holy arm
    saved peoples for Him.
The Lord has made known His salvation;
    He revealed His righteousness in the sight of the Gentiles.
He remembered his mercy to Jacob
    And His truth to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth saw the salvation of our God.

Shout aloud to God, all the earth;
    Sing and greatly rejoice, and sing psalms;
Sing to the Lord on a lyre,
    On a lyre and the voice of a psalm;
With trumpets of metal and the sound of a trumpet of horn,
    Shout aloud before the Lord our King.

Let the sea be shaken and its fullness,
    The world and those who dwell in it.
The rivers shall clap their hands together;
    The mountains shall greatly rejoice;
For He comes to judge the earth;
He shall judge the world in righteousness,
    And the peoples with uprightness.

This psalm is beautiful, telling of God’s mighty hand and powerful working to bring salvation, but one is left wondering of when it speaks.  Is this celebrating the Red Sea crossing? or perhaps Gideon’s victory over Midian? or maybe Sennacherib’s defeat before Hezekiah?  Perchance it may be a general song of victory to be sung whenever the Lord saves His people.  Whatever occasion initially prompted the psalm, it always looked forward to God gaining the victory on behalf of His people.

“Nativity” by Peter Paul Rubens

While feats of provision, strength, and warfare generally garner a joyous response, perhaps none was more grand.  Consider the responses early in Jesus’ life from the heavenly host (Lu 2:13–14), shepherds (Lu 2:17–20), the priest Simeon (Lu 2:28–32), the prophetess Anna (Lu 2:38), and wise men (Mt 2:10–11).  Jews, Gentiles, and the heavenly host joined in praise over the birth of this Child.  Though counter-intuitive, the promised salvation (Mt 1:21; Lu 2:11) initiated when the Son of God emptied Himself, took the form of a bond-servant, and came in the likeness of men (Phil 2:7) would far outweigh any military or political campaign.  This combat would end in utter defeat for sin, death, and the devil; and with every foe vanquished, He will reign with righteousness and His kingdom enjoying perfect peace and rest.

---

You have made known to us, O Lord, Your salvation, causing to spring up for us the plant of peace, and we shall no longer wander in error.  You have made known to us, O Lord, that You have not unto the end overlooked Your servants; neither have You, O beneficent One, forgotten entirely the works of Your hands.

For out of Your compassion for our low estate You have shed forth upon us abundantly that goodness of Yours which is inexhaustible, and with Your very nature cognate, having redeemed us by Your only begotten Son, who is unchangeably like to You, and of one substance with You; judging it unworthy of Your majesty and goodness to entrust to a servant the work of saving and benefiting Your servants, or to cause that those who had offended should be reconciled by a minister.  But by means of that light, which is of one substance with You, You have given light to those that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, in order that in Your light they might see the light of knowledge; and it has seemed good to You, by means of our Lord and Creator, to fashion us again unto immortality; and You have graciously given unto us a return to Paradise by means of Him who separated us from the joys of Paradise; and by means of Him who has power to forgive sins You have blotted out the handwriting which was against us.

Lastly, by means of Him who is a partaker of Your throne and who cannot be separated from Your divine nature, You have given unto us the gift of reconciliation and access unto You with confidence in order that, by the Lord who recognizes the sovereign authority of none, by the true and omnipotent God, the subscribed sanction, as it were, of so many and such great blessings might constitute the justifying gifts of grace to be certain and indubitable rights to those who have obtained mercy.  And this very thing the prophet before had announced in the words: No ambassador, nor angel, but the Lord Himself saved them; because He loved them, and spared them, and He took them up, and exalted them.… Hence, for the future, a joyous festival is established for us of the race of Adam, because the first Creator of Adam of His own free-will has become the Second Adam.  And the brightness of the Lord our God has come down to sojourn with us, so that we see God face to face, and are saved.

Methodius, Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna 8

Good Roots Yield Good Fruits

Peter Leithart at First Things has an interesting short post on the chiastic structure of Romans 10:9-10.  Here are the formatted verses:

A.  Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord

B.  and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

C.  you will be saved.

B'.  For with the heart one believes and is justified,

A'.  and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

After an examination of the structure, Leithart ends with:

Substantively, the double use of the root indicates that salvation doesn’t come from heart belief alone.  Salvation results from the work of two organs, the heart and the mouth.  Heart-belief is absolutely necessary, but not sufficient to achieve salvation.  The interior heart has to emerge into the public forum, verbalized in confession.

While I mostly like the piece, the lest sentence gives me pause, because it seems ambiguous.  Leithart appears to make the confession of faith in a public forum a necessary work to be worked in order to procure salvation.  This is never the case as good works, prepared beforehand by God, are to be walked in subsequent to salvation.  The proper understanding of this passage is to see that confession and belief are two aspects of a single reality.  Belief is evidenced via outward expression.

Works without faith is self-righteousness, while faith without works is fideism.  Both scenarios leave us as the walking dead.  Life comes solely through the Word of God given to us that we might believe, confess, and do it, as Paul goes on to quote from Deuteronomy 30:14:

But what does it say?  “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim).  (Rom 10:8)

If we believe the finished work of Christ is “for me,” then what (and Who) has been given abides within and is naturally expressed by what is confessed, (i.e., by their fruits you will know them).

What do you confess?  What fruit to you bear?

Nothing Is So Worthy of God as Man's Salvation

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.  (Col 1:19-20)

God would have been unable to hold any intercourse with men, if He had not taken on Himself the emotions and affections of man, by means of which He could temper the strength of His majesty, which would no doubt have been incapable of endurance to the moderate capacity of man, by such a humiliation as was indeed degrading to Himself, but necessary for man, and such as on this very account became worthy of God, because nothing is so worthy of God as the salvation of man.… [Christ] means that the Father is invisible, in whose authority and in whose name was He God who appeared as the Son of God.  But with us Christ is received in the person of Christ, because even in this manner is He our God.  Whatever attributes therefore you require as worthy of God, must be found in the Father, who is invisible and unapproachable, and placid, and (so to speak) the God of the philosophers; whereas those qualities which you censure as unworthy must be supposed to be in the Son, who has been seen, and heard, and encountered, the Witness and Servant of the Father, uniting in Himself man and God, God in mighty deeds, in weak ones man, in order that He may give to man as much as He takes from God.

Tertullian, Against Marcion, 2.27

Destroying Death and the Devil

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.  (He 2:14-15)

The Father is Father, and is Unoriginate, for He is of no one; the Son is Son, and is not unoriginate, for He is of the Father.  But if you take the word Origin in a temporal sense, He too is Unoriginate, for He is the Maker of Time, and is not subject to Time.  The Holy Ghost is truly Spirit, coming forth from the Father indeed, but not after the manner of the Son, for it is not by Generation but by Procession (since I must coin a word for the sake of clearness).  For neither did the Father cease to be Unbegotten because of His begetting something, nor the Son to be begotten because He is of the Unbegotten (how could that be?), nor is the Spirit changed into Father or Son because He proceeds, or because He is God—though the ungodly do not believe it.…  There is then One God in Three, and These Three are One, as we have said.

Since then these things are so, or rather since This is so; and His Adoration ought not to be rendered only by Beings above, but there ought to be also worshipers on earth, that all things may be filled with the glory of God (for as much as they are filled with God Himself); therefore man was created and honored with the hand and Image of God.  But to despise man, when by the envy of the Devil and the bitter taste of sin he was pitiably severed from God his Maker—this was not in the Nature of God.  What then was done, and what is the great Mystery that concerns us?  An innovation is made upon nature, and God is made Man.  He that rides upon the Heaven of Heavens in the East of His own glory and Majesty, is glorified in the West of our meanness and lowliness.  And the Son of God deigns to become and to be called Son of Man—not changing what He was (for It is unchangeable), but assuming what He was not (for He is full of love to man), that the Incomprehensible might be comprehended, conversing with us through the mediation of the Flesh as through a veil, since it was not possible for that nature which is subject to birth and decay to endure His unveiled Godhead.  Therefore the Unmingled is mingled; and not only is God mingled with birth and Spirit with flesh, and the Eternal with time, and the Uncircumscribed with measure, but also Generation with Virginity and dishonor with Him who is higher than all honor—He who is impassible with Suffering, and the Immortal with the corruptible.  For since that Deceiver thought that he was unconquerable in his malice, after he had cheated us with the hope of becoming gods, he was himself cheated by God’s assumption of our nature, so that in attacking Adam as he thought, he should really meet with God.  And thus the new Adam should save the old, and the condemnation of the flesh should be abolished, death being slain by flesh.

Gregory Nazianzen, On the Holy Lights, 39.12-13

Trust Me, I'm a Liar!

Image from The Peanut Gallery

Save, O Lᴏʀᴅ, for the godly one is gone;
    for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
    with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
 
May the Lᴏʀᴅ cut off all flattering lips,
    the tongue that makes great boasts,
those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
    our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
 
“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
    I will now arise,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ;
    “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
The words of the Lᴏʀᴅ are pure words,
    like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
    purified seven times.
 
You, O Lᴏʀᴅ, will keep them;
    you will guard us from this generation forever.
On every side the wicked prowl,
    as vileness is exalted among the children of man.  (Psalm 12)

Men and women are forgetful.  They forget needful tasks, important dates, and where keys or glasses are laid; but most of all, they forget their God—forgetfulness from neglect.  In this psalm, King David lamented the widespread ruin in society.  Godly character was nonexistent.  People lied to one another regularly, even boasting of their own greatness, simultaneously deceiving and being deceived, and with inconsistency and instability holding opposing feelings towards the same object.  So degraded was the condition that

two people when talking to each other have exactly the same intention of deceiving the other.  In fact, both strive to get the better of the other by smooth and duplicitous speech: it is not that one tells lies and the other speaks in a trustworthy manner, nor that one party only is involved in deception—rather, the business of deceit is found equally in both.*

The people proudly declared themselves free from any authority that might be placed on them to curb their libertine use of language for self-interests.

Does this condition sound familiar?  We consider this conduct typical among political rivals.  Whether a congressional bill, a contract, or an international treaty or trade agreement, negotiators hammer out details to the advantage of the principal party represented.  However, the situation described in the psalm is much worse: it was occurring among God’s elect.  Those who knew the Law would have understood the Lawgiver’s standard of uprightness to be practiced among His people, yet here we have described what would apparently by those in authority performing the opposite.  David calls out to the Lord to cut off the language and the prideful condition behind it, and He responds.  In contradistinction to the false words of the haughty, the words of the Righteous One are pure and true.  Those abused and bereft because of the crafty, deceptive vocabulary are reassured by sure promises and faithful sayings: comfort and safety are found in them.  The haughty found strength in their own words; the humble found strength in God’s words, because they are founded in the Eternal One.

Evil men continue to decline as they follow after their own plans and pursuits.  Rather than running to the fount of forgiveness, they choose to pursue their own path and revel in their sin while maintaining a veneer of “religiousness.”†  The wicked seek to silence the righteous either by annihilation or assimilation into a man-made unity.  The Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, entered this world by taking on human flesh.  The living, active Word walked among us for a time and allowed sinful men to kill Him, so that He might redeem the world.  The One, whom a few attempted to expunge, became the very message proclaimed to the world: He died for your sin; believe it.  The world tried to eradicate righteousness personified and continue in its sin, but by the cross Jesus reconciled the world to God and God to the world.  They forgot the Word, but He did not forget them.  What men did from wicked motives, God worked for their salvation.


*  Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on Psalms 1-81
†  Read the book of Malachi to see how this happened in Judah.

Whose Robes Are They?

My morning Bible reading in Isaiah 59 was behind a previous post drawing attention to the armor of God in Ephesians 6 being the same that Jesus wears.  Continuing on through chapter 62 (or more precisely 63:6), I noted that the section details God’s eschatological plan and how it is based solely on His promises according to His character: the Lord acts because of who He is, not because of who we are.

In the middle of the exhortation, there is an apparent break in thought:

I will greatly rejoice in the Lᴏʀᴅ;
    my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
    he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
    and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord Gᴏᴅ will cause righteousness and praise
    to sprout up before all the nations.  (Isa 61:10-11)

These verses describe a response to God’s grace—righteousness and salvation growing within and adorning, but after my current reading of these chapters, I asked the same question as the Ethiopian eunuch:

About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?  (Acts 8:34)

In like manner as the armor mentioned previously, is this actually God the Son speaking to the Father?  Except for a point of view in the text that turns from direct address to a response (and afterward returns to direct address), there are no clear markers.  Should we not rather consider this primarily to be a glimpse of the inner communication within the Godhead?  This approach would maintain the continuity of the passage as coming from God alone.  Tertullian takes up the same theme as he describes Christ as a bridegroom:

I hold also that it is my Christ who is meant by the bridegroom, of whom the psalm says: “He is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and His return is back to the end of it again” [Psa 19:5-6].  By the mouth of Isaiah He also says exultingly of the Father: “Let my soul rejoice in the Lord; for He has clothed me with the garment of salvation and with the tunic of joy, as a bridegroom. He has put a miter round about my head, as a bride” [Isa 61:10].

Against Marcion, IV.11

Guercino - Return of the Prodigal

The passage can secondarily apply to us as those to whom benefits fall as sons and heirs.  Firstly, in the parable of the marriage feast (Matt 22:1-14), Jesus mentions the freely-provided wedding garments.  Those who accepted the garment were welcome to participate in the kingdom of heaven, while the one entering without the garment was cast out.  Secondly, we are given a picture of the Church as the Bride of the Lamb:

“Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
(Rev 19:7-8)

The Bride is clothed with the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith (Rom 3:21-22; Phil 3:9) and is of the same “stuff” as that borne by the Lord Jesus (2 Pet 1:1).  It is His righteousness that is displayed before the nations in worship, disciple-making, and occupying oneself in good works.  He who is our righteous (1 Cor 1:30) clothes us in a way that displays the glory of Almighty God inspiring praise worthy of the Lord of all.

Choices

Below is an image I found which gives a humorous flowchart for picking a religion.

Do you see that box in the bottom right corner?  If it read “Be a pseudo-Christian,” this flowchart would be 100% accurate.  What the creator may not have realized is that none of these leads to the God of the Bible, sovereign creator of heaven and earth.  This is because every attempt we make to choose Him, we fail and end up with something far less.  God chooses us.  How that happens is a mystery, but that is what scripture says:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.  (Eph 1:3-4)

For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.  (1 Thess 1:4-5)

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. (2 Thess 2:13)

I bring this up because our lives demonstrate who makes the choice—God or me.  Chad Bird has a post that explores an interesting comparison concerning God’s election, which can be summed up in his words:

It is simply this: everyone who’s in heaven is there because God chose them to be, and everyone who’s in hell is there because they chose to be.

Those who choose their own way have a worldview at complete odds with what the Lord requires of a holy people.  King David provided in Psalm 5 a definite dichotomy of worldview as he compared conduct  giving a direct relation to the one (or One) who has chosen the path for the individual.

	God chose me	I chose me
1-3	Give ear to my words, O Lᴏʀᴅ;     consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry,     my King and my God,     for to you do I pray. O Lᴏʀᴅ, in the morning you hear my voice;     in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
4-6		For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;     evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;     you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies;     the Lᴏʀᴅ abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7-8	But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,     will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple     in the fear of you. Lead me, O Lᴏʀᴅ, in your righteousness     because of my enemies;     make your way straight before me.
9-10		For there is no truth in their mouth;     their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave;     they flatter with their tongue. Make them bear their guilt, O God;     let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,     for they have rebelled against you.
11-12	But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;     let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them,     that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O Lᴏʀᴅ;     you cover him with favor as with a shield.

Notice the tremendous difference.  David places himself fully within a class of individuals who realize that all they have is derived from God.  Family, life, vocation, position, abilities, etc. are all gifts from the Almighty.  As a result of this realization, the response is a longing to engage in prayer, thanksgiving, rejoicing, exaltation, and every good thing offered in return as appreciation for the Lord’s goodness demonstrated through His wondrous promises and deeds.

On the other end of the spectrum are those who have chosen to remain as they are and go on in willful determination to take what they feel is due while cursing the One who was supplying the good things they did receive.  Convinced they are “getting by just fine” or are bending the system their way through whatever means, these people boast in their achievements either not realizing or not caring it will vanish quickly away and be for naught before God.

At this point, someone will complain that he or she is more in the middle.  They are not “sold out for God” but neither are they as bad as those wicked ones who David mentions.  The ugly truth is that there is no middle.  Those not believing in the Lord of glory are unrighteous, worthless, deceitful, bitter, bloodthirsty, and ruinous (Rom 3:10-18).  For them, this becomes a matter of what manner and to what degree the wickedness manifests itself.

How do we know or can be assured that we are chosen or elect?  Believe on the Lord: there is none else:

Turn to me and be saved,
    all the ends of the earth!
    For I am God, and there is no other.  (Isa 45:22)

You are included in that number “all the ends of the earth.”  Lay hold of the sure promise of God’s Word that Jesus died for your sin (Rom 3:21-25).  Come to the water and be buried with Christ into death by baptism and walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4), receiving the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19).

Election is strange: we do not realize that God chose us until after we “chose” Him.  We look back and rest in the assurance of a wondrous plan of salvation that began in our favor before the worlds were laid.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  For 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.  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.  (Rom 8:28-30)

The work of redemption is done in Christ.  We rest in that.

Don't Work for What Is Offered Freely

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Rom 10:8-10)

And what does the phrase mean, “The Word is near you?” That is, It is easy. For in your mind and in your tongue is your salvation. There is no long journey to go, no seas to sail over, no mountains to pass, to get saved. But if you are not minded to cross so much as the threshold, you may even while you sit at home be saved. For “in your mouth and in your heart” is the source of salvation. And then on another score also he makes the word of faith easy, and says, that “God raised Him from the dead.” For just reflect upon the worthiness of the Worker, and you will no longer see any difficulty in the thing. That He is Lord then, is plain from the resurrection. And this he said at the beginning even of the Epistle. “Which was declared to be the Son of God with power … by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4). But that the resurrection is easy too, has been shown even to those who are very unbelieving, from the might of its Worker.

Since then the righteousness is greater, and light and easy to receive, is it not a sign of the utmost contentiousness to leave what is light and easy, and set about impossibilities? For they could not say that it was a thing they declined as burdensome. See then how he deprives them of all excuses. For what do they deserve to have said in their defense, who choose what is burdensome and impracticable, and pass by what is light, and able to save them, and to give them those things which the Law could not give? All this can come only from a contentious spirit, which is in a state of rebellion against God. For the Law is onerous, but grace is easy. The Law, though they dispute never so much, does not save. Grace yields the righteousness resulting from itself, and that from the Law likewise.

John Chrysostom, Homily XVII on Romans

Now Is the Favorable Time, the Day of Salvation

Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.  For he says,
    “In a favorable time I listened to you,
        and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.  (2 Cor 6:1-2)

“The acceptable time.”  What is this?  That of the gift, that of the grace, when it is appointed not that an account should be required of our sins nor penalty exacted; but besides being delivered, that we should also enjoy ten thousand goods, righteousness, sanctification, and all the rest.  For how much toil would it have been proper to undergo in order to obtain this “time!”  But, behold, without our toiling at all it has come, bringing remission of all that was before.  Therefore also He calls it “acceptable,” because He both accepted those that had transgressed in ten thousand things, and not merely accepted but promoted them to the highest honor.  Just as when a monarch arrives, it is a time not for judgment, but for grace and pardon.  Therefore also He calls it acceptable.…  It is a day of grace, of grace divine, therefore with ease even we shall obtain the crown.

John Chrysostom, Homilies on Second Corinthians 12.1

What Prevents You?

And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water!  What prevents me from being baptized?”  (Acts 8:36)

Imitate the eunuch.  He found an instructor on the road, and he did not spurn instruction; but although he was a rich man, he caused the poor man to mount into his chariot: a grand and splendid courtier placed at his side a private individual, on whom others would look with contempt; and when he had learned the gospel of the kingdom, he embraced the faith with his heart, and did not delay to receive the seal of the Spirit.  For when they drew nigh to a stream, “behold,” he says, “here is water,” thus showing his great joy: behold what is required: what prevents me from being baptized?  Where the will is ready, there is no obstacle: for He that calls us, loves mankind, the minister is at hand, and the grace is abundant.  Let the desire be sincere, and every obstacle will vanish.  There is only one to hinder us, he who blocks up the path of salvation, but whom by prudence we can overcome.  He causes us to tarry: let us rise to the work; he deludes us by vain promises: let us not be ignorant of his devices.  For does he not suggest to commit sin today, and persuade us to defer justice till tomorrow?  Wherefore the Lord, to defeat his perverse suggestions, says to us: “Today, if you hear my voice.”  He says: today for me, tomorrow for God.  The Lord cries out: “Today hear my voice.”  Mark the enemy: he does not dare counsel us utterly to abandon God, (for he knows that this were shocking to Christians,)* but by fraudulent stratagems he attempts to effect his purpose.  He is cunning in evil doing: he perceives that we live for the present time, and all our actions regard it.  Stealing from us, then, artfully today, he leaves us to hope for tomorrow.  Then when tomorrow comes, the wicked distributor of time appears again, claiming the day for himself, and leaving tomorrow to the Lord; and thus perpetually, by using the bait of pleasure to secure for himself the present time, and proposing the future to our hopes, he takes us out of life by surprise.

Basil of Ceasarea, Exhortation to Baptism, 5

*  Basil applies the term here to catechumens, persons professing faith in Christ, but not yet baptized.

Christ Saves Even the Worst of Sinners

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.  (1 Tim 1:15-16)

That the Only-begotten became man for the sake of sinners, he himself taught in the sacred Gospels, “I came to call, not the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  [Paul’s] claiming to be foremost among all sinners surpasses the very bounds of humility; yet in what follows he develops a further case that is even more extreme:

 

Just as, in a single house where there are many ill at the same time and all despair of recovery, a physician takes one patient suffering from the worst condition, and by offering appropriate remedies and restoring this one to the peak of condition he instills confidence in all the others, so Christ the Lord, the physician of souls, became man for the sake of the salvation of sinners, brought me to notice, most lawless of all, and not only freed me from the former defilements but also plied me with marvelous gifts.  In me he showed all people immeasurable long-suffering so that none of those guilty of transgressions should despair of salvation once they have looked to me.

Theodoret of Cyrus, “The First Letter to Timothy”

A New Thing Promised and Completed

Through Isaiah also the Lord foretells the same things about His grace by which He fashions all men into a new creation.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;
        now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
        and rivers in the desert.
The wild beasts will honor me,
        the jackals and the ostriches,
for I give water in the wilderness,
        rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
        the people whom I formed for myself
that they might declare my praise.  (Isa 43:19-21)

And again:

By myself I have sworn;
        from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
        a word that shall not return:
To me every knee shall bow,
        every tongue shall swear allegiance.  (Isa 45:23)

If, then, it is not possible that these shall not take place, because God’s foreknowledge is not faltering and His design not changeable, nor His will inefficacious nor His promise false, then all, without any exception, about whom these predictions were made are saved.  He establishes His laws in their understanding and writes them with His finger in their hearts, so that they recognize God not through the working of human learning, but through the working of the Supreme Instructor….  In all is implanted the fear that makes them keep the commandments of God.  A road is opened in the desert, the parched land is watered with streams.  They who formerly did not open their mouths to praise God but like dumb and irrational animals had taken on the ferocity of beasts, now, having drunk at the fountain of the divine pronouncements, bless and praise God and recount the power and wonders of His mercy, how He chose them and adopted them to be His sons and made them heirs of the New Testament.

Prosper of Aquitaine, The Call of All Nations 1.9

Law and Gospel from Elihu the Buzite

White Horse Inn is doing a short series on the gospel in Job.  The latest podcast took up Elihu’s response to Job and his three friends.  Elihu has been listening patiently and attentively hoping to to find wisdom in the conversation of the older men.  Job has been pleading his cause: no intentional unrighteousness has been committed:

Surely you have spoken in my ears,
        and I have heard the sound of your words.
You say, “I am pure, without transgression;
        I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.
Behold, he finds occasions against me,
        he counts me as his enemy,
he puts my feet in the stocks
        and watches all my paths.”  (Job 33:8-11)

Elihu rebuts with a weighty blow:

Behold, in this you are not right.  I will answer you,
        for God is greater than man.
Why do you contend against him,
        saying, “He will answer none of man’s words”?
For God speaks in one way,
        and in two, though man does not perceive it.
In a dream, in a vision of the night,
        when deep sleep falls on men,
        while they slumber on their beds,
then he opens the ears of men
        and terrifies them with warnings,
that he may turn man aside from his deed
        and conceal pride from a man;
he keeps back his soul from the pit,
        his life from perishing by the sword.  (Job 33:12-18)

Elihu reminds Job that God is responding but in a way he is not recognizing.  Though Job may not have committed intentional sin, he is still guilty as a member of the human race.  God has been making himself known.  His holy requirements are ever before them in the everyday affairs of life.  In abundant mercy, God restrains the intentions of mankind’s sinful, self-destructive ways lest a worse calamity befall.  He sends continual reminders of the vast expanse between holy Creator and fallen created.  Still men fail to comprehend the message and has not learned what David wrote: I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you” (Psa 16:2).

As in Job’s case, there are those times when someone is faced with suffering, and death seems certain.  Even then the Lord is extending his grace, and much more than any has considered possible.

Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed
        and with continual strife in his bones,
so that his life loathes bread,
        and his appetite the choicest food.
His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen,
        and his bones that were not seen stick out.
His soul draws near the pit,
        and his life to those who bring death.
If there be for him an angel,
        a mediator, one of the thousand,
        to declare to man what is right for him,
and he is merciful to him, and says,
        “Deliver him from going down into the pit;
        I have found a ransom;
let his flesh become fresh with youth;
        let him return to the days of his youthful vigor”;
then man prays to God, and he accepts him;
        he sees his face with a shout of joy,
and he restores to man his righteousness.
        He sings before men and says:
“I sinned and perverted what was right,
        and it was not repaid to me.
He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit,
        and my life shall look upon the light.” (Job 33:19-28)

“If there be for him an angel, a mediator”—this is the very one for whom Job had sought, yet beyond his imaginings.  This one is sent from God, not to “argue the case of a man with God, as a son of man does with his neighbor” (Job 16:21), but to declare mercy and grace.  That mediator would declare deliverance based on a ransom with the end result that the person is restored better than from where he had fallen.  His righteousness and relationship to the Lord can be restored, and there will be fullness of joy in recounting his wicked, sinful condition that was due punishment but received overflowing mercy and grace.  All this he brings it to pass to bring sinners to himself.

Behold, God does all these things,
        twice, three times, with a man,
to bring back his soul from the pit,
        that he may be lighted with the light of life.  (Job 33:29-30)

The above tale is not a fanciful scenario painted by Elihu to encourage Job, but is a plan organized and implemented by the Lord of Glory himself.  Our mediator, Jesus Christ, was purposefully sent to redeem a people:

This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.  (Acts 2:23)

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  (Gal 4:4-5)

All this because of his love for us.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  (John 3:16-17)

Revel in the Greatness of Grace

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.  (Ps 103:11-12)

And not only is this the wonderful thing that He remits our sins, but that He does not reveal them, nor make them open and obvious, nor compel us to come forward into the midst, and to tell out our errors; but He bids us make our defense to Him alone, and to confess ourselves to Him.  And yet among secular judges, if any tell any of the robbers or grave-diggers, when they are arrested, to tell their errors and be cleared of their punishment, they would agree to this with all readiness, despising the shame through desire of safety.  But in this case there is nothing of this kind, but He remits the sins, not compelling us to organize them in array before any spectators.  But one thing alone He seeks, that he who enjoys this remission should learn the greatness of the gift.

John Chrysostom, Second Instruction to Catechumens, 4

Jesus Endured the Suffering of Death for All

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.  (Heb 2:9)

Of course, he endured the suffering for all: everything in possession of created nature needed this healing.  He said as much, in fact.  Only the divine nature is without need (he is saying); all other things needed the remedy of the Incarnation.  By becoming man God the Word destroyed the power of death.  In destroying it he promised us the resurrection, to resurrection he linked incorruptibility and immortality, and visible things also will share in incorruptibility.… The angels live a life of satisfaction to see the salvation of men.  If they rejoice at one sinner, much more will they be filled with satisfaction to see so many myriads regaled with salvation.  So it was for all that he endured the saving passion.

Theodoret of Cyrus, "The Letter to the Hebrews"

The Incorruptible One Took on Flesh to Defeat Sin

[To the temple] were the prophets sent by God through the Holy Spirit; and they instructed the people and turned them to the God of their fathers, the Almighty.  And they became heralds of the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, declaring that from the posterity of David His flesh should blossom forth; that after the flesh He might be the son of David, who was the son of Abraham by a long succession; but according to the spirit Son of God, pre-existing with the Father, begotten before all the creation of the world, and at the end of the times appearing to all the world as man, the Word of God gathering up in Himself all things that are in heaven and that are on earth.*

So then He united man with God, and established a community of union between God and man; since we could not in any other way participate in incorruption, save by His coming among us.  For so long as incorruption was invisible and unrevealed, it helped us not at all: therefore it became visible, that in all respects we might participate in the reception of incorruption.  And, because in the original formation of Adam all of us were tied and bound up with death through his disobedience, it was right that through the obedience of Him who was made man for us we should be released from death: and because death reigned over the flesh, it was right that through the flesh it should lose its force and let man go free from its oppression.  So the Word was made flesh,† that, through that very flesh which sin had ruled and dominated, it should lose its force and be no longer in us.  And therefore our Lord took that same original formation as entry into flesh, so that He might draw near and contend on behalf of the fathers, and conquer by Adam that which by Adam had stricken us down.

Irenaeus of Lyon, The Proof of the Apostolic Preaching, 30-31

*  Ephesians 1:10
†  John 1:14

We Have Now Been Justified by His Blood

Let us then return from that table like lions breathing fire, having become terrible to the devil; thinking on our Head, and on the love which He has shown for us.…  Our Lord says: “But I feed you with My own flesh, desiring that you all be nobly born, and holding forth to you good hopes for the future.…  I have willed to become your Brother, for your sake I shared in flesh and blood, and in turn I give out to you the flesh and the blood by which I became your kinsman.”  This blood causes the image of our King to be fresh within us, produces beauty unspeakable, permits not the nobleness of our souls to waste away, watering it continually, and nourishing it.…  This blood, if rightly taken, drives away devils, and keeps them afar off from us, while it calls to us angels and the Lord of angels.  For wherever they see the Lord’s blood, devils flee, and angels run together.  This blood poured forth washed clean all the world.…  This blood cleansed the secret place, and the Holy of Holies.  And if the type of it had such great power in the temple of the Hebrews, and in the midst of Egypt, when smeared on the door-posts, much more the reality.  This blood sanctified the golden altar; without it the high priest dared not enter into the secret place.  This blood consecrated priests, this in type cleansed sins.  But if it had such power in the types, if death so shuddered at the shadow, tell me how would it not have dreaded the very reality?  This blood [of Christ] is the salvation of our souls, by this the soul is washed, by this is beautiful, by this is inflamed, this causes our understanding to be more bright than fire, and our soul more beaming than gold.  This blood was poured forth, and made heaven accessible.

John Chrysostom, Homilies on John 46.3

What Is the Quality of Your Fruit?

“You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

What a startling way to address someone, especially to those who were supposed to be your spiritual leaders, yet John the baptizer did this very thing (Matt 3:7) when he saw Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism.  Why?  They had issues.  These men had assumed that, they could come to this prophet because they were the spiritual elite: children of Abraham and learned in all the laws of Judaism.

But they were relying on the wrong things.  They did not realize that they were in great need, as great a need as any sinner coming to the Jordan River.  Their fruit was rotten, because their root was rotten.  All coming that day were in need.  What was it that John said?  “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”  John warned that the axe was going to fall: “Every tree … that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  Every tree—no exceptions.

How does someone bear good fruit?  By being connected to a good branch connected to a good root.  The prophet Isaiah says there is such a branch called “the shoot from the stump of Jesse” (Isa 11:1).  He is properly rooted and fruitful.  The Spirit of the Lord rests on him.  That branch, the Lord Jesus, is righteous and faithful, and only in him can the nations (in other words—you and me) bear fruit keeping with repentance.

You and I bear fruit, but of what quality is it?  Without Christ, the fruit is rotten, because, we have no capacity to bear good fruit as David says in Psalm 14:1-3.

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
    They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
    there is none who does good.
The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
    to see if there are any who understand,
    who seek after God.
They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
    there is none who does good,
    not even one.

Right now you might be thinking, “I’m not like that.  I believe in God.  That’s talking about those other guys, the really bad ones.”  No, the apostle Paul says this is talking about you, too (Romans 3).  Left to ourselves, we are altogether corrupt and hopeless, producing nothing of real worth.

Jesus, the only branch capable of bearing good fruit, died for our sin and corruption.  What we had rejected through Adam in the garden is now presented to us as a free gift.  There is life and that abundantly.  As a result of his life flowing through us, we are able to bear good fruit.  Again, it is not produced because we now try harder or for better reasons, though both of those might be true, but as a result of being joined to the source of life by grace through faith.