Habakkuk 2:5-20

Nimrod, Jezebel, Nebuchadnezzar, and Herod. Genghis Khan, Cleopatra, Louis XIV, and Nero. Adolf Hitler, Bernie Madoff, Harvey Weinstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell. What do all these people have in common? Some of them were government leaders while others were not, but they all exhibited a flagrant, obvious arrogance seen by how they abused and took advantage of other people for selfish reasons.

While we don’t normally encounter or live directly under the power of well-known public villains like these, you’ve probably had experiences with similar people in a more personal, less public way. The school bully, abusive spouse, manipulative relative, controlling boss or supervisor, sarcastic, name-calling coworker, intimidating landlord or businessperson, unjust judge, and so on.

Like Habakkuk, we easily wonder how God can permit self-centered people like this to enter our lives and prosper in the world. In Hab 1:1–2:4, we learn that God’s plan is bigger and better than we can comprehend. So, rather than try to figure out what God is doing and why he is doing it that way, we should live by faith. Since he is eternal, faithful, all-powerful, holy, and unchangeable, we should wait patiently for him, trusting completely in him from beginning to end, no matter what arrogant, ungodly people may do in our lives.

But even when are trusting fulling in our faithful God, it helps to know what God thinks about arrogant people. In 2:5-20, he gives us his divine perspective on arrogant, ungodly people. He warns them of serious judgment and destruction, describing five behavioral traits and patterns of these kinds of people. Then he calls all people, whether abusers or abused, oppressors or oppressed, to turn from their idols to him in reverent worship.

Knowing what God thinks about arrogant people and will do to arrogant people is helpful for us in two ways. This knowledge helps us deepen our trust in him when arrogant people are causing us difficulty and pain. But it also helps us identify any arrogance in our own hearts so we can turn from it to trust in God with greater honesty and humility.

In summary, from this part of Habakkuk’s message, we see that proud people think too highly of themselves and too little of others. They reveal their arrogance by treating other people poorly in order to benefit themselves. And they do this because they do not trust in God. From this we see that arrogance grows where trust in God is missing, and it always shows in how we treat other people. Pride mistreats others because it refuses to trust God. When we stop trusting God, we start using people.

God warns of judgment for arrogant people.

At this point in the book, Habakkuk has asked God two questions. First, why did it seem God was overlooking the corruption and injustice of his neighbors and fellow citizens in Judah. Second, why would he use an arguably more wicked nation like Babylon to judge Judah for their sins?

But now Habakkuk is done asking questions and makes a confident, dogmatic statement, instead – that God will judge every arrogant person severely. By severely, I don’t mean God will punish them in an excessively harsh, rash, and reactive way but that he will judge them in a decisive and just way that matches the severity of their sin. Pride will not go unpunished, even if it seems to roam free without consequence now today.

In Hab 2:5-20, a key word appears 5 times, the word “woe.” This word appears 53 times in the OT. Seventy-seven percent (more than three quarters) of the time it means a “cry of doom” (Kenneth Barker) and announces deeply frightening, horrifying circumstances that will happen due to a person’s persistent, unrepentant sin.

These painful consequences are normally announced in a graphic, intense, and public way. This is intentional to encourage stubborn, unpersuadable people to repent, letting them know in clear terms that if they refuse to repent, their only possible and certain future is death, judgment, and destruction. These “woes” do not describe a mere wish for proud people to be punished but rather a statement of certain judgment that will definitely occur.

Habakkuk introduces here a series of not just one or two woes but five. And he previews what he is about to say in a brief phrase in 2:4, then a long verse in 2:5. In this preview, we see that God is calling out the sin of arrogance and pride. He describes it as a restless, greedy desire that cannot be satisfied; it abuses and exploits all kinds of people for selfish reasons. He compares the appetite of pride to death and the grave, which continues to seize more people every day yet is never filled.

When pride is a dominant desire in a person’s heart, they behave like a drunken person – inconsiderate of others and overconfident in themselves. Such people are difficult and frightening people to be around today because their behavior is so harmful to others. But in the end, the very people whom they bullied will be witnesses against them at the future judgment of God. They will then be able to taunt the arrogant people who tortured them.

The five woes of Habakkuk against proud people are offered this way – as mocking taunts, songs which essentially make fun of the bullies. In the traditional folk tale, The Three Little Pigs, as animated by Disney, the pigs mock the big bad wolf with a song: “Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf? Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? Tra-la-la-la-lah-la-la-lah?” They do this as he hunts them, blows their houses down, to terrorize and eat them.

Here in Habakkuk 2:5-20, God gives this kind of song with five verses. While it’s primarily directed not at the big bad wolf, but at the Babylonian kings and armies which would soon invade and terrorize Judah, it’s vague enough that it could also be sung about any arrogant people today or in history. In summary, though, Hab 2 teaches us those who trust in God will live, but those who are proud and refuse to trust in him will be destroyed.

Let’s look at the five verses of this mocking song against arrogant people and see five ways a proud and arrogant heart reveals itself through a person’s behavior. From these five behaviors, we see that proud people think too highly of themselves and too little of others. They reveal their arrogance by treating other people poorly to benefit themselves. And they do this because they don’t trust in God. Arrogance grows where trust in God is missing. Pride mistreats others because it refuses to trust God.

Woe to anyone who takes advantage of other people.

2:6-8 says arrogance and pride often reveals itself through the kind of behavior that takes advantage of other people. We call this exploiting, extorting, manipulating, or victimizing. God mentions a specific way of doing this here that involved increasing personal resources and wealth through a practice called “taking pledges,” or as Habakkuk says, “loading up many pledges.”

In the ancient world, “taking pledges” referred to seizing collateral from a person who owed a debt. In the case of the Babylonians (or any other arrogant people who take advantage of others), this often involved taking basic items which are essential to life, like clothing, food, house, or livestock. These pledges were supposed to function as temporary guarantee, not a permanent confiscation, and God’s law placed strict limits on how and when pledges could be taken.

The problem in this case was that the Babylonians would use debt as a weapon. They stripped already vulnerable, weakened people of what little they had left, forcing them into ongoing debt and keeping what was necessary for daily survival and dignity as mandatory collateral. This wasn’t a neutral business practice; it was predatory exploitation designed to keep people beholden or dependent on them. It revealed an arrogant heart that treated human beings like milk cows, squeezing all the milk they could from them with no regard for their personal dignity, health, or survival or the survival of their young calves.

In this verse, we see that Babylon would set off a domino train of events which would not end until they had at last been taken advantage of by others, just as they were taking advantage of other nations and people. As Paul says in Gal 6:7, “You reap what you sow.”

The emphasis here on “suddenly” reflects the poetic justice in God’s justice and plans. Babylon would rise to power quickly and but they would fall from power quickly, too. Babylon was the world superpower from approx. 612 BC to 538 BC, so only abt. 75 years, or one person’s lifetime. Compared to Assyria before them (abt. 300 yrs., or 4 lifetimes) and Persia after them (abt. 200 yrs., or 2.5 lifetimes), they would be a short-lived empire. (The United States is currently at somewhere between Assyria and Persia in age, btw.)

Anyway, this is what arrogant people do. They see people not as neighbors to love and serve but as assets to be used and abused. They use whatever advantage, position, or power they have to enrich themselves by draining others, showing little concern for the dignity, wellbeing, or survival of the people that they hurt.

Woe to anyone who indulges himself at others’ expense.

2:9-11 expands on the first verse of this taunting song by calling out how arrogant people not only take advantage of other people as a matter of business, but they do it to enrich and indulge themselves. They take the material gains they accumulate by extortion to make their own lives bigger and better than before.

The phrase “covets evil gain” here is interesting. In Hebrew, it is “cuts off an evil cut.” It describes how a tailor may cut some fabric for a customer but cuts it shorter than requested while charging a higher price so he could cheat the customer and end up with more money and more fabric for himself.

This phrase is used broadly to describe raising your profit margin and inventory by cheating and swindling people. Here it refers to how Babylon – esp. it’s rulers and leaders – would embellish and enlarge not only their empire and kingdom but also their individual, private houses and dwellings to be more impressive and safe for themselves.

They would be like a bald eagle building its nest far above other birds by stealing twigs and sticks from the nests of those birds less powerful than themselves. This taunt speaks of giving “shameful counsel to their house,” “cutting off many peoples,” and “sinning against your own soul.” While the Babylonians (or arrogant people) thought they were building strong, fortified houses and buildings by cutting up lumber and stones they had claimed from the people they conquered and their tortured labors, it was actually their own homes and families’ futures which were being cut off.

The taunt claims that even the stone and wood they used to build their houses would cry out as witnesses against them. In other words, even if they destroyed every single enemy, their own grand houses and buildings would be permanent witnesses and reminders of the people they abused and took advantage of to build them.

So, arrogant people take advantage of other people and indulge themselves at others’ expense. They also …

Woe to anyone who advances himself through violence and crime.

2:12-14 speaks of building towns and cities through violence (“bloodshed”) and crime (“iniquity”). “Through violence” refers to cities built through the efforts and labors of people who are poorly treated and die to achieve the goal. The word “iniquity” (“crime”) refers to social, property, and commercial sins – seizing private property, shaming people unjustly, using underhanded business policies and financial practices to get what they want, even threatening people through mafia-style tactics. They built their towns and cities on the blood, sweat, and tears of bullied and enslaved people.

Those who build houses and projects on the backs of bloodshed and through crime and violence only labor in the end, only do so as an elaborate preparation for the massive bonfire of God’s judgment. What seems to be an impressive building project and scheme is nothing more, in God’s eternal sight, as a simply gathering kindling wood for the fires of divine destruction. All the grandiose building projects of the world which occur through unjust, violent, and corrupt means – whether large-scale government building projects or else the building projects of wealthy and corrupt financiers – are ultimately “in vain” (or useless and wasted).

“The Lord of Hosts” emphasizes God as the supreme commander of all forces in existence, seen and unseen. “Hosts” refers not only to earthly armies but to the vast angelic forces and even the stars themselves, all of which serve at God’s command.

A clear and dramatic illustration of this appears in 2 Kings 6, when Elisha’s servant feared the large enemy army surrounding them, and God opened his eyes to see the hills filled with horses and chariots of fire, with the countless unseen angelic armies of the Lord standing ready to act on behalf of his people.

Throughout the OT, this title reminds God’s people that no empire, nation, or ruler acts outside of God’s authority. When Habakkuk speaks of the Lord of Hosts, he is declaring that the God who sees arrogant oppression also commands unlimited power to judge it decisively. The bullies, enemies, and oppressive people which seem overwhelming to us are surrounded by forces far greater than any human power on our behalf.

Here, Habakkuk points out that the purpose of God’s judgment and punishment would be not only to punish arrogant people but to ensure that the whole world would know the Lord in a real, personal, unmistakable way, either as Savior or Judge.

The entire story of the Exodus, for instance, centered on the fact that Pharaoh did not know God (Exod 5:2), but God wanted to introduce himself to Israel (Exod 6:6) and to Pharaoh and the Egyptians (Exod 7:5) (Kenneth Barker).

A clear knowledge of the greatness and justice of God will be so universal it will be as common and obvious as the lakes, rivers, seas, and oceans that cover the world. The arrogance of corrupt and unjust people, along with all their grand but unjust accomplishments and projects, will be burned and washed away and will be nothing more than a means for all people to be introduced to the power and judgment of God.

Proud people take advantage of other people, they do so to indulge themselves, and they do so through violence and crime. But there is a fourth way that arrogance reveals itself.

Woe to anyone who abuses and shames other people for pleasure.

The fourth verse of this taunt song, 2:15-17, emphasizes drunkenness and abuse as behaviors of arrogant people. This is especially appropriate because the OT shows that Babylon was a nation known for its wild drinking parties (Dan 5). Somehow or another, they also forced the people they conquered to join them in drunkenness. When they were drunk, they mocked and abused them in shameful ways as they did the sort of things that drunk people do (see v. 15).

Ironically, God announced that they would have the same thing happen to them in the end. Since they had intoxicated others and shamed them, then would be intoxicated and shamed themselves in the end.

In Scripture, a cup of wine, held out and poured out by a king, represented judgment, and the right hand represented power. 2:16 says this would happen to Babylon and arrogant people like them.

Babylon had destroyed the forests of Lebanon and deprived animals in those dense, lush woodlands of their natural habitat. What had once been a lush forest of majestic cedars and thriving wildlife had been exploited and mismanaged to build corrupt opulent building projects. Worse yet, they had done the same thing to the cities and people in them, too – not just the forests and the animals. So, here we see that arrogant people not only abuse other people, but they abuse and mismanage God’s creation – both plant and animal life – for their own selfish purposes, too. God judges this behavior, too.

For this reason, God said they would be drunk and exposed to the world. And this is exactly what happened. At the end of their brief, 75-year existence as an empire, the Syria army sprung a surprise attack on their capital city. Ironically, they attacked and overthrew the city while King Belshazzar and all his government officials were participating in a drunken party. That night, the Syrian empire killed him and brought the Babylonian empire to a sudden end.

So, proud people take advantage of other people, they do so to indulge themselves, they abuse and shame other people for their pleasure, and they do so through violence and crime. But there is a fifth and final way that arrogance reveals itself – they trust in idols.

Woe to anyone who trusts in idols.

In this fifth and final woe, God places the ‘woe’ in the middle of the taunt rather than the beginning. Doing this “jumps right into” the topic and shows a special sense of urgency and seriousness about this particular sin. He has already introduced this problem earlier, too, in Hab 1:11, when God pointed out how the Babylonians would worship their nets for the fish that they caught and the people they conquered.

But here, God points out the emptiness, futility, and uselessness of trusting in idols – or manmade things. If a human being makes something, they are automatically superior to that thing, whether an idol or anything else (like a fishing net, etc.). So, to worship an idol or manmade thing is ridiculous. It is no more than a block of wood overlayed with a mineral like gold or silver. It cannot talk, it cannot breath – it has no life or existence at all. So, the woe here – the doom and destruction to speak of – is in the idol itself. It is nothing, does nothing, and will be good for nothing in the end when God’s judgment comes.

As human beings, we are trusting beings. We are created by God to trust in him. But we choose, for sinful reasons, to trust in all sorts of other wrong things. We trust in riches (Job 31:24; Prov 11:28), important people (Ps 146:3; cf. Jer 17:5-8), military fortifications (Dt 28:52; Jer 5:17), beauty (Ezk 16:15), and personal abilities (Prov 3:5; 28:26). We even trust in evil (Isa 30:12).

But as Paul says in Rom 1:25, when we trust in created things rather than the God who created everything, we trade the truth for a lie.

Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.

And it is for this reason, that arrogant people who refuse to turn to and trust in God must resort to all the abusive, dishonest, and even violent means God mentions here in Hab 2:5-20, because people who trust in idols get no help, from the idols or from God.

So, we see that proud people think too highly of themselves and too little of others. They reveal their arrogance by treating other people poorly in order to benefit themselves. And they do this because they do not trust in God. From this we see that arrogance grows where trust in God is missing, and it always shows in how we treat other people. Pride mistreats others because it refuses to trust God. When we stop trusting God, we start using people.

God calls for reverent worship from all people.

Habakkuk closes this five-part series of warnings of coming doom and destruction on arrogant people with a surprising shift in tone and focus. After exposing the arrogance, cruelty, and idolatry of proud people, God gives a universal command not only to Babylon, but also to Judah and to all people everywhere to respond to God with reverent worship.

When he says, “keep silence,” he is calling not only for verbal quietness but for an inner heart attitude of humble submission before God. After all the loud and grandiose activity and bluster of arrogant people, God now calls every voice to fall silent in his presence.

The Hebrew word hasah translated “be silent,” literally means to “hush.” It is the same word used in other serious calls to show reverent respect before God (Zeph 1:7; Zech 2:13). It describes proper response of finite, sinful beings like us before the infinite, holy creator God. It should be an awe-filled stillness.

Ironically, in the previous verses, idols themselves are silent, not because of reverence, but because they are lifeless. They cannot speak, act, rescue, or save. In Hab 2:19, idol worshippers cry out to blocks of wood and stone, commanding them to wake up and do things, but nothing happens.

Here in v.20, the contrast is obvious. God calls arrogant, proud people to be silent, not because he is powerless, but because he is fully alive and reigning. We are to become silent like idols, not because God is mute, but because we no longer need to speak, shout, scheme, or manipulate when we have God. We can quietly trust him instead of engage in clamorous, loud, raucous chanting, yelling, and so on as when worshiping idols.

The reason all the earth must fall silent is that “the LORD is in his holy temple.” This does not only refer to the Temple building in Jerusalem, but to God’s heavenly throne room, of which the earthly temple was only a small copy. As Psa 11:4 declares, “The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven.”

Habakkuk draws our attention away from dumb, man-made idols to the self-existent, eternal, holy, sovereign God who rules the universe. This God was eternal before creation (1:12), remains unchanging through history (3:6), and is altogether holy in his character and actions (1:12; 3:3). From this heavenly temple, he reigns over every nation, empire, and person.

Because the Lord alone is living, eternal, and sovereign, the appropriate response is universal and unavoidable: “let all the earth keep silence before him.”

No nation is exempt. No person can tell him what to do or manipulate him. He is sovereign over all things, and no idol can rival him. God will be exalted among the nations and in all the earth—just as Psalm 46:10 proclaims:

Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

So, we see that proud people think too highly of themselves and too little of others. They reveal their arrogance by treating other people poorly in order to benefit themselves. And they do this because they do not trust in God. From this we see that arrogance grows where trust in God is missing, and it always shows in how we treat other people. Pride mistreats others because it refuses to trust God. When we stop trusting God, we start using people.

As we close, this passage can turn the spotlight onto our own hearts. The five woes are not just a description of “other people out there.” They are a mirror that can reveal subtle (or not so subtle) forms of arrogance that can creep into our own behavior each day.

When someone engages in pornography, they are participating in the abuse of people made in God’s image. When we make cutting, sarcastic remarks, especially under the guise of humor, we publicly shame others to feel superior. When we exaggerate numbers, hide mistakes, or cut corners at work, we cheat people for personal gain. When we mistreat employees, customers, classmates, or family members, we are exploiting people rather than loving them.

Arrogance and pride doesn’t only reveal itself in the lives of the famous, powerful, and rich. It often appears in our own personal lives. Habakkuk calls us to ask hard questions: Where am I using people instead of trusting God? Where am I protecting myself, advancing myself, or indulging myself at someone else’s expense?

At the same time, this message comforts those who are suffering under people who live this way. Some of us are affected daily by manipulative coworkers, domineering supervisors, abusive spouses, dishonest business partners, or cruel family members.

Habakkuk reminds us that God sees every act of exploitation and abuse, every shaming word, every ounce of violence and injustice, and none of it escapes his judgment. He says “woe” to these people in no uncertain terms. He is not like a useless idol which is no help at all. He is the creator God who will act with the full powers of his divine nature.

The proud may flourish for a time, but they do not escape accountability. God’s justice is not rushed, but it is sure. That frees us from the exhausting and destructive burden of revenge, fear, or despair. We can remain silent, not because injustice doesn’t matter, but because God reigns. We can entrust our pain, our defense, and our future to him, confident that the Judge of all the earth will do right (Gen 18:25). Woe to the proud but comfort and salvation to his people who trust in him.

Today, we began by naming some notorious figures in history who are known for their arrogance and pride. But Habakkuk has shown us that the danger of pride is not only out there in world governments or public villains, but in any heart that trusts in idols, refuses to trust in God, and who then abuses and uses people for selfish advantage and gain.

The same pride that fueled Jezebel or Babylon, Cleopatra or Bernie Madoff can appear in our own lives, workplaces, homes, and churches whenever we exalt ourselves at the expense of others. When we do this, we reveal that we are worshiping idols of our own making rather than God.

That’s why God’s final word to Habakkuk is not merely “woe” but an invitation to repent and to worship: “The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him” (Hab 2:20). The answer to pride is not louder arguments, tighter control, or greater self‑justification, but humble, quiet, obedient, and reverent trust in the living God. When we acknowledge his sovereignty, rest in his justice, and trust in his grace, we are freed from arrogance and fear. Woe to the proud, but comfort, safety, and hope to all who bow in humble worship before the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11, 56-58

We live in a world where the only thing that seems certain anymore is uncertainty itself. People make promises then break them. Doctors offer wildly different diagnoses for your health condition. News outlets report the same events with opposing details. Weather forecasts change by the hour. Financial markets swing unpredictably between boom and bust. Politicians revise policies frequently. Even our technology goes from cutting-edge to outdated in only months or even weeks.

In a recent journal article published by Frontiers in Psychology, the authors point out that uncertainty is a neglected field of study, especially with regard to research on how uncertainty affects human behavior. It observes, “Uncertainty has important psychological effects…but more often uncertainty has negative or potentially maladaptive [mental], emotional, and behavioral effects.”

A more recent article published by Science Direct concludes “uncertainty is a permanent condition in human lives, a fundamental experiential realm of human existence.” This article observed what seemed to be strong links between uncertainty and: anger, anxiety, depression, fear, frustration, hopelessness, sadness, stress and distress, and worry.

In other words, uncertainties are a regular feature of our human experience, and this has a significant, wide-ranging effect on our personal well-being, including not only our physical health but every other aspect of our existence. Think about it. How much of your own anxiety, fear, and other negative feelings, thoughts, and conditions may be traced back to your response to some kind of uncertainty as root cause? The timing and means of our death, for instance, and what will happen afterwards is by itself an uncertainty which affects us in more ways than we may easily realize.

In this letter called 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses some significant causes of uncertainty in the church at Corinth. This uncertainty in the church was rooted a cluster practical, moral, and relational problems in that church as well as a series of challenging theological questions the church was asking.

The real-life problems they were facing included interpersonal divisions, lawsuits between members, sexual immorality within the church, and even a case of incest (1 Cor 1:10-6:20). The theological questions they were asking included (1 Cor 7:1-14:40):

• How to view marriage (7:1-24)
• How to view singleness (whether virgin and widow) (7:25-40)
• How to handle doubtful things (8:1-11:1)
• How to view the role of women in church worship (11:2-16)
• How to view and practice the Lord’s Supper (11:17-34)
• How to view spiritual gifts (12:1-14:40)

Needless to say, these problems and questions caused a lot of uncertainty for the members of this church. At one point, Paul even said, “For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep [ahem, are dying]” (1 Cor 11:30).

It’s easy for a church to be distracted by problems and questions and to lose focus due to uncertainty. So, after addressing these problems and answering these questions, Paul closes this letter by bringing into focus something which gives certainty in the face of uncertainty, courage in the face of fear, and hope in the face of hopelessness. This is the gospel, the good news of death, burial, and resurrection of Christ – with a special focus and emphasis on the resurrection.

In a world marked by uncertainty, we can find great certainty, confidence, and hope in the resurrection of Christ. As Paul makes clear, this good news about Christ’s resurrection is not only a certainty on which we can begin a life of faith, forgiveness, and salvation, it is also a certainty that makes possible a life of continual, persevering faithfulness in our daily mindset, routines, and service for Christ.

Because the resurrection is both a historical and timeless certainty, it not only deserves our faith for salvation, but it also strengthens our faithfulness for life and service – no matter how many problems we experience in our lives or questions we ask in our hearts.

The resurrection is a historical certainty that deserves our faith.

As Paul brings his letter to the church at Corinth to a close, he does what he did for them the first time he met them – he preaches to them the gospel (15:1, 3). And what is the gospel? This word means “good news” and it describes the kind of good news a war-weary, out-of-breath foot soldier brings as he runs on adrenaline to announce to the women and children back at camp that their husbands and sons have won the long, bloody battle in the valley below.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isa 52:7)

Only, instead of describing the play-by-play tactics of a victorious battle plan which secured the victory, or the heroic moves of the soldiers who did the fighting, Paul describes the death and resurrection of one man who won the greatest victory for all of us – that Jesus died on the cross and rose again.

But for the resurrection to be good news that brings certainty, confidence, and hope to our lives, we must first know that he died. For a resurrection without a death is no resurrection at all.

Jesus definitely died – his burial proves it. (15:3-4)

Four books in the NT (the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) each give details about the death and burial of Jesus. These four men wrote these books independently of one another, yet their conclusions are the same – that Jesus died. We know this for many documented reasons.

The procedures for Roman executions made survival impossible. They scourged and whipped Jesus severely, then they crucified him, then they pierced through his chest with a spear to verify that he was dead. Multiple independent witnesses verified his death, including Roman soldiers, a Roman centurion, multiple faithful women at the cross, a man named Joseph of Arimathea, and another man named Nicodemus. These two men in particular handled his body and confirmed he was dead, and Pilate even required an official, certified confirmation before releasing the corpse to them. In the ancient world, only dead people were buried, and the Gospel writers emphasize the physicality of the burial. Burial itself functioned as the public certification of death.

Furthermore, the burial details themselves make any survival scenario impossible.

“Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.” (Jn 19:40).

Here is how the burial process worked. While they didn’t embalm him, bleed him, or remove internal organs as the Egyptians and other cultures did, they slathered his body with an excessive amount of aromatic ointments and spices, far more than normal (Jn 19:39). The gospel of John indicates about 66 lbs., so can you imagine a 50-gal. bucket of exotic, aromatic cream being slathered onto your body, with 3 more gallons for good measure?

This mixture created a thick, glue‑like resin that hardened around the body. The smell alone would have overwhelmed any living person, not to mention that amount of weight covering his body making it impossible to breath well. But more importantly, the wrappings would have completely immobilized him, too. No one in a state of extreme trauma – much less unconscious, comatose, or barely alive – could breathe under those layers, let alone unwrap himself from the inside. You can’t even unwrap yourself if someone wraps plastic saran wrap around your bed on April Fool’s day, even if you’re the stronger, healthiest person in town – what’s more a comatose person with the severe physical damage and wounds that Christ had suffered that day.

So, even if Christ had somehow fainted, swooned, and then came back to consciousness, he could not have freed himself, then rolled away a massive stone, and then slipped past or wrestled triumphantly with armed Roman guards. Every physical detail of the burial proves with certainty that he certainly died.

Taken together, the historical, medical, and procedural facts lead to one unavoidable conclusion, that Jesus truly and completely died. Christ’s suffering and physical condition ensured it, witnesses confirmed it, burial practices sealed it, and physical realities of the tomb made any alternative impossible. The early church therefore proclaimed not a metaphorical or spiritual death, nor a near‑death, but a real, bodily death. That’s what makes Christ’s resurrection so incredible. Because he actually died, then he actually resurrected from the dead – which is astounding.

Jesus definitely resurrected – his appearances confirm it. (15:4-8)

Just as the four NT gospels give many proofs for the real death of Jesus, so they also give many proofs for the real resurrection of Jesus three days later.

All four accounts – again, written independently – agree that Jesus’ followers visited his tomb early on the first day of the week, that they verified his body was gone, and that he appeared physically, repeatedly, and unmistakably to many of his followers. The empty tomb itself is powerful evidence: the large, heavy, and sealed stone was found rolled away and the graveclothes were left behind in an orderly, undisturbed state.

John highlights that the linen wrappings were still lying there, and the face cloth was folded separately (Jn 20:6-7), a detail which makes grave robbery an impossible explanation for what happened and signals an intentional, calm departure by Christ.

The women who were the first witnesses in all four Gospels experienced both confusion and an angelic proclamation: “He is not here, for He has risen, as He said” (Mt 28:6). Their testimony is especially significant because women were not considered legally reliable witnesses in the ancient world, yet the Gospels boldly put them forward as key witnesses, showing that this was a real resurrection because they were unconcerned about relying on women as their first witnesses.

The resurrection appearances confirm a real, physical resurrection, not some kind of spiritual-only alternative, like the appearance of Jesus as a ghost, spirit, or something unphysical. After his resurrection, Jesus spoke, walked, taught, ate, and invited physical contact and touch, first from his disciples who knew his well (Lk 24:39-43), and also by the one who had been absent at first, Thomas (Jn 20:27).

He appeared to other individuals, like Mary Magdalene, small groups like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and large gatherings, like the eleven, and later more than 500 at once, as Paul records. In fact, it is upon these many witnesses of the resurrected Christ that Paul leans most heavily to show the certainty of the resurrection (15:4-8).

Perhaps you or someone you know might argue, “Well, with that many people claiming to have seen the resurrected Christ, were there also people who dispute those claims. Are there any historical records which indicate that these people may have been wrong?

The answer to this question is ‘no.’ There are no ancient historical records that counter, dispute, or refute these claims of witnesses. No Jewish or Roman sources ever produced a body, denied the empty tomb, or refuted the resurrection appearances in any way. The only historic attempt to explain away the resurrection of Christ is the “stolen body” lie recorded in Mt 28:11-15. Ironically, this attempt actually admits the tomb was empty and that eyewitnesses existed immediately. Early opponents never argued that “no one saw Jesus” or that “he was still buried.” Instead, they tried to explain away the facts they could not deny. What’s more, no ancient critic, whether Jewish, Roman, or otherwise, ever challenged Paul’s claim that more than five hundred people saw the risen Christ, many of whom were still alive and available for questioning at that time.

In other words, the historical record contains no denial of the witnesses, no alternative account of the body, and no document claiming Jesus remained dead. The earliest critics conceded the evidence and only attempted to come up with alternative explanations, hoping people would think that though it looked like Jesus has risen from the dead, he actually didn’t.

About these witnesses, we should note that when people encountered the resurrected Christ, they did not go away unaffected or unchanged. If they were fearful and hiding, they turned into bold, unafraid proclaimers of the resurrection, instead. If they were tired, sad witnesses, they changed into people who ran quickly to go tell others what they had seen. Seeing the resurrected Christ changed people.

Most importantly, we must not only accept the historical factuality of Christ’s resurrection.

We must believe this message to be saved.

When Paul reminds the members of the church at Corinth of the resurrection of Christ, he does not only speak about the historical certainty of the resurrection, he speaks about the way both he and they responded to it personally. He said they “received it” (15:1), he “received it” (15:3), and they “believed” (15:11).

In Paul’s case, he had been a very religious person, following all of the laws and rituals of Jewish orthodoxy to a tee. And as you know, Jewish orthodoxy denies the resurrection of Jesus, and they deny that Jesus is the Messiah, King, and Savior. As you know, it as the Jewish religious leaders (like Paul) who spread the “stolen body” theory. And they even, as Paul did, punished by beatings, imprisonment, and even execution anyone who publicly promoted the idea that Jesus had risen from the dead. To this day, orthodox Jews claim that biblical and historical records of the resurrection of Christ are either mistaken, misunderstood, or intentionally embellished by his followers.

But when Christ himself appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, he knew that he had risen from the dead. At that moment, he turned from his sin and unbelief to believe on Jesus Christ as his God and Savior – even though this put his own life in danger at the hands of his own Jewish colleagues and friends.

As result of his life-changing belief in the resurrection of Christ, Paul devoted his life to spreading this message to others. On a journey to Greece, he did this very thing in the city of Corinth, where he met and spoke about Jesus to people for the length of one and a half years (1 Cor 18:1-11). As a result of his time there, many of them had also come to believe on Christ for salvation after hearing about the death and resurrection of Christ.

Why is it important to believe that Christ died and rose again? In part, so that we will receive forgiveness of sins from God. As Paul says clearly, with emphasis, Christ didn’t just die, he died “for our sins” (1 Cor 15:3).

This means that Christ, who himself never sinned, voluntarily accepted the role of taking full punishment and judgment for your sins and mine upon himself. In this way, he essentially “swapped places” with us so that the punishment of God’s wrath we deserve for our sins fell on him (who was innocent) instead of on us (who are guilty).

You see, if Jesus did not die for our sins, then his death is nothing more than a horrible tragedy at worst or else an example of extreme love at best, but one which we can never live up to. But Scripture teaches that our sin brings about real guilt, real separation, and real judgment, and only a real substitute can remove these things. When we confess that Christ died for our sins, we are embracing the heart of the gospel: that Jesus willingly took our place, bore our guilt, satisfied God’s justice, and opened the way for real forgiveness, peace, and new life through his real death.

Notice how Paul said Christ did this “according to the Scripture.” This reminds us of what the prophet Isaiah, hundreds of years before, said Jesus would do for us when he died:

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isa 53:4-6)

Since Christ not only really died “for our sins” but he also really resurrected, then we know that his death “really worked” and was “really victorious” not only over the cause of our failure and guilt – which is sin, but also over the consequence of our sin – which is death.

When this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 15:54-57)

So, to experience the certainty of forgiveness from sin and salvation in Christ, you must believe in the good news of salvation – that Jesus died for your sins and that he rose again. These things are not a myth or wishful thinking. They were promised by God and they actually occurred in history. The certainty of the resurrection deserves our faith.

But the resurrection of Christ not only a historical certainty that deserves our faith, it is also a timeless certainty that strengthens our faithfulness.

The resurrection is a timeless certainty that strengthens our faithfulness.

As we noted at the start of this message, we live in a world where the only thing that seems certain anymore is uncertainty itself. And we live in a world where uncertainty affects our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual condition. But thankfully, the resurrection of Christ gives us certainty and hope not only for a moment when we believe on Christ for forgiveness of sins and salvation, but to keep on believing on Christ through the difficulties of this life to the end.

We must continue to believe this message to be saved.

Notice what Paul says in 1 Cor 15:2, “By which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” With this statement, Paul places a kind of condition on believing the gospel. This is a condition which – if met – will render a person’s faith for salvation null and void and, in fact, literally “meaningless.”

This condition he frames as a contrasts between “holding fast” and “believing in vain.” If a person “holds fast” then they will be saved, but if they “believe in vain” then they will not be saved. What does this mean? It means that a person who believes in Christ for salvation must believe genuinely. The alternative to genuine belief, though, is “vain” belief, which is “empty of meaning” and “of no real purpose.”

How can a person know whether they have genuine or vain faith? By whether or not they “hold fast” to the word of the gospel they believed in the beginning. In other words, we test the genuineness of our faith in Christ not by analyzing in a retrospective way our psychological state at the moment we believed the gospel initially, but by holding firmly and tightly to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for salvation on a daily basis.

A person who believes to the end of their life is saved, but a person whose faith is empty does not. This does not mean that a person who believes on Christ can be saved for a while then abandon or withdraw from their faith and salvation. Instead, it means that a person who abandons or withdraws from their faith and salvation never believed on Christ in a genuine way at all – their initial faith, then, was empty and meaningless, not real.

As Bible commentator David Prior helpfully explains: “We constantly need to reiterate the heart of the gospel, and that involves taking a firm grip on the historical facts.”

So, here Paul makes clear that saving faith is not momentary or superficial. It does not come and go. Like the death and resurrection of Christ itself, it is does not come and go – it is certain. If it is genuine, it will be enduring. True belief receives the gospel and then holds fast to it, while a faith that proves empty eventually lets go – because it was never genuine in the first place. Real saving faith in Christ believes the gospel and then clings daily to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for the rest of your days.

Finally, this daily firm grip of faith on the gospel does not remain passive or private. The same resurrection that secures our salvation and gives us confidence of salvation throughout our lives also motivates us to go forward in faithful, steadfast service for Christ.

We must continually labor so that others will believe this message.

In Paul’s conclusion to this section of his letter about the certainty of the resurrection of Christ, he says these encouraging, inspiring words:

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Cor 15:58)

What does this mean? While it is true that this means in a general sense that because Christ rose from the dead, we should be able to persevere through life with a calm, clear confidence, peace, and purpose, no matter what hard trials come our way. Yes, this is true. But Paul has an even more specific purpose in mind, though.

To close, let us zoom in on a word in this verse – the word “labor.” This word speaks of difficult, hard work. It speaks of the kind of work we might call toil, the kind which makes us feel tired, weak, and weary. Earlier in this letter, Paul uses this word to describe how he worked hard at cutting, tanning, and stitching animal hides to make tents to earn income to support himself when needed (1 Cor 4:12). This was difficult, hard work.

But Paul uses this word labor four other times in this letter. And in these majority of times, he uses the word to describe not manual, physical labor but rather gospel ministry efforts, instead (1 Cor 3:8; 15:10, 58; 16:16). From what Paul says about these gospel ministry efforts, we see that God expects us not only to believe the gospel for salvation and forgiveness of sins but also to work hard so that others will believe this message also.

And this makes sense, right? If Christ really died for our sins and really resurrected from the dead to bring salvation, then not only should this energize us to persevere in telling others this amazing good news, but it should compel us to do so. If we do not actively work hard at getting this message to others and persuading them to believe it, too, then how well do we comprehend or understand the significance of the gospel?

According to Paul, doing what we can so for others to believe the gospel should not be viewed as a casual side quest, an occasional half-hearted attempt, or a special calling and task for special, gifted people. No, it is the duty and should also be the delight of a person who has not only depended on Christ for salvation but devoted themselves to helping others do the same.

When a man goes to work to provide for his family, or a woman roles up her sleeves day-in-and-day-out to care for the home God has given her, they need a deep, relentless motivation that pushes them through the difficult moments, the endless days, the long hours, and the sleepless nights. People do not work just for work’s sake.

The same is even more true with the gospel. If we are going to labor and work hard as individuals and together as a church to bring others to believe in the death for their salvation, then we must be motivated by the certainty of the resurrection. Those first disciples were so transformed that they moved from depression and sadness to confidence and courage, bringing other people to faith in Christ, as well. Does this describe the life you live today? Have you been that kind of transformed by the certainty of the resurrection?

On this Resurrection Sunday, we celebrate not only a feeling, tradition, or inspiring story, but a certainty that changes everything. Jesus really died, he was truly buried, and he definitely rose again. Let that sink in. And because he lives, we can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because he lives, our faith is not in vain.

If you have never believed on Christ for salvation, today he calls you from the other side of the grave to turn from your sin and trust in him alone for forgiveness, salvation, and new life.

And for those who believe, the resurrection urges us to keep on believing, since this is what genuine faith does. And it sends us into our lives with courage, steadiness, and purpose, knowing that nothing done for Christ, to bring others into this faith, is wasted or forgotten, no matter how difficult and wearisome that labor may seem to be.

In a world filled with uncertainty, the risen Christ gives us certainty for today, confidence for tomorrow, and hope beyond the grave. This is the good news our anxious, fearful, sad, and stressed-out world needs. The resurrection of Christ is God’s answer to uncertainty. There is nothing more certain than the resurrection of Christ.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor 15:58).

Discussion Questions

Life 101

• Which evidence or proof for the real death and real resurrection of Christ do you find most fascinating, and why?
• How does the resurrection help us to have confidence rather than being distracted or disheartened by uncertainty?
  • What kinds of things would this certainty give us boldness to do?
• If Christ had merely died for our sins, but not risen again, what difference would it make?
• In what ways is telling people about Jesus like “hard labor?” (see 1 Cor 4:12; then 3:8; 15:10, 58; 16:16)

Digging Deeper

• The sermon notes that the grave clothes were left orderly and the face cloth was folded (John 20:6-7). How does this specific detail destroy the theory that Jesus' body was stolen?
• How does Paul say we can tell the difference between genuine and vain faith? How is this different from how many Christians often test the genuineness of their faith?

We’re aware of the “no kings” rallies that pop up from time to time. Through these events, people claim to renounce the idea of absolute rule, insisting that no single person should hold unchecked power. But is this a good idea? Is it always undesirable and wrong for a single person to hold unchecked power?

If so, then we should remove the Gospel of Matthew from the Bible, cease observing Good Friday and Easter, and stop following Jesus altogether. You see, the Gospel of Matthew is written for the very purpose of presenting Jesus as the King we all need. Yes, that’s right, we need a King, and his name is Jesus. That’s what Matthew tells us.

Jesus is the king.

The Old Testament (OT) ends sadly with the royal line of Judah’s kings coming to an end as they are carried away into captivity in Babylon. But four hundred years and fourteen generations later, we read about child who was born into that same royal line of kings through his mother, named Mary (Mt 1:1-17).

Then in Mt 2:2, some wise, influential men from a foreign land arrive in Jerusalem and ask King Herod: “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

Fast forward to Mt 21:5 and Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem at Passover time. This is when he instructs his disciples to fetch a donkey for him to ride into the city. And as Matthew retells this moment, he also tells us that this event occurred to fulfill what the OT prophet Zechariah foretold and prophesied (Zech 9:9): “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

After he arrived in the city, he taught people various things, including some important things about the future, upcoming judgment of people at the end of this age as God builds his eternal kingdom. Referring to himself in this case, he says, “When the Son of Man … the King will say to those on His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mt 25:31).

Later on, during Christ’s final suffering and trials leading up to his crucifixion, Pilate asked him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” (Mt 27:11). To this Jesus replied, “It is as you say” (Mt 27:11). As a result of this claim, the Romans placed a sign above his cross which stated the reason for his crucifixion. The sign said, “This is Jesus the King of the Jews” (Mt 27:27). The Roman soldiers also mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Mt 27:29), and the Jewish religious leaders did the same, mocking him with, “If He is king of Israel …” (Mt 27:42).

So, we see clearly from Matthew’s Gospel that the OT points to Jesus as King, the opening genealogy presents Jesus as King, foreign dignitaries recognized Jesus as King, and Jesus himself portrayed himself as King. But what kind of King was He?

Jesus is the king who confronted our sin.

We see this behavior clearly throughout Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus was not an impotent, weak king. He is not a king who accepted bribes, believed flattery, and played hypocritical political games. He is a fair, just, and courageous king who boldly confronted our sin.

He confronted the sin of people in general.

He called people to repent – to turn from their sinful lifestyles. “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:17).

He pronounced “woe” on them (which is essentially a curse of divine judgment) because they would not repent of their sins and believe on him (Mt 11:21). He even said that they were worse than Sodom and Gomorrah.

He called people “an evil and adulterous generation” because they were more interested in seeing him perform miracles than they were in listening to and submitting to his teaching (Mt 12:39).

He called them a “faithless and perverse generation” because of their refusal to believe on him (Mt 17:17).

But Jesus didn’t only call out the sins of people in general, he directly and specifically confronted the sin religious leaders.

He confronted the religious leaders.

He said to them, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Mt 9:4) over their anger at him for healing a man and forgiving his sins.

He accused them of “transgressing the commandment of God” because they created technical loopholes in their benevolent giving laws which enabled them to withhold money from their parents in need while keeping it for themselves for selfish uses (Mt 15:3). He called them “hypocrites!” for the same reason (Mt 15:7).

After his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he called them ‘hypocrites’ again because of their not-so-clever questions designed to trap him and twist his words so they could discredit him (Mt 22:18).

He waxed eloquent and pronounced a series of seven severe woes on them in Matthew 23, accusing them of being not only hypocrites but also blind guides, stupid fools, poisonous snakes, and a den of vipers.

But Jesus didn’t only call out the sins of people in general and the sins of religious leaders.
He confronted his own family.

We don’t have as many records of him doing this, but we do have one instance. In Matthew 12:48, he said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” By this, he indirectly corrected his family for distracting him from the work he had been called to do by God the Father.

And finally, we see that besides people in general, the religious leaders, and his family, Jesus also confronted his disciples.

He confronted his closest followers.

In Mt 8:26, he said, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” He said this in response to their frantic, panicked reaction to the stormy water while they were on a boat with him in the Sea of Galilee at nighttime.

In Mt 15:16, he said, “Are you also still without understanding?” He said this to correct their wrong ideas about the sinfulness of the human heart.

In Mt 16:23, he said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” He said this to correct Peter for trying to persuade Jesus against dying on the cross.

And in Mt 26:40, he said to his disciples, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” He said because they had fallen asleep when they were supposed to be staying awake to guard him while he prayed in the hours just before his trial and crucifixion.

Put yourself on the other side of these comments by Jesus – as people in the crowd, as a religious leader, as a close family member, or as a close follower of Jesus. How do these bold, direct statements of confrontation make you feel? And how do they make you feel about Jesus? Would you feel that he was being mean or courageous? Was he being rude or was he being a good leader?

We appreciate leaders – even kings – who speak the truth and call out injustice. But that changes if they are speaking about or calling out injustice of our own. But a good king, the kind we all need, calls out our sins whether we want him to or not.

As William Wilberforce once said, “You may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say you did not know.” He said this as both a British politician and government official and also an serious-minded Christian who led the way in confronting and abolishing the transatlantic slave trade.

Like Wilberforce and so much more, Jesus is a king who reveals the truth about people to people that people would much rather avoid. Such bold confrontation is an act of both courage and love.

This is the very kind of love that God calls Christian husbands to have towards their wives when he says that husbands should have a “cleansing and sanctifying” effect for their wives as Christ does for the church, and how? Through “the washing of water by the word” (Eph 5:15).

And this is true for any leaders who will be like Christ. They must be willing to speak the truth in love (Eph 4:15). The truth is not a matter of democracy. It is a matter of fact and of truth, whether it is convenient and wanted or not. In fact, speaking the truth may even cause a person to view you as an enemy – but this fact should not prevent you from speaking that truth anyway.

Thankfully, Jesus is this kind of King, unafraid to speak the truth to people in love, even when that truth is uncomfortable and hard to receive. But there is more. Jesus is not only the King who confronts our sin.

Jesus is the king who carried our sin.

Just as Jesus calls husbands to “cleanse and sanctify their wives by the washing of water by the word,” so he also calls husbands to “give themselves” for their wives as Christ “gave himself for the church” (Eph 5:25). And how did he give himself for us? Through his trials, sufferings, and death on the cross. That’s how.

You see, in Matthew’s Gospel, he not only reveals Christ as the King we all need and as the King who confronts our sin, he also reveals him to be the King who carries for us the sin that he confronts in us.

He gave his life for a ransom of many.

In Mt 20:25-28, Jesus taught his followers the right kind of leadership – the way a good king
is supposed to lead.

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

As we acknowledged previously, a husband must be willing to lead his wife with courage, saying what needs to be said for her cleansing and sanctification. And though he must never do less than that, he must also do more than that and speak those words from a life that is also giving himself for her as Christ did for us in his trials, suffering, and death.

You see, Christ did not abandon the priority of a good King to speak the truth clearly and with courage, but in doing so, he did not speak arrogantly or boastfully (though speaking the truth was wrongly considered as such by the people he confronted). Instead, having confronted the people about their sin, he then devoted himself to suffer for their sin, as the second, necessary means to their salvation. He confidently, courageously, and compassionately “gave His life a ransom for many.”

Notice the completeness of this giving of himself. He didn’t give part of his life or some of his life. He gave all of himself so that as many as would turn from their sin to believe on him would be able to do so. And by giving his life, he devoted his daily agenda, effort, and life’s work to free us from the very sins which he confronted in us.

This is what a good husband must do. He must speak the truth and lead in the truth, but then he must set himself to give of himself for the truth – sacrificing his body, life, and reputation for the good of his wife so that she might be able to better receive and respond to the word that he gives her. And in doing this, he has the King we all need as his support, his example, and his King to which he must himself submit.

He shed his blood for remission of sins.

Then as Christ observed the last Passover with his disciples in the Upper Room, in the hours leading up to his betrayal and arrest in Gethsemane, he told them that the juice of the Passover meal and now the juice of Communion represents in vivid ways his blood which would be shed on the cross as he died for our sins. “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mt 26:28).

You see, Christ did not just tell us what was wrong. Though he certainly did this, he did not only do this. He also did something about what was wrong. He did something about the sin he confronted. He gave himself to resolve our sin even though we were at first in a resistant, unrepentant state. Just as a husband should devote himself to loving and serving and giving himself at any cost to his wife even when she is not responding in kind, even more so to an infinite degree did Christ give his life for us – even to the bloody, violent, painful, torturous death of the cross. It is because he died in this way for us, for our sin which he boldly confronted, are we able to be saved from our sin.

He shed his blood so that God would be able to punish him instead of us, so that God would be able to rightly and fully forgive our sins.

Consider how Isaiah the OT prophet movingly portrayed and prophesied Christ’s death for our sins.

“I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.” (Isa 50:6)

He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isa 53:3-6)

Today, we live in a challenging moment of time. Our society as a whole relishes the idea of “speaking truth to power,” as it were. We announce “no kings,” and we resent anyone who speaks the truth about our sin. But it is not until we accept the truth about our sin – as Jesus himself calls it out – that we can rightly understand what he was doing on that dark Good Friday night. He was carrying on himself the very sin in us which he first so boldly and courageously confronted.

The One who said, “Woe to you,” also said, “My blood is poured out for you.”

So tonight, on this Good Friday, we look back on the death of a King, not the king the world is accustomed to, the King we truly need. He is the King who did not deny our guilt, excuse our rebellion, or soften the truth about our sin. He confronted it plainly, courageously, and lovingly. And then, amazingly, he lifted that very sin onto his own shoulders and carried it to his death.

Good Friday forces a personal question on each of us: What will we do with this King? We cannot applaud him from a distance and remain unchanged. We cannot admire the cross while refusing to repent of the sin that put him there. The King who spoke “Woe to you” is the same King who now says, “My blood is poured out for you.” To reject him is to remain under our sin. To receive him and believe him is to be freed out from under our sin forever because the punishment for our sin fell on him instead.

And husbands – men – let me encourage you to give yourselves to your wives in this same way.

This is the King we need.

Habakkuk 1:12-2:4

When it seems that God is silent and unresponsive to our prayers when conditions around us spiral downwards, God seems uncaring and unjust. How can a holy, loving God permit such immoral and unjust behavior to occur with seemingly no consequence?

But there is a second way that God seems unjust to us – when he does respond to our prayers and intervene in the unjust behavior around us, but his intervention seems either more confusing, difficult, or unjust than his silence.

There are times when a child becomes seriously ill, even though they may not feel terribly bad at first. When their treatment begins, their life changes quickly. Doctor visits increase, they go through uncomfortable procedures, and they have to take medicine that causes nausea, weakness, or other unpleasant side-effects.

To a young child, all these things feel incredibly unfair. The child didn’t cause the illness, and they don’t understand what the doctors are doing. They may wonder why their parents, who say they love them, are allowing these scary, painful, and uncomfortable things to happen to them.

As difficult as these experiences are to the child, parents know that without this treatment plan, the child’s illness will grow worse. They know allowing these uncomfortable and painful things now will save the child in the long run, while giving in to their cries instead will lead to devastating consequences later. So out of love, a parent permits what is necessary, even when it causes their child temporary confusion and hardship.

The key to these situations is for a child to trust completely in the character and words of his parents, even when their painful, confusing experiences seem to contradict their parents’ expressions of love and promises of better health and recovery.

The same is true for God’s people, and that is what Habakkuk begins to learn in our passage today. A person with truth faith in God endures hardship in the present because he rests in God’s character and promises, even if the immediate circumstances of his life seem to contradict God’s character and promises at the moment.

Sometimes God’s plans seem unfair.

For Habakkuk, God’s solution to the rampant, prevailing injustice of people in Judah seemed worse than his silence and apparent lack of intervention. As impressive as the Babylonian armies would be in many respects, they were also – by many observable measures – even more unjust and wicked than the people of Judah. While it was true that Habakkuk was bemoaning the rampant injustice and lawless behavior of his own people, seemingly without any consequence, discipline, or punishment from God, God’s solution of judging his people with an invasion of armies from Babylon seemed even worse. To Habakkuk, the problem seemed worse than the solution because the Babylonians seemed worse than the people of Judah.

Evidently, Habakkuk was already aware of the Babylonians. Somehow, he had kept up on news headlines from afar, possibly by interacting with traders and travelers coming to and from Jerusalem to faraway places. What he already knew about the up-and-coming Babylonians made him wonder greatly how God could use them to accomplish anything good at all. Here is how described them (1:13-17):

• They “deal treacherously.” This means that they deliberately break or betray trust, use behave in deceptive ways and are disloyal partners in any agreement.
• They “devour.” This means that they behave in an “all or nothing” way, unwilling to make deals and unwilling to negotiate.
• They are “less righteous” than the people of Judah. This refers to the fact that they worshiped pagan gods and had no allegiance to God’s moral expectations.
• They conquer other people easily as though they were helpless fish. It was like being a school of fish in a lagoon in which marauding fishermen all throw their fishing lines, personal nets, and dragnets in all at once, taking up all the fish with no contest.
• They gloat in their easy victories. This resembles what it’s like for a burly teen bully bragging to his friends about beating up a toddler on the playground. There’s no honor in that at all.
• They worship their nets for their victories, which is a way of saying that they gave zero credit to God for their military victories.
• They have no compassion, which means they were ruthless and showed no mercy.

Both according to the Bible and also external historical records and archeological findings, the Chaldeans (Babylonians) were known for being deliberately and excessive cruel to people they conquered. Their campaigns went far beyond military defeat and were designed to terrorize and humiliate the people they captured.

Scripture says when Babylon captured Jerusalem, they slaughtered leaders, executed King Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, then blinded him and carried him into exile (2 Kgs 25:6-7). They burned the temple, dismantled the city, and forcibly deported men, women, and children, marching them by foot for hundreds of miles away (2 Kgs 25:8-12).

Historical records match what the Bible tells us:

“Monuments from Mesopotamia document the custom of literally driving a hook through the lower lip of captives. Long lines of captives with hooks through their lips are depicted being hauled off to Babylon. In a second figure of Chaldean brutality, Habakkuk pictures the Chaldeans dragged along in a “net.” The figure is apropos. In one relief from this period the major Babylonian deities are depicted dragging a net in which their captives squirm.” (James Smith)

From these historical records, we see that the fishing illustrations that Habakkuk uses were not only for illustration purposes but reflected things which the Babylonians actually did. This kind of ruthless, unrestrained violence and inhumane treatment of people, marked by arrogance and lack of compassion, that made the Chaldeans extra famous for their cruelty, and this explains Habakkuk’s confusion at God’s decision to use them as his instrument of judgment for his own people in Judah.

How would you respond to this plan if you had been Habakkuk? Though Habakkuk expressed serious questions to God about this confusing and surprising plan which seemed entirely unfair, he first grounded his questions in what he already knew to be true about God’s character, promises, and ways.

Faith focuses first on correct theology.

If you noticed, our first point in the sermon today skipped v. 12 to look at vv. 13-17, instead. I did this to point out the reason for Habakkuk’s concern and confusion. But before he expressed any of those things to God, he first focused his heart and mind on what he knew to be true about God’s character, promises, and ways.

This is what I mean by “theology.” I am referring how anyone with genuine faith in God must develop a deep, familiar, and thorough knowledge of God by studying and meditating intentionally on what the Bible says about God. Last year, our church went through a preaching series called “Incomparable,” in which we focused closely on various attributes and qualities of God.

We can study many things in this world, and we can focus our hearts, minds, and energy on many things in life, but more than anything other thing, we must first and foremost be a student of God. More than anything else, we should dig deeply and drink regularly from the Word of God to inform our minds and strengthen our hearts with the truth about God. This appears to be true for Habakkuk. So, when he was faced with a confusing and frightening situation, before expressing his concerns and questions, he rooted his thinking and perspective in what he knew to be true about God.

From Habakkuk 1:12, we see that Habakkuk believed the following things about God:

• He believed in the eternality of God. (everlasting)
• He believed in God as the faithful and loyal to his covenant with his people. (Lord/Yahweh)
• He believed in God as the all-powerful deity. (God/elohim)
• He believed in the absolute holiness of God. (my Holy One)
• He believed in God the supreme judge of mankind. (appointed them for judgment)
• He believed in the consistent, unchangeability of God. (Rock)

From this we see that Habakkuk did not ask questions from a place of unbelief. He did not ask questions as though he didn’t believe in God. He asked his questions and expressed his confusion from a place of deep conviction and faith in God. He didn’t question God. He questioned, instead, how what he knew and believed about God coincided with what he knew of God’s plans and works. He didn’t doubt the justice of God. He wondered how the justice of God could be paired with God’s plan of raising up the cruel and ungodly Babylonian’s as his means for judging his people.

Is this how you respond to the confusing situations and difficult circumstances of life? Do you look at everything through a clear and consistent lens of serious, sound theology? How do you develop and strengthen your theology? How do you expand and improve your knowledge of God and his ways? Do you have a habit of reading and studying God’s Word and good theology books to do this? Do you have anyone in your life with whom you talk regularly about God and his ways? Are you involved in a group within your church that engages in discussions like these on a regular basis?

So, before Habakkuk expresses his confusion to God, we see that he grounded his questions in a strong personal theology. But we also see that he follows his questions to God not by abandoning or walking away from God, but by waiting for him, instead.

Faith waits patiently for God.

After asking God to help him make sense of this plan to send the ungodly nation of Babylon to judge the people of Judah for their seemingly lesser sins, Habakkuk behaves in a way that shows his faith is strong – confused but strong (2:1-3).

• He stands firm and resolutely.
• He watches attentively like a guard or sentry who scans the horizon.
• He looks forward eagerly to God’s response.
• He expects God to correct him somehow (not the other way around).

It’s fascinating to see here that Habakkuk does not attempt or expect to correct or criticize God with his questions. Instead, he seeks to clear up his own personal confusion. He assumes that God is right and he is wrong, not the other way around. And he fully expects that after asking his questions, God would actually correct and reprove him.

“Habakkuk expects that the message will bring correction and proper orientation to his anxieties. He is not so much challenging God with a complaint as he is desiring to have his perplexities alleviated and his viewpoint corrected.” (Richard Patterson)

In response to Habakkuk’s question, God answers him again – sort of. In his answer, he gives him no new information, though, but doubles down on what he has already said.

• He tells him to write down the prophecy of Babylon as a permanent record.
• He wants it to be written in a plain, easy-to-see, easy-to-understand way.
• He wanted it to be spread broadly to the public at large. In other words, God wanted Habakkuk to make this message easy to read and easy to carry from village to village and city to city, so that as many people in Judah as possible could hear it.
• He also wants Habakkuk and anyone else who hears the message to wait – though Babylon would not march into Judah that same day or the next, they would come marching over the horizon soon enough.

And this is a major feature of genuine faith in God. Genuine faith in God grounds its questions, confusion, and anxiety in a firm, deep, thorough theology and then waits patiently for God to work out his plan over time. Genuine faith does not run away but rather runs to bring others to the truth with them, no matter how long they must wait for God’s promise of justice to occur. They do not abandon or disobey God because they hurt, because they are confused, or because it takes too long.

From beginning to end, faith relies completely on God.

In addition to God’s preview about a soon, devastating invasion by Babylon, God also gives Habakkuk a central, core, guiding principle of life. Rather than explain his methods and reasons for using a “more wicked” Babylon to punish a “less wicked” Judah, God instead gave Habakkuk a big-picture, overarching truth about life.

“Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.” (Hab 2:4)

There’s something important to observe about this truth: it always applies to all people everywhere, not just to people in Judah or Babylon. At the end of the day, and more specifically at the end of time as we know it, God is far less interested in comparing groups of people against each other, such as announcing who is more wicked than the other.

Isn’t Judah better than Babylon? This question was at the heart of Habakkuk’s question to God. Though he knew Judah was sinful, he believed Babylon was even more sinful.

Questions like these bother us today, as well. Is North Dakota better than Minnesota? Israel better than Iran, Ukraine better than Russia, and the United States better than any other nation in the world?

In God’s answer to Habakkuk’s question, he does not engage in that sort of conversation and comparison. After all, groups of people don’t stand before the judgment seat of God at the end of time, do they? God judges and God saves individuals, and so he does whatever he does in the world in such a way that individual people will believe on him.

In the next section of this prophecy, through the end of Chapter 2, God gives a strong message of warning to people who are arrogant, proud, and not right before him. This message applies equally to arrogant, self-righteous people in Judah as well as Babylon, and it always applies to all people everywhere, no matter what cultural, ethnic, national, or geopolitical group they may or may not be a part of.

But today, we must focus on the other side of this truth. On one hand, God judges every person who is arrogant and proud, but he preserves and saves everyone who lives by faith. And what does it mean to live by faith?

To live by faith is an underlying mindset. It describes the heart and perspective of a person who trusts in God rather than themselves. It means to trust in God alone for salvation of every kind.

• It describes a person who trusts in God for salvation from injustice around them – as Habakkuk trusted in God despite the widespread sin around him in Judah.
• It describes a person who trust in God for salvation from other larger evil powers and injustice in the world – such as trusting God with the coming invasion by Babylon.
• And most importantly, it describes a person who relies upon God for ultimate salvation in the end.

The point here is that no matter what confusing or difficult questions a person may have about God or his ways, and no matter what difficulties or injustices – real or imagined – they may be observing in the world or experiencing painfully for themselves, they can know they are in a right standing before God if – and only if – they rely completely upon God him.

To rely completely upon God consists of two key elements: (1) a strong inner, personal reliance upon what God has revealed about his nature and promises and (2) a daily, intentional perseverance in living according to what God has revealed in his Word.

To Habakkuk, God’s “the just shall live by his faith.” This means that a person who is in right standing before God is one who will live and not be destroyed by God for his sins. As Habakkuk clearly stated, despite a coming invasion and destruction of Judah by Babylon, “We shall not die” (Hab 3:12). But here, it is as though God is saying, I cannot make this promise to every inhabitant of Judah; I can only guarantee to preserve and save – on an individual, case-by-case basis – anyone who has faith in me.

This stands in contrast to the self-righteous people of Judah – Habakkuk’s own family, friends, and fellow countrymen – who believed they were okay with God only because they were a nation to whom God had promised special blessings, who practiced the sign of circumcision, and who possessed and followed the Law of Moses (though only in loose and minimal way).

This also stands in contrast to the ungodly people of Babylon who worshiped their fishing nets (1:15) and gave credit to their false, imaginary gods for their growing control and power (1:11). Neither the people of Judah nor the people of Babylon were trusting in God.

To more fully understand what “the just shall live by his faith” means, we should also hear how the NT uses this general principle and truth in its teaching to us.

I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” (Rom 1:16-17)

In this first occurrence of a quotation of this principle in the NT, Paul closely echoes what Habakkuk emphasized – that a person’s right standing before God is due to his faith in God. In this way, he refers to the beginning of a person’s life of faith before God, when he trusts completely in the gospel of Christ for salvation from sins and for a right standing before God at the future judgment.

We can only receive God’s salvation by faith, and this is true for every person. There is no “different way of salvation,” or “different way to God,” etc. relative to your cultural, ethnic, or national identity. Just as God told Habakkuk people of Judah needed faith in God for salvation just as much as people from Babylon did, so Paul says here that people of the Greek empire needed faith in the gospel of Christ just as much as people from Israel did. There is no difference – the only way to have a right standing before God is to believe on the gospel of Jesus. Have you believed completely in the gospel of Christ for salvation from sin and for a right standing before God at the future judgment?

But the life of faith is more than entering into a right standing with God or being in a right standing with God at the final, future judgment. As important as these guarantees of salvation may be, the life of faith is far more than a beginning and end, for in many ways, the greatest challenge (or rather challenges) to our faith is everything in between.

Paul touches on this reality by quoting “the just shall live by his faith” a second time.

That no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” (Gal 3:11)

Here Paul speaks not only of beginning or entering into a right standing with God by faith but by living in a perpetual state of right standing before God, as well. Here, Paul points out that it is wrong to think we gain a right standing before God by obeying the Mosaic Law or – worse yet – by obeying all sorts of additional laws and rules which we may create as additional safeguards to our relationship with God.

The law says, “Do these things every day and God will accept you,” but faith says, “Believe every day that Christ did all these things every day and God will accept you.” Just as we must reject self-righteousness and reliance on the Law for salvation from God, so we must continually reject self-righteousness and reliance on the Law for daily acceptance and closeness with God.

But there is a third way which God calls us to “live by faith” today, as well.

You have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: “For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. (Heb 10:38)

Here, the writer of Hebrews quotes from Hab 2 to look forward not to the coming invasion of Babylon (which had already happened centuries before), but to look forward to the second coming of Christ to judge the wicked and establish his kingdom of righteousness in this world forever, once and for all. And because Christ is coming again to make all wrongs right forever, we must live by faith in God’s promises in this way – we must confidently, faithfully, and joyfully persevere through the confusing questions, difficult dilemmas, painful experiences, and widespread injustices and wickedness of our day.

In summary, then, the NT quotes Hab 2:4 to teach us that:

• We are made righteous by faith. (Rom 1:17)
• We live daily by faith rather than self-reliance and self-righteousness. (Gal 3:11)
• And we endure to the end by faith. (Heb 10:38)

As we step back and take in all that God has shown us through Habakkuk, we are reminded of this unshakable truth: a person with true faith in God endures hardship in the present because he rests in God’s character and promises, even when the immediate circumstances of life seem to contradict God’s character and promises at the moment.

God did not give Habakkuk a full explanation for his confusing seemingly unjust plan. Instead, he called Habakkuk to keep on trusting in him as the God who is everlasting, holy, faithful, and unchanging.

That same call comes to us today. If you have never trusted in the gospel of Christ for salvation, this is where a life of faith begins, not with understanding everything about God and his ways, but with believing that Christ has taken your judgment, suffered your punishment, forgiven your sin, and secured your future and salvation.

And if you have already trusted in Christ as your God and Savior, then this passage calls you, like Habakkuk, to persevere: to wait, trust, and hold fast to God’s promises even when his ways feel difficult or unfair.

In just a moment, we will observe the Lord’s Supper together, and there is no clearer reminder of this truth. At the cross, God’s plan looked more unjust and confusing than anything else, yet it was there that God was accomplishing our salvation. The bread and the cup remind us that when God’s purposes seem hardest to understand, his love has never let us down. As we come to the table, let us examine our hearts, renew our trust, and rest in Christ in a stronger, greater way. Whether you desire to begin the life of faith today or are persevering through hardship, questions, and injustice, may this special, sacred act and moment of remembrance reinforce our confidence that God is faithful, and that the just shall live by faith.

Discussion Questions

• Sometimes, our suffering is like the suffering a confused, sick child endures from the side effects of treatment. How would a belief that God is like a loving parent of such a child affect the way we handle suffering?
• What does Habakkuk confess in Habakkuk 1:12?
  • What purpose does this confession serve?
  • Hint: This is the beginning of his second “complaint.” Look at the context of the following verses.
• What kind of attitude does Habakkuk’s commitment in Habakkuk 2:1 tell us he has?
  • In what actual ways can we demonstrate this same attitude?
• The people of Judah self-righteously depended upon their ethnicity, religious observance, and Israelite status in contrast with the just who live by faith. Upon things do we personally rely rather than God?
• Habakkuk did not understand how God could use a nation he viewed as more wicked than Judah to judge them. What are the problems with comparing our sins to those of others?
  • How do we engage in this comparison?

Habakkuk 1:1-11; 2:4
From Exodus and Deuteronomy, we learned have that God rescued and entered a permanent covenant and commitment with his people. Then, from Hosea, we have learned that God loves his people relentlessly. Even when we turn or wander away from him, he pursues after us with never-ending faithfulness, mercy, and love to restore our relationship with him.

But now we will turn our attention to Habakkuk, another small Old Testament book, to explore a difficult challenge God’s people often face. This challenge is answering the question of how a holy and loving God can permit sin and injustice to keep on happening in the world. Has anyone ever asked you a version of this question? Or have you ever asked this question yourself?

William Tyndale gave the English-speaking world its first English translation of the Bible. He was a faithful follower of Christ who experienced many injustices: forced into exile for translating Scripture into English; hunted across Europe as a criminal; betrayed by a supposed friend; imprisoned for over a year; strangled and burned as a heretic.

Adoniram Judson was the first American and first Baptist missionary to a foreign nation. Though he served Christ faithfully and sacrificially for the duration of his life, he suffered what seemed to be many injustices: lost two wives and multiple children; imprisoned brutally in Burma for nearly two years; subjected to starvation, chains, and illness; labored for seven years before a single convert.

Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch Christian who sheltered Jews during the Holocaust. Despite her courageous faith, she suffered many injustices: betrayed by an informant; arrested and imprisoned by the Gestapo; father died shortly after arrest; sister Betsie died in a concentration camp; Corrie herself endured forced labor, starvation, sickness, and cruelty.

Elisabeth Elliot (who died only 9 years ago) was a faithful Christian missionary, author, and women’s teacher. Though she served Christ faithfully, she experienced many things which seemed unfair and unjust: married missionary Jim Elliot only 10 months before he was murdered by the Huaorani people of Ecuador; widowed at age 29, with a young child; later buried a second husband after he endured years of illness; lived decades under the shadow of many unanswered questions “why?”

Perhaps you know someone like this – a person who has faithfully followed Christ but has suffered many difficult experiences which seem unfair and unjust. Or perhaps that person is you? If God is faithful, loving, and devoted to his people, then why does he let injustice occur? Why does he let injustice happen so widely and so long?

The book of Habakkuk is a short book with a short message, only three chapters long. The man who wrote this book is named Habakkuk. But other than that, we know little about him other than that he was called “Habakkuk the prophet” (Hab 1:1; 3:1). To call himself “the prophet” may mean he had been formally trained in a school for prophets, something which did exist in Israel during the time of David and Saul and also the time of Elijah and Elisha (1 Sam 19:20; 2 Kgs 4:38).

The apocryphal book, Bel and the Dragon, (which is not biblical) claims that Habakkuk was the “son of Jesus of the tribe of Levi,” which would mean he had been born into a priestly family. This book tells the tale of an angel carrying Habakkuk by the hair from Judah to Babylon to drop food for Daniel into the lion’s den. Such claims and stories about Habakkuk are fascinating but of little to no historical, factual value.

While we don’t know much about the man who wrote this message, we do know something about the background of this message. Habakkuk wrote this message during a time of widespread injustice among his people. From the details of this book, it seems that Habakkuk wrote during the reign of the third-to-last king of Judah – Jehoiakim.

If you recall from previous sermons, Hosea had spoken to the people of Israel. These were the ten tribes of Israel who had settled to the north and who had abandoned worshiping God to worship Baal and to pursue an immoral, wicked lifestyle. As consequence for their sin, God had sent the Assyrian Empire from the northeast to conquer them and take them as captives away to Assyria. This had happened approx. 700 years after God had rescued his people from Egypt and made a permanent covenant with them in love.

Despite the northern kingdom’s rebellion against God, the southern kingdom – called Judah – consisted of the two other tribes of Israel, Judah and Benjamin. They had proven to be more faithful to God, so God had given them a longer period of protection. Even so, they also descended into a widespread ungodly lifestyle, who would also be conquered and invaded by a foreign empire approx. 120 years later (more on this later).

So, here we are to start this book. A man named Habakkuk and who is also a prophet is living in the southern kingdom of Judah nearly 100 years after the northern ten tribes had been taken away to Assyria for their idolatry and immorality. But now God’s people living in the southern two tribes had also become increasingly ungodly. It was this rising and continuing injustice that Habakkuk saw among his own people in Judah that caused him to question God in prayer.

God’s silence sometimes seems unjust to us.

In Hab 1:1, we read an announcement of Habakkuk’s prophecy. What’s interesting about this prophecy, though, is that unlike other OT prophecies, this one is not specifically directed to a group of people. Nowhere here in the introduction or elsewhere in the rest of the book does Habakkuk say God was giving him this message for a particular group of people. Instead, the entire book simply reads as a record of Habakkuk’s own personal interactions with God. And these personal interactions with God begin with two difficult but serious questions that Habakkuk asked God in prayer. We’ll look at the first one here and the second one next week.

God does not always respond immediately to our prayers.

In this first question, Habakkuk asks “how long” he must pray to receive an answer from God. He explains to God in v.2 that no matter how long and how frequently he prays, God doesn’t seem to answer.

O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear?

And he also explains in v.2 that no matter how intensely he prays and how serious his prayers seem to be, God still doesn’t seem to answer.

Even cry out to You, “Violence!” and You will not save.

This word ‘violence’ is translated from the Hebrew word hamas, which does certainly have modern-day parallels, for sure – so you can get a feel for what Habakkuk was describing. Only here, he wasn’t describing to violent activities of foreign, Muslim terrorists, he was describing the commonplace activities of God’s own people in Judah. Violence had become commonplace and nothing was being done about it. As we read in v.4:

The law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore, perverse judgment proceeds.

Habakkuk’s point here is that violence was not being restrained or punished because the judges, priests, kings, and any other enforcers of the Mosaic law were themselves behaving in ungodly and unjust ways. From the words he uses in v.3, we see that theft and abuse, lawsuits and arguments were common and increasing. Sounds a lot like America and our world today, does it not?

God does not resolve every injustice immediately.

The problem for Habakkuk, though, was not necessarily that injustice was occurring, but that his prayers to God weren’t causing any change or bringing about any divine intervention. If he prayed long enough and hard enough, wouldn’t God do something about this widespread problem? So, for the Hosea, the question was not necessarily about why people were being unjust and abusive, the question was whether or not God was himself being unjust by doing nothing about injustice.

From this opening question and prayer, though, we are forced to acknowledge that God does not answer our prayers for justice immediately, the first time we pray them. Nor does he resolve every injustice immediately. Like a good fisherman, he knows how to “let the line go out” before he yanks the hook.

In many types of fishing, especially with live bait or certain species, the fisherman doesn’t set the hook immediately. Instead, he allows the fish to fully take the bait, commit to the line, and move away before he applies resistance. If he pulls too soon, the fish may spit out the bait, or the hook won’t set completely. A good fisherman knows that good timing is often better than sheer force. He also knows that it is sometimes necessary to let the line out to redirect the fish he wants to catch from rocks, weeds, logs, and other snags. Rather than overpowering the fish, he allows it to have some controlled freedom, waits for it to get into the best position, then yanks the hook and pulls the line at full strength at just the right moment. It’s often true that you won’t get the fish by dominating it immediately but by wearing it down over time.

God is this way and more in matters of justice. From our way of thinking and on our limited vantage point and way of viewing time, it may seem that he is slow and unresponsive to correct and judge injustice. But he often “lets the line go out” and “gives a long leash.” He does this for many reasons which only he alone can fully comprehend. But one such reason is that he is longsuffering, desiring for as many people to be saved as possible.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Pet 3:9)

Think about it this way, where would you be today if God had yanked the hook on you as soon and swiftly as possible? Aren’t you glad he was long-suffering and patient with you? Maybe he is still being so towards you today. If so, let me encourage you to repent from your sins and turn to Christ for salvation and restoration today. You don’t know how much longer he will suffer your sinful and unjust behavior.

God does not guarantee to shield his people from injustice.

Another feature of Habakkuk’s question and prayer to God here is this – that he wonders why and how long God will allow him to experience injustice personally. It’s one thing for us to read national and international headlines and see frequent, growing headlines about all kinds of injustice that’s going on. We can and should rightly be bothered and concerned by that. But the problem becomes far more difficult when injustice affects us in a local, personal, and direct way. Notice Habakkuk’s emphasis on this aspect of injustice:

Why do you show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me …” (3:3)

When injustice affects you personally – or someone else who is close to you – then this question hits especially hard. Why does God seem silent? Why does God let injustice continue to occur, seemingly without consequence, while his own people who trust in him have to live with it, see it, and experience it daily?

Well, from Habakkuk’s opening question and prayer to God, we see that God does not guarantee to shield his own people from injustice. Not even his own Son, Jesus Christ, was shielded from injustice, so why should we be any different?

God’s silence doesn’t mean he has no plan.

As we consider the question of how God’s silence can seem unjust, enabling injustice to increasingly occur, what follows next in Habakkuk’s conversation with God shows us that God’s silence doesn’t mean he has no plan.

God is not challenged or upset by our questions.

First, though, we need to know that God is not challenged or upset by our questions. To be sure, not all questions to God are of equal value. Some questions are cynical and sarcastic, not looking for a genuine answer. Some questions are rooted in hard-hearted unbelief and rebellion. But some questions are the result of our simple, childlike inability to understand God’s ways and a sincere desire to figure things out and make sense of a difficult, seemingly contradictory situation.

Throughout Scripture, people of genuine faith asked God similar questions:

• Abraham asked God, “How can I know?” to better understand God’s promise of giving him a son in old age. (Gen 15:8)
• Moses asked God, “Why have you brought this trouble on me?” after he obeyed God, spoke to Pharaoh, and things went from bad to worse. (Exo 5:22)
• David and other Psalm writers asked, “How long, O Lord?” in the face of difficult, painful trials that didn’t seem to go away. (Psa 13:1)
• Job asked God, “Why have you made me your target?” as he experienced a series of heart-wrenching trials for no apparent reason. (Job 7:20)
• Jeremiah asked, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper, and why are they happy?” (Jer 12:1)
• And Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, asked, “How will this happen?” when told that she would give birth as a virgin to our Savior. (Lk 1:34)

While God has zero obligation to answer our questions or to tell us what he is going to do about the injustices we experience, we can also know that he is a big God who is more than able to take our questions. Whether our questions are good ones or not, and whether he can answer them or not, we can always take our confusion and frustration to him in prayer and know that he is just – even in his answer or choice not to answer.

For God, our questions are no problem at all, and for us, our questions are often not a detriment to our faith but a pathway to deeper, stronger faith. Because the more we ask genuine questions of God, the more we will learn about him and learn to trust him. Do you have any questions that you need to ask God today, even if he doesn’t answer?

When we ask questions of God today, we should not look for some verbal or visual answers, such as a personal revelation of prophecy or a dream of vision of some kind. Instead, we should look to God’s Word to see what it says about our question, and we should do such study of God’s Word in a careful, prayerful way.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psa 119:105)

We should not simply “open the Bible and point to a verse on whatever page it falls to,” but we should do a diligent search to study what the Bible actually says about whatever the topic or nature of our question might be.

[The Bereans] … received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. (Acts 17:11)

We should be like the Christians in Berea and be people who not only pray to God about our questions but who also carefully study God’s Word to discover whatever answers we can find.
God’s plans are more impressive than we comprehend.

For Habakkuk, since he was a OT prophet, God gave him a more specific answer to his prayer, and we find this answer in 1:5-11. Before giving his answer, he prepares Habakkuk for what he is about to hear (1:5):

Look among the nations and watch—be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days Which you would not believe, though it were told you.

With these words, it is as though God is saying, “Brace yourself, Habakkuk, because what I am about to tell you is going to absolutely blow you away.” The words ‘utterly astounded’ means something like being “frozen stiff with amazement” or “absolutely astonished and amazed.”

God also tells Habakkuk that the plan he is about to reveal will be hard to believe and that it will come to pass within Habakkuk’s lifetime, so he would actually get to experience it. This sounds like good news! Then God goes on to explain his amazing plan.

• He would choose another rising world empire, this time from East, called the Chaldeans. (Scripture and history also knows them as the Babylonians.)
• They would be an aggressive nation who take over other lands and nations and would be frightening and terrible to anyone who resisted them.
• They would possess elite armies of cavalry with horses superior to other nations’ horses in every way – faster than leopards, fiercer than wolves, and with the focus of an eagle.
• They would come from the East and be like a powerful east wind that gathers prisoners of war like an east wind blows grains of sand.
• They would easily take down every king and emperor who tried to resist them and would destroy every form of defense which tried to prevent them.

Wow, what an amazing plan. So, as you can see, just because God had been silent in answering Habakkuk’s frequent and urgent questions about rising injustice among his people, he was not oblivious to the problem, and he was not without a plan. His plan was absolutely incredible. He was building a brand new army of elite fighting forces who would take down not only other ungodly, unjust nations of the world – including Assyria, the nation who had taken the Northern Kingdom away as prisoners of war – but he would also use this new empire and fighting force to judge Judah, as well.

This solution that God was preparing as a consequence for all the injustice Habakkuk was seeing and experiencing in Judah was far more impressive than he had ever imagined. On one hand, it seemed that God was unconcerned and silent in the face of injustice, but in reality, he was preparing a solution which was far more impressive that we could comprehend.

Have you ever expected one thing, only to receive or experience something far more impressive instead? Maybe you went to a restaurant to celebrate your birthday quietly with a relative only to find out that the entire restaurant had been rented out for a large surprise party with all of your family and friends. Or perhaps a friend gave you a small envelope which you thought had a note inside, only to find out it held a check for $10,000.

This is how it is with God. We ask him our questions and wonder why he doesn’t intervene to resolve the injustices that we see in the world and experience for ourselves. And we envision or perhaps even suggest certain solutions to “help him out.” But if we really understood not only why he was waiting but what he eventually, actually planned to do, we would be completely amazed. While it may seem that God is not doing anything, he is actually planning something that is far more impressive than you could ever comprehend. Can you trust him?

Faith trusts God when injustice seems to prevail.

While we will have more to say in upcoming sermons about how God responds to our questions and to the problem of evil and injustice in the world and in our lives, now is a good time to “peek ahead” at the central verse and truth of this book from Habakkuk.

The just shall live by his faith. (Hab 2:4)

This is the central verse and truth of this entire message from Habakkuk. And though the Bible never mentions or names Habakkuk anywhere else outside of this book, it does quote this statement three times in the NT.

Paul quotes Habakkuk in Galatians 3:11 and also in Romans 1:17, which shows this was a major part of his theology and how he lived out his faith before God. The writer of Hebrews also quotes this verse in Heb 10:39 to encourage God’s people who follow Christ to persevere in their faith no matter what the difficulties are that they may face.

For a person to live by faith in Christ does not mean they cannot or will not pray to God about
the difficult questions they have about life, but it does mean that they will ask their difficult questions and then continue to believe God, both that he has the right to remain silent, and that his plans – whether we know what they are or not – will turn out to be far more impressive than we could ever comprehend.

There is a stage in every child’s early development when curiosity seems endless and “why?” becomes not only their favorite question but their apparent response to almost everything. Why can’t I touch that? Why do I have to go to bed now? Why can’t we do it this way? Why? Why? Why?

A loving parent often tries to answer this question, to explain the reason or the why that they are seeking, but any experienced parent knows that this rarely satisfies the child’s curiosity. Instead, it only causes them to think for a moment about their parent’s explanation only to say again, “But why?”

So, eventually a parent realizes they need to learn when to say, “I can’t explain all of that to you right now, you have to trust me.” This answer doesn’t mean the parent doesn’t care, even though the child may interpret their response that way for the moment. But the child lacks experience, maturity, and vocabulary needed to understand the answers. Children face similar questions and struggle with unsatisfied curiosity in their teenage years, too, only on a higher, more complex level.

The parent sees consequences the child cannot see, dangers the child does not recognize, and outcomes the child cannot imagine. And often, years later, that same child looks back and realizes their parents understood far more than they, as a toddler, could grasp at the time, that what felt like unnecessary restriction or silence was actually wisdom, protection, and love.

As we conclude, Habakkuk reminds us that it is not sinful to ask God hard questions. When injustice seems to increase and God seems silent, Scripture does not tell us to suppress our confusion or pretend everything is okay. Instead, God invites us to bring our struggle, our frustration, and even our fear directly to him in prayer.

“How long?” is not necessarily the language of unbelief. It can often be the words of an honest, sincere, but confused cry of faith that seeks understanding from God. God is not threatened by our questions, and he is not offended when we speak candidly with him about what we see and what we experience in this broken world, whether abroad in world and national headlines or nearby in our local communities, or even within our own church, family, and personal life.

Habakkuk also teaches us that lasting peace, though, does not come primarily from getting answers from God, but from trusting in God because we know that he has the answers. Whether he chooses to explain himself to us or else to remain silent, he is never absent, never indifferent, and never out of control. His timetable extends far beyond our impatience, and his perspective rises far above our limited view.

What feels to us like a delay or forever is often divine patience and purposeful restraint. What appears to be disorder is, in reality, being governed and guided by a sovereign God whose plans are already unfolding according to perfect wisdom. This fact includes not only the injustice that Habakkuk was watching unfold in Judah but the injustice we see all around us today, far away and nearby. What seems to be chaos is actually a world progressing according to God’s sovereign plan. And “will not the Judge of all the Earth do right” (Gen 18:25)? He is and he will.

So, when injustice disturbs your heart and your anxiety grows in the shadow of God’s silence, this is when and where God calls us to move from fear to faith. Not because our questions have all been answered, but because our confidence is anchored in who God is relentless in love and faithful to his people. He sees the full picture, he works on a longer timeline, and his plans to judge injustice and establish righteousness are far more impressive than we could ever imagine. Until that day comes, the just – those who believe and follow Christ – should live by faith, asking honest questions without demanding answers, trusting completely in God’s character, and resting in the certainty that he will make all things right in his perfect time. This is what we do when God seems silent.

Hosea 14:1-9

In the classic American tale, written by Mark Twain, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” there was a point where young Tom felt so deeply wronged and discouraged that he decided to run away from home. The reasons he felt this way were due to two confusing and frustrating circumstances. He had been punished for something he didn’t do, making him feel misunderstood and unloved. On top of that, Becky Thatcher – a new girl in town who he very much wanted to befriend – had rejected him after a quarrel. Overwhelmed by these hard circumstances, Tom convinced himself that life would be better away from home, so he hatched a plan to run away and become a pirate. This way he could live free from rules, heartbreak, and the feelings of being misunderstood.

At first, the pirate life was thrilling, with everything he wanted as a boy: adventure without accountability, freedom without responsibility. But as the excitement faded, something else began to stir in his heart. He began to think about home again: familiar faces, warm meals, and the people who cared for him even when he didn’t deserve it.

As he thought about these things, one night he snuck back into town to see how people were reacting to his absence. He snuck into the home of his Aunt Polly and overheard her talking to someone else about him. She was heartbroken, devastated, and grieving deeply because she thought that he was dead. She also talked about how much she loved him and how she would give anything to have him back again.

Hearing his aunt cry over his absence affected Tom’s heart in a way nothing else had ever done. Until then, he had thought he was unloved, treated unfairly, and better off far away. But in that surprising, quiet moment, he realized just how deeply he mattered to his Aunt Polly. As a result, he began to experience a deep desire to go back home and end the adventure of being a wandering pirate.

In many ways, Israel’s real story in Hosea is like the fictional story of Tom Sawyer running away from home. God’s people had also run away from him in their hearts and behavior, not because God had failed them, but because they had given way to their own selfish disappointments and sinful desires. They had convinced themselves that manmade idols and other gods could treat them better than the God who rescued and loved them. They chased after idols and foreign alliances, believing those paths would bring freedom, fulfillment, and excitement. But like Tom’s dream of being a pirate, the alternatives proved to be empty, destructive, and dissatisfying in the end. What they were really longing for was something only God could give.

Hosea 14 gives us a heartfelt appeal and conclusion from God to his people to return back to him from the idols, sins, and unreliable partners they had ran away to pursue. And he wanted them to return not just physically but more importantly spiritually, relationally, and from their heart. In this appeal, he assures them that if they return to him, then they will finally experience the blessing, happiness, and satisfaction their hearts desired.

Like Tom Sawyer returning from his pirate adventure, we – like Israel – must realize we can only experience the blessing, happiness, and satisfaction our hearts desire when we turn away from our idols and sins to follow Christ with all our heart. Since God pursues us with relentless love, we should turn to him with complete devotion.
So, how do we return to God – or turn to him in the first place?

Turning to God requires a genuine change of heart. (vv. 1-3)

Hosea uses the word shuv (turn, return, repent) appears in various forms 25 times in 11 of 14 chapters. It appears the most times (5x) here in Hosea 14.

• Israel, return the Lord your God. (14:1)
• Take words with you and return to the Lord. (14:2)
• I will heal their backsliding. (14:4)
• My anger has turned away from him. (14:4)
• Those who dwell under his shadow shall return. (14:7)

The concentrated, repeated use of this word in this chapter resembles how a good fireworks show ends with a dramatic burst of rapid fireworks, like all the fireworks that came before but more concentrated and all at once. This is why God called Hosea to marry Gomer and why he had called Hosea to give this message to Israel. He wanted them to repent, to turn back to him.

These first three verses emphasize not only what God desired – for Israel turn back to him – but how he wanted them to do that. He was not interested merely in them returning to him with costly, physical sacrifices to show allegiance and worship – he was far more interested in them returning to him with a genuine change of heart.

• Take with you words … (14:2)
• Offer the sacrifice of our lips … (14:2)

And since we speak from our hearts, he told them what a repentant heart would say. You’ve heard it said, “Actions speak louder than words,” but here God indicates, “Words speak louder than actions.” God wanted them to say what they were thinking and not just “go through the motions.”

What did God want them to say – to show that they truly believed and desired?

• To acknowledge and ask forgiveness of their sins.
• To request an enthusiastic reception.
• To reject their reliance on foreign governments and false gods.
• To accept God as their father.

The point of Hosea’s prayer is that the people of Israel have become orphans. When the nation, along with its shrines, priests, kings, and military forces, is destroyed, then the general populace will be left as orphans. They will be Lo-Ammi, not my people. Their adulterous mother, the institutions of Israel, will be dead; their father, Baal, will have given them no help. But this fatherless people will turn back to their one true father, the refuge of orphans, and find shelter in him. The dispirited Diaspora of Israel must accept its position of orphan and return to Yahweh in that role and not come back as the people who proudly wear the title of the “elect of God.” When that happens, Not-my-people will become the sons and daughters of the living God. (Duane Garrett)

Turning to God brings a genuine change in quality life. (vv. 4-7)

After describing the kinds of words that God wanted to hear from the hearts of his people, he then described what he would do in response to their repentance. He would heal (or repair/rebuild) their rebellious ways and love them without reservation. And just as he urged them to turn away from their sinful ways and false gods, so he would turn away his anger from them.

For God to express his anger towards them for their sin consisted of some concrete, tangible outcomes – not merely an abstract, emotional display. God expressed his anger towards Israel by withholding precipitation from their naturally arid land, causing widespread death to its foliage and plant life of all kinds.

Unlike Egypt, which benefited from the Nile River and its fertile delta, and Assyria, which benefited from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the land of Israel required airborne precipitation to thrive. For this reason, people who lived there relied on their false gods and idols to provide precipitation for them. So, when God’s people turned to other gods, he would withhold this precipitation from them as a consequence.

Here God promised to restore vibrant vegetation to Israel when they returned to him. To describe what this would be like, he begins with dew and ends with wine. The dew would provide the water necessary for plant life to grow, and the wine would represent the culmination of that growth.

In between the promise of dew and wine, God describes the lush, verdant growth of wildflowers (lilies) and trees (both wild and cultivated), grains of the field and fruits of the vine. He describes the length of their branches, the depth of their roots, the abundance of their fruit, and the smell of their flowers and produce.

These descriptions serve two purposes. First, they describe the actual physical conditions of the land which God’s people would enjoy when they returned to him. Second, they describe a new personal and spiritual quality of life they would enjoy as they trusted in him to care for them.

• Dew represents God’s gentle care of his people and contrast with other ways of getting precipitation, such as downpours of rain, which can cause damage and erosion.
• Lilies and wildflowers represent beauty, as in the romantically themed Old Testament book, Song of Solomon – which uses lilies this way eight times.
• Deep roots represent endurance, strength, and fruitfulness like the way Psalm 1 describes a godly man who walks in the counsel of God’s Word (Ps 1:3).
• New growth represents renewed physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health for God’s people.
• Olive trees represent wealth and well-being.
• Fragrant smells represent sensory pleasures, in contrast to the sensuality which God’s people had sinfully pursued and participated in.
• Shade represents not only how God would cover and protect them from the heat and pressures of life, but how his people would provide the same effect for anyone else in the world who would come turn to trust in their God.

Psalm 121:5-6 describes God as a place of shade and shelter for his people:

The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

Ezekiel 17:23 describes God’s people as a place of shade and shelter for people of the world:

On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it; and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. Under it will dwell birds of every sort; in the shadow of its branches they will dwell.

So, from these verses, God describes the kind of abundant blessing, provision, and shelter he would provide to his people when they returned to him.  Hebrew Old Testament scholar, Duane Garrett says:

The text has exploited the flora of Israel to the maximum possible extent to convey a message of bounty and salvation.

This blessing would most definitely be material and physical, but this material and physical blessing would serve as a real-life, tangible representation of something far more special – the kind of spiritual blessing and satisfaction they would enjoy in their relationship with him.

Now, before we move on to the final words of this chapter and of the entire, I want to draw our attention to one more interesting detail in this passage – an unusual repetition and focus on a place called Lebanon. Until here, Hosea doesn’t mention Lebanon a single time, but here he mentions is not just once but three times in rapid succession.

Hosea says that Israel would grow deep roots like Lebanon (v. 5), would have a fragrant smell like Lebanon (v. 6), and the memory of Israel would be like the wine of Lebanon (v. 7). So, why does he have a sudden burst of interest in Lebanon here?

In the Bible, Lebanon refers to a double range of mountains that begins in Northern Galilee and runs along the Mediterranean coast. The two Lebanon ranges are parallel to one another and the name Lebanon means “white,” which may be due to either the white limestone of the mountains or the snow that lay on them six months a year.

This region to the far north of the Promised Land was well-known for its rich, dense forests of fir and cedar trees, as well as olive and fruit trees and vineyards. It was from here that God’s people had imported their wood and purple dye for God’s Temple in Jerusalem.

But this region was well-known (though sadly so) for another significant import – the wicked queen Jezebel and the false and immoral worship of Baal. Baal was regarded as the god of the northern mountains and as the supernatural, divine provider of fertility, fruitfulness, and abundance. So, when God’s people had turned to blending in Baal worship to their worship of God and then worshiping Baal outright, they had done so in the hopes of receiving all of these natural blessings and resources from him, not to mention the sensual, immoral pleasures he also promised.

But it was this idol worship and its many associated sinful practices which had been the cause for Israel’s spiritual adultery – the adultery from God which Hosea’s marriage to Gomer was supposed to portray. So here, God is telling his people that if they would return to him, they would receive in a wholesome and far more satisfying way all that they had hoped to receive from Baal and more.

All the good things that Israel thought to get from Baal will finally come from Yahweh. He will turn their land into a fragrant paradise. (Duane Garrett).

So, what should a person conclude and what should a person do who hears the message of Hosea – God’s message to his people?

A wise person will turn to God from idols. (vv. 8-9)

The ESV translates 14:8 well when it says:

O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.

In other words, God is saying, “Why in the world would you want to worship idols anymore? I am the one, not them, who takes care of you. And when we consider the larger message and backstory of this book of Hosea, this is God’s way of saying to his people, “Why would you want to continue to chase after other lovers when I am the one who loves you, is completely devoted to you, and who alone provides everything that you need. As Gomer’s adulterous, promiscuous life had proved, only Hosea – her husband – cared for her, provided for her, and devotedly loved her. All her other flings did not, but rather used, abused, and wasted her. And that’s what idols do – they promise satisfaction, life, and freedom but leave you used, abused, disenchanted, wasted, and unloved.

And so, the conclusion of this book should be for anyone, why would I want to continue to chase after idols?

Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them. (Hos 14:9)

The word wise means skillful and describes someone who makes choices which apply true and accurate knowledge in an effective and productive way. The word prudent means who looks carefully at something and pays attention to things – they are observant about what they see and hear and then make responsible, sensible choices based upon and in response to what they see and hear.

So, God is saying that if you will pay attention to the marriage, divorce, and restoration of Hosea and Gomer and if you will pay attention to everything else that God has to say about his love for his people in spite of their rebellion against him, then you will be a wise and understanding person.

You will see that it is the right thing to do to follow God and commit your ways to him. It is the right thing to trust completely in him, to turn from idols and other loves, and to do whatever he says and desires.

But for many people, this will not be the case. They will simply go forward in their pursuit of chasing after idols, looking for satisfaction, meaning, and purpose in choices and pursuits which are contrary to God’s ways and which deny that he is good and right.

The ways of God are free of obstacles for the righteous. The upright realize the benefits of God’s laws and proscriptions, and they know that his ways are wise. What God has instituted is for our good. We find satisfaction and nobility in a life that is lived humbly before God. Those who rebel against God’s yoke will stumble over his commands; they will find his [ways] too hard to bear. (Thomas McComiskey)

This is not only an Old Testament perspective for the people of Israel but is also a principle of life for all God’s people today who follow Christ by faith. The Apostle John says:

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 Jn 5:21)

Tom Sawyer discovered he was better loved and better off back home, and so did another character in the world of literature.

Near the end of his life, Ernest Hemingway told a brief and moving story about a Spanish father and his teenage son. Their relationship had become deeply strained, filled with hurt, rebellion, and distance, until one day the son ran away from home. The young man’s name was Paco, which was a very common name in Spain.

The father searched for his son over many months, traveling from village to village, asking questions, hoping for news, but hearing nothing. Tired, discouraged, and nearly out of hope, the father eventually tried one last thing. He placed an advertisement in a major newspaper in Madrid, the capital city of Spain. The message was short and simple. It read:

Dear Paco,
Please meet me in front of the newspaper office at noon. All is forgiven.
All is forgiven.
Love, Father

The next day at noon, the father went to the newspaper office. And as the story goes, standing there waiting for him were 800 young men named Paco, all hoping for forgiveness, all hoping that the message was meant for them.

This story captures something Hosea has been telling us all along. Underneath our idolatry, immorality, and wandering hearts, what we really need is forgiveness, restoration, and father who will forgive and receive us home.

This is exactly what God told Hosea to do in Hosea 3:

Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.” So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. And I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.” For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.

And this is exactly what God is offering to do in Hosea 14. After chapters of exposing Israel’s spiritual adultery, God does not end with rejection but with an invitation: “Return to the LORD your God,” he says, “and I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely.”
Most importantly, God did not simply place an announcement in a newspaper, or even just give us this story and message through Hosea. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (Jn 12:32). The cross stands as God’s public declaration to all our wandering, idol-worshiping, wayward hearts. “Come home to the Father through Jesus, all is forgiven.”

So, the question Hosea leaves us with is this is this: will you keep chasing idols that cannot heal, satisfy, or save, or will you turn to the Father? For the restless, the guilty, the weary, and the prodigal, the invitation still stands. Come. Return. And rest in the God who loves you freely.

Discussion Questions

• Hosea 14:2 emphasizes verbalizing our repentance by mentioning “words” and “the sacrifice of our lips.” Why is it so important for us to translate our repentant heart into words?
  • What are the ways we can do this?
• Is there a connection between our repentance and our willingness to readily forgive those who ask for our forgiveness? Can our lack of forgiveness of others affect our willingness to repent?
• How would you describe God’s disposition toward his people and their welfare based on Hosea and other Scripture?
  • How should this impact our repentance?
• What did the Israelites hope to get by worshipping the idols of Lebanon?
  • The Israelites participated in the sinful worship practices of the pagan worshippers of the Baal gods of Lebanon, like sexual immorality and child sacrifice. How is our idolatrous worship similar in our culture?
  • What is it that we hope to get by worshipping our idols in these ways?

Hosea 11:1-11

There are moments, even stages, in life when our emotions don’t sit quietly. They twist, turn, and churn inside us and pull in different directions at the same time. We say things like “I’m all over the place,” or “my heart is tied in knots.” And we say these things because we’re trying to put words to that deep, inner activity that comes when love meets pain, when compassion meets disappointment, or when devotion and loyalty meet repeated rejection.

It’s encouraging to hear that Scripture tells us God – in his own divine way – feels this way, too. In Hosea 11, God opens a window into his own heart to reveal not a distant, detached deity, but a caring and committed Father whose emotions are deeply stirred by the people he loves so dearly.

As we enter Hosea 11:1-11, we find God looking back over centuries of caring for his people – 700 years to be exact. And this glimpse into his heart reveals just how deeply committed and devotedly loving he is to his people, even when we – like the nation of Israel to whom Hosea spoke – are unfaithful and unloving to him. Let’s take a peek behind the curtain at how God feels for his people – and if you have believed on Christ, how he feels about you, even when you are not loving him well in return.

God cared for his people in a deeply affectionate way …

We see this in 11:1-4, where God compares his relationship to his people in a deeply affectionate way. He does this by using two analogies – the way a loving parent treats his young child and the way a pet owner treats her pet.

In 11:1, he describes the beginning of this special relationship between him and his people, when he rescued and removed them from slavery in Egypt, as being not only a young child, but his own child – his own dear son.

This language of “calling his son” out of Egypt is especially meaningful when we connect it to how Egypt (the Pharaoh) attempted to kill all the newborn sons at the time when Moses was born (Exo 1:8-22). Egypt tried to kill them, but God called them out.

Then, in 11:3, he portrays the early years of their relationship through an experience which all parents understand – teaching their toddler to walk. He leans into this analogy by describing how a parent holds their wobbly toddler by the arms, and then also how a parent bandages up their toddler’s bumps and scrapes after they fall.

In 11:4, he switches analogies to how a person treats a well-loved pet or a farmer cares for a well-loved animal. Such a person does not jerk their pet’s leash or pull them harshly with ropes. The description of “gentle” ropes here may refer to choosing comfortable leashes and ropes rather than cheap, rough, and scratchy ones. Instead, they pull and nudge them gently and lovingly. Such a person, if a farmer, also places and removes a yoke on the animal – if it is a work animal – gently and lovingly, not forcibly and roughly.

11:4 also describes God as stopping down to feed his animals from his hand, rather than some other impersonal, industrial method. This reveals his deep affection for his people.

But they failed to acknowledge or return his care –

These opening four verses reveal not only how deeply God cared for his people, but how his people responded to his affectionate care. We would expect that they responded with gratitude and affection, but they did not – that’s what so surprising here. The more God called them, cared for them, and loved them, the more they went further away from him. Commentator Thomas McComiskey says it this way:

Yahweh beckoned to Israel, but Israel was an uncaring son who ran insolently from him.

Rather than sacrifice to the God who loved them, they sacrificed to false Baal gods. Rather than burn incense to the God who cared for them, they burnt incense to carved statues, instead. They also refused to acknowledge that it was God who healed them and helped them through their early struggles in the wilderness and Promised Land.

What a sad response. It reminds me of what Paul said about the people in the church at Corinth in 2 Cor 12:15:

I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.

Have you ever experienced this for yourself? Loving and caring for someone else, only to find that the more you showed love to them, the more difficult they behave in return? This is especially hard when the person you love is a spouse or a child, as the message of Hosea makes clear. God wants us to know that when his people do not respond well to his love and care, this is how he feels. Let that sink in. Is it possible that you are responding poorly to his love?

So, their chosen caretakers would treat them cruelly.

Remember, those early stages of relationship between God and Israel had occurred 700 years earlier. God had been very patient and longsuffering with them for sure. But in 11:5-7, he says that his people would not return to Egypt. Why would he say this? Because they were like an adopted child who preferred returning to a previous abusive caregiver over remaining in the home of their new and loving adoptive family, or like a spouse who wanted to go back into a prior abusive relationship rather than remain in relationship with a new and loving spouse.

But God said though they wanted to go back to Egypt – the very place which had enslaved them and treated them so cruelly – they would not be able to do so. Instead, they would go into captivity to the Assyrian empire, instead. Why? Because they refused to repent or turn from their sinful and rebellious ways and because they insisted on backsliding.

As a result, they would suffer horrible things, including violent deaths throughout their communities. As God explains, they would at times give lip service to God and call him “the Most High,” but they didn’t exalt him in any meaningful way that showed they meant what they said or took him seriously. They were like the kid who sobs and cries for his parents to bail him out from jail but then turns around after they are released from prison to do even more of the same things that got them into prison the first time.
In the end, God would never give up on his people …

After hearing about Israel’s stunning refusal to acknowledge, appreciate, or respond in any favorable, loving, serious way to God’s deeply affectionate care and faithfulness to them, and then about the severe consequences he has said would come their way as a result, you would think the next thing God might say would be something about giving up, moving on, and letting go. But that is not the case.

In 11:8-9, we read the very opposite of letting go. We read a four-part, repeated question that shows intense emotion and commitment from God:

How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim?

In this question, Ephraim and Israel are names for the northern 10 tribes of Israel who worshipped golden cow statues, worshipped many other idols and false gods, committed child sacrifice, and promiscuous, immoral behavior as a lifestyle. Despite all their rebellious, sinful choices and rejection of his love for them, and despite the horrible consequences they would receive, he was unable to give them up because of his love and loyal commitment to them.

Admah and Zeboiim here were two cities who were affiliated with and located near Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 14:2). We know what happened to them, right? Because of their immoral activity, homosexual activity, and rampant abuse, God destroyed them entirely by scorching their land with fire. He even refers to this as a ready, visible, long-lasting example in Deuteronomy to warn his people against doing the same things (Dt 29:23):

The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and His wrath.

So, God warned his people that they could experience something similar if they persisted in disobedience and disloyalty to him. Yet, now that they were on the brink of actually deserving and getting this consequence, God exclaims, “I just can’t do that to you because I love you too much!”

He describes his feelings as a heart “churning” or “turning over” and his sympathy as being “stirred.” This portrays God as having very active, moving feelings for his people which prevented him from destroying them entirely. We might say today, “I’m all over the place,” or “My emotions are running high,” or “I’m torn up inside,” or “I’m pulled in every direction,” or “my heart is tied in knows right now.” This is God’s way of helping us understand that though he was sending them into captivity in Assyria, he loved them so deeply that he could not let them go completely.

Instead, he would let them go long enough and far enough to learn their lesson and experience enough pain and difficulty that they would come to their senses and return to him in faith and devotion. He assured them that despite the awful things they would experience from the Assyrians, he would not permit them to be destroyed.

And they would return home with a change of heart.

In the final two verses, 11:10-11, God announces a future time after Israel had suffered and learned hard lessons in Assyria that they would return to the land God had given them and – most importantly – would return to following him by faith.

By describing them as birds and doves, he portrays them as a kind of silly bird not a majestic kind. Not the kind that soars majestically and powerfully through the air but the kind that flits around, back and forth, in an unimpressive way. In Israel’s case, they were like birds flitting and flirting around with false gods, all sorts of sins, and looking to other nations for their provision and protection.

But here, God says that there would come a day when he will roar like a lion and call them home. This analogy is fascinating because in 5:14, he said that he would be like a lion attacking and tearing them like prey:

I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue.

But here, he says that he would be like a lion who roars and calls his lion cubs back home from their playful adventures. He would roar and they would come back home to him.

A key detail here, though, is the repetition of the word “trembling.” God’s people would not return to him not with a cocky, self-confident attitude but rather with a reverent and sober attitude instead – like a man graduating from military boot camp not the cocky, overconfident kid going into bootcamp. In many ways, this entire chapter resembles the feelings and thoughts of a loving parent who sends their child to a difficult correctional home due to persistent disobedience and bad behavior. Such a parent feels sad that this needs to be done but looks forward to their child returning home with a change of heart.

What should we take away from this message to God’s people? We should understand that though we are more sinful and rebellious than we can ever understand, God loves his people for deeply and devotedly than we will every comprehend. In this message, we see the heart of God who made a commitment to love his people and who patiently endured their unfaithfulness to him for 700 years. Only then did he follow through on the consequence he had warned them against in the original covenant – Exodus and Deuteronomy. And even then, he loved them and was devoted so faithfully to them that he would eventually rescue them from these consequences and restore them back into a close, faith-filled relationship with him.

This story reminds me of a man I knew as a teenager living in Indiana. A man named Joe who attended the church I was a part of, where my father was a pastor, had a brother, named Danny. Both he and his brother had grown up in Roman Catholicism but never professed personal faith in Jesus Christ. Later in life, they believed on Christ and left the Roman Catholic church. One of these brothers lived in Indianapolis. He was a successful man by many standards. Very nice and a pharmacist who owned his own pharmacy.

He was also married faithfully to his wife for many decades. But during this marriage, he had believed on Christ, having married his wife as a Roman Catholic. Now that he was a believer in Christ and had left the Catholic church, his wife treated him very poorly to express her displeasure with his newfound faith in following Christ the Bible way. She treated Danny poorly – was very demanding and controlling. Some even argued – including his brother Joe – that Danny had biblical grounds for divorce on the basis of abandonment and abuse.

But Danny loved his wife and refused to let her go. He remained faithful, loyal, and devoted to her for decades. Though he continued to participate in a Bible-teaching, gospel-believing church, which she strongly opposed and resisted, he endured her rejection and loved her faithfully, anyway. In the end, I am happy to report that in her final days of life, as her health weakened and she was about to die, she called him to her bedside and he was able to graciously explain to her the gospel and witness the moment when she, too, personally chose to believe on Christ and follow God the Bible way like her husband.

As we look back at Hosea 11 today, we should feel the impact of God’s heart for his people, a heart that has been rejected, ignored, taken for granted, and yet refuses to let his people go. Israel had wandered, resisted, lived sinful, immoral lives, and chased after abusive “caretakers” over the God who had loved them from the beginning.

Still, God’s heart was stirred with compassion and his love remained steadfast even in the face of their rebellion. He finally disciplined them as he had warned 700 years before, but not to destroy them. He let them taste the painful consequences of their sin long enough to awaken them, not abandon them. His love went with them into their exile and would one day call them home again in trembling and humble faith.

This is the hope held out to every believer today – and for anyone who has yet and is considering placing their faith in Christ. Though we are far more sinful and wayward than we recognize, God’s love for his people is far deeper and more devoted than we will ever fully grasp. He is the Father who teaches us to walk, who heals our wounds, who calls after us when we wander, and who refuses to give us up even when we resist his love.

His heart is stirred with compassion, commitment, and covenant love for you. This does not mean he will not discipline you or allow you to taste the bitter, painful consequences of your sin. And if he does, he does this so that you will return humbly and devotedly to him. So, wherever you find yourself today, whether wandering, weary, stubborn, wounded, or considering returning home once again, hear that majestic roar of the Lion calling his children back. That roar is the voice, not of an enemy but of a loving and committed God. With you respond with trembling, humble faith and return, and rest, in the God who loves you too deeply to let you go? Stop being a silly bird and return to him.

Discussion Questions

• What difference does it make if God is or is not deeply affectionate toward his people?
• What does Israel’s failure to return God’s loving care tell us about their hearts?
  • What are some steps we can take to develop our hearts so that we respond rightly to God?
• How do you think God expects the knowledge of how God feels about our ungratefulness and insolence?
• How should the knowledge of God’s feelings about our spurning his affections from Hosea impact us?
• “Trembling” is presented as positive in the concluding verses of Hosea 11. Why is it a good thing for God’s children to be trembling?
  • What would a similar attitude look like in our lives?

Introduction
What is word has the most synonyms in the English language? Have you taken the time to go through the whole thesaurus to find the answer?

Well, I didn’t. I was curious though so naturally, I asked AI. The answer might surprise you. In fact, it’s a word associated with a lot of shame. The word is “drunk,” as in, intoxicated. It actually makes sense that a shameful word would have so many synonyms or euphemisms. Paul Dickson found over 2900 different synonyms for the word “drunk.” That supposedly is the record.

Now, we might not be quite as creative as Paul Dickson, but we do quite well to find synonyms for another phrase.

The phrase: “I’m sorry.”

We come up with all these creative ways to make ourselves and those whom we have wronged feel better. Yet, we tiptoe all around coming out and admitting, “I was wrong.”
What are some ways? “I’m sorry if you…” or “I’m sorry that you…” “Just forget about it.” “Leave it in the past.” “Are we good?” “Can we just move on?”

Why is it that we struggle so much to say, “I was wrong. Please forgive me?”
In this passage, we find a similar inability to rightly admit fault and restore relationship. The nation of Israel has violated the covenant God has made with them. God is using His prophet Hosea to symbolize the reality of Israel’s unfaithfulness to him, and also God’s loving commitment to his people.

Chapter 6 is the first glimmer of hope for resolution for Israel. The only way forward is to completely and actually repent. No counterfeit apologies. No vague resolutions.
In God’s call to Israel for repentance, I pray we can also learn how to truly repent.
As we have journeyed through the book, Hosea has now become very clear about how exactly it is that God’s people have been unfaithful to Yaweh. Their idolatry is akin to adultery, and he has made no bones about that. God justly speaks this way about our sin. There is no problem with that. Yet, we must understand the purpose behind these kinds of indictments.
Even more so, in chapter 5, God warns of the consequences of Israel’s idolatry.

In verse 10:
“The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark; I will pour out my wrath on them like water. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, Because he willingly walked by human precept. Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth, And to the house of Judah like rottenness. “When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah saw his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb; Yet he cannot cure you, Nor heal you of your wound. For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue. I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” Hosea 5:10–15

All of the accusations, all of the warnings, even when they are harsh, they are always for a purpose.

God corrects his people to bring them back to himself.
It is a tough thing to identify with a God who would do such things to those whom he loves. To us, loving isn’t hurting someone. How can we hurt someone that we care about? Causing someone pain is the opposite of loving them!

These are the parts of Scripture that we might get a little uncomfortable to talk about. But this is who God is. And its important to understand this is who he always is, and always will be.
Read Deuteronomy 4 sometime. God predicts and promises exactly what is unfolding in this book if the Israelites were to do exactly what they have done. He even foreshadows the legal proceeding motif by calling heaven and earth to witness against the Idolatry of his people.
We might assume that God is like us, reacting to the situations around us and doing our best to only escalate when necessary, making judgement calls about how harsh to be. There is no reactionary nature with God. He is not just doing his best to roll with the punches. Long, long ago in eternity past, God settled exactly what needed to be done to bring His people Israel back to himself when they strayed.

And he is the same for his people today.

For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” Hebrews 12:6

We need to properly understand God’s ultimate punishment for sin and his loving discipline to teach his children. His purpose in his correction is not ultimately to make us feel shameful or guilty. His ultimate goal is restoration and joy.

Friend, is God in some way teaching you that you might repent so that you can experience His joy? My prayer is that this message makes clear to you what the Bible says about what it means to truly repent. You’re only one step of full repentance away from the joy of communion with God.

When we begin to trust that God’s correction is to bring His people back to himself, we begin to gain confidence God’s nature.

Repentance believes that God is faithful to his covenant.
If God is truly set out to bring me back to Him, then there can be no true hurt in repentance. There is nothing but goodness and blessing in repentance. (Now, I did not say there is no pain or that it is easy. The pain does not truly hurt. It only truly heals.)

God tells us his goal in his severity with Israel: that they would seek him at the end of chapter 5, and chapter 6 begins with 3 verses that poetically describe true repentance.

For a moment, I would like us all to become theologians. That doesn’t mean we all need to read thousands of pages and use flowery language. All that means is this: I want us all to look at these verses, think about what we read, and ask: “What can I learn about God from them?”
The hypothetical Israelites here know that the God who has torn and stricken them is ready to heal. Why? Because he said he would be. Just as he promised that he would deal harshly with Israel for their idolatry and disloyalty, he promised that would be ready to heal. Ready to restore. Ready to bring those same traitors and adulterers right back into the blessing of the covenant.

But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them. Deuteronomy 4:29–31

It is  for the exact same reason that we should fear God’s complete justice that we can rest in his mercy. He is faithful to all of his promises. He is always the same.

To turn back to God is to believe that God is gracious and merciful as he says he is. Do you see how he has promises to revive you and is ready to do so? They say, “After two or three days.” This means soon or quickly. He’s not going to make you wait so you know the seriousness of what you have done. The moment you turn back, he’s ready for things to be as he should be.

I can’t help but think of the story of the prodigal son. The father let’s his son experience the full consequences of his sin. He does shield him from that. But the moment he sees the son taking the steps to return. The moment! He RUNS. There is no delay. God has all the time in the world! He has infinite time. There is no rush or hurry for God to do anything! Yet, he wastes no time restoring those who turn from their sin.

In the most wonderful mystery, what the father wants is for us “live in his sight.” (vs. 2) You know what that makes me think of? A father and mother sitting, watching their kids play, enjoying presents on Christmas, playing in the yard, or growing up, getting a job or getting married.

This desire for God to be with us and to know them then is reciprocated in their desire to know him.

Repentance determines to know God.
Not only is God ready to receive those who turn to him, his going for and his coming are like the morning and the rain.

What is one thing which we all know about the morning? It’s happening. In our human experience, there is nothing more sure than the morning. What do they say? Death and taxes. Well, we can add, the morning.

And especially for an agrarian society, what always happens in spring? The rains come. Just as the joy of morning and the relief of rains always come, our God will meet with those who seek him.

I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me. Proverbs 8:17

There is a theme when we find language like this. Solomon says “diligently.” Hosea describes  a kind of pursuit. Those who pursue God in a heart of repentance do not do so halfheartedly. It’s full gallop. It’s no holds barred. It’s pedal to the medal.

Now, my goal is not to make us introspective this morning. We do not need to be looking inward and become obsessive about how genuine our desire for God is. Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. You’re going to have feelings of hypocrisy at times. The point of the passage and what we must grasp is: God is so ready to fully receive and bless us with all the blessings of walking with him and knowing him. He’s so ready to watch us enjoy the glory of his presence and goodness. Do not hold anything back from him. He will not hold any good thing back from those who love him. Do not get in your own head about this. Put your eyes on him and seek him diligently.

In our text this morning, we have come to  a point where a harsh reality kind of smacks us in the face. It’s the same kind of feeling when you read the syllabi for your classes or your sitting there after all the snow has melted looking at a field that needs a lot of work to be ready for planting.

We have risen to the peak of wondering at God’s faithful mercy and grace, and come crashing down to the reality of who Israel is because of the choices they make.

“O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, And like the early dew it goes away. Hosea 6:4

We come face to face with Israel’s failure in stark contrast to the repentance God desires. There is some debate over whether verses 1-3 represent a false attempt at repentance or God’s example of true repentance which Israel cannot attain to.

Over the rest of the chapter, God reveals the true nature of Israel and how unrepentant they are.  We see some obstacles to repentance for Israel. As we look at the reasons why Israel is like the fog in the morning, we can understand what it takes to overcome our own spiritual fickleness.

We can take verse 6 as a summary for Israel’s problem because here we find what really matters to God. These words may be very familiar for you:

For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6

This is what God truly desires from Israel: mercy and knowledge of God. God doesn’t want the offerings and the sacrifices. He wants the heart under and behind them.

And by the way, mercy is the same as “chesed,” for those who remember Pastor Thomas’ message on God’s covenant faithfulness or “chesed. In verse 7, God clarifies his concern. Like man, which is the same word for Adam, they transgress the covenant. God’s relationship to Israel is defined always by his covenant with them. He corrects and blesses because he does what he said he would in the covenant. And he expects us to do the same. Be faithful to the covenant.

So the Israelites failed to keep the covenant by not seeking him, and desiring to know God and his ways. In verse 8, Hosea describes another way they have transgressed their covenant with God.

Gilead is a city of evildoers And defiled with blood. As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man, So the company of priests murder on the way to Shechem; Surely they commit lewdness. Hosea 6:8–9

True faithfulness involves both heart and hands.
God calls out two specific instances of breaking the covenant by hurting other people. In either case, we cannot be sure exactly what historical event is being referred to or if history records them at all.

What we do know is that the people of Israel knew. And the people knew these were egregious crimes against other people. An entire city becoming associated with bloodthirst, and the priests becoming murderous. Lewdness is the wickedness which springs from heinous desires and thoughts. They have become corrupt inside and so they do evil on the outside.

As Pastor Thomas has pointed out from the book of Hosea, God’s covenant does not just include what happened in the temple or just on the sabbath. The covenant was about all of life, especially how you treat other people.

Israel did not get to offer sacrifices on Saturday and then take advantage of people on Monday. God required that they honored him by honoring his image in other people. To hurt other people was to violate the covenant with Yaweh. There is no compartmentalizing with God Either you keep the covenant in all of life, with all of your being, or you don’t.

In verses 8-9, God gets very specific about the wickedness he saw. And we should remember that indeed, nothing escapes God’s sight. His eyes see everything, the evil and the good. But now, his view becomes broader, to the whole nation. These acts of deplorable violence are not just isolated events. They are related to the whole nation’s unfaithfulness and defilement.
One of the primary lessons of the the whole book of Hosea is this: sin is like cheating on your spouse, over and over again. Shamelessly. What God is trying to get through to Israel is the depth of their betrayal because that is what we all need to understand in order to repent.

A repentant heart sorrows over the betrayal of sin.
If Israel continued to justify and rationalize their sin, they could not repent. God sees the horribleness of sin, but Israel is blind to it.

Because God is gracious, he tells them about how bad their sin is. He does it over and over in Hosea, because as he says, he hews them down by their prophets and and slays them with his words. Even more in his mercy, he allows them to experience the consequences of their actions. In Hosea 7:2, their own deeds surround Israel. And for many of us, God may use circumstances in our lives to correct us, to show us how wicked our sin really is.

But for all of us, there is one place we can go to see how sin is like vile prostitution and how dirty that makes us: the cross.

God is so ready to forgive us that the Father sent God the Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the incalculable debt of our appalling harlotry. And he rose again three days later. If we will turn from our sin, and seek the one true God to worship him, then He will totally forgive us.
In Jesus’ death we find God’s hatred for sin, but also his desire for his people. In the cross we find the rightful consequences of idolatry and God’s readiness to forgive.

And so, my friend, if you do not know Jesus, repent of your idolatry. Embrace what it means to walk in covenant with God.

For those who follow Christ, the cross reminds us of the the God who calls us to repentance.

• Remember that God is faithful and merciful to forgive.
• Determine to know God.
• Be faithful to love God both in heart and hands.

Discussion Questions

• What is repentance?
• Why might we feel uncomfortable with repentance?
• How do the pain and wounds from sin help us to repent? (e.g. the prodigal son, Luke 15:11-32)
• What are some ways in which you can be like Israel as "morning cloud" or "early dew" in your relationship to God?
• How can you “diligently” pursue knowledge of God this week?
• If true repentance involves both heart and hands, what is one specific way you should treat others this week?
• Is it a good thing or bad thing to feel guilty or shameful about one’s own sin? Why?

Hosea 4:1-19

It’s an ordinary day. You come home from work, park your car in the driveway, then collect the mail from your mailbox. As you walk to the house and sort through the mail, you notice an official looking envelope that says, “official business,” and has a court as the return address. Your heart skips a beat as you wonder what this mail could be.

Once inside, you sit down in your chair to open the envelope. You pull out some official looking papers called a “Summons and Complaint.” They explain (a) that you are being sued, (b) why you are being sued, (c) what court is handling the case, and (d) your deadline to respond to the summons. Mail like this will definitely get your attention, right?

This is what happened as Hosea wrote Chapter 4 of his Old Testament (OT) prophecy. A difference with this lawsuit from a lawsuit today, though, is that notices of a lawsuit today often come through the mail or perhaps through a sheriff or delivery person to your home. But in the OT, God summonsed his people through the prophets. Another difference is that a summons today normally comes as a private, written document to your home, while a summons from God in the OT normally came as a public, verbal announcement, only to be written down later.

God brought a covenant lawsuit against his people.

As we have already seen, the first three chapters of this book explain to us how God called Hosea into a difficult marriage. He was to marry a woman who would eventually abandon him to live a promiscuous life. Then, after some years of this heartbreaking separation, he was to pursue and restore his marriage to her. God intended for this difficult assignment to illustrate both how his own people had abandoned him and how he had and would remain faithful and loyal to them.

At about 1446 BC, God had made a permanent covenant with his people – the nation of Israel – at Mount Sinai after he had rescued them from slavery in Egypt. At about 700 years later, God gave the message of Hosea to the northern ten tribes of Israel at about 750 BC. During those seven centuries (which is about 1/3 the length of our own United States history), much had occurred. Israel had wandered in the wilderness, settled into their Promised Land, established a royal dynasty, divided into two separate kingdoms (northern 10 tribes called Israel and southern 2 tribes called Judah).

For these 700 hundred years, God had been faithful and loyal to his people. But during this same stretch of time, his people had been increasingly and repeatedly unfaithful to him. This was especially true of the northern ten tribes, called Israel. So, after 700 years of faithful loyalty and patience from God, he finally – at long last – announced an official complaint against them, showing that they had been unfaithful to their covenant with him.

Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land." (Hos 4:1)

First, he announces this complaint. He urges the people to listen carefully to what he is about to say. He tells them clearly that he is lodging a formal complaint or charge against them. This is equivalent to a lawsuit or “pressing charges” today. God not only tells them about their sin, but he also prepares them to receive the consequences for their actions.

The official charge against them is that “there is no truth, mercy, or knowledge of God in the land.” As his own special people, they supposed to be a source of truth, mercy, and knowledge of God to the world. But after 700 years of experiencing God’s truth and mercy, they themselves lacked any evidence of God’s goodness among them. They were not reflecting or revealing those qualities to the world around them.

Faithfulness here refers to common honesty or reliability. Though God had proven to be honest and reliable to them, they had failed to appreciate, internalize, and pass along those qualities to others. They themselves were dishonest and unreliable, instead.

Mercy here refers to expressions of kindness and love. Though God had proven to be kind and loving to them, they had failed to appreciate, internalize, and pass along those qualities to others. They themselves were unkind and unloving, instead.

Knowledge of God here refers to a close and growing relationship with God. Though God had cultivated and pursued a close relationship with them over many centuries, they had failed to receive and pass along such a relationship with him to others. They themselves had neglected and rejected building a close relationship with him.

By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed. (Hos 4:2)

This list that follows moves beyond the general, opening charge to document the kinds of behavior which prove that the opening charge is correct. How do we know that there was no faithfulness, kindness, or close relationship with God among God’s people? By this list of documented behaviors which follows.

This list highlights five clear violations of the Ten Commandments, which were clearly forbidden and warned against in both Exodus (Exo 20) and Deuteronomy (Dt 5). Then it explains the extent, magnitude, and scope of these violations, too. The five violations are:

• Swearing is invoking and relying on the authority and power of false gods.
• Lying is changing and withholding the truth to deceive or take advantage of someone.
• Killing is taking another person’s life due to carelessness or for selfish reasons.
• Stealing is taking another person’s money or property for selfish reasons.
• Adultery is abusing or using someone sexually in violation of the marriage covenant.

These behaviors show that a person or society is not in a faithful, close relationship with God. But the prophet says more – he gives the scope of these behaviors among God’s people. He says that these acts do not occur in rare, isolated instances but rather they on a rampant, widespread scale. These behaviors had become the norm not the exception. As a result, violence and death multiplied unchecked.

To view this charge in a modern-day way, we can see how a culture of death is rising. Evidence of this trend includes widespread abortion, increasing euthanasia, growing revenge killings, mass shootings, and terrorism, widespread use of lethal drugs, increasing suicide rates, and a growing fascination with violence in our entertainment. Such a rise in violence and death was a key reason for the worldwide flood of Noah’s day and was evidence that God’s people deserved his judgment for their severe unfaithfulness to him.

Therefore the land will mourn; and everyone who dwells there will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea will be taken away. (Hos 4:3)

In the final statement of God’s charge, he expands the scope of his people’s unfaithfulness and sin even further to the ecology of the natural world. Their careless, selfish, violent behavior was even the cause of animals on land, air, and sea dying and growing scarce or extinct. When people live selfish, sinful lives, it’s not just other people and God himself who suffer, but the natural world they live in suffers also. The world which God has given us to care for in his place is destroyed by us, instead.

He calls out priests for delinquent, disgraceful behavior.

After announcing God’s opening charge against Israel, Hosea then narrows the focus of his message from all the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to a special class of people among them – the priests and the prophets (Hos 4:4-10). The heart of this specific accusation is found in Hosea 4:6, which says:

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

Here God accuses the spiritual leaders of God’s people of egregious malpractice. These men were supposed to teach and remind God’s people of his covenant and truth, but they failed to keep this knowledge before them. Rather than teach God’s law to God’s people they forgot God’s law and therefore failed to teach it to God’s people.

• 4:5 tells us that rather than lead and teach God’s people with clear mind and speech, they stumbled like drunken people, instead. Though this is probably figurative language to portray the priests and prophets as bumbling, uneducated teachers and spiritual guides, it probably also describes their real behavior. Rather than being sober, clear-minded teachers, they were often probably drunk and inebriated, as well.
• 4:7 tells us that the more priests and teachers there were, the more people sinned – which was the opposite effect from what should have occurred. That’s like saying the more doctors a hospital employs, the more widespread disease and sickness became; or like saying the more law enforcement officers we put onto the streets, the more widespread crime becomes. The more priests and prophets there were in Northern Israel, the more God’s people sinned – how ironic is that?
• 4:8 say the priests and prophets somehow fed from the sins of God’s people. We’re not entirely sure what this means, but there are at least two very strong possibilities. On one hand, it may mean that the more God’s people sinned, the more offerings and sacrifices they would have offered. If this is the right interpretation, then it means that the more people sinned, the more food and material/financial donations were received by the priests, so that they grew rich and wealthy due to increased sin. On the other hand, it may mean that people were engaged in increasingly immoral worship practices. Like the pagans around them, they may have been committing fornication, adultery, and child sacrifice (and more) in the name of worship, thereby feeding the sinful appetites and desires of the priests at their places of so-called worship.
• 4:10 seems to indicate that the most likely answer to the question of what it means for the priests and prophets to “feed from” the sins of God’s people is some combination of both options. It says that they “ate but did not have enough,” indicating that they were eating sacrifices from the people in a gluttonous way. It also says that they “committed harlotry but did not increase,” indicating that they were also practicing religious prostitution paired with abortion and child sacrifice, because their immoral activity was not producing children or a growing population.

In summary, 4:9 says “like people, like priest,” meaning there was no difference between the flagrant, sinful lifestyle of God’s people and their spiritual leaders. All were living in a selfish, sinful way and had no love or respect for the God who had been loyal, loving, and merciful to them for 700 years.

He traces the regression of idolatry and sexual sin.

How had this tragic, unrestrained sinful lifestyle become the norm for so long? Hosea traces this sad regression in the next four verses. He summarizes the problem in 4:11, then traces it out as a progression in 4:12-14.

To understand how this happened, we must first understand the cultural and historical background of these people. Israel had installed their first king, King Saul, at about 1050 BC – 400 years before Hosea announced God’s lawsuit against his people. The famous King David reigned next, beginning at about 1000 BC, followed by his son, King Solomon, who reigned from about 960-920 BC.

After Solomon, his son – Rehoboam – made some foolish choices which caused the nation of Israel to split in two. Think of it like the Civil War, only instead of the nation unifying afterwards, they split into two countries, the North and the South. In this case, the North was called Israel, and the South was called Judah.

In the North, God’s people decided that instead of traveling down to Jerusalem for worship at the Temple, they would set up alternative worship sites in their own northern regions. Though they claimed to be worshiping the true God, they did so in their own convenient way, which included – similar to their first generation in the wilderness – the use of golden calves. Over time, this alternative worship system gradually regressed.

What began as an alternative, more convenient format of worshiping God by erecting bull idols deteriorated into unrestrained sexual immorality and drunkenness in the name of worship.

• 4:12 explains how in worshiping God by means of wooden, golden cow statues, they eventually moved into full-on idolatry, worshiping idols rather than God himself. God calls this spiritual adultery and prostitution.
• 4:13 explains how they transitioned from worshiping God at two select alternative sites to worshiping God wherever it was most convenient for them – wherever was closest, wherever it was most shaded and comfortable.
• 4:13 also explains how the people raised daughters who participated in sexual immorality and prostitution – probably first in religious ceremonies, then eventually in life at large. But this behavior soon progressed from unmarried, young girls behaving this way to married adult women behaving this way even after they were married.
• 4:14 explains that God did not view the women alone as the guilty parties, though. Why? Because the men themselves were also worshiping idols and participating in sexual sins in the name of worship. So, from God’s vantage point, all were guilty – men and women, young and old alike.

What had begun as a matter of convenience had regressed into idol worship and rampant sexual sin. Said more simply, when we tolerate idolatry in our lives, we should not be surprised when sexual sin gains a foothold afterwards. Idolatry opens the door to sexual sin. When we replace God and look to anything other than him for our satisfaction and salvation, then sexual sin will eventually follow.

This past week, former Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska gave an interview in which he discussed his recent Stage 4 cancer diagnosis, recognizing that he has a very high likelihood of dying in the near future and expressing a clear belief in Jesus Christ as his Savior. In this interview, he explained how his illness has caused him to reevaluate his priorities, describing many former concerns and priorities as "pointless" and recognizing his need to “shatter the of idols in his life.” On this point, it was fascinating to note how he made the connection between idolatry and Sunday worship with his church on the Lord’s Day. He expressed regret about not taking the Lord’s Day more seriously, viewing this as an antidote to idolatry.

I believe the senator is correct. There’s something about a weekly choice to gather, serve, and worship God with his people. This weekly reset of sorts and requires us to say ‘no’ to so many other American idols, even those which seem to be good. Is it possible that the things which keep you away from Lord’s Day worship are your idols?

On a related note, let me also say that if you find yourself affected by, addicted to, or involved in sexual sin, let me kindly and strongly encourage you to seek help. Speak with your parents – children, speak with a pastor – men, or speak with a respected lady in the church – women. Seek help, accountability, and friendship escape that downward spiral and to renew or receive God’s truth, kindness, and a close relationship with him.

Sexual sin is not only a sin against people, esp. your future or present spouse, but more importantly, it is a sin against God and his covenant with his people. And let us thank God that he is able and ready to rescue and restore those who are ensnared.

He warns against associating with idolatrous, immoral people.

Finally, in verses 15-19, Hosea gives a strong warning to the Southern Kingdom, the remaining two tribes down in Judah where proper Temple worship of God still occurred in Jerusalem. Hosea, warns his people in the Southern Kingdom to steer clear and stay away from their biological, ethnic brothers and sisters up north, lest their idolatrous, immoral ways infect them, as well.

They had become like what they worshiped. They had worshiped lifeless cow idols, now they behaved like those very animals themselves. Chapter 5 continues this charge and gives more of God’s feelings and thoughts about the actual and spiritual adultery of his people against him. The late OT scholar and commentator, Derek Kidner, says this:

If we want a modern equivalent, it could well be the religious pluralism expressed in the studied neutrality of certain courses on world religions, or of any multi-faith service. ‘Come to St. X’s and blaspheme’, a modern Amos might say. And a modern Hosea, ‘Don’t darken its doors! You must choose between that and God.’

Today, we must reject the invitation of interfaith associations and partnerships to serve and worship God with them. If they do not teach the gospel clearly, if they do not teach and practice a biblical, godly morality and sexuality, if they embrace or incorporate the beliefs and practices of false gods and idols, and if they replace the cost of following Christ with self-accommodation and convenience, then we should not associate or participate with them – but should, rather, seek to win them for Christ.

Next Sunday, Pastor Will will speak about God’s call of his people to repentance. As Hosea 6:1 urges us:

Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.

As we participate in the Lord’s Supper today, let us also consider how we approach not the worship of God at the Temple but the worship of Christ in this new and special way.  As Paul warned the members of the church at Corinth (1 Cor 11:27-28):

Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

The church he was writing had known problems. They were filing lawsuits against each other,
behaving arrogantly in worship services, and – like the people of Northern Israel in Hosea’s day – they were getting drunk in their worship gatherings, participating in idol worship at local temples, and tolerating immoral behavior among themselves.

As followers of Christ, we must recognize that we – like the people of Israel – are to be priests for God, representing him in this sinful world and helping guide people into a close relationship with him. But if we ourselves are worshiping idols and tolerating sexual immorality in our lives, we are proving to be unfaithful and unmerciful people without a close knowledge of and relationship with God. If that is the case, then how can we lead people to Christ? We are people whom other people should stay away from, instead.

So, what do we do with a chapter like Hosea 4? God’s words here are not light, nor are they meant to be. A summons is supposed to get our attention. A charge from the Judge of all people should make us sit up straight, quiet our hearts, and listen.

This summons is a message of mercy, because with this message, God exposes our sin not to crush us but to call us back to him. He reveals our unfaithfulness so he can restore us to faithfulness. He reveals our insincere worship so that we can return to true worship of him. He points out our idolatry so he can become our salvation and satisfaction.

The God who brings the charge of Hosea 4 is also the God who stands ready to invite us home with open arms. And so today, as we come to the Lord’s Table, we do not come casually. We come thoughtfully, honestly, and humbly. We examine ourselves prayerfully:

• Am I tolerating idols in my life? Things or people that have taken God’s place?
• Am I permitting immoral or sexual sins? Sins which are common place and excused today but which violate my future or present marriage covenant and, most importantly, my covenant with God as his child and priest?
• Do I choose convenience over sacrifice, comfort over cost in my worship of God and my walk and service with Christ?

The Lord’s Supper is not a ritual for perfect people but a reminder for repentant people. It brings us face to face with the cost of our redemption and the faithfulness of our Savior. It calls us to turn from sins that turn our love for God into spiritual adultery and replace our loyalty to God with idolatry. It calls us to examine ourselves, not keep us away from the Table but to draw us to it in a more reverential, respectful, and meaningful way.

Let us hear God’s charge for his people today, not with shame but with gratitude. Let us remember that our idolatries and immoralities, whatever they may be, have been died for, defeated, and forgiven through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Let us come to his Table with hearts ready and eager to receive his mercy, reflect on his truth, and come into a closer, more knowledgeable relationship with him.

May God help us to be a people who do not repeat the sins of Israel, but who learn from them, who cling to Christ, who walk in His ways, and who shine as priests in this sinful, disloyal, unfaithful world until he returns. Let us pray.

Hosea 1-3

The normal, usual way for God to speak his message to people is through the communication of other men. At key times in history, he has given direct messages through men called prophets. But most of the time, he communicates by means of pastors and teachers who read, explain, and announce what the prophets have already said.

For prophets, the normal, usual way to give God’s message was to simply speak or write down what God wanted them to say. On special occasions, though, God would call them to provide some sort of visual message, a visible illustration of the message he wanted people to understand. Sometimes these visual messages were unusual for the purpose of getting people to pay attention and ask questions, so they would be impacted in a way that words alone could not do. Examples of these dramatic visual messages include:

• Isaiah wore nothing but his undergarments for three years – to illustrate the humiliation that Egypt would one day experience due to God’s judgment. (Isa 20:1-4)
• Ezekiel lay on his side for 390 days, then 40 more days on the other side – to illustrate the 430 yrs. of sin against God by his people. (Ezk 4:4-8)
• He also cooked low-quality food over human waste – to illustrate their coming defilement in foreign exile due to their sin against God. (Ezk 4:12-15)
• Jeremiah wore a ruined cloth belt – to illustrate the corruption of God’s people (Jer 13:1-11), remained unmarried – to illustrate the coming devastation of his people (16:1-4), wore a yoke for oxen on his neck – to illustrate their upcoming bondage to Babylon (Jer 27:2-11), and bought land in a war zone – to illustrate hope for future restoration (Jer 32:6-15).

One of the most difficult living illustrations that God called for his prophets to do, though, was done by the prophet Hosea. God called Hosea to marry Gomer, a wife who would go on to be unfaithful to him – to illustrate Israel’s unfaithfulness to God and God’s faithful love to his people. This experience would require Hosea to endure deep emotional and relational pain so that Israel could see how deeply God loved his people, despite their unfaithful behavior towards him.

God called Hosea to a difficult, unusual marriage.

God gave the message of this book through a prophet named Hosea. He was the son of a man named Beeri, of whom we know nothing else. The name Hosea means “salvation.” He, like Jonah, was a prophet primarily to and from the Northern Kingdom, unlike most other OT prophets, who primarily served the Southern Kingdom.

Hosea served while Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings in the Southern Kingdom and while Jereboam II was king in the Northern Kingdom (Hos 1:1). This means that the prophets Isaiah and Micah would have been serving in the Southern Kingdom during the same timespan

The main thing we know about Hosea is his family situation, for this is what God uses to illustration the message of the book. God gave Hosea specific instructions: “Go take yourself a wife of harlotry” (Hos 1:2).

We are not entirely sure what this instruction means. But we can reduce the options to two possibilities. God told Hosea to marry a wife who was either (a) already living an immoral lifestyle or (b) begin an immoral lifestyle sometime after they married. Whichever was true, would you have obeyed God if you were Hosea – knowingly marry someone who you knew would be unfaithful to you?

Some of you know firsthand the deep pain that unfaithfulness in marriage can cause, because you have experienced this firsthand. My heart goes out to you if this is so, and even more so does God’s.

That’s exactly what God did when he made a covenant with his people at Mount Sinai, pledging to be faithful, loving, and loyal to them forever. As God, he knows all things. Yet he still created mankind, knowing we would rebel against him. Yet he still committed himself to loving his people, knowing they would be unfaithful to him.

From Hosea’s marriage to Gomer, Hosea would become a father to three children: a son named Jezreel (Hos 1:3), a daughter named Lo-Ruhamah (Hos 1:6), and another son named “Lo-Ammi” (Hos 1:8). God told Hosea to give his children these names because they each would represent an important message God wanted his people to hear.

Jezreel, Hosea’s first son, was the name of a town and surrounding valley between Galilee and Samaria, the site of much bloody, violent activity, including abortions, betrayals, and battles. But God called out a specific incident that happened there as the reason for this name:

Call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. (1:3)

Here he referred to how Jehu had entirely destroyed the descendants and dynasty of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, leaders who had led God’s people into all sorts of ungodly activity, including Baal worship. The irony of this, though, was that once Jehu had become king in their place, he led God’s people into the same ungodly ways. For this reason, God wanted Hosea’s first son to be a visual reminder to his people in the Northern Kingdom that he would punish them severely for their repeated idolatry and immorality

Next, Lo-Ruhamah, Hosea’s daughter and second-born, was to be given a name which meant “no mercy” (1:6). This name highlighted the distant, estranged relationship which had developed between God and his people. Every time they saw her or would hear or speak her name, they would be reminded of their estranged relationship with God.

Lastly, Gomer gave birth to Hosea’s second son, Lo-Ammi, his third child. This boy’s name meant “not my people” (1:9). The reason for this was, as God said, “Then God said: “For you are not My people, and I will not be your God.” What sad words. This does not mean that God would abandon his people or refuse to be faithful and loyal to them. But it means that at that time, in that moment, they no longer behaved as his people, so he could not treat them that way.

In the very next verses (1:10-11), God promised a better, brighter future for his people:

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, “You are not My people,” there it shall be said to them, “You are sons of the living God.” Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and appoint for themselves one head; and they shall come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel!

Here he promised a better, brighter future, a relationship with his people which would be everything good which he had promised them in the beginning. But for the time being, in that past moment, the relationship was strained so greatly that they could not be called his people.

Now, after these children were born, Gomer entered into (or else returned) to an immoral, unfaithful lifestyle. Some Bible teachers even suggest that she did this before the third child was born. If this were true, then that would give more significance to the name “not my people,” as Hosea may have been unsure as to whether that child were actually his.

Truly, God called Hosea to a difficult task – to live out a marriage to an unfaithful wife in the presence of God’s people. By doing this, Hosea would not only speak against the unfaithfulness of God’s people towards him but he would experience the heartbreak of God for himself and would be able to speak about their sin not merely as knowledge but with firsthand experience of his own, giving strength, clarity, and feeling to his message.

So, through this difficult marriage, God deepens our knowledge of him. The second chapter of this book (Hos 2:1-23) gives a similar message to Hos 1, only it does so as an emotional poem in which the first half describes how God’s people had abandoned him and the second half describes how God had pursued after them in mercy to make them his people again.

God called Hosea to restore his broken marriage.

Finally, in Chapter 3 (Hos 3:1-5), God gives Hosea his next instructions. Just as he had told Hosea to marry a wife who would be unfaithful to him, not he told Hosea to go and bring her back to his home to love her as his wife again, even though she had abandoned him and been left broken by her sin.

Then the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.” So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. And I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.” For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days.

Here we see that Gomer had wandered so far from her marriage that she was living away from her home and was entirely engaged in an immoral lifestyle. But this life had left her broken, hurting, and lonely. So, Hosea searched for her, found her, and paid the necessary price to bring her back into his home.

Why did he need to pay for her? Probably because she had either become somebody’s personal slave or else had become a temple prostitute for a false god or idol. Whatever the case, that Hosea had to use barley grain to complete the transaction indicates that he probably had trouble coming up with the money to do this.

Various estimates suggest that 15 shekels of silver equaled about years’ worth of wages. But to complete the transaction, not even this was enough. So, Hosea had to add to the transaction “about a homer and a lethek of barley,” which is likely equivalent to a large bathtub full or else a large outdoor trash bin. The language of “buying” here also indicates that Hosea probably did some bargaining and haggling to make the transaction possible, showing intent on his part and a willingness to overcome a difficult situation.

After this happened, Hosea re-established his marriage relationship with Gomer. This time, she no longer behaved unfaithfully towards him, and he did everything that a faithful, loving husband would do to have a close, lasting relationship with her. What a horrible, heartbreaking story, but what a wonderful, heartwarming ending.

Hosea’s marriage shows how deeply and faithfully God loves his people.

The purpose for this book is clear – to show the kind of love that God had towards Israel. His love for his people is relentless.

Hosea’s love for his wife represented the kind of love that God had towards Israel. He had initiated the relationship, had been a good partner who was loyal to their marriage covenant, and who also desired and pursued restoration.

Hosea’s wife, Gomer, represented the kind of behavior that God’s people displayed towards him. Israel, like Gomer, had responded to her husband’s love and devotion by pursuing other loves instead.

Those people who had once been planted, then and uprooted by God would once again be planted, loved, and drawn back close by God again. God vividly portrays this plan to redeem Israel as illustrated through Hosea’s marriage in Hos 3:1-5. This is a book that describes through a vivid, painful, real-life illustration God’s loving loyalty to his disloyal people.

This book also serves an emotional, personal purpose as well, as it helps us feel the depth and reality of Yahweh’s experience and love towards his people. By framing his relationship to his people into a real-life marriage, the reader is able to more directly connect with what God feels towards his people when they are disloyal to him. This book moves the idea of God’s love from our heads to our hearts and helps us appreciate his love for his people more deeply.

God views our disloyalty as adultery yet loves us still.

There is nothing so painful as the betrayal of a spouse in marriage. Such betrayal violates the most sacred covenant and the most personal, intimate relationship known to mankind.

That God compares his relationship to his people to a marriage doesn’t mean that it is a marriage, as we know it, but that marriage as we know it is the closest, most accurate way to portray his relationship with us. To God, our relationship with him is far more deep and significant and meaningful than that of a neighbor, sibling, parent, or friend. While those relationships also help us understand our relationship to God, they do not capture the heart
and essence of our relationship to him as deeply as does marriage.

Hear how God views our lack of loyalty to him according to the NT book of James:

Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (Jam 4:4)

Throughout Scripture, God describe the disobedience and disloyalty of his people as “spiritual adultery.” And this description holds true whenever we love or prioritize anything or anyone else over God. John also spoke of this tendency in our hearts:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. (1 Jn 2:15-16)

When we devote ourselves to gratifying bodily, physical desires, acquiring and experiencing things in this material world, and achieving recognition and success in the pursuits of life – when in doing these things we set God to the side, disobey clear instructions from God, and put Christ in a place of secondary importance, God calls this loving other things more than him. He calls this spiritual adultery. This is more than just a theological term – it’s a spiritual, relationship reality. God feels just as deeply about those things as a spouse would feel if they found that their spouse was cheating on them. Let that reality sink in. The life and message of Hosea helps us to do that.

There is an exclusivity that is special to marriage – a oneness that must not be violated. Marriage calls us to say “no” to all other possible spouses and “yes” to one. It calls us to devote ourselves completely to the care, respect, and pleasure of the other person. It calls us to develop a close, committed devotion to the other person that competes with no one else.

The amazing reality is this – that God loves and devotes himself completely to his people in this way. Imagine that – the God of the universe completely devoted to your love and care. But do we respond in the same way? Do we give him the same loyal devotion that he deserves, not only because he is God, but because he loves us this way?

Despite the tendency in our hearts to wander from God and to flirt with the world, a tendency we often act out in the daily choices of our lives, we know God is relentlessly loyal to his people, even when it is painful and costly. As Jer 31:3 says so beautifully:

Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

We will explore God’s love and our tendency towards spiritual adultery more deeply in upcoming sermons as we look more closely at the rest of Hosea’s message. But today, as we step back from Hosea’s painful yet hope‑filled marriage experience, we should examine our own hearts before the Lord. Hosea’s marriage was more than an ancient tragedy: it was a mirror held up to God’s people, revealing how easily our hearts drift and how deeply our God loves.

Like Israel, we often wander, chasing lesser loves and giving our affection to things that cannot satisfy. Though this hurts the heart of God deeply, like a spouse who has been betrayed by an adulterous partner, God responds not with abandonment but with relentless, faithful love. He comes after us, pays the price to restore us, and invites us back into renewed closeness and relationship with him.

Today, let Hosea’s testimony press into your heart: Where are you looking for fulfillment apart from God? What rivals are competing for your loyalty and love? And will you return to the God who has never stopped pursuing after you? His love is steadfast, his mercy is unfailing, and his desire is to draw you back to himself. May Hosea’s story move us not only to conviction but also to grateful worship and devoted love, as we rest in the faithful love of the God who restores our wandering, wayward hearts.

Let me close this message with a story that beautifully portrays the message of Hosea’s marriage for us today.

The pastor of a small town walked through his town on a foggy afternoon, right past the window of a little pawn shop. As he glanced inside, a worn, scratched acoustic guitar caught his eye. As he looked closer, his heart sank. It was the guitar of a man from his church. It was a distinct guitar with a unique color and pattern. The man had grown up in the church and had played his guitar for worship services throughout high school, but when he graduated, he fell into the wrong crowd and into the clutches of addiction. Along the way, he had apparently pawned for money the guitar he once used to worship God.

The pastor stepped inside and asked the shop owner for its price. The cost was far more than it was worth, but he paid it anyway. Then he took it to a music store in a nearby city to be cleaned, polished, repaired, and carefully tuned, paying the price for that, as well.

At last, he drove the guitar to the young man’s home. When the door opened, the young man stared in disbelief. His old guitar was being held out for him to take back again, from someone who still loved him, despite his

The pastor placed the guitar into his hands and quietly said, “This is your guitar and it still belongs to you – and you still belong to God. He loves you with an everlasting love, will you return to him?”

Friends, that is the message of Hosea. That is the heart of the God who pursues us relentlessly. Even when we wander or sell ourselves cheaply to things and people who don’t love us as God does, even when we think we’re too broken to be worth the price, God comes after us anyway.

Christ died on the cross to pay the ultimate price to restore, reclaim, and remake you. He pays what we cannot pay, he restores what we have ruined, and he brings us home again.

As you go home today, remember this: no matter how far you have drifted, the God of Hosea is still pursuing you. His love is relentless, his mercy is real, and he desires to be closer to you than a husband can ever be.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Sometimes we believe it’s a predictable pattern that generations gradually decline, that the next generation will automatically be less spiritual or godly than the last, but Deuteronomy gives us reason to believe otherwise. It shows us that anyone in any generation can devote themselves to following God, even if their earthly father(s) in a previous generation have not followed God well. This message gives us hope.

Deuteronomy tells us what Moses said to the second generation of Israelites after their parents died in the wilderness. The first generation had failed to enter the promised land because they had continually complained, criticized, and disobeyed God. Though he had devoted himself faithfully to them, they had not devoted themselves faithfully to him (with the exceptions two men, Caleb and Joshua.)

Moses spoke these words to a new generation at the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho, around 1406 BC (Dt 1:6), then he wrote down these words afterward, just before he died, so God’s people would never forget them (Dt 31:24). Since God would be faithful to his people in every generation, they would need to have evidence of his covenant with them and theirs with him in every generation.

As this new generation prepared to enter the land, Moses called them to break away from their parents’ failures and idolatry and to respond to God’s faithful love and care by loving him with all their heart and serving him faithfully in return (Dt 10:12; 11:2, 13).

The message of this book is simple: God’s people should respond to his love and faithfulness with wholehearted devotion (Dt 6:4-5). This truth applies not only to that second generation of Israel but the generations that would come after them (Dt 29:29).

God’s faithfulness continues from one generation to another.

This was God’s original intent and purpose in making covenant with his people. He did not view his commitment to them as experimental or temporary. He viewed it as a timeless, unending commitment of total devotion to them.

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Dt 29:29)

From this we see that God intended for his covenant with his people to continue from one generation to another. This is how deeply and permanently he committed himself to them.

He repeated his covenant to the second generation of Israel.

The name Deuteronomy means “second law” or “second giving of the law.” It describes how the book repeats many of the laws given to the first generation in Exodus at Sinai.

Most notably, Moses repeated the 10 Commandments (Dt 5, cf. Exo 20. He emphasized that God did not give the covenant only to their fathers; he gave them to the children, too.

The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive. (Dt 5:3)

Even so, this book was not just a copy of previous laws. It adapted earlier laws to their new situation as residents of the land, who were no longer wandering in the wilderness.

For instance, they would now be permitted to kill and eat meat in their towns, not just at the tabernacle (Dt 12:15). They would also be allowed to store their tithes in their hometowns every third year to provide for local Levites and people in need rather than bring their tithes to Jerusalem if they lived elsewhere. This was a change from their orders in the wilderness, which required that all tithes be brought to the tabernacle (Dt 14:28-29; 26:12; cf. Num 18:21-28).

As you read this book, you sense a strong, heartfelt tone. That’s because Moses did more than recite previous laws. He spoke with increased urgency and used lots of repetition. Why do you think this was the case? Perhaps because he was about to die and had seen firsthand how the former generation had failed miserably. He did not want this second generation to do the same.

This time, he focused less on explaining how to understand the laws and more on persuading people to actually obey them. He did not want the next generation of Israelites to fail as their parents had done, though he knew that they would have similar tendencies.

He did this through a series of three heartfelt sermons.

Deuteronomy completes the 5-vol. set called “the Pentateuch,” written by Moses (Dt 18:15-22). It also sets up the messages of future Old Testament (OT) prophets, who would go on to remind people in future generations about what God had said in this book, reminding them of his forever faithfulness to them and calling them to faithfulness to him.

Deuteronomy resembles the impassioned style of later prophets. It also resembles later prophets by focusing on the implications of Israel’s obedience/disobedience to God and by previewing things in Israel’s future, such as their future king (17:14-20), their settlement in the land (33:6-29), their removal from and return to the land (28:64-68; 30:1-3).

Altogether, this book is a collection of three sermons given, giving us a basic outline.

Sermon 1: He reflects on their experiences in the wilderness. (1:1-4:43)

The first sermon urged people to look back at what God had done for them in the past.

He introduces the sermon (1:1-5), recalls their journey from Horeb to Moab, (1:6-3:29), and urges them to obey God. (4:1-43).

Sermon 2: He emphasizes crucial themes and principles from the law. (4:44-28:69)

The second sermon encouraged the people to look up to God as their motivation to obey the laws he had given them.

He introduces the sermon (4:44-49) and repeats the Ten Commandments, (5:1-33).  Then he pleads for them to show total devotion to God (6:1-11:32) and explains important details of the law (12:1-26:19).

Sermon 3: He prepares the people to enter the land. (27:1-30:20)

The third sermon stirred them to look forward to entering the land and living for God. In it, he gives instructions for entering the land (27:1-10), gives a series of potential blessings and curses (27:11-28:68), then urges their wholehearted commitment to the covenant (29:1-30:20).

The book (and the entire Pentateuch) ends with final words by and about Moses as he said goodbye to Israel, handed over his role to Joshua, finished his ministry, and died (31:1-34:12). In these final moments, he offered a song of praise to God (32:1-43), gave his final instructions to Israel (32:44-47), and died on Mount Nebo (32:48-52).

God calls for total devotion from his people in every generation.

Archeologists have unearthed covenant records which date back to the time of Moses and Deuteronomy. These records show that kings formed similar covenants with the people they governed.

One key difference, though, between these other ancient covenants and the covenant God made with Israel is the witnesses that God chose to remind his people of the covenant and to hold them accountable to it. Ancient covenants typically called upon the names of false gods to be witnesses, but God chose the following witnesses, instead:

• the song of Moses (31:19)

Write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel.

• the “book of the law” (a written copy of Deuteronomy which was to be read publicly every seven years at the Feast of Booths, 31:26, cf. 31:10-11)

Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there as a witness against you.

• and “heaven and earth” (30:19; 31:28; 32:1)

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.

In every generation that followed, God wanted his people to sing the song of Moses, reread this book, and observing the glory of God in creation as he provided for them faithfully, they would forever remember his faithfulness to them.

Deuteronomy gives timeless truth for our lives today.

Though written to the second generation of the nation of Israel more than 3,000 years ago, this book remains very relevant for believers today.

The New Testament (NT) quotes from this book about 80 times, more than any OT book besides Isaiah and Psalms. References appear in 21 of 27 NT books (77%) and are mentioned by every NT writer except Peter.

The NT quotes Deuteronomy directly with timeless principles for application today, such as, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” as a principle for relationships (Rom 12:19; Heb 10:30, cf. Dt 32:35) , and, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain” as a principle for churches to follow when paying their pastors (1 Cor 9:9; 1 Tim 5:18, cf. Dt 25:4) – though I’m not sure how I feel about being compared to an ox on the farm, lol.

Deuteronomy looks forward to the coming of Christ.

Deuteronomy presents Moses as the greatest, most exemplary OT prophet (34:10-12). More importantly, however, it foretells of another prophet who would come from the nation of Israel in the future.

The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear. (Dt 18:15-19)

This unnamed prophet would be similar and superior to Moses (Heb 3:1-6):

That He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said to the fathers, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.” (Acts 3:20-23)

This prophet is Jesus, and to this prophet – who unlike Moses is God himself – and it is to him that we owe our total devotion.

Deuteronomy affirms the supremacy of God.

The key passage of Deuteronomy is found in 6:4, which Jews and Christians call the shema, the Hebrew word for “hear!” It undergirds the basic tenets of orthodox theology and faith – that the LORD is the one, supreme God (John 17:3; Eph 4:6; 1 Cor 8:4, 6).

From this we know there is no other god. We also know that this God is not also the god of Islam or any other false religion which claims to worship God. There is only one God and he is the God of the Bible who must be worshiped and followed as the Bible tells us.

Moses’ appeal for wholehearted devotion to God and repudiation of all other idols, gods, and rivals appears throughout the NT (cf. Rom 12:1-2; Jam 1:27; 1 John 2:15-17, et al.). This makes sense because if there is only one God and he is wholly devoted to your salvation and care, then you should be wholly devoted to him in return.

Deuteronomy gives us the greatest command.

When the religious leaders and teachers of the OT law asked Jesus, “What is the most important command in the law, he quoted from Dt 6:5.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

This command encapsulates the essence of not only the Mosaic law but the whole teaching ministry of Jesus (Mt 22:37; Mk 12:29-30; Lk 10:27). From this we see that God does not only save his people so that they may be rescued from death and hell (which he does), but he saves his people so that they will love him and others in return.

We are all loving something or someone supremely. There is no one who does not love something or someone supremely and devote themselves wholeheartedly to that person or thing. That person or thing might be yourself, a false god or religion, some other person, or some experience, thing, or goal which this temporal, material world offers.

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Mt 6:24)

According to Jesus, you either serve and worship him with total devotion, or you serve and worship something else that way, instead. But you cannot have it both ways. The first generation of Israel had an opportunity to respond to God with total devotion, but they hardened their hearts towards God instead. The NT warns us against the same problem:

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end (Heb 3:12-14)

There are those who begin to follow Christ and who claim to believe in God as the Bible reveals him, but over the course of time they depart from God and are tempted by sin to love and pursue other things. Only those who both begin to follow Christ and then persevere faithfully to the end will be saved. To be clear, it is not perseverance that saves us. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. But those who truly believe do and will persevere. This is a mark of genuine faith and love as opposed to counterfeit, ingenuine faith and love.

The NT goes on to say:

Since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. (Heb 4:1-3)

From this we see that though the first generation of Israelites as a whole failed believe God genuinely, God continues to offer his salvation and faithfulness to later generations of people. He did so to the second generation of Israelites and he does so for us today. Will you experience the rest that God gives to his people because you believe and obey what his Word says by faith? Do you respond with total love and devotion to God?

As Jesus clearly taught: ““If you love Me, keep My commandments” (Jn 14:15). This begins with baptism for everyone who believes on him, then it continues with learning to obey everything else he commands, no matter how inconvenient it may be (Matt 28:19).

Deuteronomy tells us how to pass faith on to the next generation.

Finally, the shema also has implications for Christian discipleship at home, teaching us how to pass faith on to the next generation (Eph 6:4; 2 Tim 3:15) and beyond (Matt 28:20; 2 Tim 2:2). This approach is relevant for us today.

How do we pass faith along to the next generation? It is not through infant baptism (something which appears or is taught nowhere in Scripture). Baptism – properly understood – is the first step of devotion we take towards God once we have believed on Christ. The way we pass faith along to the next generation is to do what Dt 6:6-9 tells us.

In our personal lives and families, we should make love for God and devotion to him our topmost priority. When we do this, three things occur:

We put his words into our hearts. (6:6)

To do this means we read his Word, study his Word, reflect and meditate on his Word, and apply his Word to the choices and situations of our daily lives. If this sounds like an academic assignment to you, then you should re-think what love and total devotion means. If you love someone, you will think very much about the things they say – a lot. You will do this because you love them not because you have to – and this is true whether you feel like it or not, because love is a greater motivation than feelings.

We talk about his words a lot. (6:7)

What you think about reveals what you love. And this is also revealed by what you talk about. Have you ever asked someone for their opinion on a subject, only to get, “I don’t know,” for an answer? But if you ask them for their opinion on another subject and they answer w/ a burst of energetic thoughts, then you know you’ve discovered something that they not only think about but love.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

As spouses, friends, parents, and children, we should be heard talking about what God says frequently throughout our daily routines. After all, we talk about we think about and we think about what we love. The sources of news and information are revealed by what we talk more frequently and enthusiastically about. And those people who are around us hear those things regularly. Deuteronomy 6:7 says we should talk about God’s words:

• “When you sit in your house” (time of rest and recreation)
• “When you walk by the way” (times of work, travel, and busyness)
• “When you lie down” (during your evening hours and routine)
• “When you rise up” (during your morning hours and routine)

For parents, it is important to take your kids to church and involve them in Christian activities. But these things are no substitute for having parents who simply love God so much and are so devoted to him that they talk about him and his words a lot in a way that spills over and shows its what they care about and think about. This, more than anything else, is the key to passing on faith to the next generation. If your children or your spouse were to list out the top five things you talk about every day, would God’s Word and ways be at the top?

We surround ourselves with his words. (6:8-9)

For the Israelites, this means to strap God’s Word to a bracelet around their wrist or a headband on their head; it meant to paint them onto their doorposts or engrave them onto their gates. By doing these things, they would have external, visual verbal reminders of God’s Words in all of their daily activities.

Find ways to decorate your home with Scripture either as wall art, Bibles sitting around your home, etc. Regular reminders of God’s Word in the places where you’re at each day. Put Scripture on your desk at work, in your kitchen or bathroom at home, or on your computer or phone screens. The more the merrier. Surround yourself with God’s Word.

By thinking about, talking about, and surrounding ourselves with God’s words at home and throughout our daily lives, we do what we can to pass along faith in a forever faithful God to our children and the people around us who we want to influence for Christ.

As we close, we must acknowledge that many of us come from broken homes, painful histories, or families that did not love or follow God well. We also live in a generation that, by and large, is not seeking after him.

But Deuteronomy reminds us that we are not trapped by our past or condemned to repeat the failures of our parents or the generation before us. Like the second generation of Israel standing on the edge of the Promised Land, we are called to respond to God’s faithfulness with fresh, wholehearted devotion.

By believing that the Lord alone is God, believing on Christ as God and Savior, we become his people. Then by loving him with all that we are and by putting his words into our hearts, talking about them daily, and surrounding our lives with them (Dt 6:4-9), we can become a new generation, one that loves God more deeply than the last and who intentionally passes that faith on to the next generation. God is forever faithful from generation to generation, and by his grace, we can be a generation that responds to him with total devotion.

Exodus 32-34

David and Marissa spent years planning the house they would build together someday. They made sketches and Pinterest boards, had late‑night conversations about the number of bathrooms, where the windows would face, and how big the kitchen island would be. When they finally had enough money to begin, their dream was coming true.

They met with the architect, walked the land, and prayed over the foundation together. Everything was moving forward until the moment that nearly ended their dream.

While Marissa was out of town visiting her parents, David made a choice he thought was harmless: he hired a contractor friend, someone Marissa didn’t trust, to “speed things up.” He signed papers, approved changes, and even rearranged part of the design. “In the end,” he reasoned, “Marissa would accept the changes and see that he knew better.”

That didn’t’ happen. When she returned and saw what he’d done, she felt betrayed, cut out of the very project that was supposed to represent their close relationship and future together. For the first time, she said the words neither of them expected: “Maybe we shouldn’t do this.”

The house wasn’t the problem. The blueprints weren’t the problem. The relationship was the problem. Unless that was repaired, the new house would be over before it began.
Everything stopped. No more meetings. No more decisions. No more action on the build site. But after days of honest conversations, apologies, and a renewed commitment to build together, the house plan moved forward once again to completion.

As with David and Marissa, the people of the newly formed nation of Israel had a building project underway. It was the tabernacle, the place where God would dwell with them. But before a single board could be raised for God’s house, something happened that threatened to derail the project.

The people turned away from God. (32:1-6)

Placed in the middle of this book is a shocking, surprising scene. After God had spoken the ten words (or ten commandments) to Israel from Sinai with a thunderous voice, as the mountain was engulfed in flames and smoke and shaking with violent tremors, the people requested that God would speak only to Moses instead. So, Moses went to the top of the mountain to receive the rest of the covenant from God for Israel. Exo 24:18 says he was there for forty days and Exo 32:1 tells us it felt like an extremely long time for the people.

It had only been a matter of weeks to a few months since God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt. Until that time, Moses had been with them every day, but now he was gone, and the people had no idea when he would return – if ever.

Rather than wait patiently for Moses to return, the people grew restless and uneasy. In Egypt, they had been surrounded by images, monuments, paintings, and statues of Egypt’s many gods. Of the many gods worshiped by that culture, bulls were:

revered for their strength, fertility, and divine connection, bulls were central figures in religious ceremonies, agricultural rituals, and royal symbolism. Representations of these sacred animals appeared in sculptures, reliefs, paintings, and amulets, reflecting their profound significance in Egyptian theology. (www.historyandmyths.com)

So now, in the absence of a human leader and of any tangible, visible image of God himself, the people felt insecure and uncomfortable. During this time, they were receiving a regular source of water and a daily supply of manna from God. But they were also parked indefinitely. After an initial burst of excitement, travel, and progress, they had now paused at the base of Mount Sinai with no leader, no direction, and nothing visible to follow. So, they pressured Moses’ brother, Aaron, to make an idol for them.

To make this idol, they donated some of their own gold jewelry, which Aaron would melt down and pour into a mold. This would not have to be a large idol and could have been made within a day or two. During this time, Aaron also made an altar, which he placed between the people and the bull idol.

Once this altar and idol were in place, the people gathered for a day-long worship celebration. They offered the same kind of sacrifices which they would eventually offer to God in the tabernacle and they celebrated by eating, drinking, and dancing.

Scripture gives no indication that they did immoral or sensual things – only energetic and festive. Also, Scripture gives no indication that the people were worshiping another god. They called this idol “the god that brought us out of the land of Egypt” (32:4) and Aaron called their celebration “a festival to the Lord” (32:5). The problem was not in exchanging God for a false god. It was worshiping God in an inaccurate way which wrongly portrayed and misrepresented God.

The second word or command God had very recently given to Moses spoke clearly:

You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. (Exo 20:4-5)

This was a separate and distinct command from the first, which forbade them from worshiping another god. This second command forbade them from worshiping God by using idols to portray or represent him. As Douglas Stewart explains:

Building an altar in front of a god/idol conformed to the expected positioning of sacrifices in idolatry; it guaranteed that the god would see the offerings made to him and accept them. By contrast the orthodox biblical positioning of the altar in the courtyard of the tabernacle, and later temple, so that there was no direct line of sight from the ark in the holy of holies to the altar because of the curtain/veil hiding the ark was actually a positioning that required Israelites to have the faith to understand that the one true God actually saw what they did for him without having his idol right behind and facing the altar on which they did it.

As Jesus himself would one day say:

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (Jn 4:24)

By worshiping God in an idolatrous way, the people were not only disobeying God’s second command given to them only days before (20:4-5), they were violating an agreement they had solemnly agreed to keep (24:3, 7):

All the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do.”

He took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient.”

From this episode, we see two important personal, spiritual lessons for ourselves today:

• First, we should resist any tendency to worship God as an idol. This is why we do not place a crucifix at the front of our auditorium or face a crucifix when we pray at home. Even though we might believe that we are worshiping God by doing these things, we are misrepresenting God and portraying him to ourselves in an inaccurate way.
• Second, and more importantly, we must recognize that as frail, weak human beings, we are so easily drawn away to idolatry, not only from forces and influences outside us, but especially from within our own hearts.

An early church leader, called Ephrem of Syria, wisely observed that Moses’s absence gave the Israelites an opportunity to “worship openly what they had been worshiping in their hearts. No one was tempting them with an idol – they simply desired and produced one from their own hearts. The people had a strong desire to return to a materialistic version of God – something concrete, manmade, tangible, and visible.

We do the same today. We have a hard time loving and serving an invisible God, so we gravitate towards more material, tangible, and visible things. But whenever we turn to other things to meet our needs, satisfy our desires, and guide our lives – even if we believe these things themselves to be good – then we have made and worship an idol.

That’s why the Apostle John told believers, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 Jn 5:21). And theologian A.W. Pink said this:

Man must have an object, and when he turns from the true God, he at once craves a false one.

An idol doesn’t have to be a statue. It can be anything through which he hope to experience or receive those things which only God can provide, including ultimate and complete satisfaction. When we look to our jobs, hobbies, careers, politics and politicians, money, education, homes, relatives, children, and spouses to provide what only God alone can provide and to be what only God can be, then we do what the Israelites did.

So by placing an idol between them and God, even in their attempt at worshiping God, the people did not worship God at all but turned away from him.

Moses interceded to God for the people. (32:7-35)

This moment would not be forgotten, because it became part of Israel’s permanent soundtrack for worshiping God, recorded as music in Psa 106:19-23:

They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped the molded image. Thus they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, awesome things by the Red Sea. Therefore, He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.

This psalm emphasizes what the rest of Exo 32 explains. God was deeply displeased with his people for turning away from him by making an idol and attempting to worship him through that idol, but he forgave them because Moses interceded for them in prayer.

As the people participated in their idol worship activities, God informed Moses of their behavior. Both God and Moses were rightfully angry at this turn of events, especially in light of all that God had done for them in the weeks and months before and since he had just recently established his solemn covenant of commitment to them, in which they solemnly agreed to love and follow him.

But in these tense moments in which Moses felt the righteous turmoil in his soul, God revealed to Moses that Israel’s disobedience and disloyalty was so egregious that they deserved to be abandoned and destroyed. With this sobering realization, Moses (it says) “pleaded with the Lord his God” (32:11) to remain patient with his people and forgive their sins. Then again, after Moses had returned to the people, assessed the situation, and assigned proper consequences, he again prayed to the Lord to “forgive their sin” (32:32).

What was the result of Moses seeking God’s forgiveness for the people?

God renewed his covenant with them. (33:1–34:28)

The next two chapters (Exo 33-34) explain how Moses explained to the people God’s heartbroken response to their failure. God was saddened and indeed, very angry. Unlike our anger as sinful people. When God is angry, he has every right to be angry and his anger is right. And when God is angry, it shows us what really matters, what is really important, and the way things really are. We might view what the Israelites did with that idol as somewhat harmless and easy to forgive. But from God’s perspective, it was egregious and horribly wrong. Do we view our own idolatry that way?

What is remarkable here, though, is that despite his just anger against his people, God responded to Moses’ prayer by forgiving the people and renewing his covenant with them. To do this, God instructed Moses to return to the top of the mountain to receive the words of the covenant a second time, including the Ten Commandments. While this was going on at the top of the mountain, God made his presence very real to Moses and said:

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation. (Exo 34:6-7)

Here God affirmed to Moses that though he was angry towards the people for their egregious sin, he was also – at the same time – merciful, gracious, longsuffering, good, true, and forgiving. At the same time, also, he does not overlook sin. So, by “visiting the iniquity of the fathers…to the third and fourth generation,” God meant that he does not overlook sin. If one person or one family or one generation of his people turn away from him, they would experience the consequences of doing so, but God would also continue to be faithful to his people, refusing to abandon them in the big picture over centuries of time, even if one person, one family, or one generation turned away.

And this will be a real emphasis for us as we go through this “Forever Faithful” preaching series in the next few months. As we look through the prophetic books of Hosea, Habakkuk, and Malachi, we will see how often and how badly God’s people turn away from him over centuries of time. But we will also see how faithful, loving, merciful, and loyal God is to them, generation after generation.

Relationship with God requires mediation.

A key takeaway for us today, though, is this – that relationship with God requires mediation. As we noted earlier, our hearts are so quick to make idols. John Calvin once famously said:

Man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols. Man’s mind, full as it is of pride and boldness, dares to imagine a god according to its own capacity; as it sluggishly plods, indeed is overwhelmed with the crassest ignorance, it conceives an unreality and an empty appearance as God.

We can look down on and see the problem with Israel making and worshiping a golden calf, but can we look down and see the problem with the idols that we are making today? Because our hearts are so strongly drawn to make idols and to view God in a more finite, limited, and inaccurate way – as something far less great, far less holy, far less infinite than he really is – then we need mediation

We need mediation in two ways. First, we need other people to intervene for us, to point out when and where we have erected idols in our hearts, where we have turned away from God. This is a hard thing to do, because idols are very personal things – often as personal as spouse, children, and family themselves. Our career, our money, our wrong religious ideas, our cultural taboos – all of these things are very personal when held, so for anyone to intervene and say, “that’s an idol,” is very hard to receive.

For this reason, we should thank God for anyone – any pastor or friend – who is willing to be like Moses and call out the idolatry in our lives. We should also be willing to be such a friend, and when we do make a sincere attempt, may we do so with the selfless, serious prayer that Moses himself modeled for us. He did not just march up to the people and call out their sin, he did so only after he had first spoke to God from his heart and saturated his heart and mind with the promises and aspirations of God’s Word.

Second, are most importantly, we all need a mediator not only like Moses but better than Moses – far better. That person is Jesus Christ. Listen to what Hebrews says about this:

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. (Heb 3:3-6)

Here we see that Jesus Christ, not Moses, is the mediator we all need. He not only revealed God to us and prayed for us (as Moses also did), but he lived, died, and rose again in our place. He not only revealed to us where we have turned away from God and broken God’s covenant, but he fulfilled our obligations to God for us and makes us completely acceptable and pleasing to God in spite of our many failures. What an amazing mediator he is, there is no one like him.

Have you turned to Christ to receive God’s full forgiveness from sin? And if so, have you fully embraced and accepted what it means to be completely accepted and loved by God in spite of your many failures and continual tendency, still, to worship idols?

Imagine a farmer who paid top price at the county fair for a beautiful thoroughbred cow. He was convinced she would be the answer to all his needs. He expected her not only to give him milk, but to provide his meals, grow his wealth, and somehow bring him personal happiness, too. Day after day he waited for his cow to do what no cow could ever do—and day after day he grew more frustrated and disappointed.

It’s a silly picture, of course; no reasonable person would expect a farm animal to be the source of all good things to a person in life. Yet this is exactly what we do when we place our money, hobbies, careers, children, or even our spouse in the place that only God can fill. When we expect other things – including good things like our spouse, children, and more – to be what only God can be, we set ourselves up for the same disappointment, and we place those things between our hearts and the God who alone can sustain, satisfy, and renew us.

What’s more, we break the very heart of God, the God who alone rescues his people, made a covenant with his people, and lives within his people. But thank God, because of Jesus Christ our mediator, he is the God who renews his covenant, restores his people, and forgives our sins if we will trust in him alone. If we return to him, we will see that he is “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth” (34:6-7).

Exodus 25-40

There are acquaintances and friends, but there are friends you will invite into your home. Nothing says, “I want to be your friend,” “I want to get to know you,” or “our relationship is going to the next level,” like inviting someone into your home, and this is certainly true when you’re married, when you actually agree to share a home for the rest of your life.

Genesis 18 describes a moment when God visited Abraham, and Abraham invited him into his tent for a conversation and meal. Centuries later, millions of people descended from Abraham were traveling back to that same area to live permanently, as God had promised to Abraham. This time, they would do so with a covenant relationship with God. As proof that God would be faithful to them forever, he chose to invite them into his home.

God chose to live with his people.

By doing this, he did more than visit his people, as he visited Abraham centuries before. He built his own tent in the middle of their encampment so they would be able to come and visit him easily and often. Building this tent would require involvement from his people. The way he built this house is fascinating because he didn’t just build it by himself.

He called for an offering from them. (25:1-7; 35:4-9, 20-29; 36:6-7)

Another way of looking at this is to view it as a house-warming party or a divine, new home gift registry.

The offering called for people to donate all sorts of construction materials, including some expensive, valuable items: metals like gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and red fabric of different kinds; animal furs; wood; oil and spices; and valuable gemstones. These would’ve been costly gifts, not ones they were easily able to afford – esp. since they had no significant way of generating income in the wilderness and were somewhat uncertain about the economic conditions in the land to which they were traveling.

Most importantly, God insisted the only donations he wanted were those given from a willing heart. “From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shalt take my offering” (25:2). This was so important to him that he repeated these instructions later: “Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart…” (35:5).

Moses later records that “the children of Israel brought a freewill offering to the Lord, all the men and women whose hearts were willing to bring material for all kinds of work…” (35:29). Do you think this emphasis on willingness resulted in a small or large offering? Moses answers this question in Exo 36:6:

Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, “Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.” And the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient for all the work to be done—indeed too much.

As followers of Christ, we can learn much from this example. When we give our time, talents, and resources to the work of the Lord, we should do so willingly – but doing so should result in generous not minimal giving.

He gave them a blueprint. (Exo 25:9)

Not only did God involve his people in the building of his house by inviting them to contribute materials, he involved his people by giving them his blueprints and design. In fact, the vast majority of Exo 25-40 consists of detailed building instructions from God. These instructions gave detailed architecture and engineering guidance describing everything from measurements and dimensions to furniture and décor.

According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it. (25:9)

We see that God had very specific preferences for his home. But these preferences were not only for personal gratification and comfort but were intended for personal expression.

As a teen decorates his or her bedroom to express his or her interests and style, and as a wife decorates her home to express her tastes, so God decorated and furnished his home for a purpose. Every detail, design, and piece of furniture served to teach something special and important about God so that the more a person visited and spent time there, the more they would learn about God.

He assigned special tasks to them. (Exo 35:30 – 36:1)

Not only did God involve his people in the building of his house by inviting them to contribute materials and giving them a specific blueprint, but he also involved them by inviting them to participate in the actual construction of his house. He involved a wide range of people with a diverse range of abilities and skills.

This community-involved home-building approach resembles the Amish tradition of barn-raising, in which dozens of families gather from the community to build an entire barn together in a single day, each person contributing according to their skills and strength. Though the work is physically demanding, it is marked by cooperation, shared meals, and a joyful sense of purpose and participation. This tradition highlights the Amish belief that community support is essential; each family gives generously, confident that others will do the same for them when their time of need comes.

How special it is that God didn’t just build his own house by himself, something he was certainly capable of doing. But he chose to involve many of his own people, instead. The God who created the universe by himself involved his people to build his house.

He lived with them continually. (Exo 40:34-38)

Once the tabernacle was built, God moved into his house, then the Book of Leviticus describes how fellowship meals, gatherings, and celebrations would go when his people would worship him there.

Before the Book of Leviticus begins, Moses described how “the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (40:35). He goes on to describe how God revealed his presence as a cloud resting above the tent and how his presence (appearing as a cloud) would come and go with them wherever they went. That’s why so many parts of this tent were designed with loops to run poles through, so that his people could disassemble, carry, and reassemble the tabernacle wherever they went.

From this we see God did not intend this to be a temporary residency or a brief camping trip. He intended it to be a long-lasting, permanent relationship in which he lived with his people continually. This conveys the sort of intentionality, commitment, and permanence that home ownership conveys when compared to renting. If a neighbor moves in next door, but they are renting, that doesn’t give you as much confidence to build a relationship or friendship with them as if they were buying the home, instead.

By moving in to live with his people, God was showing his ongoing commitment to them, not just a temporary test of the relationship to see how things would go. But this approach to continues into our lives today as followers of Christ.

Today he lives in his people. (Jn 14:17)

How does this special situation in distant history affect our lives today? After all, we’re not the nation of Israel and we’re not wandering around the Middle East wilderness living in tents. Jesus himself made a very important observation about the presence of God with his people in the days before his crucifixion.

The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. (Jn 14:17)

Here Jesus teaches that up until the time of Christ’s earthly ministry, God had lived and dwelled “with” his people. But after Christ’s death and resurrection, this would change, for then God would dwell not just with his people but in them. He would no longer be a close neighbor nearby but a resident within.

By saying this, Christ was telling us ahead of time that after his resurrection, all who believe on him for salvation would receive not only forgiveness from sin and a close relationship with God (results of the “new covenant” or “New Testament”), but the permanent indwelling of God. In other words, God would no longer place his permanent presence in a building, like the tabernacle or Temple, but he would place his permanent presence and “live” literally WITHIN his people. Isn’t this amazing?

Since this is the case, the NT teaches at least four important ways God’s presence and dwelling WITHIN his people should affect the way we live and view our lives.

We must offer our bodies to him. (Rom 12:1)

Just as God invited his people to give of their resources to build his house, so he invites his people to offer their bodies willingly to him:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (Rom 12:1)

This means we should think twice about the popular mantra “my body my choice.” We should offer our bodies to God rather than do with it whatever we want. Though we should certainly give generously and willingly to God from our time, talent, and resources, we should first – and most importantly – give our own selves, our own bodies to God. I should do with my body, dress my body, and care for my body in a way that first and foremost asks, “What does the Bible say about my body and the things that I do with it?”

This should always be my highest priority in decisions which affect my body and what I do with it. After all, the homeowner and primary resident – not the renter – should have the topmost priority in making decisions about a house, right?

We must glorify him with our bodies. (1 Cor 6:19-20)

Just as God gave his people a specific blueprint for the décor and design of his house which his people were to follow carefully, so he gives followers of Christ today a call to reflect his goodness and design through the way we care for and use our bodies.

Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Cor 6:19-20)

From this we see that we should not do things to or with our bodies which God himself would not desire, and we should do with our bodies only those things which God intends for us to be and designed us to do.

In particular, this statement applies most directly to forbidding sexual immorality (1 Cor 6:18), something which Paul says to “flee.” God feels so strongly about this that he tells us to “avoid, escape, and disappear quickly” from temptations to sexual sin and from opportunities to make immoral decisions.

Though many good reasons for this prohibition can be given, the one Paul emphasizes here is because “God lives there.” There are things that other people tolerate and do of which you do not approve, and for that reason, those things do NOT happen in your home. In our home, for instance, we don’t smoke cigarettes or marijuana, etc.

Knowing this, it would be in appropriate for a guest or resident who moves in to do those things in our home. It would even be inappropriate for the previous owner to return and do those things. That’s the logic Paul is using here. Why should we abstain (or rather “flee”) from immoral behavior? Because God bought us, owns us, and lives within us.

We must offer up spiritual sacrifices. (1 Pet 2:5)

Just as God gave assigned special tasks to his people about building his house, so he calls followers of Christ today to offer up spiritual sacrifices to him. No longer do we offer animal or grain sacrifices, but we offer spiritual sacrifices, instead.

You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Pet 2:5)

Here, we are reminded that we are a “spiritual house” for God, which stands in contrast to the physical house of God in the OT. Instead of the tabernacle and Temple, God has chosen to live within us, instead. This means, then, that rather than offering up animal and grain sacrifices in a physical temple, we should offer up spiritual sacrifices instead. What are these spiritual sacrifices?

We should not limit the sacrifices here to any one item, for everything that is pleasing to God is probably included. Peter spoke generally and comprehensively of all that believers do by the power of the Holy Spirit.

These spiritual sacrifices, then, are anything we do in reliance upon Christ to worship God, to help people gain a positive view of God, and to help bring people into a close relationship with God.

We can be sure of his permanent presence. (Mt 28:20)

Finally, just as God lived continually with his people in the OT through the tabernacle and temple, so he lives with us today forever as followers of Christ. His indwelling and residence within us by his Spirit is permanent and forever.

I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Mt 28:20)

This means that if you’re a follower of Christ, then God not only dwells in you, but he is with you all the time, everywhere, in every place. What an encouraging reality – to know that God is always at home – in you.

There’s something deeply comforting and heartwarming about knowing your parents are always home. From the moment they soothed your first cries and rocked you to sleep in the baby room, their presence in the home has been a steady source of peace and care. As time passes, that same comforting constancy remains: there when you come home to from a day of play outside, to welcome you home when you get off the school bus, when you come home late at night after a long day of work, when you come home for break between semesters at college, when you bring your date over for dinner, when you bring your wife and young children over for the holidays, when you come to get investment advice, and when you visit to provide assistance in their old age or take them to visit the doctor – there until they breath their last breath. There until they’re not.

The “for sale sign” gets pounded into the front yard, the lights go out in the front room at night, and all sorts of strangers in strange car start touring the home, until someone buys it, renovates and remodels it, and begins making new memories of their own. The home that guaranteed your parents’ welcome, love, and presence is no longer open – your parents are no longer there.

As reflective and sad as this reality of life may be, how encouraging it is to know that once God moves into your life he will never move out. He will be there for the remainder of your life and he will be there with you for eternity.

From the Old Testament to the New, Scripture tells one great story: God desires not just to visit his people but to dwell with them. In the wilderness, he called Israel to bring willing offerings, to follow His blueprint, and to join Him in the work of building His house. He filled that house with his glory and stayed with them continually.

But in Christ, he has come even closer. No longer does he dwell in a tent or a temple, but in the hearts of those who trust completely in him. Because his Spirit lives within us, we offer our bodies to him, we glorify him with our lives, we offer spiritual sacrifices that honor his name, and we rest secure in his unbreakable promise, “I am with you always.”

The God who once pitched his tent among his people now makes his home in you. So let us live as people who remember, every day, in every decision, in every temptation, and every trial that God is not only near, he is here. And because he has moved in, he will stay with you forever

May our bodies and our lives, then, be a dwelling where he is honored, a home in which his presence is unmistakable because his presence with us is unbreakable.

Exodus 19-24

Have you watched a nature documentary with towering, aerial footage of majestic mountain ranges accompanied by dramatic, soaring orchestral music intended to emulate what it must be like to soar above the clouds like an eagle?

Or perhaps you recall the breathtaking moment in the “Test Drive” scene at the middle of How to Train Your Dragon, when Hiccup soars fly in perfect harmony, higher and higher into the clouds and evening sunset beyond the horizon. As wind rushes past them, the famous, rhythmic music of this scene grows and pulses majestically. The world looks small below them and above them stretches an endless blue sky.

This moment marks the beginning of a new relationship that will change the shape and purpose of their lives not only as individuals but together. In this fictional world, these two characters – once at odds – are about to embark on a series of many great adventures together that will require of them an all-new way of life and will deeply affect the people of the world around them.

God formed a special relationship with his people.

This is what happened when God rescued his people from four hundred years in Egypt, which had culminated in a long period of slavery and oppression. As we learned last week from Exodus 1-18, God saw the slavery of his people and he saved them.

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. (Exo 19:4)

As God swooped down to save his people from slavery, he carried or led them to a mountain between Egypt and the Promised Land, called Sinai. The traditional site of this mountain is approx. 8,000 ft. tall known as Jebel Musa, about the height of four Freedom Towers stacked on top of each other.

This is the site where God formally established a special relationship with his people, the nation of Israel. By doing this, he was fulfilling a centuries-long promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he did so by forming a covenant with them.

Ancient covenants at that time in history were called “suzerainty treaties,” official agreements between a conquering king and the people he conquered. They explained how the conquering king would care for and protect his new people and explained how this new relationship would function in daily life. In other words, it explained the new cultural, social, and sometimes religious expectations of this new relationship.

In Scripture, a covenant is a formal, solemn expression of God’s relationship to his people and their special relationship to him. Douglas Steward explains, “The first half of Exodus is all about rescue from forced service to a pagan nation, and the second half is all about proper service for the one true God by keeping his covenant.” God had rescued rather than conquered the Hebrew people so that he could form a special, caring, protecting relationship with them forever.

Ancient suzerainty treaties followed a standard pattern which consisted of six parts:

• Opening: identified the giver and the receivers of the covenant
• Prologue: explained the nature of the relationship between both parties
• Stipulations: explained various responsibilities the people would have to their new king
• Witnesses: listed important persons who could vouch for the authenticity of the treaty
• Documentation: an instruction to write down the covenant as a permanent record
• Sanctions: a set of blessings and curses tied to good and bad responses by the people

All six of these parts of such a treaty are present in God’s covenant with Israel and would have been recognized by them as such. The details of this covenant begin in Exo 20:1 but are continued and completed with the book of Leviticus, all of which was given at Mount Sinai over a period of nearly eleven months.

The book of Numbers gives additional guidance to the people during their 40 years of traveling in the wilderness, based on what God revealed in Exodus and Leviticus. Deuteronomy (which literally means “second law”) repeats and reapplies what God revealed at Sinai to the next generation of his people as they prepared to enter the land he had promised them. And God did all this to form a special, committed relationship with them, beginning at Sinai.

As he says in Exo 19:4, “I brought you to myself,” and in 19:5, “You shall be a special treasure to me above all people.” This is what God does when he saves people – he brings them into a close relationship with himself and they become a special, valued treasure to him, more than an ordinary, unsaved person.

God showed himself in a special way to his people.

As we read the beginning of this covenant relationship between God and Israel at Sinai, we see something very obvious. Though God was forming a close, committed relationship with them, coming close to God was both a captivating and terrifying experience.

God came to them in a “thick cloud” (19:9) His presence was marked by “thunderings, lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain” and “the sound of a trumpet” which “was very loud” (19:16). When the people saw and heard these things, they trembled.

The mountain was “completely covered in smoke,” and was on “fire,” and “it’s smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly” (19:18). “The blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder (19:19).

Because of this terrifying experience, the people remained at the base of the mountain and sent further up the mount only Moses in some cases and Moses and some other key, leading men on other occasions.

At the end of this awe-inspiring experience, “a cloud covered the mountain” (24:16), and “the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days.” “The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain” (24:17).

As God established this new, close relationship with his special people, he wanted them to realize how awesome, majestic, and terrifying he truly was. He did not want them to have a lesser, lower view of him, but to understand his greatness and glory. And this is important for us today. As Hebrews 12:28-29 tells us from the New Testament (NT) today:

Let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.

This has not changed from the Old Testament (OT) to the New. Our God was a consuming fire then and he is a consuming fire today. The Christian author, C.S. Lewis, tries to explain this awesome glory of God by how he describes the lion Aslan in his stories called The Chronicles of Narnia. The little girl, Lucy, asks Mr. Beaver, about the Aslan the great Lion, “Is he—quite safe?” To this, Mr. Beaver replies, “Safe? … ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

And so is our God. He is not little. He is not weak. He is not convenient. He is not easy to approach or understand. But he is great, and he is terrible, and he is good in every way, and he wants to be your God in a close and personal way – to be your guide and your protector, your true, forever King, as he did with the people of Israel.

Not only did God form a special, covenant relationship with his people and show himself to them in a special, terrifying way…

God gave a special purpose to his people.

He said to them, “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exo 19:6). From this, we see that God was not forming this close, special relationship with them only to be enjoyed by themselves. He did not intend for this to be an exclusive, isolated, reclusive relationship. He intended this special relationship to be the way that he would show the rest of the world his greatness and goodness through them and that, through them, he would draw the rest of the world into a close relationship, as well.

Priests are people who stand between God and other people so that through their experience with God and service for God can help bring other people also into a closer relationship with God. And while the nation of Israel would eventually benefit from the service of special, assigned priests at the tabernacle and temple, they were all considered by God to be priests to the rest of the world.

Today, the church no longer practices a formal priesthood. As the NT book of Hebrews clearly teaches, there are no longer priests in the church as there were priests in Israel, performing special, assigned services of sacrifice and worship. But we are all priests before God because of the salvation that Christ has provided.

You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light... (1 Pet 2:9-10)
God has given us – as he gave the people of Israel – a special task, to represent God to the people around us. For Israel, this was why God gave them the law. Through the law…
God revealed a special lifestyle for his people.

When we speak about the law in Scripture (or about God’s law), our minds typically zoom in on what we call the “Ten Commandments,” and for good reason. After God brought his people to Mount Sinai and revealed his terrifying, captivating glory to them, he spoke to them from the mountain.

Exo 20:1 says, “And God spoke all these words, saying …,” and when he spoke, it was the Ten Commandments that he gave to them. And after he gave these words to them, the people were afraid.

All the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” So, the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. (Exo 20:18-21)

From this we see that contrary to prevailing perspective, God didn’t give the Ten Commandments to Moses privately at the top of Mount Sinai, he gave them directly to the people from the mountain in booming, terrifying voice that they could hear for themselves. And after this terrifying experience, they asked Moses to communicate to God for them alone so that they would not have to go through that experience again.

From this we see the Ten Commandments are an important feature in God’s covenant with Israel. But it is important to understand how they are important, for they are not important in the way that many people assume them to be.

Many people believe that the Ten Commandments give us ten rules to live by, and that how well we live by them will somehow determine the closeness of our relationship with God, the genuineness, quality, or degree of salvation from sin, and odds of entering heaven after death. But this is not the case. God did not give Israel the Ten Commandments as a method, means, or way to have a relationship with him. He gave them to Israel as a result of and because they now had a relationship with him.

Remember – God had already saved them. God had already redeemed them. God had already declared his relationship with them. All any of them needed to do was believe on him alone as their God and Savior.

Think of it this way. At the Overmiller house, we have certain expectations and rules for behavior, ways that we expect those in our family to treat one another and people around us. We do not hold our neighbors to these expectations because they are not in our family. And if our neighbors choose to follow these expectations and rules, they will not become members of our family as a result.

So, people who attempt to follow the Ten Commandments do not become God’s special people. But God’s special people who have already been saved by him and given the special purpose of representing him to the world and bring other people to faith in him were to follow these commands in love.

To understand these commands even better, we should also acknowledge that they are not called commands. They are only called “words” (Exo 20:1). For this reason, many rightly call these “the ten words.” And this helps us better understand the purpose of these instructions. In ancient times, people did not view laws as tedious, technical commands and rules with many loopholes, limited only to what was stated. They were viewed, instead, as general, guiding, universal principles with many appropriate applications.

No Israelite could say: “The law says I must make restitution for stolen oxen or sheep [Exod 22:1], but I stole your goat. I don’t have to pay you back,” or “The law says that anyone who attacks his father or mother must be put to death [Exod 21:15], but I attacked my grandmother, so I shouldn’t be punished,” or “The law says that certain penalties apply for hitting someone with a fist or a stone [Exod 21:18], but I kicked my neighbor with my foot and hit him with a piece of wood, so I shouldn’t be punished.” (Douglas Stewart)

From this summary of ten key general statements by God about how his people should behave as priests and representatives of God to the world, God would go on to reveal a total of 613 more specific commands. These more specific commands are helpful because they helped the people of Israel apply the principles of these “ten words” in a wide range of specific ways appropriate for their situation, but those commands all tie back in one way or another to these ten original statements of the covenant.

Perhaps even more interesting is how God tucked away in later statements of the law two specific commands which Christ himself later said were the two greatest commands of all (Mt 22:37-39).

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

The first command, to love God, is given in Dt 6:5 and the second, to love others, is given in Lev 19:18. You might ask, “Why didn’t God just give these two most basic, overarching commands at the beginning of his relationship with Israel at Mount Sinai? Why did he wait until later?

The best answer seems to be that God, in his wisdom, knew that doing so would not cause his people to understand the breadth and gravity of their calling as priests of God. By giving the ten commandments first, then all 613 commands afterwards, he caused generation so people to first think carefully and realize fully how wide-reaching his expectations for his people truly were. Only then are we able to recognize the breadth and wide-ranging extent of the two overarching commands to love God and love others.

As we read the Ten Commands, though, and the more detailed instructions that follow, we see clearly that the people God has saved must live a different, special kind of life – one that cherishes, pursues, and values what is in the best interest of God and others over self. And this makes sense, because we have been redeemed by a God who has loved us this way and are called to reveal such a loving God to others.

As the king of this new people, God had saved his people from slavery so that they would show his love to the world. Since he had loved them and promised to care for and protect them as his people, he wanted them to pass that love, care, and protection along to the world around them, so that they, too, would come into a saving relationship with God.

The Secret Garden, written by Mary Sebag-Montefiore in 1911, tells a fascinating story. When Mary Lennox first arrived at Misselthwaite Manor, an imposing but largely abandoned estate, she was a lonely, bitter, and misunderstood orphan. She thought the world and the people around her were cold and harsh. But everything began to change when she discovered a neglected garden hidden behind an overgrown gate.

As Mary nurtured the garden back to life, she also helped a boy named Colin, a sad and sickly boy who lived at the Manor gain freedom from his feelings of fear and discouragement. By bringing him to the garden, Mary formed a close and special relationship with Colin and together, they embraced a new purpose – restoring the secret garden so that it would bringing joy, health, and healing to others, too.

When God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt, he brought them to Mount Sinai so that he could form a special, close relationship with them. And with this special relationship, he gave his people a special purpose – to represent and share his love, salvation, and goodness to the world around them. Like The Secret Garden, this relationship was meant not only to be carefully tended but shared. For Israel, this would happen as they lived out the special live that the “Ten Words” and resulting instructions explained, revealing what love for God and love for others looked like. And this was all because God had shown such indescribable love to them.

In closing, let me remind us of Paul’s words in Gal 3:24:

The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

The commands at Sinai were meant to reveal God’s holiness and our need for a Savior, whether we learned these things from people of God who lived out those words or whether we learned them by reading and hearing Scripture for ourselves.

Today, through faith in Christ, we receive salvation from the slavery of sin and enter into a special relationship with God for ourselves. He rescues us, forgives us, and makes us his people. And as his people, we must live out the purpose of our new covenant relationship with him: to love God and love others, to reflect his holiness in the world throughout our lives.

Philip Ryken and R. Keny Hughes put it this way:

Like the Israelites, we are a kingdom of priests. Theologians call this the priesthood of all believers. God has made us his treasure, bringing us from slavery to royalty and setting us apart for his holy service. Since we are saved for God’s glory, our service is to worship God, to glorify him by declaring his praises. But we also have a mission to the world—not to rule it, but to serve it. The way we serve is by leading holy lives. What distinguishes us from the rest of the world is our personal godliness. Or at least it ought to, because the way we live is part of God’s plan for saving the world.

God is faithful to his people, he is faithful to his covenant. Will you be faithful to the new and special purpose he has given you in Christ? This is the purpose of our new relationship with God. This relationship is not for ourselves alone but for the people around us who need to know him and who need God’s salvation.

Discussion Questions

• Can you think of a relationship in your life that changed after a defining moment (a conversation, commitment, or shared experience)? What changed after that moment?
• How does our experience in modern life compare to ancient times when covenants were common?
• Why is it important to remember that God is the one who enacted the covenant with Israel?
  • How should this affect our lives?
• Why is it that some feel uncomfortable with presenting God as terrifying?
  • What do we miss about God if we try to make him out to be “safe?”
• How would our spiritual lives change if we felt and believed deeply that “God is a consuming fire?” (Hebrews 12:28-29)
• What is a priest?
  • In what ways are Jesus’ followers to be like priests?
• What are some practical ways you can live out the special lifestyle God has revealed to us to love him and others?

Exodus 1-18; 2:24-25; 3:16-17

Today we begin a New Year with a new preaching series. In this series, we will familiarize ourselves with some important big-picture, overview messages from the Old Testament (OT) books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. Then we will take an in-depth look at the message of three OT books called “minor prophets” – Hosea, Habakkuk, and Malachi.

To help make this preaching series (and all other Sunday AM sermons this year) more meaningful, we’re providing a weekly devo guide. These guides will offer questions for both children and adults to ask about the Bible passage for the upcoming sermon. They will be organized into 5 days and even offer prayer helps, too. They are ideal for personal, couple, or family devotions, whichever you prefer.

To summarize how the OT books we are looking at work together, we should view Exodus and Deuteronomy as books that show how God formed a special covenant and relationship with his people, Israel. Then we should view the OT prophets as books which describe how his people responded to their covenant with him and how God responded to them over a period of many years afterward.

This preaching series – called “Forever Faithful” – will help us better and more deeply understand how God thinks, feels, and behaves towards his people and will, I trust, help correct two crucial flaws in our thinking. The first flaw is that we tend to view ourselves in too positive a light, and the second flaw is that we tend to view God in too negative a light.
First, we tend to feel that though we know God is good and loving, he is also somewhat distant and disengaged, harsh and disappointing. We might not say this directly out loud, but our attitudes, words, and behavior speak more loudly and directly than we realize.

Second, we also tend to feel that though we know we are imperfect and sinful somehow, we are also generally good, reliable, and faithful to God. We might not say this directly out loud, either, but again, our attitudes, words, and behavior speak more loudly and directly than we realize and betray our real beliefs.

These two flaws in our beliefs and perspective greatly diminish the quality of our emotional, spiritual, and social lives, so correcting these flaws can go a long way in helping us improve the quality of our relationship with God and the people in our lives.

From this series, we’ll discover the great reality that though we are more difficult and unfaithful than we care to admit, God is more loving and loyal than we can ever comprehend. We’ll see that God is unfailing in his love and loyalty to his people, and this great reality should give our hearts the comfort, courage, and confidence we need to rise above our hurts and failures to take our next steps in following him. Will you grow in your loyalty and faithfulness to God knowing that he is so faithful and loyal to you? And will you let his loyal love motivate you to be faithful and loyal to the people in your life – your community, church, or family? That is the hope and my prayer for this preaching series.

This is an important message for our hearts to hear because the qualities of commitment and loyalty are remarkably rare today. We resist and resent commitment and break commitments and relationships like unsubscribing from a streaming service. Rather than remain loyal throughout years and life, we quit jobs, ghost friends, and abandon churches and family for an easier life and greener pastures. And though there can be good, valid reasons for such changes, we must not let the exceptions become the norm. Sadly, for anyone paying close attention, it is clear that the exceptions have become the norm.

At a wedding, the bride and groom commit to love one another “for better or for worse.” But such a commitment means almost nothing today – nice sounding words with a million exceptions. And while the power to end a relationship gives me an illusion of freedom, it quietly reduces my confidence that anyone else will be loyal to me when I am at my worst.

Thankfully, God is not this way. Though you are far more difficult to love than you will ever comprehend and more disappointing and disloyal to God than you can ever admit, you can know with certainty that if you are in relationship with God, he will never withdraw his love or loyalty from you. With God, your relationship begins and never ends. No matter how difficult, costly, or unlovable you may be, he will pursue and love you forever.

For you to be a faithful, loving, loyal person – to God and others – you must first be convinced that you are loved by a faithful, loyal God who will never let you go. That’s what this preaching series is all about and is why it’s called “Forever Faithful,” because it will show that God is that faithful, loyal, loving God we need to counteract and rise above the disloyalty and resistance to commitment that permeates not only the world around us, but especially our own hearts. We will speak more about these themes in future sermons, but for now, let’s learn what Exo 1-18 teaches about being “Redeemed by God.”

God sees the slavery of his people.

These chapters tell the story of how God fulfilled his promise to a few men who believed him centuries before. He told Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob he would form their descendants into a special nation with a unique relationship to him. They would become the people through whom he would bring his promised Savior and King to the world.

Between the last chapter of Genesis and the first chapter of Exodus had passed about 430 years, from the time Jacob the patriarch moved into Egypt and the time when Moses led all of Jacob’s descendants out (Exo 12:40-41). From Exo 1–18, approximately 80 years passed from the birth of Moses to when he led the Hebrew people out, through the Red Sea, and to Mount Sinai – where the 10 Commandments were given.

At Mount Sinai, the Hebrew people became the official nation of Israel and began a very special relationship between God and his people began. In a real and profound way, what happened at Sinai resembled a solemn wedding ceremony in which God committed himself in an unending covenant to his people, a covenant he would never break, no matter how badly or difficult his people would behave.

In Exo 3:16, God told Moses to tell the Hebrew people, “I have surely … seen what is done to you in Egypt.” This means that though they couldn’t see God and may have felt like he was far away and unconcerned with their problems for 430 years, he was completely aware of what they were experiencing and paying close attention. What evidence was there to show that God was paying close attention to them?

• Exo 1:1-7 shows that despite being displaced for centuries, they expanded from 70 people to abt. 2-3 million. Exo 12:37 says that about 600,000 adult men left Egypt, which would indicate 2-3 million to account for women and children. Despite being displaced, they became “exceedingly mighty,” or a powerful influence (1:7).
• Exo 1:8-22 shows that despite their horrible slavery conditions and Pharaoh’s attempt to kill their newborn sons, God protected them through the bravery of two midwives.
• Exo 2:1-25 shows how God raised up from them a man named Moses thanks to the bravery of the Hebrew midwives, Moses’ mother and sister, and even a daughter of Pharaoh. Not only did God protect this man from death by Pharaoh, but he prepared him to lead God’s people to freedom. He did this by giving him 40 years of training in Pharaoh’s palace followed by 40 years of experience as a shepherd in the wilderness.

In between those 40 years, though, Moses did something that taught him and us a very important lesson about God. We do not save ourselves – he alone saves us.

[Read Exodus 2:11-15.]

From this we see God was not calling Moses to rescue his people by “taking matters into his own hands,” literally. Instead, he was calling Moses to listen closely to his words and teach others to follow his words by faith, even in the face of great or increasing difficulty.

The children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So, God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. (Exo 2:23-25)

After 430 years in Egypt, God remained faithful and loyal to the covenant he made with Abraham (Gen 12:1-3). He had made a solemn agreement and commitment to Abraham that he would multiply his descendants and settle them safely in the land called Canaan. He had also promised that he would bless them and make them a blessing to the world.

God intervened to save his people from slavery. No matter how difficult, costly, or unlovable they would be, over any length of time, he would pursue and love them forever.
God saves his people from their slavery.

In Exo 3:17, God also told Moses to tell the people of Israel, “I will bring you up out of the affliction in Egypt … to a land flowing with milk and honey.” God not only sees the slavery and suffering of his people – he intervenes. What did this intervention look like when he acted to saved the Hebrew people from slavery?

• He raised up Moses and Aaron to be leaders of his people and speak out to Pharaoh on their behalf (3:1-22). In doing so, he revealed himself to Moses and the Hebrew people by his most personal name, “Yahweh” or “I AM.”
• He confronted and humiliated Pharaoh and Egypt – the superpower of the world at that time – through a series of ten extraordinary, overpowering plagues, showing his power over the false Egyptian gods and ungodly leaders. The remarkable thing about these plagues is that they could only be performed by an all-powerful, supernatural God with no human explanation.
• In similar manner, God miraculously parted the Red Sea so that the millions of Hebrew people he had rescued could walk over to the other side on dry ground. And not only that, but he wiped out the entire Egyptian military force by returning the waters to their place once they had all entered the seabed (Exo 12-15).
• While the millions of Hebrew people traveled through the wilderness, God miraculously provided large flocks of quail, daily supplies of bread from the sky, and water from dry rocks (Exo 16:1–17:7).
• He gave them a tremendous victory over a surprise attack by an army of people called the Amalekites, longtime adversaries of the Hebrew people (Exo 17:8-16).

After hearing this summary of God’s actions on behalf of his people, we see once again that after 430 years of seeing what his people experienced, God remained faithful and loyal to the covenant he made with Abraham.

In the children’s book called “Horton Hatches an Egg,” by Dr. Seusss, a kind-hearted elephant agrees to sit on the egg of a lazy bird while she takes a break. She goes away and never returns, leaving Horton to guard the egg. He endures fierce storms, freezing rain, scorching sun, and relentless ridicule from other animals. Why would an elephant do such a silly thing? He is even captured by hunters and hauled across the ocean to a circus—yet through it all, he never abandons his promise.

His famous line captures the theme: “I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful one hundred percent.” Against every danger and cost, Horton’s loyalty never wavers, and in the end, his faithfulness is rewarded when the egg hatches into an elephant-bird. The story illustrates how true commitment means keeping your word no matter how hard or inconvenient it becomes.

Far more importantly, in history and not fiction, God promised that he would bless the Hebrew people and make them a blessing to the world, and that’s why he intervened to save them people from slavery. No matter how difficult, costly, or unlovable they would prove to be, over any length of time, he would pursue and love his people forever.

Salvation is entirely of God.

As we read the opening chapters of Exodus (1-18), we should all notice one obvious detail – that everything which happens is somehow from God. Psalm 3:8 makes this reality very clear – that whenever God intervenes for his helpless, undeserving people, “salvation is of the Lord” (Psa 3:8). It is always, entirely of him. When God saves his people, he alone is the one who does the work and he alone is the one who makes it happen.

In Exo 1-18, God is the one who did all the saving. God is the one who intervened. His people were unable to save themselves, and in many cases, his people were not behaving in a way that deserved God’s favor. The story of the Exodus, then, is a story of God as a loving husband pursuing his future wife, his people, at great expense. When we see all that he did to redeem them and make them his people, we know that nothing will ever cause him to let them go.

To summarize all that God did, preview the start of next week’s sermon, hear how God himself described all that he did in Exo 1-18 to redeem his people from slavery in Egypt:

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. (Exo 19:3)

This beautiful, majestic description of God “carrying up his people on eagles’ wings” communicates two very personal and important things about God’s commitment and salvation of his people.

First, it describes God’s loving care for his people as the tender, observant care of a mother for her young child. Philip Ryken and Kent Hughes explain it this way:

The picture is of a mother eagle caring for her young. Eaglets are especially helpless, remaining in the nest for as many as 100 days. Then, as one commentator explains, “When it is time for the young birds to leave the eyrie and learn to fly, the eagle stirs up the nest, but does not abandon her young. If they experience difficulties, the mother bird swoops down below them and lifts them on its wings back to safety.” This is precisely what God did for his people in the wilderness. They had been delivered from slavery, but they were vulnerable to starvation and to attack by their enemies. So God lifted them up on his mighty wings, providing them with food, water, and victory in battle.

Second, it describes his God’s majestic, powerful care of his people as a mighty warrior rushing in to overpower and overwhelm the enemy. Ryken and Hughes also explain:

This beautiful image is richly symbolic. The eagle is a fierce bird of prey; it attacks its enemies the way God attacked Egypt. It is also a bird of rescue. This is wonderfully portrayed in J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy The Hobbit. At two different points in the story the heroes are rescued by eagles. The second time is near the end, when they are surrounded by hordes of goblins. Just at the moment when all seems to be lost, one of them “gave a great cry: he had seen a sight that made his heart leap, dark shapes small yet majestic against the distant glow. ‘The Eagles! The Eagles!’ he shouted. ‘The Eagles are coming!’”

Today, we must remind ourselves that salvation is entirely of God. For us today, thousands of years after God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt, we know a thing or two about slavery ourselves. Paul tells us in the New Testament (NT) that:

• … before we believe on Christ for salvation, we are “slaves of sin.” (Rom 6:6)
• … “Christ has made us free … from the yoke of slavery.” (Gal 5:1)

Jesus himself taught the same thing when he said:

• “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” (Jn 8:34)
• “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (Jn 8:36)

Just as God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt, so he rescues his people from slavery to sin by his miraculous birth, perfect life, sacrificial death, and stunning resurrection from the dead. And just as the Hebrew people celebrated the Passover meal to remember God’s salvation from Egypt, so we celebrate the Lord’s Supper to remember God’s salvation of our lives from sin.

As we reflect on God’s loving, powerful salvation from slavery in Egypt, may we be even more aware and more grateful of Christ’s salvation of our souls from slavery to sin and death. And may we realize the incredible price of Christ’s resurrection and the incredible power of his resurrection.

May we realize that the God who does such things to rescue us from slavery and bring us into a relationship with him will not abandon us either, no matter how difficult or undeserving we may be. Salvation is entirely of God from the beginning until the end. And since we did nothing to save ourselves and God did everything, we can be sure that he will love us relentlessly to the end, pursuing us, protecting us, and providing for us forever.

When we look at the story of the Exodus, we see that redemption is entirely God’s work. For 430 years, Israel was away from their land and then groaned under slavery, powerless to change their condition—yet God saw, God heard, and God acted. He raised up a deliverer, displayed His power over Egypt, parted the sea, and provided for his people every step of the way. Why? Because he is forever faithful to his covenant and his people. He carried them on eagles’ wings and will do the same for all who follow Christ.

That same God has redeemed us through Christ, rescuing us from slavery to sin. If He did all that for Israel and gave his Son for us, we can be certain he will never abandon us. May you find great comfort, courage, and confidence in the loyal love of our God who is forever faithful—and let that love move you to be increasingly faithful and loyal to him and to the people he has placed in your life, no matter what personal or relational difficulties or dysfunction you have experienced. Your God is forever faithful to you.

Discussion Questions

• Why is it important for us to hear about God’s covenantal nature? What are ways that we as individuals struggle to imitate his faithfulness and loyalty?
• What does the Exodus narrative reveal about God’s awareness of his people’s suffering, even during long periods when he seems silent or distant?
  • How should these things shape the way believers respond to prolonged hardship or unanswered prayer?
• What evidence from Exodus 1–2 shows that God was actively working for Israel’s good long before he openly intervened to rescue them?
• Why did God not allow Moses to deliver Israel by taking matters into his own hands, and what does this teach about how God accomplishes salvation?
• What practical attitudes or behaviors today resemble trying to “save ourselves” rather than trusting God to act in his way and timing?
• What difference does it make to live daily with the conviction that the God who saved you will never abandon you?

Galatians 4:4-7

Anyone who drives knows the satisfying feeling of “perfect timing.” By “perfect timing,” I mean when you’re driving a long stretch of road and all the lights turn green right as you approach them, or when you approach a parking spot near the entrance to a store in a crowded parking lot just as another customer is leaving, making the spot available to you. “Perfect timing!” we might say whenever things like this occur.

As satisfying as things like this may be in our day-to-day lives, they are only nice circumstances that make our day easier. But “perfect timing” is of absolute importance in other scenarios. Making a trade on the stock market or in crypto at the right moment can make the difference between making or losing millions of dollars. Timing a concrete pour correctly before a storm hits can determine not only whether you will waste a large sum of money but, more importantly, whether the building will have structural integrity.

Then there are countless examples of how two people cross paths at the perfect time with life-altering effects. An unemployed person just happens to cross paths in a checkout line with an employer who is looking for his exact skillset. Two unmarried people just happen to cross paths at a restaurant leading to a lifetime of marriage. Or a doctor just happens to be sitting next to a stranger at a baseball game who suffers an unexpected heat stroke, only to provide critical life-saving guidance.

Christ’s birth happened at the right time.

According to Scripture, the birth of Christ which we celebrate at Christmastime happened with perfect timing. Paul says Christ was born “when the fullness of time had come” (Gal 4:4). This envisions a woman giving birth to a child at full term, after a long period of waiting, when everything has progressed well and the time is just right.

The birth of Christ was not an emergency response, backup plan, or random act of intervention by God. It was a perfectly planned event which happened at precisely the right time in history, like when NASA carefully prepares to launch a space mission. After thousands of years of promises, prophecies, and preparation, Christ was born at the precisely the right time to save people from their sins.

You and I – like every other human – have enough trouble with showing up to events on time and with scheduling and planning out the timing of events and goals in our lives. How much more overwhelming would it be to schedule, prepare for, and plan out the birth of Jesus over thousands of years of history and civilization? Even the most skilled obstetrician or midwife cannot guarantee the accuracy of a baby’s due date.

But Christ was born at the perfect moment, at the perfect time. World conditions were just right and even the stars in the universe were perfectly aligned for his birth! But not only was he born at the perfect time, he was born for a special purpose.

His birth was for a special purpose.

Paul says that when Christ was born, “God sent forth his Son” (4:4). This “sending forth” is far more meaningful than a stork sending a cute baby down from the sky. It means to send out someone on a mission – to dispatch them for a special purpose or task, like when a special operations soldier is sent on a mission to protect and defend his nation or when a humanitarian worker is sent to provide critical aid and relief after a natural disaster.

In this case, God the Father was sending God the Son to save his people from their sins. Said another way, first person of the triune God (or Trinity) was sending the second person of the triune God to save us – God was sending God on a mission.

This statement says some important things. First, it shows that God, who like us, only has one nature, is not like us, being only one person. He is a single, unified being comprised of three persons – Father, Son, and Spirit, all three mentioned in this passage (4:4, 6).

That God is three co-equal persons in one divine being and with one divine nature is a core, fundamental belief of biblical Christianity. But according to a recent Barna survey (March 26, 2025), only 11% of American adults believe in the Trinity, incl. only 16% of self-proclaimed Christians. The percentage is higher for Protestants than Catholics, and the percentage per generation differs, too: Boomer (18%), Gen X (11%), Millennial (7%), Gen Z (8%). Knowing this should encourage us to emphasize this truth in our teaching.

This statement – that “God sent forth his Son” – also shows us that when Christ was born, he did not begin to exist at that time. He was, instead, sent on a mission to be born. In other words, he already existed – eternally in fact – and was simply changing the form of his existence in order to become a human being. Unlike every other human being, he did not begin to exist the moment he was conceived. He had already existed as God the Son for eternity, having no beginning nor end, but became a human being at his conception.

He received a human nature.

At his birth (or conception), Christ was “born of a woman” (4:4). This means he became a human being like you and me. By doing this, he took for himself all the qualities of human nature, except for sin. He would now understand what it’s like to be human, not only because he is omniscient as God, but because he is also now a human being. Like you and me, he experienced tiredness and pain, hunger and thirst, weakness and rejection, and – most importantly – temptation to sin. But unlike you and me, he never sinned. He fully experienced temptation but never gave in.

For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. (Heb 2:18)

Now that God the Son has become human, he is both able to assist and understand us in our weaknesses and temptations. And as a human being, when he died in our place for our sins, he really, truly bled and really, truly died. This means he was able to perfectly serve as an actual, legitimate substitute for our sins. It also means that he perfectly understands whatever experience you have as a human being, no matter how difficult your experience may be. Jesus is both God and man, making him our perfect Savior.

He submitted himself to the law.

Not only did he receive a human nature at his birth, but he also placed himself under the authority of God’s law. He was “born under the law” (4:4). This means that he lived with the full expectations of God’s law placed upon him. He did not get special treatment and exemptions because he was God. He faced the same expectations that God places on every human being through the divine, moral law.

Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. (Heb 5:8)

This means that he did everything the law of God required a person to do and he refrained from doing all the things that the law of God prohibits a person from doing. He did all this perfectly without exception. In doing so, he revealed through his attitudes, behavior, and words a complete and perfect love for God and for other people. In this way, he “fulfilled the law,” doing what no other human being is able to do.

Now, what is the purpose of God’s law? It is to show us two things. First, it is to show us what it means – in practical terms – to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbor the same way. Second, it is to show us – in practical, provable ways – that we do not love God with all our heart and we do not love our neighbor as ourselves.

But Christ is the great exception. He actually lived a life of perfect love for God and perfect love for neighbor in a way that perfectly fulfilled the law of God. And by doing this, he made the impossible possible for us. We are unable to fulfill God’s law, so God is unable to accept and recognize us as his children. But because Christ fulfilled the law perfectly, he did so for us. He died in our place to absorb the guilt of our sins (our own failure to fulfill God’s law), then he offered us his record of perfect obedience to God instead. By doing this, Paul says that Christ “redeemed [rescued/freed] us who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (4:5).

He made a way for servants to become sons.

When Paul says that people who believe on Christ for salvation are “sons of God,” he is not referring to becoming children of God through birth. He is referring to becoming children of God through adoption. This adoption does not refer to our modern concept of adoption, either. Instead, it refers to how Jewish fathers would officially acknowledge either their children or servants as “official, independent adults.”

In first-century Jewish culture, fathers would care for their young children and any servants that their household employed. These people would follow strict rules, be assigned mentors, tutors, and supervisors to govern their actions and behavior, etc. But when household servants or children proved to their fathers that they were mature, reliable, and responsible, fathers would then “adopt” them.

This “adoption” meant that they would formally and officially announce that the child or servant be recognized as an independent adult in his own right, able to form his own house, establish his own business, and – most importantly – represent and carry on his father’s personal and family reputation in the community at large.

Such a person was no longer subjected to meticulous rules, guidelines, and oversight assigned by their father, as they had been in their developmental years. Why? Because they had proven themselves to be reliable and responsible and the father believed that the child no longer needed such regulations.

This did not mean that they could now go on living loosely, however they wanted. There would certainly be consequences for making poor or wrong decisions – as every adult well knows. But this did mean that their father was not trusting them to make good, moral, noble, and right decisions on their own, without rules, regulations, and parental supervision monitoring their every turn.

Oh, and this “adoption as sons” meant one more thing for people who reached this status. They would become full inheritors of their father’s estate. This meant that they would become entitled to all the rights, privileges, and resources associated with their father’s legacy and estate. Paul calls this being an “heir” (4:1, 7).

All of this leads to a serious but special conclusion…

Those who believe on Christ should live as adult children of God.

We won’t take the time to do so today, but if you reach the surrounding verses in Galatians 4, and if you read even more fully the entire letter that Paul wrote to the churches and believers in Galatia, you will find that this is what this letter was all about.

Paul wrote to people who claimed to turn on Christ as God and Savior. But as he followed the progression of their life after they claimed to believe, many were returning to their way of living before they believed on Christ. They were doing this by resubmitting themselves to Old Testament (OT) laws – OT ceremonies, circumcision, dietary practices and restrictions, and the required observance of religious seasons and holidays.

In this letter, he makes the point very strongly that living this way is like a mature adult person going back to living like an immature child. A young child needs meticulous rules, responsible guardians, sticker charts and incentives, imposed schedules, and more. But a reliable, responsible adult no longer needs such things. And if an adult returns to childish ways, it raises the question of whether they can be trusted as a reliable, responsible adult.

In the case of our faith in Christ, when people who claim to believe on Christ submit themselves (or re-submit themselves) to ceremonies, rituals, rules, guardians, dietary restrictions, required holiday observances, etc. to live out their faith in Christ, it raises the question of whether they understand Christ at all. People with a complete, correct view of Christ don’t live that way. Those things were not given to us by God to make us God’s children. They were given to us to reveal our need for Christ.

When Christ came at Christmastime, he came at the perfect time to life out a perfect life – becoming the only person to fulfill the law of God. Knowing this, we must turn away from and move on from the law to put our complete faith and trust in Jesus Christ as our God and Savior, trusting completely in him. When we do this, then God accepts us fully as his children on the basis of Christ’s perfect, obedient life and death. This is why God the Father sent God the Son at the perfect time. To free us from the law so that we might live as fully accepted and responsible children of God.

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

The birth of Christ frees us from childish observance of the law to be faithful, reliable followers of Christ who love God and love others freely and genuinely by the power of the Holy Spirit, not because the law tells us what to do. As we wrap up this holiday season and year and prepare our hearts for a new year head, I have two important messages for you today based upon Christ’s birth and life as Paul explains it in Gal 4:4-5.

Rest in Your Identity

First, because Christ came at the perfect time to redeem us, you no longer need to live like a helpless, immature child under the law. If you have trusted Christ as your God and Savior, you are fully accepted as a reliable, responsible adult child. You are adopted by God thanks to the birth, life, and death of Christ for you.

This means that you cannot earn God’s favor through rituals, rules, or performance—it is already completely secured by Christ’s perfect obedience and sacrificial death. So, stop striving to prove yourself to God. Instead, rejoice in the security of your relationship with him and you’re your full access to all that he is and all that is his forever. Let this truth quiet your fears and free you from the exhausting cycle of trying to measure up. You belong to him, and nothing can change that.

If you have not yet turned to Christ alone for salvation from the law’s demands, then I urge you to put your trust in Christ today as your God and Savior. He will forgive your sins and give you a close and complete relationship with God forever, one that rests entirely upon his birth, life, and death for you and not on your own performance. What rest and peace this will bring to your tired, sinful soul.

Live Like a Mature Child of God

Second, with acceptance by God as a reliable and responsible adult child comes privilege, but with it also comes responsibility. Just as an adult child represents the family name, you represent your amazing heavenly Father in the world. Therefore, we should live out the freedom Christ gives us not to indulge our fleshly, selfish desires but to love God and others sincerely by the power of the Spirit.

This is why Paul goes on to urge them to leave fleshly behaviors and pursue godly virtues by the power of the Holy Spirit (not as legal obligations).

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Gal 5:16-25)

Mature sons and daughters don’t need sticker charts or rigid rules to guide them – they live out of love and gratitude, instead. So, ask yourself whether you are living like a mature child of God, or have you slipped back into childish rule-keeping and religious duties? True freedom in Christ is not lawlessness—it is Spirit-led obedience that reflects the character of your Father.

Imagine a child who has spent years in foster care, moving from home to home, never sure if they truly belong. Then one day, a loving family adopts them—not just legally, but relationally. They give the child their name, their home, and their inheritance. That child no longer needs to live in fear or try to earn acceptance by an adoptive family; they are fully part of the family. But with that new status comes responsibility: to honor the family name and live in a way that reflects the love they’ve received.

That’s what God has done for us through Christ. We were spiritual orphans under the law, but at the perfect time, God sent His Son to redeem us and adopt us as His own. We don’t have to earn His favor—it’s already secured. And now, as His sons and daughters, we live in freedom—not to indulge ourselves, but to represent our Father well in the world.

How will you put your acceptance and freedom in Christ to work in a responsible, reliable way this coming New Year? How will you show your love for Christ and share that love with others as God the Father calls his children to do? This is why Christ was born.

Discussion Questions

• What can we learn about God from his perfect timing and planning in the birth of Christ?
• How should confidence in God’s perfect timing affect the way Christians respond to seasons of waiting, uncertainty, or unmet expectations?
• What is the problem with the statement, “Jesus’ true nature is divine, but he became like a human?”
• What difference does the humanity of Christ make for his followers?
  • What about the practical difference it makes for them that he fulfilled the law?
• How might your attitude or perspective change if you believed that you were accepted as an adopted child of God?
• How can believers distinguish between Spirit-led obedience and rule-driven religious performance?
• What are some practical steps that we can take to rest in our identity in Christ?

Luke 1:5-25; 57-80

If you want to run for governor of MN, you must take several steps long before election day to have any hope of success:

• Confirm their eligibility and file for candidacy.
• Build a core campaign team.
• Develop a clear policy platform.
• Launch a fundraising and financing compliance strategy.
• Kick off a grassroots engagement and messaging campaign.

If you just write your name onto a ballot or show up on election day, you will certainly fail.
When God sent Christ into the world to be the Savior of our sins and King over all creation, he didn’t just send him then see what happened. He prepared long in advance and involved key people along the way. These people served as prophets, priests, and kings throughout history as God did all sorts of intricate and powerful things to prepare the way for Christ.

As the culmination of this process, he sent a man to prepare people to recognize and follow Christ as God’s promised Savior and King. He was God’s chief spokesperson, newscaster, reporter, and announcer for Christ. This man was John the Baptist. And from the story of John the Baptist’s birth, we will see that Christmas reminds us that God keeps his promises—and that he calls us to prepare the way for Christ in the lives of others.

After centuries of silence, God acted in a special way.

When John the Baptist came onto the scene, God had not provided any special revelation – prophecy, Scripture, etc. – for more than 400 years. During this long period of time (longer than the full history of the United States), his people experienced terrible oppression by the Syrian world empire. They struggled through persecution by the Greek world empire. Then they struggled through difficult times with the Roman world empire, which included being governed by a series of men called Herod, wicked politicians from Edom who hated the Jews. It seemed as though God has abandoned or forgot his people.

He chose a married couple devoted to him. (1:5-10)

Similar to how God chose a godly, faithful married couple to be parents to Samson at a very dark time, he did the same in choosing the parents of John the Baptist. Zechariah, the husband, was a priest and his wife, Elizabeth, was also the daughter of a priestly family. Both were considered righteous by God, which means they had believed in his promise of salvation by faith, just as their ancestor Abraham had done thousands of years before. From a human standpoint, they also had an outstanding reputation for taking seriously God’s commands.

The difficulty for them was that they had no children. This difficulty was compounded by the fact that it seemed impossible to resolve, since Elizabeth was unable to have children, and they were both too old to do so, even if she could. Once again, this resembles the condition of Samson’s parents, many years before.

Even so, this couple found purpose in serving God. And on this particular year, Zechariah was given the special opportunity to offer incense in the temple during their annual holiday. Priests (from among approx. 18,000) were chosen randomly once in their lifetime to perform this service during one of the three major Jewish festivals of the year (Passover, Weeks, and Booths) or during one of the two other weeks of priestly duties assigned to their group.

So, this was a special, once-in-a-lifetime moment for Zechariah. It was probably in the evening, as thousands of Jewish people looked on outside. This offering of incense represented the prayers of God’s people. And after offering this incense, Zechariah would have knelt down in prayer as the thousands of Jewish people did the same in the Temple courtyard outside.

He continued a plan set in motion long ago. (1:11-17)

As Zechariah fulfilled this special service, a surprising thing happened. An angel from God appeared standing beside the altar of burning incense. This unexpected appearance shocked Zechariah so greatly that he was both scared and terrified. Had he done something wrong? Was he about to be killed or judged by God?

The angel quickly assured him that he was safe. But not only was he safe, but the angel also assured him that his prayer had been answered. What prayer? The general prayer of salvation for God’s people? Maybe so, but apparently Zechariah was praying – like Hannah in the Old Testament prayed for a son, Samuel – that his wife would give birth to a son. I say this because the angel said that his prayer had been answered by reporting that Elizabeth would give birth to a son.

The angel further announced that Zechariah must name this child ‘John,’ which means “God is gracious.” He also announced that Zechariah and Elizabeth would experience much joy and gladness because of John’s birth and that beyond this, many other people would also experience much joy because of his birth, as well. This child would become a significant and impactful person in the sight of God in the outworking of God’s plan.

Like Samson and Samuel, this child would be raised to observe the Nazarite vow so that he would publicly stand out as a special servant of God, and God would give him a special enablement from the Holy Spirit – who is God – from infancy onward.

As an adult, this man would go on to have the kind of influence which would restore broken, intergenerational relationships between parents and children, and turn people disobedient to God to a lifestyle of following God’s ways. Most importantly, he would sensitive people to God’s truth so that they would be prepared and ready to recognize and follow Christ when he appeared.

The special ministry of this special man was promised more than four hundred years before by God himself through the prophet Malachi.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” (Mal 4:5-6)

This man would behave and have a ministry which resembled the highly respected and influential prophet, Elijah, from hundreds of years before, calling God’s people to turn away from idolatry to worshipping the one true God who loved them. So, by sending John the Baptist to do this work of preparing the way for Christ’s arrival, God was not doing something new or random. He was doing something he had promised to do many hundreds of years before.

He called for unquestioning faith. (1:18-25)

After hearing all these things from the angel standing beside the altar of incense, and after composing himself from his initial, terrified reaction, Zachariah asked how he could be certain that this would happen – reiterating the twofold problem which made this impossible, that he was too old to father a child and his wife was the same.

To answer this doubtful question, the angel identified himself as the angel Gabriel. He is one of only two archangels (or chief, topmost, most senior angels) of God named in Scripture. While the other archangel, Michael, seems to be primarily focused on overseeing the outworking of God’s plan in the spiritual realm (Dan 12:1), Gabriel seems to be primarily focused on the outworking of God’s plan in the material, human realm.

He gave key information to the prophet Daniel about what would happen on the final judgment day (Dan 8:16; 9:21-22), announced the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah, then sixth months later announced the birth of Jesus to Mary (Lk 1:11-20). To understand the significance of receiving a firsthand message from God through Gabriel, realize that this would be like receiving a special message or assignment from the President firsthand through the Vice President himself, only this was not the President and Vice President, but God and a highest-ranking angel.

Because Zechariah responded to this stunning announcement with doubt, Gabriel informed him that he would become mute – unable to speak – until the child was born. Why? “Because he did not believe [Gabriel’s] words.”

While this was going on, thousands of Israelites waited outside for Zechariah to come out from the Temple to indicate that God had received their prayers. They would have wondered why it was taking so long. Had God rejected their prayers? Was this an omen of bad things to come? Had Zechariah been struck dead?

You can imagine their confusion when Zechariah finally emerged but was unable to speak. As Luke describes, since Zechariah could not speak, he “beckoned” to the people instead, which means that he motioned to them with his hands to describe what had happened inside.

After his festival service in the Temple was complete, he returned home and Elizabeth soon became pregnant as Gabriel had promised, after which she isolated herself away from the public for five months. It was in the sixth month of her pregnancy, then, that Gabriel appeared to Mary to announce that she would give birth to Jesus (Lk 1:26-56).

Through John the Baptist, God prepared people to follow Christ. (1:57-80)

After Mary heard the news that she would become the mother of Jesus, she visited Elizabeth to tell her the news. Elizabeth happened to be a close relative to Mary (as close as a first cousin or as distant as a fellow descendant of the same tribe of Israel). These two ladies lived together for three months, after which Mary returned home, and Elizabeth gave birth to her son.

As it was customary for Jewish families to do, Zechariah and Elizabeth held a circumcision ceremony for their infant son on the eight day of his life. And to this point, Zechariah was still unable to speak. So, the people present at the ceremony (close friends and family) expected that the parents would name their child Zechariah, after his father. But Elizabeth insisted that they would name him ‘John,’ instead. This surprised everyone because there was no family relative called John.

This demonstrates that Zechariah had found a way – probably through writing – to tell his wife what to name the child, which indicated that he had chosen to believe the promise. So, the people turned from Elizabeth to ask Zechariah what he would name the child, thinking that Elizabeth was acting independently. To communicate with Zechariah, they made hand motions and gestures, which indicates that Zechariah was not only mute but deaf. So, he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.”

At this very moment, Zechariah was able to speak again, and he immediately began to praise God. This situation became the talk of the surrounding countryside for days to come, and people began to wonder what this baby would grow up to be and do. If God had performed such a miracle through his birth – after four hundred plus years of silence and apparent absence – why?

The rest of Luke 1 (vv. 67-80) records a song of prophecy which Zechariah spoke with guidance from the Holy Spirit. This song foretold what John the Baptist would say and do for God. This child would grow up to be a messenger on behalf of God’s plan of salvation from the beginning of time, traced through Abraham and God’s promises to him, through King David and God’s promised to him, and the Old Testament prophets and God’s promises through them.

He would be a prophet for God in his own right who would provide a direct connection from all that the Old Testament tells us and Christ, who was about to appear at last. He would awaken peoples’ consciences to their sin and unbelief and prepare their hearts to recognize and follow Christ.

As Zechariah said, he would “go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people…to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death...” What a remarkable and special ministry this man would have!

Slow down to consider your calling.

As we prepare our hearts for a special but busy holiday season, we find ourselves in the same position as the Israelites at their special festival observance, when Zechariah went into the Temple to offer incense and prayers to God. Though we probably will not come face to face with an angel standing beside our Christmas trees, we should slow down to consider our calling.

It is good to celebrate God’s promises and blessings. Christmas gives us a wonderful way to do that. But we must first be sure that our hearts are directed towards God in genuine prayer and worship and that we are focused on our special calling as witnesses for Christ.

John the Baptist’s entire life was designed to direct attention away from himself and toward Jesus. That’s a profoundly countercultural message at Christmas, when the season often becomes self‑focused, stressful, or consumer‑driven. And does not this materialistic, self-focused approach to Christmas reflect a larger materialistic, self-focused approach to our everyday, non-holiday lives?

As we head into a special holiday week, let’s remember that every believer shares John the Baptist’s calling in miniature — to prepare the way for Christ in the lives of others. Christmas gives unique opportunities to speak of Christ with family, coworkers, and neighbors who are more open than usual.

You should be prepared to do so. You should also remember that simple acts of faithfulness — kindness, forgiveness, hospitality, generosity — can function like John’s ministry, softening hearts and pointing people toward the Savior. Let us see Christmas not only as a celebration of Christ but as a mission field for Christ. How will you prepare and help people to come to Christ this Christmas season?

Let Christmas renew your trust in God’s plan.

Christmas marks the near end of another calendar year of life for people. It serves as a closure of sorts on one year and a preparation for another. Zechariah and Elizabeth, along with so many other Israelites, went through the motions of their own special holiday, only to be surprised by God’s special intervention after centuries of seeming silence. May we have a similar experience today.

May this be a time of renewed belief that God is working in special ways in your life even when you see nothing. For centuries God had seemed absent, yet He was quietly orchestrating everything. Christmas reminds us that God keeps His promises—even when His people feel forgotten.

Like Zechariah, don’t give up praying. What long-buried prayers of your own, rooted in the promises of God, have begun to fade? Bring them back with renewed hope knowing that God is a patient, faithful God who often answers prayers and fulfills promises over long periods of time for good and necessary reasons known only to him. He is honored when his people believe his promises and don’t remain in doubt.

Zechariah’s prayer for a child seemed impossible, yet God answered it at precisely the right moment. Christmas invites believers to trust God with the prayers they’ve stopped praying. Let this Christmas becomes a season of renewed trust in God’s timing, God’s promises, and God’s grace.

The birth of John the Baptist reminds us that God works out his plan in his perfect way, even when his timing feels slow and our need seems impossible. For centuries, God’s people had waited in silence, yet God was preparing the way for Christ through ordinary people who trusted Him.

This Christmas, let that truth renew your confidence in God’s promises. He is still working in your life, even when you cannot see it. Like John the Baptist, your calling is to point others to Jesus—not to yourself. So, as you celebrate the Savior’s birth this Christmas, prayerfully ask yourself, “How will I prepare the way for Christ in my home, my workplace, and my community?”

Through prayer, faith, and witness, you can help others see the light of Christ in a dark world. Trust His timing, embrace your calling, and let this season be more than a holiday—make it a time of renewed hope in prayer and a time of renewed commitment to your mission to prepare people to believe on Christ. Christmas reminds us that God keeps his promises—and that he calls us to prepare the way for Christ in the lives of others.

Rosaria Butterfield was a tenured English professor at Syracuse University and a prominent voice in the LGBTQ community as a lesbian activity. She was intelligent, influential, and deeply committed to her unbelieving, secular worldview.

One day, she received a letter from a local pastor who gently challenged her thinking and invited her to dinner. Instead of dismissing it, she accepted his invitation to his home.

That meal changed everything—not because of a debate, but because of hospitality. Week after week, Rosaria sat at the table of this Christian family, sharing meals with them and experiencing genuine Christian love. They didn’t treat her like a project; they treated her like a person. Over time, those conversations led her to open a Bible, wrestle with what it said, and eventually she believed on Christ.

After believing on Christ, Rosaria left her old life behind, married a gospel-believing, Bible-teaching pastor, and became a committed homemaker, mother, and grandmother. She wrote the excellent books The Gospel Comes with a House Key and The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert and speaks occasionally across the country, urging Christians to practice “radically ordinary hospitality.” She says, “God used a humble meal to bring me to Himself. He can use your table too.”

Rosaria’s story reminds us that preparing the way for Christ often happens through simple, faithful acts—like opening your home, sharing a meal, or listening well. This Christmas, who could you invite to your table? Who needs to see Christ through your kindness? Like John the Baptist, we’re called to point people to Jesus—not ourselves. As you are waiting on God this Christmas, perhaps he is waiting on you – to prepare the way for Christ.

Discussion Questions

• God’s work is not always immediate or visible. How do we behave when we expect otherwise?
  • Zechariah and Elizabeth are examples of framing expectations according to scriptural truth. What are some ordinary ways of imitating their consistent faithfulness in long term disappointment?
• What makes the Christmas season especially suitable for gospel witness?
  • What are some actionable steps we can take in our personal contexts to witness during the holiday season?
• Rosaria Butterfield’s conversion began through hospitality rather than an apparently ingenious argument or strategy. Why do you think invitations into one’s home are so powerful in this regard?
  • What practical obstacles prevent Christians from practicing hospitality, and how can we overcome them?

Introduction
A young twenty-something, recently moved to town, started working as a clerk at the general store. He came from nothing, really. Living almost his entire childhood barefoot, and hardly receiving any formal education. He began working at the age of seven. Rather than a mattress, he and his only sibling, a sister slept on a bed of cornhusks until the age of 10.

Despite his family’s poverty, he clung to the few books he had, developing his intellect through reading. Even more, he held fast to his sister, developing a bond through the bitter shared experiences. Tragically, he was even deprived of her when she passed just a couple years before his arrival. On his own, he set out to make a life for himself, gaining local popularity in that general store which was a communal center in that time. In a couple years from then, he ran for public office, eventually landing in the White House.

Abraham Lincoln’s story has inspired generations of young Americans to believe that even those from humble beginnings can achieve great things.

Each of the stories of miraculous births do not just share a miraculous nature. They also share a theme of God using the small, the downcast as a major part of the grandest story ever told. And we love these stories. We love to see the underdog triumph. But no one likes being the dog when he’s “under.”

And I don’t mean to make light of real pain. Numerous times, God gives us a window into the deep disappointment of individuals throughout history. Though, in Christ, God is writing this wonderful and massive story of victory and joy, He also includes loss and pain.

In God’s grand story, people experience disappointment.
Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. And he had two wives: the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. This man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. 1 Samuel 1:1–3

Why is it that Hannah desires children so much? Why is it that people in general, especially women, experience this deep longing for children? I’m sure there are many good angles from which to answer this question, but a good biblical way to answer it is: because God made us to be like Him. God made us this way. In fact, He made us this way, in part, because He wants us to “Be fruitful and multiply!”

I think if I were to ask any Christian in here, did God make Hannah to desire a child so much in this way, maybe all would have no problem saying, “Yes, He did!” Not only that, did God sovereignly orchestrate that Hannah would live in a time where bearing children was even more integral to the identity and security of women? Yes, he did! Even more, did He give Hannah to a man who would also marry a horrible woman who would mock her for her barrenness? Yes, God has made Hannah to earnestly desire to bear and raise children and has placed her exactly where she was.

God has put Hannah in this position of disappointment. And even more, the text leaves no doubt.

...although the Lord had closed her womb. 1 Samuel 1:5

…because the Lord had closed her womb. 1 Samuel 1:6

God is directly involved in Hannah’s deepest disappointment and abject brokenness. I don’t know if there are any truths more difficult to wrap our minds and hearts around than this one.

No one wants to see someone else suffer. No one wants to see another person in pain. It is hard for us to imagine God closing someone’s womb when He himself has made them and told them to want children. And yet, the Bible makes no bones about it.

How do we respond to difficult situations like Hannah’s?

1. We try to ignore the painful circumstances that we cannot change.

We could bring up many problems with this kind of response, but at least one is this: our emotions of grief and bitterness are a ticking time bomb. We cannot suppress these emotions indefinitely. Yet, sometimes we think that it is better to just push through.

2. We attribute the circumstances to mere chance.

This is the more common one, I think, for Christians. We have such a hard time blaming God for causing us pain that we decide that he must not have done it. We might say that somehow God ALLOWS this pain, but not that He caused it. Doesn’t that seem a little more acceptable? We try to keep God as being control, but not responsible for my pain.

But let me give you two reasons why it is better for God to be totally in control.

1. If God is in control of my pain, then there is a purpose in it and it is not random.

No doubt, it is a tall task for us to tell someone who is pain that they are hurting because God intends it. It’s never easy to thing to address someone’s suffering. But I ask you, what is the alternative? Would you rather that your suffering not matter?

Friend, what if I told you that God is doing something really important when He brings suffering?

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:2–4

We see this so obviously in the story of Hannah. You see, Peninah thinks that by tormeting Hannah she is winning. But just the opposite is happening, by her poking and prodding and kneading, she is driving Hannah exactly to where God wants her: to her knees.

“And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat.” 1 Samuel 1:6–7

Friend, I don’t think I can give everyone all the answers that they want for why such horrible and difficult things happen. They even happen to the best of people. How can I explain that?

Well, I don’t think I can give all the answers we would want. But I can give the one we need: God is intending all of these things in His kindness and His true goodness to accomplish His grand story. Your pain is a part of His story. If God is in control in this way, then your pain matters. Any alternative would mean that it is pointless.

If you have some familiarity with the story of the Bible, you know how God used Samuel. He was a man of exceptional godliness. In a time when people were doing whatever was right in their own eyes, priests were mocking God’s holiness by stealing his sacrifices, and kings rebelled against God’s direction, God rose up

This man had to come from godly parents who had been tested in the fire of trials. In Hannah’s infertility, we find the seed bed for spiritual revival in Israel. Can you imagine that?

I can’t promise that your financial difficulty, your unmet longings, your chronic illness, or your broken relationship will result in a national revival. But I can promise you this, it is a part of God’s glorious and grand story.

2. If God is in control of my pain, then He can help with it.
I want to look further at Hannah’s response. Look at her prayer again.

And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. Then she made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.” 1 Samuel 1:10–11

In commenting on verse 11, Robert D. Bergen says this: “Her pain had made her a theologian.” With nowhere else to turn, Hannah goes to the Lord of Hosts, the only One Who can do something about her problem.

And this is another problem with ignoring our pain and just trying to grin and bear it: we never receive the greatest benefit. The things we desperately want to change, but can’t push us to the One Who can change it!

God hears the hurting who humbly seek his help.

And what does she ask for from this Lord of hosts? Note the humility of Hannah’s prayer. No expectation at all. Total trust in the goodness of the Lord. But look in the text what does Hannah ask for?

For God to remember her. This is an ancient concept of keeping something at the forefront of your mind and doing something about the situation. We have songs that use the same concept, “Don’t you forget about me.” Or, “Remember me.”

She wants God to notice her, in her trouble and not leave her in it.

And what does God do?

Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord.” 1 Samuel 1:19–20

God does exactly what Hannah asked for. We need to be careful not to presume that God will always give us exactly what we ask for. Sometimes He doesn’t do that. But we have no doubt about this: God hears us. God remembered Hannah. And He will remember us if we humbly seek His help.

The greatest blessing of painful situations is that they have a special and bittersweet way of driving us to God for His help. Is there anyone in human history that felt smaller than Hannah? A woman in the ancient east who could not bear children, mocked by another woman who did give their shared husband children. And yet, we have perhaps one of the best examples in Scripture of prayer during a devastating trial.

We have one more thing to learn from her example. Eli asks her, in almost comical ignorance if she is drunk.

Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!” But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.” 1 Samuel 1:13–16

I haven’t been pouring drinks. I have been pouring out my soul. Friend, I don’t think we need a 1-2-3 step process of how to pray. We need to take the time to learn how to pour out our hearts before God.

Hannah wasn’t making demands or throwing a temper tantrum, complaining to God. She prayed based on Who God was, bearing her heart, her soul, which means the deepest parts of her. Her feelings and desires all opened up and confessed to God. This is the kind of prayer that God hears, and notice, there is no tension between earnestness and theology.

She knows Who God is (likely at least in part the result of godly leadership and discipleship from her husband Elkanah) and humbly leaves all of her pain at His feet. This is why it is so important to learn who God is. Dale Ralph Davis says it this way: "Believers use some of their best logic in prayer." Don’t let your theology end in your head. It is meant to come out in prayer.

God’s remembrance of Hannah didn’t start back at Ramah when she finally conceived.

And it happened, 1 Samuel 1:12

Some of the most pregnant (no pun intended) words in the Bible. The Bible does this often. It’s almost an ironically atheistic perspective. It just so happened that the spiritual leader of that time happened to be chilling near Hannah as she wept her heart out.

This was God at work, beginning the lifting up of Hannah and her family.

God honors the lowly by using them in his story.
This is what God does. God brings us low so He can lift us up.

Moses in the wilderness. David with the sheep. And most of all, Jesus. In Philippians 2, Paul describes how Jesus humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant. And He even goes so far as death in His humility and lowness. But only so that God would highly exalt Him.

But each one of these examples, including Hannah and Samuel, demonstrates that God does not exalt those who are low for their own glory. It is always for His.

“The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the beggar from the ash heap, To set them among princes And make them inherit the throne of glory. “For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, And He has set the world upon them. 1 Samuel 2:6–8

Which categories do you think Hannah thought she was in? Hannah rejoices because her son is exalted in service to God. For her, it is an honor and a privilege to give your son to ministry in God’s plan.

Parents, it a high honor for your child to serve the Lord in vocational ministry. Pastor Thomas often emphasizes (rightfully so) that all work is sacred. That all of our vocations and occupations are for God’s glory and should be viewed as unto Him first. However, there is a special way in which vocational ministry is good and a privilege to do.

It is not the most glamorous or materially prosperous way of living. And it shouldn’t be! Eli and his sons experienced a lot of consequences because they served God’s people for money! But there is an honor in it, and we should be excited if God calls one of our sons to serve Him in full time ministry.

As I say though, the way in which God exalts all of us is by using us in His great plan. Hannah rejoiced, not that her son would have a nice house, or a nice family, a good-paying job, or even that he was a nice guy. Hannah rejoiced to see her son, the son that God had given her, serving the Lord.

Her song of praise revealed what really mattered to her.

Conclusion

Some of you, I know the challenges and even the heartaches that you face. Some, I am sure I do not know. This kind of perspective on disappointment is not a popular one. And I admit, it is not an easy one to accept. But I think there is a reason that “Antidepressant prescriptions more than tripled between 1998 and 2018…” (British Journal of General Practice)

Part of being able to process our grief is understanding its part in God’s grand plan. Through Hannah’s struggle with infertility, God brought Samuel, the prophetic priest-judge, who would anoint King David. The very throne that Samuel established is the one that the King of Kings will reign on for eternity.

Mom, those thankless diapers that you change find their meaning in God’s grand story. Dad, those long hours and exhausted mornings, they matter because of God’s great plan. Those tears that just don’t seem to stop. Those dreams that were shattered. Those longings that just make you feel empty. They are a part of God’s plan to make you like Jesus and draw you to Himself. So don’t waste your disappointment.

Let me leave you with two ways of application.

Pray because God hears you.
Take time to pray. This year we will be doing so as a church. Make those a priority. And make time for personal prayer. There is no magic recipe. Sit down, remind yourself of Who God is, pray according to His will, and pour your heart out.

Serve because God exalts you.
The highest honor in life is to serve God. It is in serving Him that He exalts us. He never exalts us for our own glory. Love to give yourself, your time, your resources, and your effort to others because thats what it means to participate in God’s story.

I don’t think I could sum up what Hannah did and what God is calling us to do than to say it in the same way Jesus did:

Matthew 11:28–29 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Discussion Questions

• What are some ways that people respond to painful circumstances?
• What is it that we can be confident that God is doing through our disappointing circumstances? (see James 1:2-4)
• Describe Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 1:11. How can we follow her example?
• How can pain make us “theologians,” as Hannah’s did for her?
• Why is it that we might find it difficult or awkward to “pour our hearts out to God?” What are some steps we can take to overcome these things to improve our prayer lives?
• How does viewing ministry as God’s honor to us change the way a Christian approaches hidden, thankless tasks at church, at home, or at work?

Judges 13:1-25

Who doesn’t like a good dragon story? A king leaves his throne and kingdom to a worthy descendant and heir, but a deceptive and powerful dragon plots to destroy the heir so that he can sit upon the throne of the kingdom, instead. There are many variations of this story in fictional literature, but this is essentially the story of history in this world.

In the Garden of Eden, the serpent – Satan – attempts to overthrow God’s kingdom by luring the entire human race into sin and rebellion against God. But God promised to provide the world with a good and rightful heir who would rule over the universe for him. And he would provide this heir through the birth of a child to a woman.

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children …” (Gen 3:15-16)

From this we see that there would be, as there has been, an ongoing struggle between the serpent and the woman. In this struggle, the serpent is represented by people or offspring who oppose God’s plans and his people in keeping with Satan’s plan to oppose God, culminating with the Antichrist. The women, then, is represented by Eve and her godly offspring throughout history, culminating with Christ.

Throughout Scripture, offspring (or actors) appear in biblical history as allies with the serpent: (1) Egypt/Pharaoh, (2) Canaanite and Moabite leaders, (3) the king of Babylon, (4) King Herod, (5) Pharisees/Sadducees, and (6) false teachers.

• Ezek 32:2 calls the Egyptian pharaoh a “dragon in the seas,” a serpent-like sea monster like the one John describes in Rev 12:1-5. It’s also worth noting how images of Egypt’s revered snake God adorned the headdress of their pharaohs, yet how God transformed Moses’ walking staff into a snake that devoured the snakes of Pharaoh’s magicians. Egypt opposed God’s people by enslaving them and attempting to slaughter her babies (Exo 1:11-22).
• Jeremiah described the king of Babylon (Jer 51:34) and the Babylonian people (Jer 8:17) as a sea monster and poisonous snakes, respectively, who would enslave and oppress God’s people.
• King Herod represents the same deceptive and destructive intentions of Pharaoh and Babylon when he intended to murder Jesus as a child then ordered the killing of all young boys in Bethlehem (Matt 2:13-18).
• This theme of the serpent opposing God’s people features a surprising twist in the New Testament (NT) when Christ repeatedly calls the Pharisees and Sadducees (the religious leaders of the Jewish people!) snakes and poisonous vipers (Matt 3:7; Matt 12:34; 23:33). He makes his reasons for this stunningly clear in Matt 23:29:36 when he portrays them as coming from the serpent’s offspring who killed Abel in the beginning.
• Paul extends this correlation even further when he portrays false teachers in the church today carrying out the serpent’s strategy which he began in Eden, deceiving people through their appearance and words (2 Cor 11:2-4, 13-15; Rom 16:17-20).

One of the keyways this struggle plays out in Scripture is by tracking the births of children. Not only does Satan try to undermine and prevent childbirth in general, but some decisive moments in this struggle take place through some extraordinary births. And though every childbirth is significant, some births in history are especially significant because they show God intervening in the world in a miraculous way to defeat the serpent.

On four of the next five Sundays, we’ll look at four incredible births from biblical history which show how God intervened to bring salvation to his people in an extraordinary way. Today, we’ll look at the birth of a man named Samson, a birth recorded in the OT book of Judges. This book tells of a very dark time for God’s people, Israel – a time in which it seemed like the
serpent was gaining the upper hand against God and his people.

God is faithful even when his people are not.

Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. (13:1)

The book of Judges records what happened after Moses brought the people of Israel to the Promised Land and after Joshua led them into the Promised Land to settle there. It lasts until the time of the prophet Samuel, King Saul, and King David. Throughout this book, a repeated four-part cycle occurs:

• The people turn away from God. (“did what was right in their own eyes”)
• God would cause one of their neighboring enemies to rule over them.
• His people eventually turn back to God and cry out for deliverance.
• He would raise up a person called a judge to lead them back to freedom.

This cycle occurs six times over a period of 350-400 yrs and this chapter begins the sixth and final cycle. But rather than destroy the people of Israel and remove them from their land, God remained faithful to them even when they were not faithful to him. He would not allow the serpent to win.

God’s people had become comfortable with life without him.

This final cycle is unique from the others in an important way. In previous cycles, the people recognize their failure, repent, and cry out to God for deliverance. But that was not the case this time. We read, instead, that they “did evil in the sight of the Lord” and that God “delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years,” but nothing is said of them crying out to God or repenting of their sins.

When compared to the previous times of oppression, this had been the longest – forty years, an entire generation. Despite this long time, the people showed no interest in God.

In this cycle the Israelites display little discomfort or evidence of even wanting to be delivered. (Daniel Block)

They had become comfortable in their subpar life apart from God. They had given up and given in. Rather than stand up to the ungodly culture around them, they had settled into the ungodly culture as their new normal. Rather than represent God and attempt to bring their enemies to faith in him, they either avoided them or befriended them, instead. They decided that blending in was better than standing up for God.

God intervened through an unexpected birth.

Since the people of Israel were not seeking God’s deliverance, he could easily and justly have left them alone, judged them more severely, or removed them from the land. But because he is merciful to his people and faithful to his promises, desiring good and not evil, he intervened to deliver them anyway. Such mercy was certainly unexpected. But there were other unexpected, unusual things about this birth, as well:

• Samson would be born to a family from the most unlikely tribe – Dan.
• He would be born to a mother who was unable to have children.
• This would be the first time a judge was called before they existed.
• His birth would be announced by a special messenger from God.

About the tribe of Dan, if the twelve tribes of Israel had been given ratings, this tribe would’ve been rated among the worst. Though it was second largest in population, it was least successful at securing and settling its land due to a careless mindset, leaving them living alongside the pagan Amorites and Philistines for a long time. It took them three- to four-hundred years to resolve this problem, when they finally migrated much farther north to resettle there. They would go on to build an idol and establish their own priesthood separate from Jerusalem, showing blatant disregard for worshipping God the right way.

About Samson’s mother, she was married to a man named Manoah and most importantly, she was barren, which means she had no children and was unable to bear any. This places her into a group of five other mothers in Scripture who also gave birth to children even though they were physically unable to do so: Sarah (Isaac), Rebekah (Esau/Jacob), Rachel (Joseph), Hannah (Samuel), Elizabeth (John the Baptist). Since this woman was unable to bear children, to do so would require a miracle by God.

He grants the barren woman a home, like a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord! (Psa 113:9)

By speaking to Samson’s parents, God recruited a judge who had not yet come into existence. Until that time, he had only recruited judges who were already alive. Why would he do it this way now? Perhaps because he wanted a judge who would know from the start of his life that he would have a special calling and purpose. Or perhaps to take every precaution to ensure that Samson would know his purpose from the very beginning of his life before anything else had affected or influenced him.

Finally, Samson’s birth was announced by a special messenger. This was a rare circumstance, something that only occurred for the births of Isaac, John the Baptist, and Jesus Christ. Such a special, direct announcement from a supernatural messenger like this showed that God was very involved in the birth and that this birth would be a very important part of his purpose and plan.

We can see that Samson’s birth was important. But despite all these special details from God, God called Samson’s parents to take an active role in raising him in a godly way.

God called both parents and child to a countercultural life.

Most of this chapter focuses not on Samson or on God’s plan and purpose for him, but on Samson’s parents. From this chapter, we see how closely this couple communicated and partnered together and how seriously they took God’s instructions.

In the first section which describes this child’s parents, we see that the messenger from God appeared to the wife first. After this, she immediately went to her husband, Manoah, to tell him what she had seen and heard. Manoah responded by praying that God would make the same message clear to him. God responded by appearing to the wife again, who then immediately went to her husband, again. This time, they were able to interact with this messenger together and received the same instructions as before.

The instructions applied directly to the wife and also to Samson who would be born. These instructions outlined the “Nazarite vow,” which Moses had given the Israelites centuries before (Num 6:1-21). This vow was for anyone not born into the priestly class who wanted to set themself apart for God’s special service. To distinguish themself from other regular Israelites, they followed a strict set of guidelines that would make it clear they were different. They would never drink wine, never touch anything unclean, and never cut their hair. Because of these guidelines, it would always be obvious who the Nazarites were.

In this case, there was a unique twist in that God expected not only Samson but also his mother to follow Nazarite vow. His mother from that moment until the day he was born, then Samson from birth to death. God chose a God-fearing couple in some outlying, small town to raise a child who would rescue their people – but he called them to live a very distinct life, different from the people around them in a way that would clearly stand out.

God revealed and carried out this plan himself directly.

Once this couple was on the same page, they responded with determination to obey God. First, they invited the messenger to stay for a meal. When this was denied, they offered a burnt offering of worship to the Lord instead, and in the process of doing so, they made a shocking discovery: this special messenger was not an angel but God himself!

Notice how the identity of the messenger unfolds from beginning to end of this chapter:

• Called the “angel of the Lord” by the narrator (13:3)
• Called first “a man of God” by the wife (13:6)
• Then called “the angel of God” by her, as well (13:6)
• Manoah called him “the man of God” (13:8)
• Then the wife called him “the man,” and so did Manoah (13:10, 11)
• The messenger says, “I am” (which echoes how God identified himself to Moses in the burning bush, Exo 3:14) and how Christ would call himself “I am” in the Gospels
• Then the narrator calls him “the angel of the Lord” (13:13, et al.) but points out that Manoah and his wife did not know he was “the angel of the Lord”
• At last, Manoah asks the messenger for his proper name, and the messenger says it is “wonderful” – which means too difficult to describe or comprehend

At this point, Manoah offered a burnt sacrifice to God in the presence of the messenger, who then entered into the flames and ascended upwards into the sky and beyond. At this point, Manoah realized at last that this messenger was not just from God but was God himself. “We shall surely die,” he exclaimed, “because we have seen God!” (13:22).

From this we see God was just as involved in preparing for the birth of Samson as he was in calling Moses at the burning bush to lead Israel out of slavery in Egypt. This was one special example of God at work in history through the godly offspring of the woman, fulfilling what he had promised in Gen 3:15.

Jesus Christ is our ultimate, perfect Savior.

A more thorough study of Scripture reveals that whenever this special figure called “the angel of the Lord” appears in the OT, it is actually a preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ himself. Incredible. And this leads to a very important point not only in this chapter and story but in anything else God does in his plan for rescuing mankind from Satan, sin, and death. That no one – not even the special people he calls to do important work for him – can provide real, lasting deliverance and salvation. Notice what Judg 13:5 says:

He [Samson] shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. (13:5)

Notice the word begin. Though this child would do things to help God’s people break free from the oppression of the pagan Philistines, he would not finish the job. In a certain way, who completed the work of freeing God’s people from the oppression of the Philistines? King David when he defeated Goliath and the Israelites defeated the Philistines for good.

Remember how I mentioned that Egypt and the Pharoah, Babylon, King Herod, the Pharisees, and false teachers today all represent the efforts of the serpent, Satan, to overthrow the rule and plan of God? Well, the Philistines (and Canaanites) – whom Samson and eventually King David overthrew – are also portrayed very clearly as another representation of the serpent’s efforts at overthrowing God’s plan.

Numb 24:17 tells how the offspring of Israel would “crush the forehead of Moab” and other psalms and prophecies make similar claims reminiscent of Gen 3:15 towards Canaanite leaders who oppressed God’s people. The OT emphasizes this theme by highlighting details like Goliath having “scaly armor” or David striking Goliath’s head with a stone then beheading him. So, both Samson (who began the work) and David (who finished it) would win important victories over the serpent (Satan) by defeating the Philistines.

Even so, who would be the only person who would ever actually deliver God’s people from their real problem – the problem of sin within their own hearts? After all, no matter how many prophets, judges, or kings God would send to his people, his people would continue to drift away from him and back towards their sinful lifestyles. The only one who would ever offer real, lasting deliverance for his people would be Jesus Christ himself, the very one who made this announcement to Manoah and his wife.

An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matt 1:20-21)

Have you turned to Christ for deliverance from the oppression and bondage of your sin?
And if you have, what is your role in overcoming the influence and efforts of the serpent today? God still operates in such a way that some people begin things for God, while others finish them. As Paul once said (1 Cor 3:5-8):

Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

What are you beginning or carrying on which overcomes the serpent and points people to faith in Christ, helping people take their next steps in following him?

God calls parents and children to countercultural lives.

The birth of Samson highlights a keyway God’s people overcome participate with him in overcoming the serpent – they do this by marrying and raising children for him. You see, getting married and raising children isn’t just a special way to experience and joy life for yourself – so that you can be loved and have children to call your own. Though these things are certainly real benefits of marriage and family, these are not the ultimate purpose of marriage and family.

The ultimate, original purpose of marriage and family according to Gen 1 is to be fruitful and multiply so that we will have dominion over the whole earth for God’s sake, expanding his good reign and influence to the world (Gen 1:28). Said another way, the purpose of marriage and family is to spread the influence of Jesus Christ to the world, overcoming the influence of the serpent.

Isn’t it fascinating (and sad) how marrying and raising children has become an increasingly unimportant or even negative aspiration today?

• Declining marriage rates and rising cohabitation
• Historically low fertility (1.6 per woman, below the replacement rate of 2.1 per woman)
• Increasingly delayed, postponed childbirth (until late 30s and beyond, prioritizing education, careers, and experiences over childbearing)
• Rise in media messaging and narratives portraying singleness as better than marriage and having children as more burdensome than having none (and having more as more burdensome than having less)
• A growing belief that children are too expensive

A recent Pew Research survey found this about U.S. 12-graders:

- Only 67% report they'll likely get married someday⁠
- Interest in marriage from 12th-grade girls dropped 22%⁠
- Only 48% of 12th graders are very likely to want kids⁠

To be sure, marriage and raising children isn’t easy, but it’s an awesome and wonderful privilege and calling God gives to most people. When we de-prioritize this, we give way to the serpent and behave like the people of Israel in the period of the Judges. We do “what is right in our own eyes” and become comfortable with the ungodly, selfish culture of people around us.

Today, God isn’t calling parents to take or raise children to take the Nazirite vow, as he did for Samson and his parents, but he is calling parents who have believed on Christ to raise children “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Eph 6:4).

As a parent, where should you receive guidelines for child-training and insights, for your parental instructions? Notice how Paul says that the training and admonition you provide should be “of the Lord.” This means that you should get your parenting methods and insights from the Lord, or more specifically, from Scripture. Knowing this, it is important that you do not raise your children based upon popular psychology (i.e. Parenting Magazine), cultural traditions, worldly wisdom, personal intuition, and methods simply handed down to you from your parents and grandparents.  Ultimately, God holds parents responsible to train their children to follow his way.

And in raising children, God calls parents to partner together – father and mother – to be in sync for God. This means that the wife should not “do her own thing” apart from her husband and visa versa. Like Samson’s mother communicated clearly and consistently with Manoah, her husband, so Christian wives must do the same today. They should not “do their own thing” independently of their husbands but should work in close communication and partnership, in submission, with her husband. Likewise, a husband should take responsibility for what is happening in the home and should do whatever he can to support and care for his wife in the raising of their children for Christ.

Just as Samson’s parents took seriously hearing and obeying the Word of God, so Christian parents today need to return to God and his Word in our homes. Before we can expect change in the White House, we need to bring about such change in our own house. We need the Bible back in our homes more than we need it back in our schools. We need a revival of parents who take God’s Word as seriously as Samson’s parents did. We need parents who are willing to stand out as different from the culture around us and to stop doing “what is right in our own eyes.” We need parents who will work closely together to hear and do what God’s Word says and to lead their children to do the same.

To those who are not yet married, let me encourage you to prepare for marriage and pray to be married. Take marriage and child raising seriously. When you're looking for someone to marry, insist on someone who not only knows what the Bible says but believes and trembles at everything they know God says.

As I say frequently, don’t be willing to marry someone who merely says they believe in God or who says they believe on Christ. Insist on marrying someone who has a clear profession of personal faith in the gospel, has went on to obey Christ through public baptism by immersion, and then has continued on by joining, participating, and serving faithfully in a gospel-preaching, Bible teaching church.

After all, why should you marry? Simply to be happy and enjoy your life in new ways? No. You should marry to raise up a godly seed, God-fearing children for God who will push back against and overcome the efforts of the serpent to overthrow God. How in the world can you expect to do this when you marry a spouse who doesn’t take God’s Word seriously him- or herself? Friends, you want a husband or wife who more than nice and more than respectable – you want a spouse who fears and trembles at God’s Word and who does what Jesus says in Scripture no matter what. You want a spouse who is willing themselves to live a countercultural life for Christ’s sake.

As Samson’s parents made decisions before Samson was born, the spiritual decisions you make for God now will affect the spirituality of your future children, even those not yet born. To be sure, no matter what you do, you or your children will never be or bring the final, complete solution to the problem of our world – which is sin – but we and our children can and must be devoted to living countercultural lives with the purpose of bring people to faith and submission to Christ, our ultimate Savior.

How can grandparents, widows and widowers, single parents, and all church members apply and participate in these things, as well? These are important questions for us to ask and to answer. May we be a church who does not grow weary in being different from the culture around us and who bands together to encourage good, godly marriages and raising good, godly children for Christ’s sake.

The birth of Samson reminds us that God works powerfully even in the darkest times, and His plans cannot be thwarted by the serpent’s schemes. Though Samson’s life began with divine intervention and a clear calling, his mission was only the beginning of God’s greater work—a work completed in Jesus Christ, our ultimate Deliverer.

Today, the same spiritual battle continues, and God calls us to live countercultural lives that reflect His truth in a world that has grown comfortable without Him. Whether through marriage and parenting, we are called to push back against the influence of sin and expand the reign of Christ. Let us recommit ourselves to God’s Word, to building godly marriages, to raising godly children, and to encouraging one another in holiness, so that our homes and our church shine as lights in a culture that desperately needs the Savior. May we not grow weary, but press on in faith, knowing that the victory belongs to the Lord.

This week, can you take one intentional step to make your home a place where God’s Word is heard and obeyed—whether that means starting family devotions, praying with your spouse, or encouraging someone toward a Christ-centered marriage? If you are single who has not yet married, can you commit or recommit yourself to the important of marriage and the intentionally preparing to be a spouse who trembles at God’s Word while seeking a spouse who obeys God’s Word above all else, as well? Like Samson’s parents, let’s choose to live counterculturally for the glory of Christ.

Discussion Questions
Life101

• How does the birth of Samson fit in God’s bigger story of the struggle between the serpent and the woman?
  • How do we fit into that story?  How can we be a part of opposing the serpent’s work in our time?
• In what ways are we “comfortable in life without God,” settling for worldly priorities and habits? What are some attitudes and priorities that we should repent of?
  • What are some ways that we can guard against this spiritual complacency creeping in?
• Why is having children, let alone godly parenting, so unpopular? (HINT: What are our underlying priorities and desires?)
  • How do followers of Jesus struggle with these things?

Digging Deeper

• Reflecting on the birth of Samson and the garden of Eden, what is the importance of male headship and female support in decision making?

Ecclesiastes 2:1-17; 12:13-14

It’s not about you.

Use of the word narcissism rose dramatically in recent years. We know this from Google search occurrences as well as occurrences in books, magazines, newspapers, and social media. Usage was near zero in the 1970s, but since the publication of books like The Culture of Narcissism (Christopher Lasch, 1979), the term has become increasingly popular. In 2023, it was one of the top searched psychological terms.

We can classify how we use the term into two categories – clinical and popular. Clinical refers to a state-licensed psychologist assigning this term to a person. Popular refers to how everyone else uses the term to describe people they believe to be such a person.

Inspiration for the term came from a character in Greek mythology named Narcissus. He was a man and a hunter known for his extraordinary good looks. Rather than marry, build friendships, or engage with other people, he spent the majority of his time staring at his own reflection in a pool of water.

The official, clinical (APA) definition of the term is as follows:

a personality disorder with the following characteristics: (a) a long-standing pattern of grandiose self-importance and an exaggerated sense of talent and achievements; (b) fantasies of unlimited [gratification and indulgence]; (c) an exhibitionistic need for attention and admiration; (d) either cool indifference or feelings of rage, humiliation, or emptiness as a response to criticism, indifference, or defeat; and (e) various interpersonal disturbances, such as feeling entitled to special favors, taking advantage of others, and inability to empathize with the feelings of others.

This definition was created by one psychologist and two psychoanalysts. For a person to be diagnosed with NPD (narcissistic personality disorder), a certified professional must identify at least five of these characteristics. This is a small percentage of people.

The more common use of this term, though, is the popular way. When a person experiences what they perceive to be pronounced selfishness from another person, they say, “that person is a narcissist” and will Google the term to verify their impression. Here are some humorous takes on this subject:

• If your favorite keyboard shortcut is Ctrl U, you might be a narcissist.
• If you love air because it’s all about you, you might be a narcissist.
• If a friend asks you if you think he’s a narcissist and you sigh and respond, “It’s not always about you, you know,” you might be a narcissist.

Many people have been called narcissists by other people and many people who are called narcissists think to themselves, “If anyone is a narcissist, it’s not me but you.” And so, the finger-pointing begins. Such claims and conversations are all too common. Have you been called a narcissist? Have you been tempted to call someone else a narcissist?

Professionals say there may be genetic, biological, or environmental reasons for this behavior, with some suggesting a combination of the three; but in reality, no person actually knows with any certainty where such behavior comes from. In reality, is narcissism actually a distinct psychological problem or is it something else?

When we speak about narcissism, we’re ultimately talking about a spiritual problem. The professional APA definition of this term is rather abstract and subjective. After all, it’s what two psychoanalysts and a psychologist came up with, but this is hardly a clear condition with any concrete scientific basis. What it seems to be, instead, is an excessive, pronounced, and very predictable manifestation of selfishness based on observation.

What’s fascinating about the rise in so-called narcissism is how the conversation and interest in this concept seems to parallel the rise in our culture’s emphasis and promotion of self-esteem and “self-love.” While we speak out against narcissism on one hand (as bad), we promote self-esteem and encourage “self-love” on the other (as good). Is it possible that our focus on self-esteem and “self-love” has actually encouraged the rise in what we call narcissism? Most importantly, how should we think about this problem from a biblical standpoint?

Today, let’s gain some biblical perspective for how to think about narcissism. And since the APA definition of narcissism is nothing more than a collection of distinctively selfish behaviors and characteristics, I will address the problem as a strong manifestation of selfishness – which is something for which God has a real solution.

Selfishness is a mindset that disregards both God and others to pursue personal desires instead.  

This description makes a distinction between what we often call “self-care” on one hand and “self-centeredness” on the other. And this is an important distinction to make, because one is good and essential while the other is sinful.

• “Self-care” refers to making taking proper care of yourself, making responsible choices which encourage your own spiritual, physical, and emotional health. If you do not take care of yourself, then how can you worship God or take care of others well? This is why soldiers must get adequate physical exercise and why pilots must get adequate sleep. Sleep pilots aren’t safe, right? The following are two good examples of this from Scripture, the first speaks of physical health and the other of spiritual health.

I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. (1 Cor 9:27)

Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Lk 6:3-5)

Unfortunately, we can easily shift our focus from taking proper care of ourselves to indulging and pampering ourselves. This is the problem of being “self-centered” or selfish. We do this when we develop an oversized sense of self-importance and an inflated, exaggerated sense of what our needs really are.

All human beings have a natural, sinful tendency to be self-centered, self-seeking people who seek our own gratification and happiness at the expense of others, and we also naturally do so with little genuine regard for honoring and pleasing God first of all.

Romans 1:25 tells us how this started:

[We] exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator …

What is “the lie” that we traded away the truth of God to believe? Gen 3:5 tells us that it was the lie from Satan that we deserve to be treated like God. This is the root problem of selfishness – it is treating myself as importantly as or more importantly than God. 2 Tim 3:1-2 tells us that this was not only a problem at the beginning of human existence, but it is a serious problem today, as well.

Know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves …

In this verse, Paul goes on to list nineteen sinful attitudes and qualities that will characterize people living today in our time, but the first of these sins which is the root of them all is “lovers of themselves.” This describes people who make pleasing themself the number one priority in their life. Jam 3:14-15 urges us to diagnose this problem in our own hearts and abandon it if symptoms exist:

If you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

“Self-seeking” describes a willingness to fight to see your own personal ambitions fulfilled, even if it hurts other people. If you see evidence of this tendency in your life, then be aware that this tendency is not from God but has evil, demonic, devilish origins. Phil 2:3-4 says even more about this tendency:

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Here, Paul also urges us remove all “selfish ambition” from our lives. He also says to do nothing with the motive of “conceit,” which refers to excessive ambitions and personal recognition. He also warns not to “look out for your own things,” which means not to make your own desires, interests, opinions, and preferences the thing your primary focus.

So, if narcissism is “excessive selfishness,” then isn’t this what these statements from Jesus, James, and Paul are warning against – and don’t their warnings indicate that this is a more general, widespread human problem, not an isolated one unique to certain outlying individuals? And if so, we must also acknowledge that it is entirely possible – even expected – that a genuine follower of Christ not only can but must be able to acknowledge this tendency in his or her life and turn away from it.

Though some people may (and I say may very cautiously) have an excessive, pronounced set of selfish behaviors and tendencies due to mysterious biological, genetic, or environmental factors, even then what we’re talking about is a pronounced sinful behavior – sinful behaviors due to a deeply rooted self-centered, self-focused heart, something which the gospel can transform and overcome.

When we speak about narcissism, what we’re often doing is claiming that another person is more selfish than I am, implying somehow that whatever selfishness I may exhibit is more normal and understandable, deserving of grace and patience on the part of others, while the person I call a narcissist is exhibiting selfishness on an abnormal, intolerable level, thereby excusing me from responding to them with the grace that I myself desire.

Here, we must remind ourselves:

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. (Lk 6:1-2)

A little boy and his younger sister were riding a toy rocking horse together. The boy said to his sister, in a frustrated tone, “If one of us would get of the horse, there would be more room for me!” Have you ever felt the same way? Saying to yourself, “If one of us would just stop being a narcissist, life would be so much easier for me!”

As a pastor, I’m convinced we live in a society as Paul predicted in which vast numbers of people are, indeed, “lovers of their own selves” (2 Tim 3:2). Call this an epidemic of narcissism if you will, but we can be more helpful and call it a strong, widespread self-centeredness which infects us all far more deeply than we care to admit. And rather than solving that problem in our own hearts, we find it easier to diagnose others instead.

Let’s read from the journal of a person who lived an excessively selfish lifestyle. As we do, we’ll see how their excessively selfish lifestyle failed to satisfy their desire for a meaningful life. Then we’ll see the solution to this spiritual problem which he discovered.

A self-centered life is ultimately unsatisfying.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-17

Let’s read from the journal of a person who lived an excessively selfish lifestyle. As we do, we’ll see how their excessively selfish lifestyle failed to satisfy their desire for a meaningful life. Then we’ll see the solution to this spiritual problem which he discovered.

This passage is a short sample of what most of the rest of this book describes. It describes a grand experiment performed by a man named King Solomon, who set out to experience to the full whatever pleasure he could imagine. He was able to do this because of his great and excessive power and wealth as a king.

According to Scripture, King Solomon was the wisest, wealthiest, most powerful person alive in his day. As a man in this very unique position, he decided to put all his energy, power, and resources into pursuing and experiencing anything he could want and enjoy. He said to himself “in his heart” “I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure” (2:2). Then he said out loud (2:10):

Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure.

According to his own words, he pursued a lot of things:

• Comedy and humor – laughter (2:2)
• Celebration and parties (2:2)
• Alcohol (2:3)
• Education and study – wisdom (2:3)
• Building numerous impressive houses (2:4)
• Planted numerous vineyards (grapes), gardens (flowers), orchards (fruit), and fruit trees (2:4-5)
• Installed impressive pools and irrigation systems (2:6)
• Employed large teams and staffs of servants and employees to do whatever he asked (2:7)
• Bred and purchased large herds of cattle and flocks of goats and sheep – more than anyone else had ever done in that region before (2:7)
• Accumulated vast amounts of silver and gold, as well as treasures from kings and other nations (2:8)
• Accumulated large male and female singers and musicians with elite skills, along with all sorts of musical instruments, too (2:8)
• According to 1 Kgs 11:3, we also know that King Solomon married 1,000 wives.

A key mark of all these things that Solomon pursued for himself here is that he did this for his own benefit and at the expense of other people. He also did these things without regard for God, disregarding God’s commands and purpose for his life.

The immediate result of this pursuit of self-gratification was that he became more powerful, exceptional, and skillful than anyone else in the world. But at the end of all these selfish pursuits and grand accomplishments and experiences, he concluded that all that he had accomplished was “vanity” and “grasping for the wind.” There were no real, good, lasting benefits from any of these pursuits in themselves.

What’s fascinating about these things he pursued is that many, if not most, were not themselves sinful – though marrying 1,000 wives was a serious problem for sure. The root problem with all these pursuits was not their inherent sinfulness but that Solomon pursued these things in an excessive way and for selfish reasons. He did not pursue these things for the glory of God and the benefit of other people. As a result, these amazing accomplishments and experiences left him feeling far from satisfied (Eccl 2:17):

Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

According to the myth of Narcissus, the man who stared at himself in a pool of water - that self-absorbed man was never able to experience satisfaction but died empty and hopeless as he wasted away at the edge of the pool, staring at himself.

To “hate” here means to strongly dislike and to be “distressed” means to feel grief and sorrow rather than happiness and satisfaction and to find little value in life not much. When a person devotes his or her life to fulfilling their own desires – even good ones – at the expense of God and others, they will ultimately experience sadness and disappointment. So, if this is the case, then what is the solution? At the end of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon gives us a better perspective. How can we turn from our self-centered, self-focused, self-gratifying mindset to a mindset that will not leave us with regrets in the end?

A God-centered life is ultimately satisfying.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

After devoting himself to fulfilling his heart’s desires, Solomon concluded that it would be far better if he had devoted himself to fearing God instead. What does it mean to fear God? Simply put, to fear God means to may attention to pursue what God desires over your own desires. And to know what God desires you must know “his commands,” which means to know what his Word says so that you can pursue that from your heart. In other words, we should pay attention to what God’s Word says than what your heart says.

“This is man’s all” means something like “this is for every person” or “this applies to every person” or “this is the duty of every person.” In the end, God will hold every person accountable not for how many great things they accomplished in this life or how many personal desires and goals they fulfilled, but for how greatly they devoted themselves to fulfilling his own desires for them. This is true for every person.

This idea that we are most genuinely fulfilled and satisfied when we put fulfilling God’s desires over our own was at the heart of Jesus Christ’s teaching, too.

Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Here Jesus makes a very important connection. He connects elevating and pursuing God’s desires to loving and serving other people. The Apostle John does the same thing when he says (1 Jn 4:20):

He who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

To solve the problem of selfishness in your heart, the solution is to pursue God’s desires instead – as revealed in his Word – and when we do that, we’ll find ourselves making others a priority over ourselves.

I know you’re not King Solomon – you don’t have unlimited wealth and power to pursue your hearts desires. But as Americans, we have far more freedom, resources, and wealth than most people in the world – and we’re products of a culture that which widely mistakes “self-love” for “self-care,” encouraging us to disregard God and others to pursue personal desires instead. There should be no surprise, then, that we are also experiencing high levels of what we’ve come to call “narcissism” as well as high levels of anxiety and disappointment. But there is a better way. “Fear God and keep his commandments.” “Love God and love others first.”

It’s not about you – it’s about God [and others.]

To conclude, let me leave you with two questions to carry home and ask in the quiet of your own heart before God. I will ask these questions of your choices this past week, but may we ask ourselves these questions of our choices in the week ahead, as well:

• First, when you examine the real motives behind your choices this past week—your time, money, words, activities, actions—whose pleasure and glory were you pursuing most: your own or the God’s? And when you stand before God someday, will you be able to say that you made your choices in order to please him?
• Second, if the people closest to you—your spouse, your children, your roommate, your church family—were asked to describe the center of your life, would they honestly say, “Jesus and us,” or would they hesitate and finally say “mostly him/herself”?

The good news is that you do not have to stay trapped in the empty pursuits that Solomon described for our benefit. Jesus Christ, who had every right to demand that the universe revolve around Him, came to do God’s will and serve people instead, which meant he suffered quite a bit and eventually died on the cross because of our selfishness. In Him we have both the perfect model and the living power to put selfishness to death daily.

Repent of your sinful selfishness and turn to Christ for salvation. Then devote yourself to pursuing his desires and loving others over yourself on a daily basis and in a heartfelt way. The life you’ve been chasing through self-centeredness is found only when you lose yourself in loving God and others first. Rather than point the finger at someone you believe is a narcissist, focus on your own heart instead. This the whole duty of man and the life Jesus died and rose to give you.

May we not be like the boy on the rocking horse, but be one who would say instead, “Please, let me get off the horse so there is more room for you.”

Picture your phone lighting up with a group text from your family planning this week’s Thanksgiving get-together. Someone suggests hosting it at Aunt Mary’s because her house is bigger and she’s been lonely since Uncle Mike died. Immediately your mind starts calculating: two-hour drive each way, kids will be cranky, the couch is lumpy, and you were really looking forward to sleeping in and watching football in your own living room. Within seconds you’re typing a reply about how busy you are, how the kids have activities, how it’s just not convenient this year.

Then you pause, finger hovering over “send,” and you quietly remember today’s sermon: “It’s not about you.” In that moment the whole sermon unlocks your heart like a key in a lock: the same heart that sees everyone else’s selfishness so well.

Thanksgiving isn’t a line item on your happiness schedule; it’s a chance to love God by loving the people He’s given you—even when it costs you sleep, convenience, money, and the perfect turkey nap. So, you delete your message and type “We’ll be there—can’t wait,” and hit send.

The day will still be tiring, but something shifts inside: for one special afternoon the world no longer revolves around your preferences, and you taste the beginning of the only life that is truly life. That basic truth—“it’s not about you”—is one step forward in “fearing God and keeping his commands” and of “loving God and others” rather than yourself.

Discussion Questions

• Can you think of a recent moment when you really didn’t want to be inconvenienced—but you chose (or wished you had chosen) to do the right thing anyway?
• According to the sermon, narcissism is really a strong form of selfishness. When we read Rom 1:25 and 2 Tim 3:1-2, how do those passages explain the root of this kind of self-focus?
• The sermon warned that calling others “narcissists” can become a way to excuse our own selfishness. How does Jesus’ teaching in “Judge not, that you be not judged” confront that tendency in us?
• The message distinguished self-care from self-centeredness. Using 1 Cor 9:27 and the “pluck the plank out of your own eye” passage, how would you describe the difference between caring for yourself and worshiping yourself?
• The Thanksgiving example at the end contrasted two responses: protecting personal comfort vs. choosing inconvenience to love someone who’s lonely. Where do similar decision points show up in your life: family events, church involvement, hospitality, serving, giving, etc.?
• The sermon reminded us that Jesus had every right for the universe to revolve around Him, but instead He came to serve and to die for our selfishness. How does His example and sacrifice reshape both our view of sin and our hope for change?

Hebrews 4:14-16; 10:19-23

What is the most important experience for any human to have? To experience love and acceptance from another human being. To experience genuine happiness and enjoyment. To experience profound wonder and awe. To achieve material, professional, or financial success. All of these are important, desirable experiences for sure – but none of these compare to the most important of all – experiencing close and direct access to God.

Unfortunately, some people ignore this experience completely and make no attempt to have it. Many other people, though, make one kind of attempt or another, with varying levels of effort, but they fail to have this experience because they pursue a mistaken identity of God or else they pursue God in a wrong and inappropriate way. Jesus himself acknowledged this dilemma by using an illustration of two roads:

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matt 7:13-14)

So, if the road or way to God is narrow (like a dirt path in a forest) and relatively few people travel on it and the road to destruction is broad (like a six-lane expressway in the city) and many people travel on it, then what is the narrow way to God? Jesus answers that question in plain and simple terms:

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (Jn 14:6)

To experience close and direct access to God, a person must believe on and follow Jesus. He is the only way and the only person who can give anyone a close and direct access to God. The difficulty with statements like this, though, is that rather than sounding simple and clear – which is normally something we appreciate – it can sound exclusive and restrictive in a negative way due to how our sinful natures normally respond to Jesus.

For this reason, people either refrain from following Christ or they first attempt to follow but then feel pressure, both from without and within, to draw back to their former way of pursuing God – often through another religious tradition. Sometimes this tradition is another religion entirely (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, etc.) and other times an aberration of Christianity (Seventh Day Adventism, Roman Catholicism, Unitarianism, etc.).

That’s why the book of Hebrews was written. There were people who had grown up practicing orthodox Judaism, but who later transitioned to following Christ, instead. These people faced severe pressure, suffering, and persecution due to their new faith. On one hand, they endured persecution from the Roman Emperor Nero’s anti-Christian policies; on the other hand, they endured severe pressure from former their former Jewish family and community who resented their departure from Judaism.

As a result, they faced a difficult choice: go back to traditional Judaism or persevere in following Christ. This dilemma strongly resembled how the Israelites of the Old Testament (OT) wished that they could go back to Egypt (Num 11:4-6; 14:1-4). They felt this way even after God had rescued them from through powerful plagues and miracles and even though they had experienced terrible treatment in Egypt as slaves. The phrase “absence makes the heart grow fonder” is often true, but not always in a good way. Sometimes the challenges of life cause us to look at the past in an inaccurate way, failing to realize that despite the challenges we face today, we are in a much better place than before.

For the people to whom the book of Hebrews was written, the book points out the simple fact that Christ is better than the past experiences of Judaism—better than the prophets, better than angels, better than Moses and Joshua, and even better than the Levitical priesthood and sacrifices. The key word better is used twelve times in this book (1:4; 6:9; 7:7, 19, 22; 8:6 [twice]; 9:23; 10:34; 11:16, 35, 40). So, since Christ is better, then going back to something inferior makes no sense. Christ gives a better sacrifice, priesthood, and eternal inheritance (1:4; 6:9; 7:19; 9:23; 10:34).

Let’s take a look at what Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us about following Christ. In this brief portion of Scripture, we’ll see that since Christ along gives us direct, close access to God, then we should continue to follow him with confidence.

This Scripture is the opening to a larger section of Scripture which compares Christ to the OT system of priests and sacrifices as a means to come closer to God. This section concludes at 10:19-23, which says basically the same thing as 4:14-16.

Since Jesus gives us direct access to God …

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God... (Heb 4:14)

Jesus is better than Jewish temple worship because unlike OT worship practices, he gives us actual direct access to the heavenly presence of God. A key phrase here in this passage is “passed through the heavens.” This statement contrasts with how OT priests “passed through” a great cloth veil when they entered into the Holiest Place in the Temple.

This veil and room in the Temple were not the actual, real throne room or concentrated presence of God – it was only an example and less direct presence. Though God did reveal himself there in a special way behind that curtain in that Holiest Place, this was not his actual, most concentrated presence as it was at the throne room of the universe.

Fans of baseball may know that the “Green Monster” is. The Major League team, the Boston Red Sox, have a large green wall in their outer leftfield that measures 37 ft. 2 in. tall. Baseball fans travel from all over to watch players try to hit the ball over this difficult, imposing wall. What many people don’t know is that two of the Red Sox’s Minor League teams also have replicas of this Green Monster – the Greenville Drive (High-A) and the Portland Sea Dogs (Double-A). So, for less money you can watch less-experienced, less-talented players in a smaller ballpark try to hit the ball over their own Green Monsters in left field. But none of this compares to watching elite players trying to do this at the original Green Monster in the oldest, most historic Major League stadium in Boston.

The point here is why would anyone want to go back to OT Judaism, approaching God indirectly through a priest in the Holiest Place of the Tabernacle, when you can now approach God in an even closer, direct way through Christ in heaven, the actual, concentrated place of God’s presence and throne. Not only this, but why would anyone want to go back to any other way of trying to approach God? Christ himself made the same point when he said:

No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (Lk 9:62)

Not only does Christ give us access to the real, actual presence and throne room of God, but he does so directly. He himself passed through the heavens to God for us. In other words, there is only one person standing between God and mankind, connecting and communicating with God on our behalf. As Paul says,

There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. (1 Tim 2:5)

This means there are no other “middlemen,” “go-betweens,” etc. Not only are people like this not necessary, but such people are also of no use. Because Christ provides us with direct access to God as our ultimate High Priest, we have no need or use of others to do this for us.

He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Heb 7:25)

Christ alone is our mediator, the person who connects us closely and directly to God. But though Scripture makes this very clear, not everyone agrees.

A recent document from Pope Leo XIV called Mater Populi Fidelis (published Nov 4, 2025), an official pronouncement on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church, seeks to clarify the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in our salvation. On one hand, it says in various ways that only Jesus provides salvation. No one else, not even Mary, does so. This is true – but the document goes on to explain how other lesser mediators supposedly take part in this process.

On the other hand, the document says that Mary is somehow involved in connecting us to the salvation that Christ provides. It says that she “prepares us to receive the life of grace” and “opens our hearts to Christ and to his sanctifying grace" through "motions" or "promptings.” It does on to say this about the role of Mary today:

Because of [Mary’s] singular union in motherhood and in grace, her prayer for us has a value and an efficacy that cannot be compared to any other intercession. Saint John Paul II … noted that Mary “puts herself ‘in the middle,’” that is to say, she acts as a mediatrix not as an outsider, but in her position as mother. She knows that, as such, she can point out to her Son the needs of mankind.

About Mary’s intercession, the document concludes that “the People of God trust firmly in her intercession.” It then goes on to explain how other deceased saints also pray and intercede for us today:

The Catholic faith reads in Scripture that those who are with God in heaven can continue to perform acts of love by interceding for us and accompanying us.

However, all but one of the Scriptures this document cites as support speaks about angels doing things for God’s people, not about deceased believers offering prayers to God. The only exception is Rev 6:9-10, which shows deceased martyrs in heaven praying for God to avenge their wrongful death. So, they are praying for their own selves, not living believers, neither are they praying things which living believers have asked them to pray.

This concept of how we approach God – by requesting the aid of other deceased saints in order to receive help from Christ in approaching God contradicts what Scripture says about the mediator, intercessor role of Christ:

There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. (1 Tim 2:5)

There is only one Mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus himself. No one else participates in this process. It is Christ alone. For this reason, the letter of Hebrews says…

… we should continue to identify with him closely.

let us hold fast our confession... (Heb 4:14)

Because we have such close and direct access to the very presence of God in the throne room of the universe, and since no other person, form, religion, or system of worship provides such access to God, we should cling tightly to our confession of faith in Christ. No amount of pressure from anything or anyone should be able to pull or pry us away.

This means we should persevere in our singular, complete faith in Christ and should not be afraid to identify with him publicly. When public pressure from culture and friends, family and relatives, or others causes you to feel inferior, illegitimate, disconnected, mean, or impolite for leaving their beliefs and traditions or for causing them to feel as though you believe they are wrong, cling tightly to your faith in Christ alone. When family, professional, career, financial, emotional, or social stability and acceptance is threatened because of your faith in Christ alone, grasp strongly to your faith in Christ alone. As Heb 10:23 says:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Earlier in this letter, it says Christ was “not ashamed to call us his brothers” (Heb 2:11). If he was not ashamed to call us brothers who were formerly sinners and enemies of God, then why should we be ashamed to identify publicly with him who is perfectly loving, good, and sinless and who died for our sins at such a great cost and pain?

But Jesus does more than provide us with close and direct access to God. He also understands us in a way that no one else can do.

Since Jesus understands our difficulties …

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Heb 4:15)

In this statement, we see two key realities that we must clearly understand and take to heart. The empathy of Christ, the shared experience of Christ and the sinlessness of Christ. Said another way, we not only have a representative before God who takes us into close and direct contact with God but who also understands our difficulties while also triumphing over them.

First, Christ understands our difficulties. The way that this statement is written makes this emphatic. It says, “we do not” and “who cannot” back-to-back. We call this a “double-negative” today and consider it bad grammar. But in the Greek language, this was a way of making a strong and emphatic point. In this case, it means that our High Priest – Jesus Christ – really and genuinely understands our difficulties.

The word weaknesses here is plural, which shows that he doesn’t just understand our weakness in a general categorical way but in every number of ways possible. The word weakness also covers a wide range or difficulties, from the normal, non-sinful weakness of being human (like anxiety, hunger, pain, thirst, tiredness, etc.) to the temptation to do any number of sinful things as well. So, you can never say about Christ, “You just don’t understand what I’m going through,” because he always understands.

To make this even clearer, the writer explains how Jesus was tempted “in all points as we are.” This does not mean that he had a sinful urge to do things, because we know he had no sinful nature. It also does not mean he was tempted to do every specific sin possible. After all, there are drugs, technology, and more today which tempt people to sin today which were not available in the first century BC. But this does mean that every kind and category of sin was present to Christ during his earthly life. So comprehensive was his experience that whatever temptations you face today he faced comparable ones himself.

Not only did Jesus experience every kind of sin and human difficulty possible, but he did so without ever committing a sin. In other words, he never gave in to temptation. He never sinned. The Apostle Peter affirmed this when he said, “He committed no sin” (1 Pet 2:22), and the Apostle John said, “In him there is no sin” (1 Jn 3:5).

When we hear that Jesus faced temptations – even the kinds of temptations we face – but that he never sinned, we may feel as though he doesn’t actually understand or sympathize with us in our struggles, then. After all, how can he understand our difficulties if he never actually failed and sinned? Christian author C.S. Lewis answered this objection in a very helpful way when he said this:

A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. . . . A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later.

To illustrate this from the life of Christ, let me give you the following examples:

• When Jesus faced the careful rules of Joseph and Mary as his parents, he was tempted to disobey. But he never did.
• When Jesus was left without a father as the oldest child in the home, he was tempted to steal in order to provide for the needs of the family. But he never did.
• When Jesus was an adult with no bed or house of his own, he was tempted to covet his brothers’ or neighbors’ houses. But he never did.
• When Jesus answered questions from government and religious leaders, he was tempted to lie in order to protect his life. But he never did.
• When his cousin, John the Baptist, was beheaded for calling out the sin of Herod, the local governor, he was tempted to complain about God being unfair. But he never did.
• When Jesus spoke alone to the woman at the well or when a woman wiped his feet with her hair, he was tempted to lust. But he never did.
• When he was falsely accused, he was tempted to speak harshly in return or to even take revenge. But he never did.
• When he won arguments and silenced critics with his answers, he was tempted to be proud. But he never did.

[Thanks to John Piper for providing a similar list.]

As C.S. Lewis went on to say:

That is why bad people in one sense know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. . . . Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist. (Mere Christianity, 142)

The point is this. When you face new and more difficult challenges, trials, pain, and even temptations because you are chosen to follow Christ, don’t turn back and don’t turn away from him because he genuinely understands your difficulties more than anyone else possibly can. For this reason alone, why would you ever want any other “middleman” or person between you and God and why would you ever fall back to any other, former, lesser way of seeking a close, direct relationship with God?

Now, as I mentioned Mary as a contrast to Christ, let me do so again here. Just as Roman Catholicism portrays Mary as another, secondary mediator between God and man (and became Christ and man), so they also portray Mary as being sinless, too. And by doing so, they suggest or teach that Mary is someone that we can more readily relate to, perhaps even more than Christ himself, which makes her a helpful “intercessor” when come to God.

Some base this claim on how the angel, Gabriel, addressed her with “Hail, Mary, full of grace” (Lk 1:28). They claim that “full of grace” means something like being completely freed from the presence and practice of sin from the moment of her conception onward. But this interpretation is based upon a poor handling of Greek grammar in this case. It also overlooks how Eph 1:6 uses the same words to describe how all who believe on Christ alone are also “highly favored” (same word used as with Mary). The Catholic Encyclopedia itself says this:

In the Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of 8 December, 1854, Pius IX pronounced and defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary “in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin.”

It goes on to say this (and I quote):

No direct or categorical and stringent proof of the dogma can be brought forward from Scripture.

Even the Catholic Encyclopedia acknowledges that this teaching has no clear biblical basis. And it goes on to explain how this doctrine has also been debated and disagreed about through the centuries, with far less support and strong disagreement in the earliest centuries. But Scripture is clear:

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23)

This includes Mary since Scripture never says otherwise and since the only person whom Scripture calls sinless is Christ. Said another way, Christ alone understands and sympathizes with your difficulties far more than any other person can, Mary or otherwise. There is no one who understands your difficulties – even your temptations to sin – better than Jesus. For this reason,

… we should come to him for help with confidence.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16)

With this statement, the writer of Hebrews contrasts our ability to come closely and directly to God through Christ with how the Hebrew people used to approach God on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). This was a special day once a year (during our September) in which Jewish people gathered together at the Temple for a large-scale sacrifice.

On this day, after many expensive and elaborate rituals and sacrifices, the High Priest would enter into the Holiest Place where the Ark of the Covenant was placed. They would do all this to receive forgiveness for all their sins as a nation, sins which they had not recognized, sins for which they had not repented, sins of the nation as a whole, etc. Before he entered the tabernacle, the High Priest had to bathe and put on special clothing (Lev 16:4); he would then sacrifice a bull as an offering for the sins of himself and his family (Lev 16:6, 11). The blood of the bull would then be brought into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on the Ark of the Covenant. These were only some of the many requirements for the High Priest on this day. And if he failed to follow these instructions, then the death penalty would be the result (Lev 16:2, 13).

Knowing all of this, why would anyone want to go back to this former way of approaching God? Here, the writer of Hebrews reminds us that we may now come boldly – which means to come confidently – to God’s throne of grace. We can come directly into God’s presence through and thanks to Christ alone. And we can do so without first passing through Mary, other deceased saints, or even people called priests today. None of these intermediary persons are necessary or helpful. We can go directly into the presence of God through Christ.

And we can do so without the fear and dread of wondering whether we will be struck dead for doing so. Why? Because Christ has already died in our place. He is both our Great High Priest and perfect sacrifice.

What’s more, this “new and living way” that Christ’s provides for us to come directly and closely into God’s presence is available “to help in time of need.” This phrase may be translated as “any time we need help.” This means that we are not limited to a particular day each year, each month, or each week to come into God’s presence, as with Yom Kippur. We may – and should – come to God for grace whenever we need to – not only after we’ve sinned, but before, too.

When we come to God for mercy and grace, we must do so directly through Christ alone and at any time we need. We are never “put on hold,” told to wait for such and such ceremony or festival, or told that we need to go through someone else. To the child of God, his mercy and grace are fully available at all times because of the direct and close access that Christ provides as our Great High Priest. The Day of Atonement was a one-time event, but we are told to come to God’s throne of grace continually.

Why would we go back or turn aside to any other way?

• Have you turned to Christ alone for forgiveness of sins and for a close and direct relationship with God? If not, are you willing to do so today?
• If so, then do you come to Christ confidently and continually for mercy and grace every time you need God’s help?

Far too often, we Christians neglect the open invitation of Hebrews 4:16 to "come boldly to the throne of grace" in our moments of need. We too easily forget how freely accessible God's mercy and grace truly is. We treat prayer as a last resort rather than a first response, or we allow shame, pride, or busyness to keep us from approaching the throne with confidence. We may even be tempted to fall back to other unbiblical ways of approaching God which deny that Christ alone is able and ready to help us. Another pitfall, of course, and perhaps all too common, is to feel that Christ – of all people – is not able to understand our difficulties, when, in fact, he is the only person who actually, fully does.

Instead of casting every care upon Him in real time – whether in times of human weakness or temptation to sin—we isolate ourselves, rely on our own strength, resort to rituals, traditions, and superstitions, and miss out on the timely help that comes directly from God through Christ.

Imagine a single mother, tempted to despair as bills pile up and children cry for food; she kneels in her kitchen at midnight, boldly asking for provision and peace. Or consider a teenager facing peer pressure to compromise his integrity; instead of hiding the struggle, he texts his youth leader for prayer, then stands firm, strengthened by grace in the moment of decision and says no. A husband stung by betrayal chooses to pray aloud in his car, confessing anger and pleading for healing, and finds the power to forgive before bitterness takes root.

Like these, let us come boldly, again and again, and find mercy for every need. May this sort of prayer become increasingly common in your life as you realize just how much better your close and direct access to God truly is through Christ.

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. (Heb 10:19-21)

Discussion Questions
Life101

• Why is direct and close access to God the highest and most important experience for a human to have? (Why is God in Christ “better” as the writer of Hebrews says?)
• What are some pressures that tempt us to “go back,” like the early Christians or Israelites after Egypt, and forsake our identity in Christ?
  • What are some practical steps we can take to “hold fast” in these situations?
• How should the direct access we have to God impact our prayer lives? What about the availability of God’s grace in any “time of need?”
• What is the significance of Christ’s sympathizing with our weaknesses?
• What are we believing (in practice) about our access to God when we go other places first during crisis moments? (Even “small” crises.)

Digging Deeper

• What kinds of requests do you think normally flow from the heart of someone who regularly and confidently approaches God for His grace?
  • What can we learn about our priorities in prayer requests?

Psalm 136; 23:6; 145:8; Micah 7:18

Psalm 136 is a very important and special psalm in the Jewish tradition. They call this psalm “The Great Hallel” or “The Great Praise Psalm.” This psalm would be regularly featured as part of the celebration and worship at important, special Jewish holidays and festivals – especially at the Passover and also in their celebrations during autumn harvest.

There is a sense in which this particular psalm, though, holds a special place because it serves as a pattern for all other praise psalms. It tells us plainly who God is and why we should praise him, and it makes very clear that we should give thanks to God in a frequent, heartfelt way for a very important, fundamental reason – because his steadfast love endures forever.

This morning, as we enjoy our own autumn season of harvest and thanksgiving, let’s familiarize ourselves with this special psalm and ask God to stir within our hearts a deeper and more frequent appreciation not only for what he does but for who he is – a devoted, compassionate God who puts all of his qualities to work for his people.

Chesed is when God exercises all his attributes on behalf of his people.

This psalm reveals what happens when God puts all his amazing, unparalleled qualities to work for his people. In this psalm, we see evidence of God’s goodness, sovereignty, eternality, unchangeableness, omniscience, omnipotence, justice, omnipresence, mercy, and love. As Jordan Hamilton explains:

Psalm 136 forces us to the conclusion that God’s total wisdom, love, power, presence, justice and all else are exercised as he shows lovingkindness, hesed.

The word chesed is a special, layered, one-of-a-kind word. When the Old Testament (OT) was written, there were no similar or comparable words or concept in other languages, cultures, or religions at that time. It was a unique word and concept which in most of the many times it is used in Scripture attempts to describe our incomparable God.

In 1535, Myles Coverdale published the first-ever translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into English. When he needed to translate chesed, he realized that there was no equivalent English word for this concept, so he created the compound word “loving-kindness” as attempt to translate it accurately. But even the translation “loving-kindness” does not adequately express what this special word means.

Other words that partially express this word’s wider range of meaning include faithfulness, loyalty, unfailing love, mercy, favor, devotion, and compassion. My OT Hebrew professor, Tim Berrey, suggested a meaning like “the faithful, loyal, devoted, unfailing and relentless loving, merciful compassion of God.” That’s a mouthful!

To even better understand chesed, we should know that it describes how God acts with respect to the covenants and promises he makes with his people. This psalm, for instance, points back to three covenants which God had previously made.

• He made a covenant with all people through Noah (Gen 8-9). In this covenant, God promised to supply the world with the weather and seasons necessary to sustain human life and to not flood the earth as before.
• He made a covenant for Israel and all people through Abraham (Gen 12, 15). In this covenant, God promised to bless descendants of Abraham in material and social ways and to bless both them and people from the nations of the world in spiritual ways. This promise included the promise of land in Palestine to inhabit and possess.
• He made a covenant with Israel through Moses (Exo 19-20). In this covenant, God promised to commit himself to Israel’s blessing and protection when they moved into Palestine to inhabit and possess it. Most importantly, he promised to provide spiritual salvation both to and through them if they trusted in him.

Chesed shows us that when God enters into a covenant with people, he commits himself in a full and wholehearted way to fulfilling the promises he made and to being a loyal, devoted, unfailing partner. The best example of what this means in our horizontal, human-to-human relationships today is the covenant of marriage. It describes the ideal marriage in which both spouses actually mean what they say when they exchange vows, devoting themselves to a life of active, loyal love and devotion both “for better” and “for worse.”

Chesed, though, does not merely describe what we might call “staying married.” It describes someone who not only “stays married” but who does, on a daily basis, all the things that show his or her spouse the devoted love and care their marriage covenant calls them to show – whether deserved, recognized, reciprocated or not. But as God said to his own people in the OT, when describing their relationship with him as a marriage:

Your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew it goes away. (Hos 6:4)

When the OT uses this word to describe how people respond (or should respond) to each other, it describes the way they do (or are supposed to) be devoted and loyal to one another in a covenant between them, such as in marriage.

Sadly, our devotion to God is so often like our disloyal devotion to other people – it diminishes and fades away like morning water that evaporates in the heat and wind of the day. And that’s what makes chesed so special. God alone has the qualities necessary to make chesed possible. Psalm 145:8 sums this up well:

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy [chesed].

So, how does God show his faithful, loyal, committed love to people? Psalm 136 draws attention to and celebrates three significant ways that he does this. These are (1) his wise acts of creation, (2) his powerful acts of salvation, and (3) his generous acts of provision.

God’s wise acts of creation show his chesed.

Verses 4-9 point to the beginning of time when God did wonderous things through the wisdom and skill that he alone possesses. Wonders here describe things which are generally considered too difficult to do and therefore too difficult to comprehend. They defy explanation. But the psalmist adds the word great to this word, which means that God’s acts of creation not only defy explanation, but they do so to an indescribable degree. The psalmist also says that God alone did these things – no other god or supernatural being assisted or participated or has ever engaged in creation. God alone does these indescribable, awe-inspiring things.

With intentional and exceptional skill, God made the universe. As a jeweler sets a diamond into a finely crafted gold ring, so God formed and set each star, planet, and celestial object into its place with the finest, most devoted craftsmanship and care. He is the one who “made the great lights,” the “sun to shine in the daytime,” and the “moon and stars to shine in the nighttime.”

God also laid out Earth’s surface, its topmost “crust” layer, “above the waters.” Just as placing the stars and planets into the universe resembles a jeweler placing a diamond into a ring, so God stretching the land over the waters resembles a craftsman beating, sculpting, and spreading a thin sheet of metal with great devotion and care. And since chesed was God’s underlying motive in Creation, then we can say that Creation was – as it were – “handcrafted with love” for his people.

According to a ground-breaking (literally) study published March 2015 in the online scientific journal, Nature, there seems to be compelling evidence of a vast ocean of water trapped deep within the Earth’s mantle (the middle layer), about 400 miles beneath the surface. Many scientists believe Earth's interior holds a volume of water similar to all the oceans on the surface of the earth (oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, etc.).

The point here is that God made all of these things in the beginning, before he had even made human beings. By doing so, he demonstrated up front not only what he was capable of doing for people but of what he intended to do for them.

In a good marriage, for instance, a man prepares in advance for his eventual relationship. He does this by developing life skills, investing in education, establishing the foundation for a successful career, and setting aside money and resources to purchase a house and to demonstrate that he is in all other ways ready to love and care for a wife for life. Such a man does not flippantly bounce around through his early adolescent, young adult years, then one day ask a woman to marry him, with little to no preparation. When he proposes and then says, “I do,” “for better or worse,” and “till death do us part,” he has prepared himself in advance for this covenant – for this promise.

The thing this psalm celebrates is how God did this in the grandest and most impressive way. He created the universe and wisely formed the world for people to exist and enjoy. In this way, God’s creation of the world reveals his faithful, loyal, loving devotion.

God’s powerful acts of salvation show his chesed.

Verses 10-16, then, reveals God’s faithful, loyal love through his powerful acts of salvation when he rescued the Hebrew people from Egypt. When God did this, he was fulfilling a promise he had made to Abraham centuries before. Israel had been slaves in Egypt for decades, possibly centuries, with no hope of freedom. After all, Egypt was the leading world superpower of that day. But Egypt was also a pagan, idolatrous, ungodly, wicked nation who refused to worship God.

So, God “struck” Egypt by killing their firstborn animals and sons. This historical reference does three things. First, it jumps forward from God’s creation of the world in the opening chapters of Genesis and the opening era of history to this moment thousands of years later. This means that the psalmist views everything that God did from Genesis to Exodus, from Creation to Mount Sinai as evidence of God’s loyal and devoted love to his people.

Second, this big jump reveals that the psalmist views God’s deliverance of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt as a fulfillment and outworking of God’s original plans and intentions for his people begun in Genesis at Creation and continued forward through Noah, Abraham, and eventually Moses.

Third, this focus on God’s rescue of his people from slavery in Egypt focuses specifically on the tenth and final plague, the death of the firstborn animals and sons of the Egyptians. By focusing on this tenth plague, the psalmist is actually referring to all ten plagues, representing them all with the final, climactic one – the one which finally convinced Pharoah to let God’s people go.

Now, about this plague, some may ask the question, “What is good about God killing all the firstborn animals and sons of the Egyptians? Isn’t this a cruel and awful thing?” But here we must acknowledge that with God, his perfect goodness and perfect justice come together perfectly in whatever he does, even the difficult and painful things. As Mark Hulbert point out a couple of weeks ago in his sermon about God’s goodness, Rom 11:22 pairs God’s goodness (kindness) and severity (harshness) together:

Consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness.

I really appreciate how OT scholar Patrick D. Miller urges us to take seriously “the dirty work of God” as presented as part of God’s chesed in Psalm 136. He says:

We resist the association of God with the real and messy stuff of history. Israel understood that, in every way, God was at work in their story. Totalitarian forces and oppressive slave masters do not relinquish power and the whip by kind words.

Since God is lovingly devoted to his people, he will act in both kindness and justice at the right time, in the right way on their behalf. Even if his actions – to us – seem cruel, they are always good and right and will be directed as needed for the salvation of his people.

The psalm writer goes on to describe God’s acts of salvation in Exodus as being “with a strong hand” and “outstretched arm,” referring to extraordinary and impressive displays of force and overpowering strength. By his mighty strength, he divided the Red Sea in half, guided millions of defenseless Hebrew people to the other side, then “overthrew” (lit. “brushed aside,” “shook off”) the entire army of the leading world superpower of that time.

By God’s power and care, he also guided that same group of millions of defenseless Hebrew people through the Arabian wilderness for forty years. We know, of course, that this period of time was marked by frequent failures and sins, in which people complained about God and disobeyed him greatly. Even so, the psalmist makes no mention of these embarrassing memories – emphasizing instead how God cared for them anyway, leading them through the wilderness as a good, loving shepherd guides his sheep, no matter how difficult and stubborn they may be.

This mention of God’s faithful love in the wilderness illustrates God’s faithful loyal love not only “for better” but “for worse.” Micah 7:18 encapsulates this well:

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in mercy [chesed].

So, we see that God showed his loyal, devoted compassion to Israel by saving them from slavery in Egypt by his mighty power and by guiding and preserving them in the wilderness for forty years, despite their own sin and disobedience. He saved them not only from their enemies but from themselves.

So, God shows his chesed through his wise acts of creation and his powerful acts of salvation. But he also shows his chesed through his generous acts of provision, too.

God’s generous acts of provision show his chesed.

Verses 17-22 describe how God provided the people of Israel with a land to call their own – a place to live in and possess permanently. To accomplish this for them, he forcefully “struck down” mighty kings, famous kings – and then the psalmist names a couple of noteworthy examples.

Then the psalmist goes on to explain how after dethroning and killing these kings (which we can read about at great length in Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and more), he then gave their land to Israel to live in and call their own. It’s here that the psalmist repeats a key word, the word heritage. This word describes God’s provision of this land as something which they would possess and pass down for continual generations. In other words, God intended for this land to be their permanent possession.

This word describes what we call “inalienable rights.” We are familiar, I hope, with our own United States Declaration of Independence, which says that people:

are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

By “unalienable rights,” we are referring to rights which we believe all men possess and which no one may rightly take away from us. In this way, God took away this land from the powerful but pagan, wicked, ungodly kings who ruled there and gave it to the people he had promised it to. And when God gave it to them, he gave it to them as an “unalienable” possession, a land which he intended for them to permanently possess. What amazing and extreme generosity this was!

So, we see from this psalm that God has showed his chesed through his wise acts of creation, his powerful acts of salvation, and his generous acts of provision. So, now we must also see something else.

Chesed is both a past and present experience for God’s people.

Verses 23-24 take all that this psalm speaks about from the beginning of the world and God’s salvation and provision for Israel during the lifetime of Moses and Joshua and applies it to our lives today. This is where the psalm tells us that we also experience God’s chesed today who are the children and people of God. The words “us” and “our” and “all flesh” take these amazing acts of God in the past for his people and points out that God continues to show his chesed to his people today, as well.

When we find ourselves in a “lowly state” is a way of saying “whenever we find ourselves in a helpless, difficult, painful, or impossible” position in life. When this happens, the same God who made the world, who saved his people from slavery in Egypt, who guided his people through the wilderness, and who defeated powerful kings and gave away their land to his people – that same God will “remember” and “rescue” you today. He will even give you food when times are tough. And why?

To tie this all together, we must now point out the two most obvious things about this psalm – that I’ve waited till now to mention. The first is the repeated line “for his chesed endures forever,” and the second is the repeated command to “give thanks to the Lord!”

The first line is repeated twenty-six times, as the second half of every couplet or pair of lines. As was pointed out during our public Scripture reading, this line would’ve been repeated, recited, or sung by the people who gathered in the Temple or synagogue to worship God. A lead musician, Scripture reader, or choir would’ve sung or read the first line of each line pair, then all the people gathered would’ve repeated this line energetically and reflectively in response each time.

Doing this would drive home the main point and obvious message of this psalm – that everything God does is motivated by his chesed, his steadfast love and compassionate, relentless commitment to his people.

This includes his wise acts of creation, whether of this majestic, fruitful earth that we live on or the awe-inspiring universe far beyond our realm – all was created because of God’s steadfast love for his people.

This includes his powerful acts of salvation, whether the seemingly cruel acts of justice on the wicked or the patient, forgiving, faithful care of his own people even when they disobey – all of this is motivated by his steadfast love for his people.

This includes his generous acts of provision, whether the abundant provision of a fruitful, beautiful land for the people of Israel or the abundant, faithful provision of food, strength, health, and material provision for his people today. All this God does because of his steadfast love for his people. And this is just as true today as it was at Creation, the exodus from Egypt, or the conquest of Canaan. That’s why this psalm says not only that all these things God does he does due to steadfast love, but why it also says that this steadfast love endures forever.

If we were to translate this line in a strictly formal, literal way, following the Hebrew word order, it would say something like this: “because for eternity is his steadfast love.” Placing “for eternity” at the beginning of this sentence sounds strange to our ears but doing this is a way that the Hebrew language emphasizes something, showing that it is a very important part of what’s being said. It’s like putting words in italics, bold, or underline today. The point the psalm is making then is first whatever God does he does motivated by steadfast love and commitment to his people and second this active, dominant quality of God lasts forever and will never change. It is true not only of what God did in the OT but it is true today, as well, and will always be true.

We should respond to chesed with frequent, heartfelt gratitude and praise to God.

The second most obvious thing about this psalm, then, is the part which tells us how we should respond to God’s constant, never-ending displays of loyal love for his people. It is the phrase that visibly begins each of the first three verses. I say “visibly” because it also begins all the next twenty-two verses, too, but invisibly so. The psalmist wrote this psalm in such a way that we should continue to internally see and silently say “oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!” at the start of each verse to the end. He makes this clear by finishing the psalm by including this call to praise God one more time in the final verse.

This may seem redundant and unnecessary but let me ask you two simple questions here today. When was the last time you thanked God in a heartfelt way overflowing with awe and gratitude for his love and devotion to you despite your failings? And once you’ve answered this question, let me also ask – how frequently do you respond this way?

After seventeen-and-a-half years of marriage, I can say that it was this year that I genuinely began to realize how incredible it is to have Sarah as my wife. To be sure, I have appreciated her and been thankful for her our entire life together to this day. But only this year can I genuinely say that nearly every day – and often many times a day – I am truly amazed and overwhelmed that she is my wife. What an amazing person she is. What an amazing wife she is. What an amazing mother she is. And I could go on.

But more than this, can I say that I feel the same way about God’s faithful, loyal love to me despite my many failings? Or do I take his commitment for granted?

In preparing this message, I did some reflection on how many people specifically thanked Jesus for his expressions and acts of love and care to them. Despite all the amazing miracles and teaching he provided during his time here on Earth, the NT records [are you ready for this?] – only one clear instance of a person expressing mind-blown, heartfelt thanks to Jesus for his love to him.

Luke tells the story of a time when Jesus healed ten lepers of their leprosy (Lk 17:11-19). But the shocking thing about this story is not that Jesus healed them, but that of the ten men he healed, only one of them came back to thank him. I wonder sometimes if we are not far more like the nine unthankful lepers than the thankful one. In our minds, we believe we are thankful, but are our hearts genuinely moved with overwhelming, frequent, heartfelt expressions of thanks to God for his unfailing devotion to us?

To be sure, whenever we gather together as a church, we have multiple opportunities to express such gratitude to God in song together with one another. We should commit ourselves to regular, weekly worship as a church for this reason alone! And how else can we express heartfelt, frequent praise to God outside of the Sunday worship service? May we genuinely be a people who deeply, frequently “give thanks to the LORD for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”

In closing today, I would like to draw your attention to one final place in the psalms, Psalm 23:6. This well-known psalm describes God as the ultimate, faithful, loving shepherd who cares and provides for his people as sheep. But the end of this psalm is especially touching in light of what we learn about God in Psalm 136. Verse 6 says, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…”

Can you guess what the word mercy is? You’re right. It’s chesed. But there is another word that also needs to be noticed – follow. That word literally means “to pursue” or “to chase after.” The way we normally read this psalm, we easily think “to follow” means something gentle and serene like a baby duck waddling dutifully behind its mother. But that’s not what this word means. It actually describes something more like a cheetah pursuing an antelope – only here it describes not a predator hunting its prey but a faithful, omnipotent God passionately pursuing his people with kindness – not to hunt them but to fulfill his covenant and promises to them just as he guaranteed.

The late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel used to say, “When I was young, I admired cleverness. Now that I am old, I find I admire kindness more.” May it also be said of us, “When I was young, I admired the omnipotence of God. Now that I am old, I find that I admire God’s lovingkindness more.” And if this is true, then may we express this growing admiration of his kindness with frequent, heartfelt praise.

Discussion Questions

• Note: Please refer to this description often in your discussion time:
  • "Chesed is when God exercises all his attributes on behalf of his people. … Other words that partially express this word’s wider range of meaning include faithfulness, loyalty, unfailing love, mercy, favor, devotion, and compassion. My OT Hebrew professor, Tim Berrey, suggested a meaning like 'the faithful, loyal, devoted, unfailing and relentless loving, merciful compassion of God.'”
• What is an aspect, detail, or feature of how Psalm 136 is written which you find esp. interesting or impactful?
• "Write" your own line of Psalm 136. What is something that demonstrates God’s chesed in your life, great or small, recent or not?
• How can we say that both the goodness and the severity of God are included in the concept of chesed, or His lovingkindness and faithfulness? How can a Biblical perspective on justice help here?
• What does either Psalm 145:8, Hosea 6:4, or Micah 7:18 teach you about chesed?
• What do we mean when we say that everything God does for His people is characterized by His chesed?
• What can we learn from Psalm 136 about how to respond to God’s covenant faithfulness to us?
• What does Psalm 23:6 tell us about God’s chesed or mercy? How can we emulate this aspect of God’s ways?

Introduction
Jean ValJean was a manual laborer, cutting wood and caring for trees in revolution era France. His sister, a widow, could not feed her seven children. The protagonist of French author Victor Hugo’s Les Miserbales, Val Jean did all that he could with his meager wages to help, but it was not enough. France was feeling the economic effects of revolutions and wars. As his family neared starvation, with no other apparent option, Valjean stole a loaf of bread to keep them from death. For this crime, he was imprisoned for 5 years. 5 years for one loaf of bread to feed starving children! And after multiple escape attempts, all told, he spent 19 years in prison. And we, the readers, are meant to react, “THAT’S NOT FAIR!”

This is a feeling we all have felt. We hate to see injustice. We can’t stand to see innocent people punished or guilty people go free. We hate inequity. There is nothing that gets us fired up quite like injustice. Add to that the societal confusion of our time, and we have a recipe for complex problems. Everyone has their own sense of justice that is violated so often, and it is so easy to vent that frustration so quickly and so anonymously.

Even if we have a good handle on what it means to actively love justice in a productive way, how do we operate in a community with people who have their personal sense of what is fair and right violated all the time? How do I respond as a Christian, who claims to love what is good and true, when both people on opposing sides of an argument claim that it is un-Christlike or heartless to disagree with them?

What about when I am on the receiving end of injustice? Let’s look at a biblical example of a man who experienced injustice. This morning, I want to try to explain a biblical view of justice by briefly looking at a Psalm of David.

Unjust things happen.
Despite the stark betrayal we know that David experienced, we actually don’t know who this Cushite was and how he related to the wrongs David describes here. This is yet one more time for David to process the feelings of hurt and rejection that come in this kind of situation.

I’d be surprised if there was any adult in this room who has not felt some deep sense of being wronged, even by a trusted friend. And even more, the wrong is never righted in the slightest. This person is never exposed for who they really are, punished for what they’ve done, and certainly, has not apologized. There may be some of us that think of a particular person or situation.

Injustice is like a tankless water heater. Instantly boiling hot. Why is this? Why does David care so much about the wickedness of the wicked? Because God made us to desire justice. God did not make us for a world of violence and hatred. We are moral beings who can tell when something is as it should be and when it is not. And when I see an innocent person suffer, especially a helpless one, I know that should not be. When someone who should be loyal intentionally hurts me, I know that is not right.

Though our hearts long for things to be as they should, for the innocent to be safe and people to be faithful, it does not happen. In fact, the Bible tells us that this is a part of life, for now.

Romans 8 tells us that all creation “groans” because we look forward to a time when injustice and suffering of the innocent will be eradicated, but that time has not yet come. What are we to do? Should we just accept that things aren’t the way that they should be and move on? Christians are to have joy, right? So we can just ignore the feelings of disappointment and heartache and focus on the happy ones?

While there is something to be said for a person who rejoices in whatever state God gives them, the Bible is also full of dealing with injustice and deep disappointments as a Christian. We normally call this biblical process lamenting or lamentation, in fact there is a whole book named after that. Christians, we need to learn how to be sad in a godly, faithful way. This could be a whole sermon on its own, but the Psalms, the prophets, and the Gospels are full of lamenting. Yes, even Jesus had a habit of lamentation.

If you are a Christian, I would challenge you to start learning to practice what the Bible says about lamenting. If you had a major loss in your life, a close friend’s or church family member’s, how would you respond? Christians don’t just move on from deep sadness or pain. They bring it to God in a special way, asking for his help, and trusting in him. I would read some Psalms of lament. Psalms 10, 13, 22, and 77. They are good model prayers to use in those situations. Journal through those Psalms and try to find the key concepts in those Psalms.

“Many a time has this bitter complaint been heard in the dungeons of the Inquisition, at the whipping posts of slavery, and in the prisons of oppression. In due time God will publish his reply, but the full end is not yet.” - Charles Spurgeon

Christians do not disregard the unjust things that happen. Sometimes innocent people are hurt. Sometimes the guilty go unpunished. Those are real things that happen and must not be ignored. We must do what we can, bring those things to God, and leave them there. Why to God? Because…

God is the rightful Judge over all that happens, including evil.
Listen to how David entrusts his fate to God in Psalm 7:

O Lord my God, if I have done this: If there is iniquity in my hands, If I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me, Or have plundered my enemy without cause, Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me; Yes, let him trample my life to the earth, And lay my honor in the dust. Selah Psalm 7:3–5

If you had perfect memory and have been here every week for the past several Sundays, then this point would need no further explanation. But we don’t have perfect memories so I guess I have to do my job and explain why I say this and what this means for us. Why am I talking about the past several Sundays in regard to God’s being the rightful Judge?

Because if God really is all that we have said he is over the past couple months, then it only makes sense that God would be the best and only choice to be the ultimate judge. Think about it. God knows and sees everything. He has all wisdom and knowledge. He can see everything in the past and the future because he is already there. Not only does he know everything, and is present anywhere, but he can do anything! His power is unlimited and he has all authority to control everything! Whatever needs to be done to exact perfect justice, God can do it! And last week, we learned of God’s goodness. It is not that he aligns with an external goodness outside himself so that we can call him good. He is the standard. He is the rubric for goodness, so that we compare everything to him to see if its good. Should not a judge know as much as possible? Should he not have all the evidence? Should a judge not have all the power and authority possible? Should the judge not be as good of a person as possible?

As Abraham said,

Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Genesis 18:25

What is your attitude toward God’s justice? I think maybe some Christians struggle with modern justice, in part, because we don’t realize that the rules that we’re playing by matter.

Are you a rule follower? I am a rule follower. Firstborn-type personality. When I play a game, a big part of the fun is actually playing the game as it was meant to be played. Some people have a lot of fun taking a game and making their own version. They like to ignore some rules or add their own. I haven’t figured out why, but it seems like pastor’s kids are really good at this so I’m probably in for it as the girls get older. At a basic level, the game is the rules. Two or more people must agree to play by the same rules if you want to play the game. If you have no idea what the rules are, sorry, you’re probably not playing by the rules.

Now I am not claiming this is a proof for God’s rules being the true ones, the Bible proves itself in this regard. I just want Christians to think about the rules that you choose to play by. When it comes to justice, you will “play” by certain “rules.” Someone is determining the standard for what is right and what is wrong. What is just and what is unjust. David acknowledged God as the Judge, the One who gets to set the rules and enforce them. When we interact with the world, we must not cede the rule-making to people who do not worship God. Justice is what God says it is, so go to the Bible to hear what God says about it.

Justice is quite a buzz word in Western culture today. Everyone vies to get their pet issue defined by whether or not something is “just.” And, friend, most often, regardless of a one’s stated political alignment, they are just like our proverbial 7 year old, not really talking about justice. They are whining to the world, and to God, that’s not fair! Be careful to define justice according to the One who alone is worthy to judge ultimately. He will always tell us what is right so learn what justice is from Him. Read and love God’s Word. Learn the rules so you know when someone breaks them.

So now that David has acknowledged that he has experienced injustice, and given judgement over to God, what does he do?

In response to injustice, we must look to the Judge.
The personal injustice David felt served a purpose for him. Not only does it bring Him to further worship God through submission and dependence, he also has perspective on the injustice in the whole world.

Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, But establish the just; For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds. Psalm 7:9

When people hurt us, or when we lose something that means so much to us, when we don’t understand why things are the way they are, when we desperately wish that something could change, we should like David, have a Romans 8:22 moment. We should remember why things are not as they should be, and remember the solution. We need the judge to come and make all the wrongs right.

Of course, if God has given us the ability to enact justice in our sphere of influence, we should do everything we can to emulate his goodness in justice. But we must also recognize that because of a fallen world and fallen people, that will only go so far. So when we reach the limitations of human justice, we must look to God for the day when He will bring total justice.

If we can be honest with each other, where do we look so often for the execution of justice when we are wronged? And what is our most common instrument? Our tongue.

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. James 1:19–20

When we are wronged, we open up that tankless water heater pretty quickly and what boils out is not godly. It is not worshipful or dependent upon the truly just judge. It is vengeful. It is spiteful.

We blow up. Or maybe spew out a venomous word. We are out for blood with the weapon that doesn’t leave a visible mark, so we don’t feel so bad. But friend, it does leave a mark. And it is not just.

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:17–21

We must not seek vengeance because that belongs to God. It is not our place. I am not the judge over the injustice against me. God will make that injustice right. But what about the rapists? What about the abusers? What about the serial killers, war criminals? What about Hitler, and pastors who sexually abuse children? Don’t they get away with it?

And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:6–8

Yes, for now, they have not received what they deserve. But God withholds final judgement now because He is merciful. Yes, even the worst person imaginable may have an opportunity, in God’s providence to repent and turn back. But how is that just? Why can God give them a second chance?

The Gospel is the final answer of God's justice.
David writes:

If he does not turn back, He will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready. He also prepares for Himself instruments of death; He makes His arrows into fiery shafts. Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity; Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood. He made a pit and dug it out, And has fallen into the ditch which he made. His trouble shall return upon his own head, And his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown. Psalm 7:12–16

All of eternity hinges on the word “if.” Have you turned back from sin and trusted Christ? It is not just the abhorrent criminals and abusers that deserve eternal judgement. We have all violated Gods holiness. We are all selfish! We have all hated others and told lies. This whole world, the whole universe, belongs to him and when we rebel against him, that is the ultimate injustice.

The injustice of any sin is far more offensive and wrong to God, who is infinite, than when we are wronged. Even more, we killed his Son! For these things we deserve the lake of fire just as Hitler or

How could God then be just to give us mercy?

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8

Because Jesus already paid for our sins, God can give us mercy. We must repent and believe.

And yet, our personal sense of justice may bring us to a question: how can God let those who have been so vile and unjust even have a chance to repent?

Application:
Since God is just, we should praise Him. (Psalm 7:17)
Since God is just, we should forgive people.
Since God is just, we should proclaim his message of forgiveness.

Rather than using our tongue to execute justice in hurting someone back, we should use it to instate God’s merciful and beautiful justice in the Gospel.

Conclusion
For most of the rest of the book, Javert, an officer of the law, doggedly pursues the criminal Jean Valjean who violated parole and changed his name. Javert is obsessed with finding and incarcerating Valjean. Hugo contrasts this rigid and calloused perspective on justice with Valjean, who later learns compassion and mercy. And yet, in Hugo’s world, there remains a tension. Could anyone say that Javert was wrong for believing that Valjean must answer for his crimes? Yet, our hearts long for mercy. How can mercy be just? And how can justice be merciful?

God is a much better writer than any of us, including Victor Hugo. The Gospel is the story that can resolve these things. The just God takes our punishment on himself so that He can be both just and merciful.

Discussion Questions

• Can you share any stories of a time when someone felt as though they had experienced injustice? Serious or silly, accurate or inaccurate. (Even a kid saying, “That’s not fair!”)
• What does David’s willingness to have God be his judge say about his character?
  • How can we be like David in this way?
• What are some common personal obstacles to properly lamenting? What are some Biblical ways to evaluate and overcome those obstacles?
• Is it ever just to retaliate with angry words against someone? Why or why not?
  • What are some practical ways to fight a habit of lashing out in vengeance with one’s tongue?
• Explain how God can be just to forgive sins which deserve to be punished with death.
• Do you know anyone whom you could continue getting to know so you can have an opportunity to tell them about God’s just mercy?