Give me Jesus

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.  --Acts 4:12

I love the song "Give Me Jesus" by Jeremy Camp.  Its simple message is a reminder that whatever happens, wherever we are or whatever we are doing, Jesus is our hope.  Whenever the world seems to spin out of control, give me Jesus, for He is my Rock (see Mark 12:10 and 1 Peter 2:7).

The world seems to be in a great upheaval these days.  Men are bitterly divided on what to do about a new disease capable of killing hundreds of thousands.  We seem bewildered about rising unemployment and look to government to help us, but our leaders are at odds with each other on how to proceed.  We seem destined for a "new normal" while everyone longs for things to get back to the way they were.  Sadly, there is no call to prayer or call for revival in the national discourse, because of all the voices clamoring for racial justice or economic security or disease control.

If Jeremy Camp were writing the song lyrics today, it might be "When I'm quarantined...give me Jesus.  When I lose my job...give me Jesus.  When I feel oppressed...give me Jesus."  You see, the words are timeless.  Jesus is all we need.

I have felt impressed recently to being an in-depth study of the book of Mark.  Most of my blog posts  over the years have been topical in nature.  Friend, when you look for a church to join or a pastor to follow, do not find one who preaches topical sermons, no matter how eloquent he may seem.  Instead, look for one that preaches expository sermons, going verse-by-verse through the Bible.  It may not be as exciting, but it will help you grow.  A wise man once said, "Still water runs deep."  Psalm 23 says, "He leads me beside still waters; He restores my soul."  If you want excitement, go float the rapids.  If you want to grow, plant yourself beside still waters.  Anyway, God willing, I will endeavor to be more expository in my blog posts from this point forward.

I wanted to begin with the book of Mark for several reasons.  First, it is the shortest account of the life of Jesus, and easiest to read through in one sitting.  Second, it was written by a fellow named John Mark, who was a good friend of Simon Peter.  Now, I can identify with Peter: when he messed up, he did it big.  Peter shows us how we can get in our own way, but that Jesus can still forgive us, still restore us, and still use us for His glory.  Mark did not walk with Jesus while He was here on Earth, but Peter did.  Peter probably could not write--he may have been illiterate, or else he could not write very well--but Mark could.  So we have a gospel account of Peter, the impetuous apostle.  Third, it was written during a time of great political, social, and religious upheaval.  Mark wrote this as a gospel to Rome, and the Roman emperor during the time of his writing was Nero.  Nero persecuted the young Christian church at the time of it's greatest expansion.  He was a despised ruler (sound familiar?), and many thought he was crazy.  In 66 AD there were riots in Jerusalem, and two years later the Roman army besieged the city and set up their general Titus as leader.

Today, we are also seeing riots in the streets.  Churches are being shut down in the name of public safety, while many others feel that this is just a back door attempt to persecute the Church without overtly overturning the Constitution, which guarantees religious liberty.  Many feel that the current American president is bat-crap-crazy.  Many are looking for regime change, not realizing that Ol' Joe, the leader of their party, is no better suited to leading a nation in crisis than The Donald.

Same song, different verse.  The names have changed, but the game remains the same.

In this environment, Mark compiled all of the stories that Peter had told to him, and announced that there was good news, or a "gospel", found in Jesus.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight."

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.  And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.  I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."  --Mark 1:1-8

Mark begins his story of good news (for that is literally what "gospel" means) with a preacher.  The veracity of this preacher was checked against Scripture.  Let me say that again: John was a preacher, and Mark verified John's message against the Word of God.  You see, there had not been a legitimate prophet of God for about 400 years.  So when John stood up and called for repentance, there was a great response, because people were hungry for a word from God.  Mark referenced the book of Isaiah, making it apparent that this preacher, John, was the one foretold in the Scripture.

Three things about this:  

One, John preached.  There is a lot of talk these days about finding your own way spiritually, but the importance of preachers cannot be emphasized enough.  Paul wrote in Romans 10:13-14, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?  And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" 

Two, the preaching was scriptural.  1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 says, "Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast to what is good."  Instead of following preaching that "tickles the ear", we should be like the believers in Berea: "Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." (Act 17:11). 

Three, the message John preached was of repentance coupled with forgiveness of sin.  Too often today, we hear one message without the other: we are either drilled with the message of sin so often that we fear we may lose our salvation if we are not diligent with our confessions; or we are placated with the message that all is forgiven to the point where sin is not even a worry for us, to the point where sin is not sin, taking out of context the message that nothing separates us from the love of God, so there is no hell because all will end up in heaven.  The fact is that these are two sides of the same coin: sin does separate us from God, or else there would be no need for a Savior; and without turning from that sin and seeking God's forgiveness, we are beyond the Savior's mission, thus we are lost forever.  Grace does cover a multitude of sins, but without our acknowledgement of the price Jesus graciously paid, we have no receipt, no ticket into heaven.

I believe things will get worse in our world before they get better.  I also believe that most people have what I call crisis fatigue.  In our house we have turned off the news, because each day it seems to get worse.  People are hungry for something that will give them peace and eternal security.  The world needs Jesus.  The world needs preachers who will bring the good news with humility, not so much "Look at me" as "Look to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith."  Those preachers need to be tested against Scripture to verify their message.  Finally, the message needs to be one that incorporates equal measures of God's wrath and God's grace.

Anxious times

Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad.  --Proverbs 12:25

We are living in anxious times right now.  A unique confluence of events has us living in a constant state of fear.

First, a worldwide pandemic has devastated us physically, socially and economically.  Even if you personally have not come down with the sars-cov-2 strain of coronavirus (and chances are you haven't),  federal, state, and local governments have put precautions in place that mandate protective masks and social distancing.  Many businesses have shut down, and those that have not found a way to adapt and survive have gone out of business forever.  Many have lost their jobs, and fear that they may not be able to buy food, clothing, or shelter.

Second, a series of police shootings have spawned racially charged marches, some of which have turned into riots.  Even as police respond to outbreaks of violence all across the nation, there is a national call to de-fund police departments.  If police were disarmed, the thinking goes, there would be fewer incidents of "unarmed" suspects being shot.  If police departments shared responsibility with social service agencies and community groups, many Millennials and people of color feel that there would not be so much power concentrated in one department.  However, older people and people who have been victims of crimes fear that a lack of adequate police protection might bring out an "old west" mentality of vigilantism and that chaos would rule.  Unfortunately, the uniting of people of color demanding respect has caused many to fear and distrust racial minorities more than ever.

Third, due to economic slowdown, the evolving economy, and health concerns, there is a call by some to do away with cash transactions.  Some of the national minting capability has been hindered by COVID-19 lockdowns, and many banks have shut down in-person teller windows.  It's hard for businesses to get coins from ATMs, so they have a difficult time making change for cash transactions.  Almost everyone has a bank card, even if they don't have a credit card or even a banking account.  Since paper money and coins are passed from person to person to person, there is a higher probability that cash carries germs, and it would be difficult to track who had the twenty dollar bill before you if it were found to be tainted with the virus.  On the other hand, economists warn that cashless societies will hamper entrepreneurs, low paid workers with a "side hustle", and kids trying to learn to save their allowance for a skateboard, bike, or their first car.  Political conservatives fear that going cashless would cede too much power to the government, since banking is so highly regulated.  Dispensational Christians fear that this is one more step toward the "mark of the beast" where "no one could buy or sell without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name." (Revelation 13:17).

It's enough to make a normal person have an emotional breakdown.

The Bible speaks to this issue of fear on a national scale.  The prophet Ezekiel got this word from the Lord:

Son of man, eat  your bread with quaking, and drink water with trembling and with anxiety.  And say to the people of the land, "Thus says the Lord God concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the land of Israel:  they shall eat their bread with anxiety, and drink water in dismay.  In this way her land will be stripped of all it contains, on account of the violence of all those who dwell in it."  (Ezekiel 12: 17-19)

You see, the people of Israel had turned away from God and had become religiously pluralistic.  As a result, their society had become more and more violent.  On a global scale, the two superpowers at the time were Assyria and Babylonia.  Militarily, these two superpowers could overwhelm a nation, and take the survivors as exiles to be slaves of the conquering country.  Fortunately, they were usually at war with each other, so they would leave smaller nations like Israel alone.

Enter the Chaldeans, a smaller tribe who could not compete with the two superpowers militarily, but they could make life difficult for Israel.  Chaldeans were known for astrology and witchcraft, which was antithetical to Hebrew law.  Ezekiel warned that the Chaldeans would lay siege to Jerusalem, and that could cause multiple concerns.  The Israelites were an agrarian society, but their capitol city was defended by a wall.  The Chaldeans, a more militaristic culture, could lay siege to the city, cutting it off from outside trade.

Economically, food and potable water would be scarce.  Supply routes would be cut off, and those who did work the land would be prevented from planting and harvesting their crops.  The fields would probably be burned anyway by the marauding Chaldeans, so whatever the residents of Jerusalem had stored would be all that they could eat or drink.

Politically, the people would look to their leaders for answers.  The government might have given tax relief to ease the starving, but if there was no food to buy then the people would call for more action.  On the other hand, the government might have raised taxes to try to raise an army, or maybe to send word to a neighboring nation for military assistance.  Hiring mercenaries had to be discussed, but there was the problem of getting word out if the city was surrounded.  It was a lose-lose situation.

Religiously, the people knew that the Chaldeans were radically different.  If the city fell, they would be carried off into exile, and the conquering Chaldeans would not allow them to pray to God or worship in the way they wanted.  The very foundation of their nation was based upon the worship of one supreme God, manifested in service and sacrifice.  Not only would the pagan captors prohibit them from worship of the true God, but they would introduce them to astrology and witchcraft.

The fears were well-founded, and could cause disruption in many areas of their lives.  Sound familiar?  The similarities don't end there.  There were apparently nay-sayers, deniers of the obvious.  Civic and religious leaders urged calm, and started a smear campaign against Ezekiel, who was trying to wake them up to the reality of the dangers posed against them.  A slogan was circulated, something Ezekiel called a proverb or adage.  It went something like this:  "The days grow long, and every vision comes to nothing."  In other words, Ezekiel had been preaching this same doom and gloom for years.  No calamity had come against them yet, and besides, wasn't God on their side?  They began making fun of Ezekiel's message.

In chapter 4, God gave Ezekiel this same message, which the prophet portrayed on a very small scale.  He took a brick that was to represent Jerusalem.  He surrounded this brick with clay figures, like the little green army men that little boys play with.  He built models of siegeworks--little battering rams on little clay hills.  He even took an iron griddle and set it up like a siege wall, to represent the iron force that would be set against the city. (See Ezekiel 4:1-3).  Then God told him to lay on his left side for 390 days--over a year--to represent the number of years Israel would be exiled, and then to lay on his right side for 40 days to represent the number of years that the more faithful tribe of Judah would spend in exile.  Can you imagine the ridicule?  "This guy's crazy," they must have thought.  "He's playing with his little toys, and then laying around for a year and a half, and we're expected to believe he speaks for God?"

In chapter 12, God gave Ezekiel the message again.  His method of portraying the message was more direct this time, less obtuse than playing with toys.  Ezekiel packed his belongings and left his home.  Wherever he showed up, he would tell the people he was in exile from his home.  He told the people to pack their essential belongings, that they would be carried off into exile soon.

They did not listen.

Whatever message God is trying to give to America and the world should be heeded, and soon.  We should repent, and turn our hearts to the Father.  We should not be overcome by fear.  You see, fear paralyzes some; others are motivated by fear to make bad decisions.

If you grew up with a father at home, you probably know the mind-altering anxiety that came from disobedience.  At some point in your life, you probably have thought, "My Dad's going to kill me!"  We need that same reverence for God.  Like the psalmist David said, "I confess my iniquity; I am full of anxiety because of my sin." (Psalm 38:18 NASB).

God may be gracious.  Just as we know my Dad did not kill me as I had feared, our heavenly Father may show mercy.  "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:6-7).  We must place our trust in God because He controls all things.  "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord.  He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

Anxiety never solved anything.  Jesus said, "And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" (Matthew 6:27)  Instead, we should pray.  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7).

Peace.  This is what everyone needs right now.  The peace that only God can give.  Otherwise, we are all paralyzed with fear, or else we will run around like chickens with our heads cut off, accomplishing nothing.

Real Cowboys Don't Snap Beans

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.  --Romans 12:3

This past weekend my wife and I were visiting with my mother, and Mom started to reminisce about my childhood.  She reminded me of the time when I was six or seven years old, and would spend much of the summer with my grandmother.  Grandma was married to a farmer named George in the Hill Country of central Texas.  The old farmhouse they lived in was not adjacent to their farm, but did have a small pasture out back with a lean-to shed and an old brown horse.

One day I put on my cowboy boots and walked out into the pasture behind the house.  George was out in his field across the highway driving a combine, which filled his trailer with maize.  Grandma was in the kitchen on the phone with my mother.  Suddenly, Grandma let out a terrified yell, dropped the phone, and ran out back waving her arms.

"Stop!  Stop!!" she yelled, frantically.

You see, I had found a short rope with a loop.  I calmly walked to where the horse was standing, placed the loop over the horse's head, and cinched it tight around his neck.  Then I led the placid animal to a water tank, climbed up onto the tank so that I would be tall enough, and I mounted the horse, riding bare-back.  The horse started toward the shed at a trot, which was not much taller than the horse himself.  I am sure that he intended to knock me off his back when we got to the lean-to.

At this point, my grandmother burst out of the back of the house, hollering hysterically.  The horse stopped short just outside the shed, just as I was deciding in my mind whether I could duck under the shed's roofline, or if I would have to exhibit some more daring horsemanship like I had seen trick riders do at the circus or the rodeo.  Grandma demanded that I get down off that horse this instant, and come back in the house where she could keep an eye on me.

Later that day, Grandma had picked some fresh green beans out of her garden.  She and I were on the shady porch, and she handed me a bowl.  "Here," she said, "help me snap the stems off these green beans before dinner."

I took the bowl off my lap and set it on the porch.  I crossed my arms over my chest and sulked.  "What's the matter?"she asked.

"Cowboys don't snap beans," I replied.

It seems that I had some definite ideas about what cowboys did and did not do.  In my six-year-old mind, I could not imagine that an adult Cowboy would do much else than just rope and ride.  In all the old western movies I had seen, when a cowboy wasn't on his horse, he was beside a campfire, or maybe near a chuckwagon eating beans and such.  It had never occurred to me that an adult cowboy would have adult responsibilities, like paying bills or finding work or even raising a child of their own.

I think a lot of people have misconceptions like that about certain professions.  My father was a pastor, and I am sure there were people in his congregation that thought he only worked about three hours a week--preaching on Sunday morning, and leading Bible Studies on Sunday night and Wednesday night.  Those more familiar with the calling might realize that a pastor was also expected to keep office hours during the week for counseling and Deacon's meetings, as well as visit the sick and shut-in church members as needed.  However, I'll bet no one ever imagines that a pastor might get a call in the middle of the night from the police department saying that they found water flowing out the door and into the street from a broken pipe in the rest room.  I remember going to the church with my Dad after just such a call, and seeing him put on rubber boots, wade upstream to turn off the overflowing toilet, then using a broom or squeegee to push the pools of water out of the fellowship hall and drying off the tile floors.

Being an adult means sometimes doing things you never thought you'd have to do.

Similarly, being a Christian means sometimes doing things that go against your nature.  C.S. Lewis wrote:

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.

As we grow in our faith and in our relationship with God, we learn more about being like His Son.  We are taught humility, because we see that Jesus washed His disciples' feet.  We are taught to be a servant to all, because Jesus said, "If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." (Mark 9:35).

We also learn to sometimes ignore what people think being a Christian means.  In their ignorance, the World might say that the Bible says we must love everybody all the time.  However, a deeper reading of scripture reveals that Jesus said, "I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34).  The World conveniently forgets that Jesus Himself became pretty violent when He saw the commercialization of the Passover.

In the temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.  And making a whip out of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen.  And He poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.  And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade."  His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."  --John 2:13-17

During these times, there may be criticism of those who call themselves Christians.  Some may say things like, "Real Christians don't hate." When you hear things like this, please do not let non-Christians control the narrative.  Real Christians are to be like Christ, and there are definitely things, and people, that Jesus did not love.  Pray for discernment.  Pray for the ability to educate those who attack us with lies and distortions, standing up to them with truth and power.

My fellow Christians, grow up.  Be an adult.  Do not follow some fantasy of Christianity, but strive to become more like Christ.  Read His word, and put it into practice.  Do not attack those who may be at a different point in their Christian growth, but be sure to defend your faith against those who have no idea what true Christianity really means.

 

Feral Children

 

“He's a feral child. No mother, no father, no one to care for him or raise him or teach him how to be human. So he's existed much like an animal, without language. He thinks in images, not word."
"How strange," Lanaya, sounding amazed.
Ryter shakes his head sadly. "Not strange, I'm afraid. His condition is all too common in the latches. And becoming more common every day.”
― Rodman Philbrick, The Last Book in the Universe

My wife and I have been watching old episodes of the television drama "E.R."  The series was written and created by Michael Crichton, who also wrote "Jurassic Park", a book that was turned into a movie franchise.  Michael Crichton himself was a Harvard trained Medical Doctor, but never actually practiced medicine.  That may be one reason why the "E.R" franchise was so successful, and lasted so long even after the big-name actors (George Clooney, Juliana Margulies) left the cast.

One particular episode speaks to our culture today, I think.  Season 13, episode 8, "Reason to Believe", first aired November 16, 2006.  In it, a group of homeless children bring their friend to the ER.  The child has a mysterious illness that brings him to the brink of death, but the kids have faith in Neela (played by Parminder Nagra).  They call her "The Lady in Blue", and they seem to have boundless faith in her supernatural ability to heal, until one of them discovers she is "just a doctor."

The children in this episode are living in an underground shelter, and doing whatever it takes to survive.  They appear to have made up a mythical back-story in lieu of their actual history, in order to explain dangers "beyond the river".  Their search for the goddess or saint they called "the Lady in Blue" led them to Neela, who was seen wearing blue scrubs.

Feral children are a major theme in dystopian literature.  Left without adult supervision, they let their imaginations run wild in ways that are intended to explain their universe in ways they can understand and control. 

In much the same way, modern anthropologists explain the origins of religion as myths and legends meant to explain naturally occurring phenomena in imaginative ways, and the gods and goddesses their minds created were used in ways to control the masses and empower shamans and priests.  Out of that system of belief, they surmise, evolved the Judeo-Christian concept of God.

I believe they have it backward.

I believe that God pre-existed Man, and that Man's concept of God originally came from the tangible, corporeal experience of Adam.  After the Fall, the first-hand experiences of Adam standing face-to-face with God, walking hand-in-hand with Him, were told to his children, who had no first-hand experience with God.  Over time, the message degraded, and rival myths and legends popped up to compete with the truth.  I believe that Satan, the father of lies, put the thought of rival deities into the minds of men to confuse them, and to lead them away from the truth.  The Bible speaks to this in 2 Timothy 4:3-5, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."

Let's look at it logically.  Suppose for a moment that there is no God, no Satan, no spiritual beings whatsoever.  Like feral children, men are left to explain their universe in ways that are limited to their own experiences. They observe and adapt.  They hunt, they gather, they learn to domesticate animals and control the edible plants and herbs that they eat.  They discover medicinal remedies for diseases.  They live, they die, and the world of knowledge expands slightly with what they have left behind.  This is the evolution of our species.

Without God, there would be no need for a deity.  No one would even come up with the idea.

I challenge you to find one person alive today whose concept of God was not based on a teaching, a philosophy, a theology that he was told or that he read about.  You can't.  Everything we know or think we know about God was told to us by someone else.  If you follow that teaching back to its original source, it was God Himself.  Satan may have come and misstated the truth, misdirected the narrative, but without the intervention of the Creator Himself, we do not have the capacity to know about Him.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 says, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.  In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing  the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."  Christ came to refocus theological thought to the beginning, to the true and original God with whom he had first-hand knowledge.  Like Adam, Jesus had a first-hand account of God's word and work.  People who heard Jesus and believed in him had faith that he was the only way to God.  Others could not  hear the Word because of the noise of false teachings and false religions around them.  2 Corinthians 3:14 says, "But their minds were hardened.  For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away." Colossians 1:15 says, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation."


Matthew 13:15 says, "For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them."  Men are sick and dying without God.  We must tell them the truth, "To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." (Acts 26:18)

This, then, is our mission: to implore all men to call on the Name of the Lord for their salvation.  Not to rely upon themselves, not to follow a demigod with human limitations and foibles, not to listen to false religions or sects.  All must call on the Name of the Lord to be saved.

Romans 10:14-15a  says, "How then will they call on him whom they have not believed?  And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent?"  Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." (John 20:21)

Go.  And as you go, take Jesus with you.  The world is full of feral children in need of guidance, truth, peace, and healing.

Divine Providence

So Abraham called the name of that place, "The Lord will provide", as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the Lord it will be provided."  --Genesis 22:14

I am a bit of a history buff, so it is interesting to me that in the early settlement of the United States, one of the most prevalent titles of God was "Providence."  In 1636, Roger Williams was exiled from the Massachusetts Colony for espousing religious freedom, and he established Providence, Rhode Island as a haven for Baptists, Quakers, and other religious minorities.  140 years later Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence these words: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually  pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."

I think Providence is a great title for God, and one that we should consider using more today.  The title reminds us that God gives us what we need day by day. It also means that He can see the future, and prepare us for the coming storm.  Ultimately, as we shall see later, it means that God is sovereign over all.

Jehovah Jireh
In today's evangelical climate, we think of Providence as giving us what we need right now.  If a man is a good provider, he will see to it that his family is taken care of today--they have food to eat, clothes to wear, and a roof over their heads.  Jesus' modeled this thinking for us in the Lord's Prayer, when He said to pray like this: "Give us this day our daily bread."  Philippians 4:19 promises, "And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

In the book of Genesis we read about Abraham's faithfulness.  He believed that God would provide him an heir, and when Isaac was born that provision was made evident.  As a test of Abraham's faith, God told him to go and sacrifice his only son.  Abraham obeyed, and God stayed his hand before Abraham could slay his son.  When Abraham looked up, he saw a ram that God had provided as a sacrifice in the place of Isaac.

Genesis 22:14 says, "So Abraham called the name of the place, 'The Lord will provide'; as it is said to this day, 'On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided'."  We certainly can see divine Providence at work here.  The Hebrew name for that place is Jehovah Jireh, literally "the Lord provides" or "the Lord sees."  In this case, the Lord did see the faith of Abraham, and He saw to it that a substitute sacrifice was available.  He sees to our needs today, as well.  He sent a substitute sacrifice for us, His only Son, so that we may be forgiven of our sins today and have a hope for the future.

Providentia
If you look up the word Providence, you will find that it comes from the Latin word providentia, meaning foresight or prudence.  The root words are pro, meaning ahead or before, and videre, meaning to see.  Certainly it is one of the attributes of God that he can look ahead to what is coming, and foretell the future.

Another story from the book of Genesis is about the twelve sons of Jacob (Israel), and their hatred of their brother Joseph.  Their jealousy caused them to strip Joseph of the colorful coat that their father had given to him, and then sell him to a passing caravan.  Subsequently Joseph became a slave, then a prisoner, and ultimately a high official in Egypt.  God gave Joseph the ability to interpret Pharaoh's dream, foretelling of a coming famine.  The preparation that Joseph made gave Egypt a prominent position of power and wealth during the famine.

When Joseph's brothers came from Israel to buy food, Joseph recognized them.  In Genesis 45:5, he told them, "And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life."  By His divine Providence, God sent Joseph ahead to prepare for the coming famine, and to ensure the line of Abraham would be preserved.  In the same way God sent His Son to suffer and die so that we could be presented to Him as pure and blameless in the last day.

Sovereignty
We have seen how divine Providence means that God can provide for our every need.  We have also seen how Providence means He sees to our needs, both now and in the future because He knows what will happen and He knows how to prepare us for the coming days, whether good or bad.  I think it also means He controls all things by His righteous right hand.  Psalm 103:19 says, "The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all."

Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose."  Does this mean that people of faith will not go through trials or tribulations?  Of course not!  It does mean that God will provide what we need in every circumstance.

In the 8th chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses was exhorting the people of Israel to remember what God had done for them.

He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. --Deuteronomy 8:3-4

What a great reminder of the Providence of God--their clothes did not wear out, and their feet stayed healthy.  God did not keep them out of the wilderness, but He did provide for them while they were there.  Similarly, He did not keep Shadrach, Meshach and Adednego out of the fiery furnace, but He did stand there with them so that they were not burned up.  God did not even keep the devil away from His Son, Jesus, but Jesus remembered the Word of God to speak to Satan the same words that God had given Moses in the wilderness (see Matthew 4:4, where Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3),

God's provides.  He sees to our needs, and He sees what's coming and sees to it that we are provided for.  Nothing is out of His control, as He is sovereign over all.  That, my friends, is Providence; a picture of His provision, His power, and His protection.

Prayer Warriors, Overcomers

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.  --John 3:14-15

This past week as I was scrolling through my Facebook feed, I saw some commentary on Exodus 17:8-13 that didn't sound quite right to me, but I forgot about it and kept on scrolling.  Then, this morning, I heard a sermon from my pastor online (most churches in my area are still closed due to COVID-19 restrictions), and  it was the same scripture with a remarkably different take.

It reminded me to trust my gut spiritually, and to speak against false teachers.

If you are not familiar with the story in Exodus 17, Moses is leading the children of Israel (Jacob, grandson of Abraham) through the wilderness.  He is met with a nomadic, warring tribe led by Amalek (grandson of Esau, Jacob's brother).  Moses tells his lieutenant Joshua to muster all the men of fighting age, and to lead them into battle.  Moses knew that the men that Joshua would recruit had absolutely  no military experience, and probably no offensive weapons.  Remember, they had gone into Egypt as a group of shepherds, and had come out some 400 years later as a slave class of brick-makers and masons used to build the pyramids.

Moses also knew the provision of God.  He knew that God would not leave His people without defense.  He had already witnessed God providing food from the sky and water from a rock.  The same God who had provided what they needed to ward off hunger and thirst would also be their defender against their enemies.

Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.  So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose for us men, and go out and fight with with Amalek.  Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."  So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.  But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side.  So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.  And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.  --Exodus 17:8-13

Catholic tradition states that Hur was married to Moses' sister Miriam.  So Moses watched the battle from a high vantage point, and he asks his brother and his brother-in-law to go with him.  He stands with both hands aloft, probably holding up the rod that he had used to part the Red Sea.  As long as the rod is held high, the men of Israel won the battle; when Moses rested, the men of Israel lost the battle.

So this is the back-story.  This past week I read the essay from the questionable theologian who seemed to imply that there was no causative relation between Moses holding up his hands and the defeat of the Amalekites.  From this side of history, he believes that it was ultimately God's will for Israel to prevail and go on to the Promised Land.  Therefore he used some Hebrew linguistic argument about causative verbs vs. permissive verbs in Scripture.  In other words, whenever an Old Testament story starts, "God caused..." followed by whatever tragedy occurred, it really means that God allowed the sinful, fallen world to do what it does.  This line of thinking is the basis for the argument that God is love, good and gracious always, and He is never jealous, never hates, and never could cause harm.  The argument is that God allows death, disease and destruction, but He never is the author of them.  He allowed the Black Plague, for example, but the He gave grace to the survivors.  Similarly, He could not have caused the current global pandemic, but by His grace the elect will allow His people to overcome.  Therefore, the essay went on to say, there was no correlation between Moses having his hands up or down--God would not allow His people to be defeated.

Well, well.

I think my pastor had it more correct, more in line with the nature of God.  His belief is that Moses was up on the hilltop in an attitude of prayer.  As long as he lifted his hands to heaven, God answered his prayer.  Whenever he grew weary of praying, God withdrew His blessing.  Realizing this, Aaron and Hur did what they could to support Moses in his intercessory mission.  They made him comfortable.  They lifted him up, certainly physically but probably also spiritually, so that he would not become weary.

If you believe, as I do, that the gospel can be seen in both the Old and New Testament, then you can see similarities in the work of Moses and the work of Christ.  Romans 8:34 says, "Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who is indeed interceding for us." (Emphasis added).  Like Moses, Jesus sits upon a high vantage point looking down on our battles.  Like Moses, Jesus pleads with the Father for us.

When Jesus was meeting with Nicodemus, a Pharisee who was seeking the truth, He used an image that every little Jewish boy knew well.  The story is from Numbers chapter 21, where God sent a plague of vipers to attack, because the people had disobeyed God's command.  God then told Moses to make an image or representation of a snake out of bronze, and to raise it up on a pole for all to see.  Those who looked up at the image of the viper and believed would be healed.  Those who would not, died.  Jesus referred to this story when He said, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life."

Moses interceded for the people, and Jesus intercedes for  us.  Moses lifted up a symbol of sin and death so that the peopled could be saved, and Jesus was Himself lifted up on a symbol of torture and death, and took all our sins upon Himself, so that we could be saved.  Our job, then, is to follow God's call to us.  We are to seek the face of God, like Jesus (and Moses) did.  We are to pray and not grow weary, as Moses (and Jesus) did.  We are to lift up the leaders who shepherd the people of God, and support them as Aaron and Hur did.  Most of all, we are to proclaim the gift of God to all around us, to be obedient and follow God's will, and to realize that God's grace and mercy will one day run out.  When that day comes, the sheep and goats will be separated, and the sinful will be cast into a lake of fire.

Do you ever feel like God is trying to get our attention?

So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind.  --Revelation 9:15

We are 60 days into the COVID-19 disruption where I live.  Other countries started their quarantine much earlier, I know, and have therefore suffered much worse economic disruption. The World Health Organization recommended a very aggressive limitation of economic activity very early on, hoping that being pro-active in this situation would "flatten the curve" of the number of expected cases, and therefore the hospitals and healthcare systems would not be overwhelmed.

The mortality rate among those who were infected is somewhere between 1.3% and 3%.  Thankfully, however, most people will not be infected.  Although it is a serious public health threat, it is not nearly as deadly as once predicted.  As an example, if the same number of people in the United States come down with the coronavirus as contracted the flu last year (about 35 million), then up to 500,000 could die.  Statistically, given a US population of 330 million, the number of projected deaths from the pandemic would be just 0.15% of the population, or just 1.5 deaths for every 1000 people.

I have heard reporters in the media refer to this pandemic as something "of biblical proportions."  Those reporters have no idea what true biblical proportion means.

The eighth chapter of Revelation describes a judgment in which one third of the ocean will turn to blood, and one third of all sea creatures will die.  I have heard of an oceanic condition called Red Tide, but it has never resulted in the death of a third of all sea life (including ships and their crews, by the way--read Revelation 8:9-11).

The ninth chapter of Revelation describes a judgment in which one third of all mankind is killed.  Given the current world population of 7.8 billion people, a 33% mortality rate would result in 2.5 billion deaths in a short period of time.  According to www.worldometers.info, only 135,000 people died today, and the annual death rate currently is about 49 million per year.  As the world population increases, the number equal to one third of the population also increases, so by the time this prophecy comes true, it could affect many more.

If a flu-like virus with a mortality rate of just 3% has gotten world-wide attention, can you imagine the effect of a cataclysmic event ten times as deadly?  It should wake us up as to how powerful God is.  Yet Revelation 9:20 speaks of how hard-hearted the World is: "The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts."

I read an economics textbook in college that referred to the Black Plague in Europe, around 1346-1353 A.D.  At that time, almost 60% of the population of Europe died, but according to this economist, the result was a concentration of wealth among the survivors.  The two great social forces in the time were the State and the Church, and both sought to profit from this new-found wealth.  The state government, which had taxing authority, edged out the Catholic church and grew more powerful in the ensuing years.

I am afraid that the COVID-19 crisis has revealed the power of the State in the modern world.  Almost every government represented in the United Nations has declared a national emergency, and those within government are finding ways to profit from it.  Political theorist Saul Alinsky wrote, "Never let a crisis go to waste."

I am hopeful that God will send a spiritual revival in the hearts of people, so that they can see the absolute power and authority of God in the middle of the pandemic.  However, I can see that people are hard-hearted, and I am afraid that they are distracted by wealth redistribution and concentration of government power, and that they are looking to themselves or to the government to find a way to go about their day-to-day lives.