Old Testament Archives - Page 116 of 141

The Virgin Birth (Advent 2012)

Joe Harby on December 16, 2012

Introduction

Last week we considered the meaning of the Incarnation. This week we will be considering another doctrine with a Christmas theme, and that is the biblical teaching about the virgin birth. You don’t need to be a Bible reader to know that the prophet Isaiah prophesied that a time would come when a virgin would conceive and bear a son. The passage has been included on countless Christmas cards, and so many non-believers of many stripes manage to get a dose of this doctrine just by opening their mail.

The Text

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Is. 7:14).

Summary of the Text

Theological liberals like to point out that the word rendered as virgin here is the Hebrew word almah, which can mean virgin, but it can also be legitimately rendered as young woman. So then, the thinking goes, you conservatives ought to think about this a bit harder, and join the rest of us in the 21st century as soon as you are able. But centuries before Christ, when the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek by Jewish rabbis (seventy of them, according to tradition), the Greek word they chose to render this word almah was parthenos—and parthenos means virgin, as in, virgin. The famous Parthenon was a temple built in Athens to the virgin goddess Athena. With the use of this word, there is no wiggle room whatever.

So this means that centuries before there was any Christian agenda around to influence the story, the expectation among the Greek-speaking Jews (at a minimum) was that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. This is certainly how Matthew takes Isaiah’s words (Matt. 1:23). And Luke records the fact that Mary was a virgin as well (Luke 1:27), and Mary herself objects to the angel’s promise to her on the basis of it (Luke 1:34). So we know that the Bible teaches this doctrine. But does it matter, and if so, why?

Not Incidental

This is not an incidental point—our salvation actually depends on it. In order to serve as a sin sacrifice for us, the Lord Jesus had to be a true human being, and the Lord Jesus had to be sinless. If He were not truly human, the sacrifice could not have been the work of our representative priest (Heb. 4:15). And if He were not entirely sinless, then like the Levitical priests, He would have had to make an offering for His own sin first. This means He would not have been in a position to die for ours (Heb. 7:27). He could not be the sacrifice for us unless He was a sacrificial victim entirely without blemish (1 Pet. 1:19). And so—for the sake of our salvation—it was necessary to find a man who was a true man, and yet who was without sin.

Where can you get one of those? So how can God fashion a true human being out of this existing human stock without that “new man” being corrupted from the outset? The Bible says that we are objects of wrath by nature (Eph. 2:3). So if Jesus was born into the human race in accord with the normal, natural process, He would have been an object of wrath also. So God needed to perform a supernatural act, but perform it with a true man-child. He did this through what we call the virgin birth.

Joseph, Begetter of Sinners

The Bible is clear that Jesus had a genuine human lineage, all the way back to Abraham (Matt. 1:1-16), who was himself descended from Adam. But the Bible is equally clear that Jesus never sinned (2 Cor. 5:21). The fact that He was sinless was obviously related to who His Father was (Luke 1:35), but also because of who his father wasn’t (Luke 3:23). The other sons of Joseph were sinners in need of forgiveness just like the rest of us. For example, James the Lord’s brother tells us to confess our sins to one another (Jas. 5:16), and then he goes on to tell us that Elijah had a nature “like ours,” including himself in this (Jas. 5:17). And earlier in the gospels, we even told what one of those sins was, the sin of unbelief (John 7:3-5). Joseph was father of one who became a great and godly man, a pillar in the church, but Joseph was not the father of a sinless man. If Jesus had been born to Joseph and Mary in the ordinary way, He could have been a great apostle—like His half-brother became—but He could not have been our Savior.

While we shouldn’t start speculating about the half-life of original sin, it seems clear from all this that sin is reckoned or imputed through the male line. This is fitting because Adam was the one who introduced sin into the world in the first place (Rom. 5:12).

A Real Miracle

Because Jesus did not have an immediate human father, He was not entailed in sin with the rest of us. Because He had a true human mother, He was as human as we are, and because He was without sin, He was more fully human than we are. From this we can see that the virgin birth is not just a random miracle story, designed to impress the gullible. It is a miracle, all right, but it is a miracle like the other miracles connected with the person of Jesus Christ. Like the Incarnation itself, this miracle is necessary for the salvation of lost and sinful men.

Jesus Christ was “made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:3-4). The Spirit who worked powerfully in that resurrection was the same Spirit who exercised His power when Mary first conceived. It was the same Person, the same purpose and plan, and the very same power (Luke 1:35).

Nowhere Close to Done

And the glorious thing is that this same Spirit is not done. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Rom. 8:11). From beginning to end, the story that God is telling is a story of power. It begins with a virgin birth—but it certainly doesn’t end there.

The Fire of Evangelism

Joe Harby on November 25, 2012

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Introduction

God has two ways of destroying His enemies. One is the old school method—the fire coming down out of the sky method. This is the method that leaves a smoking crater. But the other is a far more glorious method, and that is His method of destroying enemies by turning them into friends. That is a far more wonderful destruction indeed. In order to accomplish the former, all He had to do was exercise His power. But to accomplish the latter, His Son had to die.

The Text

“The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the Lord, And an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: Thou art greatly despised. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee . . .” (Obadiah 1-21).

Background of the Text

The most likely setting for this book is after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. and before Babylon’s campaign against Edom in 553 B.C. Edom was a mountainous region, due south of the Dead Sea. Just to get you oriented, this was the era when Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) was born in Nepal, King Croesus ruled in Lydia, and when the temple of Artemis was built in Ephesus. The Edomites were descended from Esau, and godliness was not unknown among them (e.g. Job). But in this instance, they had rejoiced in an ungodly way during Judah’s Babylonian crisis, and Obadiah pronounces a judgment upon them as a consequence. At the same time, this prophecy extends far beyond the immediate fulfillment.

Summary of the Text

The small book begins with a “vision” concerning Edom (v. 1). Armies are already gathering against her. As they had held Judah in contempt, so they were going to be held in contempt (v. 2). They were a small nation, misled by their pride and apparently invulnerable mountain fortresses (vv. 3-4). Who will bring Edom down? God will. Ordinary thieves would usually leave something behind—but not here, not now. Esau will be stripped bare (vv. 5- 6). Just as Edom betrayed Judah, so also will Edom’s allies betray them (v. 7). Just as they “cut off ” Judah’s refugees (v. 14), so also will they be cut off (vv. 8-9). Mount Esau is a way of referring to Edom, and Teman was a chief city of theirs, named after Esau’s grandson (Gen. 36:9-11). They failed to help their brother Jacob in the day of violence (hamas), and will be judged for this sin of omission (vv. 10-11). Failing to intervene led them into even worse sin—gloating, rejoicing, boasting, looting, and even capturing and turning over refugees (vv. 12-14). The day of the Lord, the day of recompense, was upon them (v. 15). To drink sin is to drink wrath, and destruction is the result (v. 16). But deliverance will come to Zion, and everything will be restored (v. 17). The house of Jacob will be on fire, and the house of Esau will be fields of stubble (v. 18), with predictable results. People from all over will possess Edom (vv. 19-20). Deliverance will come, and Zion will judge Edom, and the kingdom will be the Lord’s (v. 21).

Learning to Read

The Bible teaches us—comparing passage to passage—that you all are part of the fulfillment of Obadiah’s prophecy. In Obadiah 18-20, the prophet quotes Amos 9:11-12. And the prophet Joel quotes Obadiah 17 inJoel

2:28-32. The phrases in question are these: “that they may possess the remnant of Edom” and “in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said.”

This is significant because that very section of Amos is quoted by James, the Lord’s brother, at the Council of Jerusalem, referring to the inclusion of the Gentiles through the gospel (Acts 15:12-21). And the relevant passage in Joel is quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:16), with the claim that it was all fulfilled on that day. So though neither James nor Peter mention Obadiah by name, they do tell us what he is talking about by direct implication.

In what day will Mt. Zion rule over Edom? What day will that be? It will be the day the Tabernacle of David is reestablished. And what will be the day of escape for those in Jerusalem? It will be the day of Pentecost. Where are you from? “I am from northern Idaho.” And what are you doing here at Christ Church today? “I am possessing Mt. Esau” (vv. 19-20).

The Sin of Schadenfreude

This is the sin of delighting in the misfortune of others with a vindictive spirit. Take care. Remember the deadly progress of malice in vv. 12-14. It is a small step from rejoicing when someone falls to kicking them as long as they are down. God hates it, and the sin of Edom in this regard was quite striking. It is rebuked in Ps. 137:7 and again in Lamentations 4:21. Remember this perverse tendency of the human heart—once you have wronged someone significantly like this, you might never be able to forgive them.

Be angry and sin not. Do not rejoice over your enemy’s failure, even if he is your lawful enemy (Prov. 24:17-18). Indignation, even at its best, is like manna—it will rot overnight. Remember that Judah deserved her destruction (as Jeremiah was telling them), but Edom added an ungodly amen. Do not be like those who do not know what spirit they are of (Luke 9:55). But the way to avoid this sin is not to search out some sort of room temperature tepidity.

Men of Fire

John Chrysostom once said something striking about the apostle Peter. “Peter was a man made all of fire, walking among stubble.”This is the image that we have at the end of Obadiah.The house of Jacob (that’s you) will be a fire and a flame (v. 18), and the house of Esau (the unbelieving world) will be fields of dry stubble. God’s people are called to be a fiery people—fire came down upon our heads at Pentecost (Acts 2), and fire comes out of the mouths of the two witnesses (Rev. 11:5). Our spirits are supposed to be on the boil (Rom. 12:11). We are a fiery people in a combustible world. This is not surprising, for our God is a consuming fire, and we are in Him (Heb. 12:29).

The Nature of National Repentance

Joe Harby on November 18, 2012

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Introduction

In God in the Dock, C.S. Lewis has a very fine short essay on the dangers of national repentance. In short, what he cautions us against is the prayerful form of “don’t blame me, I wanted to do something else.” In other words, every form of true repentance is hard, while there is a form of blaming others (while using we language) that gives us a carnal pleasure. In everything else that we consider today, this wise caution should be kept in the forefront of our minds, and at the very top of our hearts.

The Text

“And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: And when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression: And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey” (Deut. 26:6-9).

Summary of the Text

At the tail end of their time in the wilderness, the Israelites are being reminded out how it was that they came to be delivered in the first place. The Egyptians treated them oppressively, and laid hard bondage upon them (v. 6). The people of Israel cried out to God as a consequence, and God heard them, and considered their afflictions (v. 7). As a result, God rose up and scattered their enemies with an outstretched arm (v. 8), and brought them to the threshold of a land filled with promise (v. 9). And by no stretch of the imagination is this a “one off ” situation; it is a biblical theme (Judg. 3:9; 4:3; 6:6; 10:10; 1 Sam. 12:9-10; and many other places).

How Individuals Repent

Repentance is always a function of things going wrong somehow. Nobody converts because every day they get happier and happier, and finally they are so happy they decide to turn to Christ. Some convert even though they are externally blessed—but only because they feel and see the hollowness of it (Ecc. 1:14). Others do it in a more straightforward way—they have their whole life come apart in their hands (divorce, financial ruin, disease), and in their affliction they turn to God.

Horses and Mules

We should far prefer to be taught (Ps. 32:8). We should not be like the horse or mule, needing a bit and bridle to direct us (Ps. 32:9). But when we refuse teaching, the Lord is fully capable of ramping it up. He always sends prophets before He sends the pestilence. But when men are sleek in their conceits, they think the mere fact of a prophet means there will be no pestilence.

Lord, Do What It Takes

National repentance is not a nebulous dislike of ourselves, and it does not consist of being accusative toward others. Jesus teaches us what our value system ought to be. We ought to prefer losing our right hand to keeping our right hand to go to Hell with (Matt. 5:30). We ought to prefer to go to Heaven missing our right eye than to go to Hell with both eyes (Matt. 5:29).

Translate this to our national situation. What do we actually prefer? Would you rather have America spend the next ten years doubling our GDP, or the next ten years repenting? Now some might think a sensible response would be to ask why we couldn’t have had a doubled GDP and the repentance too. I don’t know why we couldn’t have had that. You tell me.

So if we are true Christians, our prayer will be, “Lord, do whatever it takes. Lord, break us down.”We do not ask for more than it takes (obviously), but we must not ask for less than it takes. It is not lawful for us to arrange any of this for ourselves, taking matters into our own hands. But it is lawful and right to accept it with gratitude and humility when the Lord takes up the rod. Behold the kindness and severity of God (Rom. 11:22).

What Sins?

Remember that in calling for national repentance, we are not calling for a generic or nebulous kind of “feeling bad.” Repentance is an activity of the mind (the word means “changing your mind”) and consequently it is an activity filled with content.

These are not “partisan issues” at all—the call to repentance is genuinely bipartisan. God calls all men to repent and believe, and it is possible to come to Him from any direction—from left, right, and center. You can come to Him from the polished marble floors of Washington, and you can come to Him from the fever swamps. You can come to Him from a gay pride parade in San Francisco, and you can come to Him by climbing down off your step ladder of Pharisaism. Come.

Some might object that this really is partisan—that I am somehow targeting the Democrats, and not the Republicans. Not a bit of it. I am preaching against Suleiman the Magnificent, and against his harem.

What do you let go of when you come? I mentioned that repentance is an activity filled with content. Let’s consider two general areas, one from the first Table of the law, and the other a cluster of three commandments from the second Table of the law.

First, we must repent of secularism (Ex. 20:3). We have no right to worship, pray to, invoke, or claim the name of any other God. The only God that any nation has a right to claim is the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secularism is a sin, a grievous one.

As far as our national hatred of our neighbor goes, think about our complicity with abortion (Ex.20:13), pomosexuality (Ex. 20:14), and statist piracy (Ex. 20:15). Three commandments, three verses, right in a row. And remember that secularism started off by justifying its neglect of the true God for the sake of our neighbor. Where is all that neighbor love now?

Three Stark Realities

We have some great challenges before us. This is not going to be easy—whether to declare or to endure. At the same time, we may embrace what God sends, even though we do not have the authority to send those hard challenges down upon ourselves.

Here are the three central issues we must keep central to our thinking about all of this. First, there is no deliverance without Jesus. Second, there is no deliverance with the sin. And third, there are no other options, or other alternatives. Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. If the Lord is God, serve Him. If Mammon is god, then let us all go to that great Federal Reserve temple, where we may follow our god of green liquidity in solemn procession as it circles the drain.

Joy and Sin

Joe Harby on September 16, 2012

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Introduction

This message is the first of three on the subject of joy. I want to consider, each in turn, three basic challenges to a believer’s joy. The first challenge will be sin—disobedience. The second challenge will be suffering or affliction. The third challenge we will address will be melancholy, the blues, or what our generation frequently calls depression. It is important for us to avoid the easy trap of a pious assertion that personal sin must be the reason for everything bad. At the same time, let us not kid ourselves either. Sin does bring in lots of troubles.

The Text

“Make me to hear joy and gladness; That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice . . . Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit” (Ps. 51: 10, 12).

Summary of the Text

The Bible teaches us that God chastises every son that He receives. If we do not receive discipline, then we are not true sons (Heb. 12:8). But what form does this divine spanking take? How does God deal with us when we have slipped or fallen into sin? Joy is a function of our unimpeded relationship with Him, and when our misbehavior disrupts that fellowship, the most evident thing about it is our loss of joy. We see that in David’s case here. This psalm is a great psalm of confession, where he is putting things right with God. What does he ask for in that restoration? He asks for joy and gladness (v. 10), that the spiritual bones which God has broken may be restored. He asks, not for his salvation to return, but for the joy of it to return (v. 12). Restore unto me the joy. Unrepented sin and joy cannot be companions. They don’t travel together at all.

The Solution

The solution to unrepentant sin is, not surprisingly, repentance. We should take care not to over-engineer this:

“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” (Ps. 32:5).

“He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Prov. 28:13).

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).

The central reason we don’t do this is pride. Pride has various shifts and evasions which we will get to in a moment, but the attitude that seeks out such shifts and evasions is the attitude that does not want, under any circumstances, to humble itself. It causes no end of trouble, and is the true enemy of all joy.

Traits of True Confession

In the verse from 1 John, the word for confess is homologeo, which means to acknowledge, to “speak the same thing.” If we confess, God forgives. If we confess, God is faithful and just in His forgiveness. If we confess, God cleanses us from all unrighteousness. If we confess, God restores us in our joy. So what are the traits of true confession?

First, true confession is honest, brutally honest. The wages of spin is death. Saying the same thing that God says about it is not the same thing as saying something different from what God says. Sometimes we say “different” in a way that is harder on ourselves than God is being, but this is rare. And when it happens, it is because we are being softer on ourselves with regard to the true sin that has us tied up. So confession asks God what it should say, and then says that.

Second, true confession is not something you get to apply to the sins of others. You can confess other people’s sins all day long and your joy will not be restored. Unwillingness to forgive, reluctance to let go of resentment and bitterness, and every other form of “contextualizing” your sin, is a good way to remain joyless.

And third, true confession occurs in the present. Today if you hear His voice . . . A man can know that his sin was sin, he can know that it was not the sin of another, and yet not confess it “yet.” He can say that the time for confession is “next Sunday,” or “soon,” or “after the circumstances are better.” In other words, there is a difference between standing on the high dive, knowing what you have to do, and actually doing it.

What Becomes Visible

We tend to believe that if we confess our sins, then others will know all about the sin and will think less of us. With the exception of hidden scandalous sins (like adultery or embezzlement, say), this is usually not the case. Usually, the people we are refusing to confess sin to are the people who know all about them already.

Confession would not bring them knowledge of your sin. It would bring them knowledge of your sorrow and repentance. Are you an angry person? Petty? Inconsistent? Vain? Dictatorial? Greedy? Lustful? What on earth makes you think that other people can’t see this? If you snap at your employees, or children, or spouse, and tell God how sorry you are about it in the middle of the night, how is it that you don’t see that it is your repentance that is invisible? The sin is right out there. Repentance humbles us, but not by making the sin visible. Repentance humbles us by making the humility visible.

What God Does

Scripture teaches us that God lifts up the humble, and He opposes the proud (Jas. 4:6). Those who refuse to confess their sins are proud, and this means that God is opposing them. He trips them up. He puts obstacles in the way. He makes things go wrong. He takes away their joy. Those who confess their sins are humble, and God exalts the humble. He lifts them up. He restores them. He blesses their endeavors. And measure these things by the video, not by the snapshot.

We think (in the carnality of our hearts) that confession takes us down a peg or two. We think that our sin put us in a hole, and confession would just dig the hole deeper. But this reveals our unbelief. God says the opposite.

What has happened to all your joy? Do you remember what it was like when you were first converted? Why would God want week-old Christians to experience that, but deny it to the older Christians? The answer is that He wouldn’t.

Psalm 70: On Telling God to Hurry Up

Joe Harby on September 9, 2012

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Introduction

There are two fundamental approaches to God, as far apart as Heaven and Hell. One sees the Lord God Almighty, high and lifted up. The other is the domestic animal approach to God, where the ostensible worshipper keeps a god on hand, the way you might keep a cow, for the milk. We know the former is the way to go. But then we don’t know what to do when the Lord, high and lifted up, tells us to ask for anything. We act like Ahaz, and in the name of a high view of God, refuse to obey Him (Is. 7:12).

The Text

“Make haste, O God, to deliver me; Make haste to help me, O LORD. . .” (Ps. 70:1-5).

Summary of the Text

This psalm is a shorter version of Psalm 40, with some changes—YHWH for Elohim, for example. The psalmist is in trouble, as he frequently is, and he cries out to God. He beseeches God to get a move on (v. 1). Not only does he want God to come quickly, he knows what he wants God to do when He arrives. He wants Him to shame and confound the adversaries of his soul (v. 2). Those who desire his hurt he wants to be turned all around and put to confusion (v. 2). Those who taunt the godly, saying aha, aha, need to be turned around as recompense (v. 3). By way of contrast, those who seek God should be blessed—let them rejoice and be glad in the Lord (v. 4). Let those who love the salvation of the Lord be continuous in magnifying the God of Heaven (v. 4). The psalmist is poor and needy, and this is the argument he uses to plead for God’s need to make haste (v. 5), God is his help and deliverer, and so he urges God again—do not tarry (v. 5).

Hurry Up, O Lord

The psalmist urges divine haste four times in this psalm. He begins with it, repeating himself, and he repeats this twice at the end as well. But this is not the command of a superior, commanding a servant to get the lead out. He knows his condition—he is poor and needy— and that is the basis for the urgent plea. Praying this way magnifies the Lord. When He delivers us, we boast in His mighty works.

It is not a high view of God to magnify a pristine definition of a God of the philosophers. The triune God of Scriptures sent His Son down to earth in order that He might have His diapers changed. You think this irreverent? If that is irreverent, who is less reverent of His majesty than God? Who redefined reverence forever when that same boy grew up to be a man, a teacher of upside down things, who offended the religious elite (the reverent), had His skin shredded in a brutal flogging, and who was then nailed to a cross of wood? Reflect again. What sort of religion is this?

It does not reflect a high view of God to refuse to do what He says, or to refuse to think about Him in the categories He gives us. To throw yourself upon His mercies in urgent desperation does not dishonor Him. When we are concerned to magnify the Lord in accordance with His Word, that is what we will do.

To Plead in Faith

Be that as it may, how can we know if we are out of line? Can this teaching not be abused? Of course it can! But why should that even slow us down?

What kind of prayer honors God, and what kind of prayer dishonors Him? The answer of the Bible is constant from beginning to end—without faith it is impossible to please Him. Urgent faith pleases Him. Urgent unbelief just sins faster. Urgent unbelief that wants to be something else pleases Him (Mark 9:24).

“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever you desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark11:24).

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Faith arises in response to what God has said. Are you doing what He invites you to do? Are you running ahead with the health-and-wealthers, or lagging behind with the Reformed? Do all your prayers meet the building code requirements for emergency egress? “O God, if it be thy will, which we all know it isn’t”? We often want deliverance from the burden of asking God for things more than we want deliverance from our troubles.

Note the context of the promise. On one side of it we have prayers of imprecation—the fig tree of Israel was cursed. And if you say to this mountain, be cast into the sea, it will be. What mountain? The one they were standing on at the time, this mountain. On the other side of the promise, there is the requirement to forgive all of the slights and sins committed against you. So there it is—pray for God’s judgments first, forgive all your enemies second, and then shoot the moon.

Aha, Aha

The petty and vindictive spirit that the psalmist complains about reaches its zenith in the account of the crucifixion.

“And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, Save thyself, and come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe” (Mk 15:29-32).

When Christ was condemned by the Sanhedrin, the motion was made, seconded, and entered in the minutes. The rules were scrupulously followed, down to what account the blood money went into when Judas returned it. But the whole thing was a sham, a farce. When the nails went in, the malice could not be contained, and out it came like hot lava.

The veneer of hypocrisy is not thick enough to cover everything it needs to cover. Dogs will bark, roosters will crow, and haters will hate. In our day, the haters of righteousness have tried preemptively to seize the high ground, so that they could be the peace and love faction —but the realities remain what they are. They wanted to define what hatred was (differing with them), but it has not come close to working. It is striking how the slightest provocation is sufficient to bring out the vitriol. So for us, believing the propaganda the enemy produces would be a bad move. In Proverbs, Wisdom declares that all who hate her love death (Prov. 8: 36). This is a reality that cannot be undone; God has fixed it in stone. However much they strive to redefine righteousness, the secularists are just polishing turds.

So when we come to the crux of the matter, which is of course the cross, there are only two ways to go. There are only two options. You either trust in Him for the salvation of your everlasting soul . . . Or you mock Him. Which is it? Which will it be?