For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. (Hebrews 6:4-6, ESV)

The passages of Hebrews 6:4-6 and Hebrews 10:26-30 have filled many with trepidation and angst over the fear of having lost any hope of salvation. This is a fear that has no comparative horror. Yet, sadly, many who go through this have nowhere to turn and are given unsatisfying explanations. It is uncomfortable, and the verses are difficult, therefore, very few are willing to sit with a person in this struggle. Many have struggled alone for years without any real answers. I hope to give some comfort to those who have experienced this. These verses are not meant to be comfortable. They are meant to make you tremble, but they are there to give you hope in the one that holds you as you tremble.

When we are reading the Bible, it is important to understand the context. The New Testament is saturated in Old Testament imagery and references that are often missed with a casual reading. As you read these passages, it is important to understand that there is a story and a rich context from which these statements are being made, which cannot be seen if you are just trying to define each word. Though important, we are not going to understand it by trying to have the definition of “enlightenment” or “taste” pat down in a lexicon. These things become more evident as we are entrenched in the same story as the author.

Jewish Background

This letter was written to Jewish Christians. Though we don’t know the full context of the situation, it is clear that the audience of this letter were struggling with whether or not to leave the covenant of Jesus and go back to being under the covenant of Moses and perhaps whether they still needed the sacrificial system along with Jesus, just as in Galatians, Paul addresses the teaching that gentiles needed circumcision in addition to Jesus. Some of the context of Hebrews gives us a picture of persecution under the Jews and pressure to go back to the Mosaic sacrificial system. Historically, we do know this persecution happened. The writer of Hebrews is dealing with whether a return to the covenant under Moses is possible.

Put yourself in their shoes. For centuries, you have had a valid means of coming to God and being reconciled through repentance by presenting a sacrifice, washings, and rituals. You and your father and your father’s fathers have in obedience and in reverence for God have been faithful in this. The practices of the Mosaic covenant were deeply ingrained in the very core of who they were. To give this up is to ask them to give up all that they have known. But also, the Mosaic covenant had been proven true and trustworthy for centuries. It would make sense for them to fall back onto the well-known and well-established Mosaic covenant, something they felt confident in as a means of repentance and acceptance with God, if they were unsure of their Gospel confession or buckled under persecution or faltered in the sufficiency of the work of Jesus. And maybe they were trying to hold on to both, perform the sacrifices to appease the Jewish leaders, while still holding to their faith in Jesus. In all these, there was a temptation to go back to the law. The writer of Hebrews is just as clear as Paul in his letter to the Galatians, when they were tempted to go back to the law, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse” (3:10a, ESV). And just as Paul pleads with the Galatians, “Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness?” (3:4-6, ESV), so too, the author of Hebrews exhorts his readers to not grow weary, even in suffering, and to hold fast to their confession (Hebrews 4:14).

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23, ESV).

The Mosaic Covenant is obsolete

Hebrews follows the argument Paul made to the Gentiles, that they could not be placed under the law, and can be summarized in this statement, “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13a). In other words, now that the Gospel has come there was no Mosaic covenant to return to. We must keep in mind that this was a radical and uncomfortable statement for the Jews. They are being told that what they were called to be faithful to for generations upon generations is now obsolete. Not only obsolete, but what was once beautiful and holy, and a blessing is now destructive and a curse. The Gospel shook the very foundations of all that they had known. And with this in mind, the writer of Hebrews argues that the Mosaic sacrificial system is no longer a viable means of repentance, and those who go back to it have fallen away from the only hope and means of repentance, which is through Jesus.

Moving on from the basics

Keeping this background in mind, let’s look at these verses,

And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5:

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. (Hebrews 5:9-6:3, ESV)

The writer of Hebrews wants to say more about Jesus “being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek”, but he is not sure if they fully understand the basics of how Jesus fulfills the Mosaic law and how Jesus fulfills all that the Old Testament taught about “repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment”. Later in this letter, he writes of how Jesus fulfilled the law, using similar language,

These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:6-14, ESV)

They ought to know that “[t]hese [Mosaic covenant practices] are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:17, ESV), for this is the very milk by which they enter the Gospel. The author of this letter wants to move on from this and wants them to understand that Christ has done more than just fulfill the Mosaic covenant and law with its ritual washings, laying on of hands, and sacrifices. He wants to take them ever deeper into the wonders of the Gospel. Christ has fulfilled something much more profound and encompasses something that predates Moses, and of whom their ancestor Abraham, himself, was subservient to. Jesus has come as our high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

The Sword

Wanting to move on, the author of Hebrews demonstrates that if one does not understand that Jesus has fulfilled the Mosaic law with its rituals, and if they are not relying on the blood of Christ to “purify our conscience from dead works [the law] to serve the living God”, the very milk of the Gospel, but instead after hearing the Gospel, because of a hard heart, fall back to the Mosaic covenant as a means of repentance, then they fallen away from the only hope they have. In other words, if you do not have faith that Jesus has not fully satisfied the Mosaic covenant, you will not find salvation anywhere else, not even in the place that was once secure for your father and their fathers for generations, for the Mosaic covenant could not stand up under the majesty of Jesus. “This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:27). Those who rely on these things will be destroyed alongside them. This is why the author of Hebrews makes this statement,

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

Remember, this passage is written to the Jews who once had a valid and God given means of repentance through the Mosaic covenant. Before the Gospel came, their sacrifices, washings, and laying on of hands were acceptable to God. But now that the Gospel has come, it brings a “sword” that pieces our heart, thoughts, and soul. It not only calls the Gentiles to leave their idolatry and immorality, but it also calls the Jews to leave their dead works under the law. When Simeon held Jesus, he told Mary, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34b-35). Or as the Hebrews author puts it, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:12–13, ESV). When presented with Jesus, will you come to him?

The Power of the Gospel

When the Gospel is preached, it is not just mere speech. When the Gospel is preached the Holy spirit is present and at work and there is a tangible presence of the Word of Christ, as the hearers are hearing the very words of Jesus himself (Romans 10:17). When the Gospel is preached there is a real encounter with the Kingdom of God for both those who believe and those who remain in unbelief that can be described as “having once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come”. In a very authentic way, when the Gospel is preached, we are experiencing the Kingdom of God breaking through, just as the Israelites experienced this at Mount Sinai, despite their unbelief. Be assured, the preaching of the Gospel is more powerful than God delivering Israel from Egypt. Paul echoes this Hebrews passage in his first letter to the Corinthians,

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness (10:1-5, ESV).

In this passage, Paul is warning the Gentiles, you have experienced the power of God and His Kingdom through proclamation of the Gospel. And just as the Hebrews passage warns the Jews, Paul warns them not to have a hard heart that turns way and holds on to things that are dead and bring no life. In John 6, you have group of people who are described as believing in Jesus and disciples who were recently ready to make him king, but when Jesus’ message of the Gospel gets hard and brings the “sword”, “his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66, ESV). We also see this kind of “belief” not accompanied by faith in the parable of the seeds. This theme is stitched throughout the scripture into a tapestry warning us to place our faith in Jesus alone.

And why did God reject the Israelites in the desert? It was despite having experienced the power of God and believing God exists, they continued to walk in unbelief. Just as the disciples in John 6 followed Jesus and were even ready to make him king, so to were the Israelites ready to follow Moses out of Egypt and ready to make a covenant on Mount Sinai, but when tested, they rebelled and walked in unbelief, revealing the true nature of their belief.

For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:16–19, ESV)

Jude comes to the same conclusion,

Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe (Jude 5, ESV).

Like rain, the Gospel rains on both the righteous and the wicked. Both encounter the power of God through the Gospel, but they do not have the same response to this encounter.

For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. (Hebrews 6:7–8, ESV)

Now that the Gospel has been preached and the Kingdom of God has broken through, the message to us all is, “a sword will pierce through your own soul, also”. We are warned, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12, ESV). “For the good news came to us just as to them [the Israelites in the wilderness], but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened (Hebrews 4:2, ESV).

It is impossible for the law to restore one to repentance

Hebrews 6 is a continuation of this message. The author of Hebrews goes on to tell them that if they fall away from Christ, thinking that Mosaic covenant sacrifices will be a legitimate means of repentance, it will have no such power. Though the Mosaic law previously generation after generation, could restore them to repentance through the sacrifices and once a year as the high priest made atonement, this is no longer the case. The Mosaic covenant has no power to restore them again to repentance as it once did. They are asking the impossible. On the contrary, if they rely on sacrifices, whether in an attempt at repentance or in order to appease the Jews and avoid persecution, they are saying Jesus’ death on the cross is not sufficient and that a continual sacrifice is needed. When they continue in these sacrifices, they are symbolically saying Christ needs to die once again and putting the work of Christ to open shame. Just as Paul writes to the Galatians, warning them if they try to hold onto anything other than Jesus,

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6–9, ESV)

Hebrews 10 gives the same warning,

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26–30, ESV)

Psalms 95, quoted in Hebrews, also gives us the same warning,

   do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
   as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
   and put me to the proof, 
   though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
   and said, “They are a people 
     who go astray in their heart,
   and they have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
   “They shall not enter my rest.”

(Psalm 95:8–11, ESV)

And so, the thrust of the passage is that if we keep on willfully sinning against the covenant under Jesus and reject the Gospel, there is no other sacrifice. work, or effort that will be able to restore us to repentance, not even if we sought it with tears. There is nothing left to rescue us from the wrath of God. Yes, “The Lord will judge his people”; being a Jew and a descendent of Abraham will not save them. Nor will being amongst the body of Jesus in the Church.

The root of bitterness

In Hebrews, we are given the example of Esau,

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears (Hebrews 12:15–17, ESV).

When Moses was giving his final words to the Israelites, he, too, warned them against a bitter heart,

“You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law (Deuteronomy 29:16–21, ESV).

In Sinai, those who walked in unbelief longed to go back to Egypt. Despite being in the desert where God’s presence was, they did not press into the Promised Land. Those with a bitter heart are those like Esau that long for the things of this world, who like the Israelites despite hearing the message of the Gospel want to go back, whether it is to the law or to the world.

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

I want to touch on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit as described in Matthew 12:31-32 and Mark 3:28-30.

Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 12:31–32, ESV)

“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” (Mark 3:28–30, ESV)

As with Adam, we have rejected God the Father to go our own way. And as with Israel and the gentile Romans, we in our rebellion have crucified Jesus, for it is our sins that held him there. Our blasphemies against the Father and the Son have been outrageous, but even then, Jesus says that this blasphemy can be forgiven. The Holy Spirit moves to reveal the Gospel and calls us to come and experience the forgiveness that was accomplished in Jesus. If we reject that call, if we reject the Holy Spirit, there is nowhere else to go in this age or the one to come for forgiveness. We will be left without hope.

For the Jewish leaders, this was both a message of warning and hope. The Holy Spirit was at work revealing who Jesus was with magnificent signs. Would they persist in unbelief as Israel in the wilderness? What more proof could they be given? What they spoke at this moment revealed their hearts, claiming about Jesus, “‘He is possessed by Beelzebul,’ and ‘by the prince of demons he casts out the demons’” (Mark 3:22, ESV). God himself was standing before them, performing miracles, and providing evidence for them to believe, and yet in the bitterness and hardness of their heart, they chose what Jesus showed to be a feeble argument in order to lead people away from Jesus. They were resisting the Holy Spirit, but not only that, they were attributing the work of the Holy Spirit, which was there to bring conviction as an unholy thing and even Satan. More evidence could not have been provided. And more evidence would not have convinced them, for their hearts were hard? To give an example with another subject, for some, because of the gymnastics they have allowed their brain to go through, no amount of evidence would convince them that the world is not flat. In John 9:41, Jesus tells the Pharisees, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains” (NIV). None of the passages that address this issue speak of a casual occurrence. It is described as high-handed, willful, deliberate, ongoing.

The Warning

So, there is a warning in these scriptures, both in Hebrews and elsewhere. And this is a warning to those who have heard the Gospel, yet neglect to come to Jesus. In Deuteronomy 29, Moses says the root of bitterness is rejecting God and his covenant in Jesus. If you reject the Gospel, the root of bitterness, if allowed to grow, will choke out the hope of the Gospel and create a heart that is willfully and deliberately resistant to the Holy Spirit. It is a warning just as urgent as the angels who warned Lot to get out of Sodom. It is a warning for “Today”, not tomorrow. If we continue to reject the Gospel, our hearts will eventually get so hard and our hearts so bitter toward God that we may come to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, the only one who can change our hearts. The “sword of the word of God” will test our hearts.

Interestingly in the Matthew account you get parables and events surrounding this passage like the discourse about persecution, John’s messengers, unrepentant cities, yoke, the soils (Sower), weeds, treasure, net, the tree and its fruit, and Jesus being rejected at Nazareth that fall within theme of these things. All these give you the picture of the “sword” that divides belief from unbelief. As said earlier, there is a tapestry of scripture that warns us to not neglect the Gospel while it is called “Today”.

Our sure and solid hope

One note here: the scripture is clear that this hardness of heart is not a casual thing. It is a willful and high-handed continual and ongoing rejection of the Gospel. The scripture says, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth.” If at some point, we cease to “go on sinning”, and turn to Christ, we will be met with the open arms of the Gospel. The promises of God do not change. They do not grow weary. They are not weaker than our most severe sins. Though the warning of a hardened heart is real, the offer of the Gospel is never ever ever ever taken away from those who repent and come to God. In Hebrews 6, the same passage that says it is impossible to restore them to repentance it also encourages us to hold on to our confession because God is faithful,

And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:11–20, ESV)

When Jesus spoke of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, though his exchange with the Pharisees and scribes was a warning to those around him to be careful that their hearts did not become hard and reject the Holy Spirit. Perhaps for some who had not fully hardened their heart, this might have been a message of hope in the darkest place. Soon, the Jews, with the help of the Gentiles, and likely some present at this exchange, would blaspheme and crucify Jesus. If they came to understand the Gospel, they could look back at Jesus’ words spoken on this occasion and understand and know they could be forgiven, even of this, if they did not also speak against and reject the call of the Holy Spirit in the gospel. What a message of grand hope for us all who have committed such atrocities against God!

David, knowing all of this, in the midst of his sin, says in Psalm 32:9-11,

Be not like a horse or a mule, 
     without understanding,
   which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
   or it will not stay near you.
Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
   but steadfast love surrounds 
     the one who trusts in the Lord.
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, 
     O righteous,
   and shout for joy, 
     all you upright in heart! 
       (Psalm 32:9–11, ESV)

In Hebrews 11, we find that many have found that God’s promises are sure and faithful. The writer goes on and says,

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1–2, ESV)

In light of this and the surety of the work of Jesus and the promises of God,

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14–16, ESV)

Part of this written dialogue is below:

At this point, I think it would be helpful to clarify where our approaches agree and disagree, so I will summarize from my perspective, and you can comment on anything you think I got wrong. This will be a long post, so I have broken it up. Here is the outline

1. WHAT IF QUETZALCOATL WROTE, “I AM GOD IN THE STARS”?
   1. Summary: God showing up would not be enough. “Empiricism” alone will not tell you whether or not God exists.
2. WHAT DOES SCIENCE TELL US?
   1. Summary: We agree that there is an all-powerful, all-creative, infinite non-contingent cause
3. WHAT WOULD WE EXPECT IF THE CAUSE WAS PERSONAL?
   1. Summary: A personal non-contingent cause must also be relational for us to know him.
4. SHOULD WE BRING OUR OWN ASSUMPTIONS
   1. Summary: Because we have flawed brains, we should not bring our assumptions into the question of God’s existence.
5. WE CANNOT ASSUME GOD’S GOAL IS FOR US TO BELIEVE HE EXISTS
   1. Summary: God’s goal is not for us to believe, but instead to have a relationship with him through the Gospel.
6. GOD IS RELATIONAL AND SPEAKS
   1. Summary: God has given us a means to test the veracity of his existence – the Bible. And this is the pivotal point where we disagree.
7. WHAT ARE THE STRONGEST ARGUMENTS FOR GOD FOR ME
   1. Summary: At the moment, atheist arguments are the strongest proof for me that God exists
8. YOU MUST PROVE GOD EXISTS
   1. Summary: Blind skepticism will not accept evidence, but seeks a way to not have to deal with the evidence. Christian scholars because of the eternal consequences work hard to face the strongman arguments atheists have.
9. BEST EXPLANATION FOR THE EVIDENCE
   1. Summary: The Christian God is the best explanation given the evidence that when all are added together approaches 100%.

WHAT IF QUETZALCOATL WROTE, “I AM GOD IN THE STARS”?

I appreciate your understanding that we cannot trust our brains alone. Although I do not hold to solipsism, where we agree is that our brains are severely flawed and that we are often faulty interpreters of the world around us. I think this is why you hold “empiricism” in such a high esteem. The scientific method is something outside of ourselves though not independent of the brain that helps to hold us accountable and helps to mitigate these flaws. Though not perfect it provides checks and balances and helps us to get a better foundation on what is true. Because of this we both believe that the scientific method is a reliable means of finding truth. But “empiricism” alone has its limits. You asked, “What if the stars read, ‘I am Quetzalcoatl, the flying serpent, creator of all’? would you accept this?” No, I would not. I have told you that I understand this skepticism that atheists have. My point in presenting this example of atheists saying that even if God showed up they would not believe was not to show that a certain amount of skepticism here is inappropriate, but that “empiricism” alone could not tell you the difference between whether or not this being was God or just a vastly superior being with greater technology or whether you have gone mad or not (although mass hallucinations like this don’t happen, so this really is not possible). The “Three Body Problem” fictional story even posits that a sufficiently advanced civilization would be able to alter our ability to do science. So, regardless of what “miracles” were performed or what great physical feats were presented “empiricism” will always allow for a means to not believe in God. Or in other words the “science in the gaps” will always allow for another possible explanation. If you have the perspective that as long as one can provide a “science in the gaps” argument, that that one should not believe in God, then “empiricism” will always lead to atheism. This kind of criterion is not an open-minded query, nor does it allow for the best explanation based on the data. We have both demonstrated this weakness of “empiricism”. Given this fact, it would be unwise to hold onto only “empiricism”, for it can only lead to one closed conclusion. It is clear that we need to look to more than “empiricism” to fully explore this question. In order to explore a question, one must allow for the full range of possibilities. I do believe that science provides evidence that is consistent with and points to the Christian God. But I would also argue that scholarly arguments outside of science but are well established and accepted lines of inquiry and evidence in academia provide sound evidence that the Christian God exists and give us a fuller picture of what that might mean and is a fuller explanation of the data we find, without having to appeal to an “in the gaps”.

WHAT DOES SCIENCE TELL US?

What can we know with science? I think it would be helpful to qualify what we both agree we can know through science about the creation or eternal existence of our universe. The more we learn about our universe, the more we discover that our universe has fine-tuning and design. Despite that this has been used to bolster the argument for God, an argument that has its beginnings long before we knew what we know today in science, but has grown stronger the more and more we do learn about science, because of the repeatable and measurable evidence for fine-tuning it is something that is generally agreed on within the scientific community, though the terminology may be different. This growing evidence for fine-tuning has forced atheists to address this issue and grapple with what it means. Saying fine-tuning exists doesn’t establish a cause and obviously the atheist and theist have come to different conclusions.  But both atheists and theists would agree that there must either be an eternal non-contingent cause or an eternal cyclical cause and effect. And this is where the atheists and theists look to try to explain fine-tuning. Another condition that must be met is that this non-contingent cause must be able to explain the probability that we see within the fine-tuning and design within our universe without falling into the gambler’s fallacy. This gets into a more complicated argument than we have room for here, but all this is without calculating the probabilities needed for evolution to occur or for the information found within the universe, which from what we can tell most likely cannot be preloaded into the universe at the beginning and so would be outside of the physics and cosmological constants that existed at the beginning of the universe. Here is a summary of the probabilities that must be overcome:

• Must be able to explain fine-tuning at every step.
• Must be able to overcome the gambler’s fallacy.
• Must be able to explain the directive nature of evolution and information, which from what we can tell cannot be pre-loaded into the universe at the beginning.
• Must be able to explain the information found in our universe.
• Must be able to explain design or apparent design at every step.
• Must be able to explain either the beginning or eternal aspect of nature

But to put it simply there are a lot of odds to overcome that go beyond the beginning of our universe without falling into the gambler’s fallacy. But here we come to another point where both atheists and theists agree. In order to overcome this, the non-contingent cause must be all-powerful, capable of creating infinite universes, but not only infinite universes but be able to generate a full spectrum of universes in sufficient amounts to overcome the probabilities. This can be done by either having a full spectrum infinite multi-universe generator or using a process that weeds out all other possibilities but our own before creating our universe. Currently with what we know the first option could be both impersonal or personal. The second option is most likely personal. But let’s pause on where we do agree for a moment. We both agree that our universe was created by an invisible, eternal, all-powerful force. Interestingly, this conclusion reminds me of a quote from the agnostic Robert Jastrow, “He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries. God and the Astronomers” (1978), p. 116; (p. 107 in 1992 edition). What we can agree on and what we know to be true reminds me of the verse that says, “By faith we understand that the world has been created by the word of God so that what is seen has not been made out of things that are visible” (Hebrews 11:3). Neither the atheists nor theologians have specific 100% proof within science for their positions here. We just don’t know enough about science yet. But despite not having 100% proof both the scientist and the theologian believe or have faith that something eternal, all-powerful, and invisible created our universe. We agree that our universe “has not been made out things that are visible”. And we both believe that our universe was made out of something eternal and infinite. Science shows us that there is an all-powerful, eternal, invisible cause to our universe, but we still have to ask ourselves whether or not there is a personal cause behind this. Atheists believe that evidence will come to show that a self-existing multi-universe generator is possible. A directive force or a specific beginning is not something that atheists at this time support. Theists are open to either a self-existing multi-universe generator or a directive force behind our universe. I do think there are good arguments that show that science does point to God and has stronger explanatory power than that the atheist’s position, but I feel that I am not yet equipped to argue these points yet. I am still in the middle of my research, so I would rather leave the argument here, where I feel like we both have agreement. Regardless, the question remains whether or not the initial non-contingent cause of our universe is impersonal or personal. We cannot prove a non-personal or a non-relational personal cause, but if the cause is not only personal, but is also relational, we would suspect that this non-contingent cause could be found and known. But then we must ask how would this personal and relational non-contingent cause reveal himself?

WHAT WOULD WE EXPECT IF THERE IS A PERSONAL GOD?

If the non-contingent cause is personal, we would only know this if that non-contingent cause chose to reveal himself. An all-powerful being could make a universe purely using science. Therefore, for us to know God, one of the things we could expect is that this God is both personal and relational. If this personal non-contingent cause were not relational, it would also probably be a moot point, since neither the atheist nor theist could have a relationship with this kind of god. So, I would argue that if there is a God, for us to have a relationship with this god, it would be important that this god be relational. And if the cause of the universe is relational, we have to ask ourselves, how would we come to know this creator? Afterall, we have both concluded that if God showed up “empiricism” would invalidate such an attempt. Though showing up would be a means of revealing himself, we would want more, since we are dealing with our flawed brains. So how would we come to know God given our flawed brains?

SHOULD WE BRING OUR OWN PRESUMPTIONS?

One certain way to not know this God is to trust our flawed brains. Since a non-contingent cause is powerful enough to create a universe that is so far beyond us, that we are just getting started in exploring its depths, we cannot assume we can fully understand this God on our own power with our flawed brains. We would need this God to condescend and reveal to us who he is. One of the flaws of the atheist is that they bring in their own presumptions to this question. They trust their flawed brains and determine for themselves what this God ought to be like. You will often here questions phrased in the format of

1. If God is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving etc., then he would . . . (fill in the blank)
2. Since God has not done . . . (fill in the blank), God does not exist.

Some examples are (fill in the blank) God would . . .:

• not be hidden.
• God would be clear in his revelation of himself
• would reveal himself in such and such a way.
• want me to believe.
• find a way to get me to believe.
• Prove himself 100% through empirical means.
• provide one definitive argument for God.
• not allow . . .
• not allow for suffering or evil
• not have done this.
• has not made the church I believe he said he would.
• have perfect church without disagreements on theology.
• conform to my interpretation of scripture.
• fit my expectations of what a god ought to be.
• Etc.

Like “empiricism” this approach presumes or forces a conclusion rather than performing an objective and open query. God must meet these made-up arbitrary requirements in order to exist. This is a deeply troubling approach for a group that states that they have a scientific approach and who state that we cannot trust our brains because they are flawed. These presumptions are flawed because they start with what our flawed brains assume God would be like. In my communication on the topic of the hiddenness of God I demonstrated that these presumptions are flawed and cannot stand up to scrutiny (for more go here). A scientific approach would not presume that we could bring our presumptions into this query. An all-powerful, all-creative, infinite relational being is not a “one-dimensional” being that we can presume to understand either what he is like or how this being would reveal himself. We are having enough difficulty understanding the physical universe or relationships in our lives. These are flawed arguments from flawed brains. As in science we can’t start with pre-conceived criteria or have an unmovable conclusion and expect to get anywhere. Because we have such flawed brains in order to know God, we would need something outside ourselves which like the scientific method would allow for accountability, evaluation, and testing.

WE CANNOT ASSUME GOD’S GOAL IS FOR US TO BELIEVE HE EXISTS

We will get back to the question on how God has revealed himself, but first we need to address one of the errors atheists make first. They assume the goal God has for humanity is for them to believe that he exists. Or that there ought to be some definitive absolute evidence they can look to. This is a fallacious assumption. Atheists argue that God would know how to prove that he exists, with no effort. I agree, but that is not his goal. Atheists also argue that the Bible ought to be clearer. Again, you assume God’s purpose is to be clear. It is not. His goal is not for us to believe he exists or for the church to have perfect doctrine. His goal is to bring a people into relationship with himself through the power of the gospel. In our dialogue earlier on the “hiddenness of God”, I demonstrated that these assumptions atheists make would not be the goal of a perfectly loving God. I won’t go into it and rehash those arguments here. You can reread what I sent you (or go here). But for God to be both perfectly loving to those who come to him and to those who reject him, he must be “hidden”. And this fact in itself, his “hiddenness”, is evidence for God’s existence, for only a perfectly loving, all-knowing, all-powerful God could accomplish this.

 GOD IS RELATIONAL AND SPEAKS

If God is relational, we can assume he would reveal himself. And I would argue he has in many sundry ways, some of which includes science, logic, philosophy, beauty, and personal experience. And for many this revelation is so extraordinary that it is enough for them to believe. But though he has revealed himself in these ways, these things alone can only tell us so much. For us to know God in a relational way, God must reveal himself in a relational way and in a way that does not violate his “hiddenness” which protects us. We intuitively know this in our own relationships with others. “Empiricism” is not relational. Even though we would not expect science to be inconsistent with God, if God were to reveal himself, certainly it would not be through “empiricism”, for as shown earlier “empiricism” would not be an effective means. We have both agreed that just showing up and even writing in the stars would not work. But we have also agreed that because of our flawed brains, we would want something outside of ourselves, something that can be evaluated, scrutinized, and tested. I have talked with my children on how personal experiences or hearing a “voice from heaven” would not be a valid means in of itself for God to reveal himself, since it is limited in the ways it could be evaluated or tested. People are flawed. There are conditions where people here voices that are not real. Many have “heard god”, only for it to be clear that they had not, whether from madness, selfishness manipulation, or from other voices. And our feelings and experiences as well can skew our thinking. And from these experiences there are many religions in the world. How do we know which one is true?

We must be careful not to take this too far and on the other side to say things like science and experience are not useful in coming to know God. Like science, experiences can point us to God, and we would expect these things to be consistent with God, but also like science because of our flawed brains we would need to be cautious. For example, the fine-tuning, design, and information arguments are extremely powerful arguments for God that have only grown stronger the more we have learned about science. But I think for the both of us, we would like to something more, we want something that takes into account our flawed brains, something that is subject to scrutiny and rigorous analysis and evaluation, after all how would we distinguish it from all the other religions as the true religion. Thankfully, God does not intend for us to rely on our flawed brains. The most powerful means by which God has revealed himself to us is through the Bible. The Bible is something that can be scrutinized, evaluated, and tested to see if its claims hold up and are true. It can be evaluated against other religions. It can be evaluated against science, logic, philosophy, and academia. It is something that can be evaluated outside our flawed brains. The reason I would not believe in Quetzalcoatl in the scenario above is because there is no such evidence. If Jesus showed up on the other hand I would already have enough vast and extraordinary evidence to believe.

And here is the pivotal point where we disagree. You do not believe that the Bible holds up to scrutiny. I believe it does. You don’t believe that the Bible conforms with the world you see around you, with science, or even is consistent with itself. I on the other hand do believe that the Bible is consistent with the world I see around me, with science, and is consistent with itself.

WHAT IS MY STRONGEST ARGUMENT FOR GOD – ATHIEST ARGUMENTS

You asked me what my strongest argument for God is. For me it is the integrity of the Bible. A follow up question might be what for me is the strongest argument for the integrity of the Bible. At this moment, for me, the strongest argument for the integrity of the Bible are atheist arguments. I have mentioned to you before that I believe in putting the strong men in the ring and letting them fight to the death. Atheist arguments rather than doing this stick a strawman in the ring and fight against that. Within this group though I have not read everything posted, from what I have read, I have not seen one argument that actually attacks the Christian faith or the Bible. We have both determined that the brain is flawed and is often not a reliable interpreter of the data. There are both atheists and theists who believe in a “flat earth” and they claim to have science to back them up. You will say that they are not using science correctly. Bingo! This is my point. When atheists make claims against the veracity of the Bible, they fail to use the Bible correctly, just as flat earthers fail to use science correctly. This is why when coming to the scriptures we must rely on proper hermeneutics and rigorous scholarship and an open mind. It is clear when atheists talk about the Bible, they have no clue what they are talking about, nor does it seem that they are willing to do the arduous work to understand. You state that there are 1000s of inconsistencies in the Bible. Let’s be honest, we both know that there are only a handful worth talking about, and of those none of them touch doctrine or faith. What I have found in atheists’ arguments is a very narrow understanding of the Christian faith and a lack of engagement with the robust scholarship within Christian community to the point where most of the arguments I have come across can only be described as slander. Sure, perusing the internet or social media you will find poor Christian answers, but I am talking about the well-studied, professionally researched, scholastic work that has been done. The stuff that requires more than a casual engagement and requires years and years of challenging work. When I sent you a link to videos, you said there were a lot. The reality is you will probably not do the hard work. And I understand the challenge and the difficulty of what I ask, you are a busy person. And what I sent was basic stuff, it would only begin to touch the work done to answer atheists’ questions. But this is the type of scholastic work that atheists fail to address against the Christian faith, because they don’t have the inclination to do this kind of work. Because you have not done the work, you have not been able to present a legitimate argument against the Bible or the Christian faith.

And this is why I believe the Bible; it has been tested. It has been tested by the harshest critics, the strongest strongmen atheists have to offer, and it has stood up to that test. You have not been able to provide not even one valid argument against the Christian faith but insist on believing that you do have a good argument. On the other hand, Atheist arguments have consistently demonstrated errors in logic and scholarship. Here are a few.

Places where Atheists violate proper literary textual analysis

• Authorial intent errors
• Cultural
• Wooden literalism
• Assumption of presentism
• Genre Fallacy
• Contextual analysis error
• Etymology error
• Synchronic meaning error
• Syntactic Fallacy
• Symantec range Fallacy
• Argument of Silence Fallacy
• Description is not prescription
• Assume a different definition
• Assume a static scene
• False dilemma
• Fallacy of false equivocation
• Elephant hurling
• Species fallacy
• Sweeping generalization fallacy
• Subset fallacy
• Genetic Fallacy

YOU MUST PROVE GOD EXISTS

You will say, “Well it is on you to prove to me that God exists. I have a lack of belief, It should not be hard to prove your case”. Have you ever tried to reason with someone who believes in a “flat earth”? The reason people believe in the “flat earth” is not because they are stupid. The problem is actually the opposite. The problem is that our flawed brains are quite intelligent and able to come up with arguments to support what we believe. Despite the evidence you give “flat earthers”, and despite the fact that it is common sense evidence, they are smart enough are able to come up with an answer to why that evidence is irrelevant, without having to actually address the evidence itself. And this is often how blind skepticism works. Most of the arguments you have given me are reasons why you don’t have to evaluate the evidence. If skepticism is your foundation, evidence becomes a lot less relevant in the discussion. Whatever evidence is produced, blind skepticism can explain it away or ignore it, without facing and addressing the actual arguments or evidence.

You might ask, “How do I know that I have not done the same with my arguments for God?” Because I and other Christian scholars work hard to try to understand the depths of atheists’ arguments and represent them fairly. If I have misunderstood one of your arguments, I want to know. Remember we have stronger eternal motives in wanting to convince atheists to believe in God. We cannot do this well if we don’t understand what atheists believe and actually address the questions they are having. Good Christian scholars work hard to put the strongest man for the atheists in the ring. Not only do they try to fully address atheist strong man arguments, but they also try to make atheist arguments even stronger. Christian scholars work hard to allow atheists to put the strong man into the ring. I don’t see the same rigor among atheists. Again, I have not seen one post in this group that actually attacks the Christian faith. After seeing the Bible time and time again put these strongman arguments to death, you start to develop a trust in its veracity. When time and time again you see atheists putting strawman and fallacious reasoning into the ring, the less and less you feel like you can take their arguments seriously. I believe the Bible because there are objective means outside my brain that allow me to test its veracity. Christianity is probably the most scrutinized religion and the Bible the most scrutinized book. Both have held against that scrutiny. And I am not talking about the fact that Christianity still exists. I am talking about the fact that Christianity actually addresses strong man arguments put up against it. Take our conversations, I have been able to demonstrate several points of fallacious reasoning within your arguments. I don’t think my arguments are perfect either, but you have not been able to do the same with my arguments.

BEST EXPLANATION FOR THE EVIDENCE

Why do I believe in God. I believe in God because given the evidence in the science, in philosophy, in psychology, in history, in art, the presence of evil, morality, ethics, personal experience and the experience of others, and in the Bible, the Christian God has the fullest and best explanatory power for what I see in this world. I can’t give you one definitive proof that God exists, but all these things put together the probability that God exists approaches 100%.

How would I convince you that there is a God? I don’t know. I am not naive, just as “flat earthers” have their answers to evidence presented to them, so too atheists have their answers. The reality is I am not going to be able to provide you a one fits all definitive argument to suddenly convince you that God exists. This is not how our flawed brains work. This is not how you would convince a “flat earther” even though we both know that the evidence for the globe is overwhelming and is absolutely right. I think these things just happen over time as we dialogue.  But I suppose this is not surprising if God cares more about relationship than belief.

Peter could remember that during his ministry, Jesus spoke of and warned Jerusalem with tears of the coming judgment that awaited them, for they had rejected the coming of God in their midst. Jesus had told him and the other disciples, “Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” As Peter stood there before the crowd on Pentecost, he knew the world would never be the same, Jesus was on his throne and a new age had come.

After the darkness had fallen over Jerusalem, Jesus resurrected, conquered death, and ascended to glory to sit at the right hand of God. And now forty days later, during Pentecost, the disciples had been gathered together in prayer, when tongues of fire fell upon them, and they began to proclaim the mighty works of God. Now, as those who were around them were astonished and sought to understand the things happening, Peter, in this first sermon, describes the coming storm and the coming of this new age,

      “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, 
      that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,  
                     . . .
       in those days I will pour out my Spirit, 
       and they shall prophesy. 
      And I will show wonders in the heavens above 
          and signs on the earth below, 
          blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 
      the sun shall be turned to darkness 
      and the moon to blood, 
      before the day of the Lord comes, 
      the great and magnificent day. 
               (Acts 2:17a,18b–20, ESV)

Peter declares to the men of Israel, now, what they are seeing before them, is this time Joel spoke of. Now are the last days of the old age. And though Jesus had been delivered over to death by lawless men, death could not hold him. Jesus not only conquered death but was now sitting on his throne. Jesus had begun his rule and had begun the work of putting his enemies under his feet. Peter quotes Psalm 110:1, “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool”, admonishing them “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:34-35, ESV). Those in the crowd were aware of the darkness that had fallen over Jerusalem and the rumors surrounding Jesus’ life and death. As Peter spoke of Jesus’ resurrection, and his ascension to the throne at the right hand of God, those who heard his words understood the implications of Peter’s words. A war was coming, and Jesus was going to conquer his enemies. Their judgment was near. Peter confirmed these fears, warning to the crowd, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation” (Acts 2:40). On hearing these things, “They were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).

Acts begins with these words, “In my first book, O Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach . . ..” Luke is clear that Acts is a continuation of the works of Jesus. As Jesus sat on his throne, because of what he did at the cross, the Holy spirit was being unleashed on the world. Jesus, told his disciples, “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” (John 16:7–11, ESV). So as Acts opens, Jesus is on his throne, active in this world and has begun to put his enemies under his feet through the power of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the Gospel. The war had begun. Judgement was coming for Jerusalem and the old age. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice and his perfect priesthood, the Temple was no longer needed. The old age was dying as the new age was taking over.

In these early chapters of Acts we see this war taking place as the rulers of Jerusalem try to hold on to their kingdoms in midst of the conquering power of the Gospel. They try to prevent the preaching of the Gospel and the speaking of the name of Jesus. Later in Acts as the Gospel spreads to the Gentiles it is said that preaching of the Gospel has turned the world upside down. The Gospel had not come to play nice, but instead it had come to make war and to conquer and that war had begun in Jerusalem.

Before we meet Annanias and Sapphira, we are told that many who had come to faith had sold their land and laid the proceeds at the apostles’ feet to be distributed to any who had need. Jerusalem is the only place we see amongst the church where this was practiced. Though it does not explicitly give the reason for this, we do see in these early passages of Acts hints to that they were aware that Jerusalem was a ticking time bomb. Jesus had warned that judgement would come within their generation, and as Peter had said, they had witnessed the prophesied signs of that judgement. Jesus had warned that when that time comes, and they see the armies surrounding Jerusalem, they were to flee and not pause to take anything with them, just as Lot was rushed out and warned not look back as he fled Sodom. What they owned in Jerusalem would not last, especially the land. Israel throughout the wilderness narrative, though they were called out of Egypt for the Promised Land, longed to go back to Egypt. This looking back, this holding on to the old kingdom, was to their destruction and kept them from entering the Promised Land. For the early church, the physical Jerusalem was no longer their hope, but as with Abraham they were looking to a kingdom not built by human hands. The epistle of Hebrews speaks of this when warning those who wished to “look back” to Jerusalem and to the Law with its sacrificial system. Hebrews urges them to follow the example of those who have walked in faith before us, by “admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. And we are not to “return” or “hold on” to our former country, but as Abraham we are to leave it behind. And though there may be opportunity to return, instead we are looking for a better country – a heavenly one (Hebrews 11:13-16, paraphrased). So, their selling of their lands though truly an act of charity, for the Christian faith certainly invokes such profound acts of love, was more than an act of charity, it was also an act of faith, rejecting the kingdom of this world that was fading away, and whose judgement was sure and declaring the surety of the promises of God in the Gospel to bring us into a Kingdom whose foundation is sure and everlasting.

So throughout Acts we see the Kingdom of God coming to conquer the world. Let’s look back at another time when Israel had come to conquer the Promised Land. When Joshua took Israel into the Promised Land, they were to completely destroy the pagan culture in the land, as they trampled under their feet the old kingdoms and brought the new kingdom under the rule of the God of Israel.

In their first battle with Jericho, this city, as Jerusalem would be in 70 A.D., had been given over to destruction. All that was within Jericho had been declared devoted to the Lord. Just as the church fleeing Jerusalem were not to stop to take things with them, so too Israel was not to take any of the spoils from the fallen Jericho with them. And yet after this first battle with Jericho, a man named Achan, in love with the things of this old world held on to a beautiful cloak and money, objects that had been devoted to destruction. Symbolically, when he held on to these things he was holding on to the old pagan kingdom. As in the story of Ananias and Sapphira, the LORD says of Achan that he had transgressed the covenant and kept for himself things that were devoted to the LORD, declaring that Achan lied and hid his actions and his possessions from the congregation. And based on the context, most likely with the full knowledge and consent of his family. Before Ananias and Sapphira sold the land it was theirs to do with as they pleased, when they sold it, the proceeds were still theirs to dispose of it as they wished. But when they came before the congregation and set it aside declaring it as fully devoted to the Lord, it was no longer theirs to do with it as they wished, it was the Lord’s. And as with Achan, they transgressed the covenant, stole from the Lord, and lied and hid their actions from the congregation. They lied to the Holy Spirit and the church. This was no small sin. Though they might fool the church, they could not fool the Holy Spirit. And as the Lord exposed Achan’s sin and he was put to death, so too their sin was exposed by the Holy Spirit, and they died. Both of Achan’s death and the death of Ananias and Sapphira serve as a vivid and concrete warning to all who desire to hold on to the things of this world. The Gospel is at war with this world and with our sinful hearts and separates us from this old kingdom. We cannot hold on to the old world for if we do, we will be destroyed with it.

We don’t know what the eternal state of Ananias and Sapphira was. Both with Achan and Ananias and Sapphira, their sin affected the congregation not just themselves and served as a vivid warning. This act symbolized more than greed, but a holding on to an age that Jesus was at war with, and God wanted to make clear that the old world must die. The most we can say for sure is that their deaths were a means to make this point clear. And there are other passages like this where God putting someone to death does not tell us of the person’s eternal state. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he says some have become ill and some have died because they have approached the Lord’s supper inappropriately and were profaning it. And on top of this the rich were taking advantage of the poor, something we know the Lord detests. But it also follows with this hope, “But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:32). Or take the case of Uzzah who merely touched the ark when he saw oxen startled and probably with good intention and was struck dead. We cannot make any assumptions. But the warning in these stories is clear. And it is a warning we see throughout the Bible, flee the things of this world for it is marked out for destruction, do not hold on to them, leave them behind, don’t look back, flee the judgement to come, and come to Jesus.

Hebrews was written to address those who because of persecution were considering leaving Christianity and going back to the Law of Moses and the sacrificial system. The writer of Hebrews explains, “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13, ESV). When Christ died and rose again the Temple and the sacrificial system was declared obsolete and could no longer bring them to repentance even if they sought it with tears and weeping. The only means for repentance was through Jesus. As the Gospel was being preached in the book of Acts the old Temple system was vanishing away, and would be finally destroyed in 70 AD. So yes, in the book of Acts, we see a war taking place within Jerusalem between the kingdom of this world and the Kingdom of God. Those who believed the words of Jesus and the judgment to come were choosing to leave the old Jerusalem behind, for a new Jerusalem that cannot be shaken. In Acts 5 this understanding consisted of realizing that the property they owned was fading away and they couldn’t take it with them and so they sold it and gave the proceeds to the church.  

So now what does this mean for us? This all may be true, but what is the comfort? If you are like me, this passage leaves you uncomfortable, trembling as fear creeps up and is difficult to shake off. And as seen in the passage, we are not alone. At the death of Ananias and Sapphira, great fear fell upon the church. I instinctively know that I am no better than Ananias and Sapphira. Doesn’t my own heart hold on to the things of this world? Surely it does. Or more honestly, with me, I know it does. Though I desire to put to death my flesh, I am like Paul in Romans 7, a wretched man failing every step of the way, still doing the things I hate, and not doing the things I love. When my pastor preached on Acts 5, he noted that Peter, who seems to stand tall in this scene, would later fail and once again act in a way contrary to the Gospel, when he, on coming to Antioch, “drew back” and chose to eat separately from the Greeks. He, like Ananias and Sapphira, allowed pride and wanting to be seen as great before men dictate his behavior. When he did this, he did not only compromise himself, but also the other Jews followed his example. Even Barnabas, who was singled out before the incident with Ananias and Sapphira as one who did indeed sold a field and brought all the money to the apostles, fell into sin with Peter. When this happened, Paul is not shy with his words; he states that Peter “stood condemned” and that “their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel.” So, tell me, if even this great man was prone to fail, what is my hope?

When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, they were commanded to spread Eden over the face of the whole world. The Kingdom of God was to conquer the world. However, because of their desire for something more than God and his kingdom, they took for themselves what was forbidden, and attempted to hide their sin. When the LORD came, judgement was pronounced, and death came into the world. As Achan’s sin brought death to others, so because of Adam’s sin, death came to all mankind. So, this clinging on to the forbidden and hiding our sin is not just an issue with Adam and Eve, Annanias and Sapphira, or Achan, we too fall under the same condemnation.

One of the great hymns, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing describes this struggle I feel, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love.” I am so prone to be distracted by the beauty of this world, wanting to hold onto it, and not let it go. Thankfully, the song does not leave us in despair, it describes how grace, like a fetter, binds and seals are hearts to God. For we have been purchased by Jesus’ blood. And this is the theme of Hebrews as well as it warns us not to hold on to the old age. God through Jesus has accomplished our salvation once for all and He draws us to himself. After describing those who in the past walked by faith, the writer of Hebrews says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2, ESV). Paul in his struggles with holding on to sin states, Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! . . . . There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 7:24-8:1). Jesus has conquered and sits on his throne and will accomplish his work in me.

The opposite of hiding and clinging on to our sin is confessing our sin and calling upon the name of the LORD to deliver us from our sin. As our hearts struggle with sin, do we hide our sin and shrink back, or do we come to the Lord with our sin and lay it down at his feet, trusting in the work and worth of Jesus alone? For as we lay down our sins, not trusting in our own works, but in the works of Jesus, we can come before the throne of grace and live. There is no need to hide, even in our most grievous sin. David experienced this, “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away, through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin”(Psalm 32:3-4, ESV). And so, we are called to “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you” (Psalm 32:9, ESV). We are to come close to our Father.

Instead of death, as we come before God’s throne in Christ, the Father, as a parent washing their kid, lovingly washes us and brings healing through the blood of Jesus. The writer of Hebrews goes on to describe this comfort we have in the midst of God’s discipline in the church,

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

      “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

      nor be weary when reproved by him.

      For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

      and chastises every son whom he receives.”

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:5–13, ESV)

In the first sermon of this war as the Gospel moves to conquer, Peter predicates our victory on the fact that Jesus is sitting on his throne. And it is because of this fact that we can run to Jesus, who is the founder and perfector of our faith. The victory has been accomplished. When Peter spoke of the judgement to come, the people “were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ Peter gives us the answer to how we are to save ourselves from this crooked generation, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:37-39, ESV).

So, when we read these passages, there must be no doubt that these passages are anchored in the fact that Jesus is sitting on his throne, and will conquer our hearts, for he alone is the founder and perfector of our faith. He has made a covenant promise that he will save all those who call upon the name of Jesus. The passage about Annanias and Sapphire is sandwiched between statements of the church conquering Jerusalem, the gospel spreading, and many coming to the faith. Adam and Eve’s sin, Achan’s sin, Annanias and Sapphira’s sin, and even my sin are not enough to prevent the advancement of the Kingdom of God. This passage ends with, “The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed” (Acts 5:16). After this act of discipline, the war was now going out beyond the confines of Jerusalem and bringing healing. God’s discipline brings healing, therefore the writer of Hebrews can say in the midst of God’s discipline, “lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.” God’s discipline reminds us of and brings us back to the Gospel. And so, we see that the aftermath of the stark discipline in Acts 5 ushered in an expansion of the kingdom and healing of many through the power of the gospel.

Prayer: May the God who cherishes me guide me through his nurturing discipline, conquering my heart and putting to death anything inside of me that holds on to this age. For it is in his discipline that I am liberated from the sin that clings to me, overwhelms me, and weighs me down. And it is through his rebuke that my lamed feet are healed. It is my Father’s loving discipline that allows me to run faster to the one I love. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16, ESV).

—

Foot note: We cannot say definitively what the motivations were behind those selling the land, but it is clear from these passages that the old kingdom with its Temple practices was passing away, and a New Kingdom, founded in Jesus, was taking its place. A seismic shift was taking place in the land just as occurred when the Israelites came into the promised land under Joshua. It is also clear that the gifts that were presented and laid at the apostles’ feet were declared fully devoted to the Lord, making their holding back a portion a serious offense, just as Achan held back a portion of the things devoted to the Lord. We see a similar situation with Saul, when he did not handle the things devoted to the Lord appropriately. And from epistle of Hebrews, we know there was this tension between holding on to the old Temple and its practices in light of the finished work of Christ.

– – –

Here is a link to the sermon my pastor preached on Acts 5. It is a sermon on the healing power of this passage as the Gospel is unleashed in the fullness of its power – The Law | Acts 4:33-5:16 (youtube.com).

I was talking with my child the other day. She was telling me of a situation where she was told by someone that not everyone believes in Jesus. I let her know that she can be assured that I will not conceal this information or these kind of views from her or minimize what others say against the Christian faith. I also let her know it is ok to have questions about the Christian faith. I let her know that unlike those who will say things like this, who are only able to see one side, I will not hide things from her, not only that, I expect her to see both sides (for I have yet to see an atheist or agnostic, even former Christians or Christian leaders or pastors, that are able to articulate the Christian faith and present both sides or something that I recognize as the Christian faith, and they certainly will not teach their children the Christian faith). Nor do I want her to run away or hide in the sand. Unlike the opposition I expect her to have an open mind. I want her to fully understand the strongest arguments against the Christian faith, because we don’t have to fear them. Truth stands when buffeted. I want these ideas to be fully exposed so she can see them for what they are. Unlike those who oppose the Christian faith, it is also important as Christians that we endeavor to listen to the questions people have and understand them so that we can fully address them. We want to talk with people not past them. Atheist only present one side, while Christians by the nature of their call seek to understand both sides so they can clearly present the Gospel to others, meeting them where they are at. Because Truth is a person, it is relational. And because Truth holds us, we don’t have to be afraid of hearing people out and fully understanding their views. And yes, there is Truth, . . . and we know this instinctively as we try to make sense of this world.

But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:14–16, ESV)

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, (2 Corinthians 10:3–5, ESV)

Be careful what you wish for . . .

Some will ask if God exists, why doesn’t he make himself completely obvious so that there is no doubt that he exists. They say that this is what they want in order for them to believe. If they had it they would believe in God. But is believing in God’s existence what they need? They foolishly make this claim because they do not understand the dangers of what they are asking. The saying is true, we must be careful what we wish for. . ..  

The demons believe and are condemned for it

You want God to reveal himself definitively and clearly in order for you to believe. But is this kind of belief enough? The scriptures tell us that the demons believe in God, and yet they are left shuddering and without hope (James 2:19). Why is this so? The answer is that they have no hope because of the fact that they believe and know that God exists. And it is their knowing God that condemns them and has left them without hope, for their rejection of God came after God made himself known to them. Therefore, there is no more that God can do for the demons, no more evidence that God can provide to convince them to change their hearts. What in you would make your response any different than the demons?  

Signs and wonders do not produce faith

We see this warning in other places throughout the Bible of people hardening their hearts despite being given signs and wonders and direct proofs of God’s existence. We see this specifically during the Exodus. Pharaoh continually hardened his heart against the signs and wonders God gave. But not only Pharaoh, but more significantly, the Israelites who had been delivered also hardened their heart and went astray, and were left without hope. After the Israelites had been given many manifold and direct proofs of God and had experienced God’s love and faithfulness and his tender care for them in the wilderness, they still lacked faith in God and failed to trust in his word. Because of this, God says of that generation that they shall never enter his rest. There was no more hope for them. Israel once again rejected God, despite all the signs and wonders Jesus performed. Despite all they had seen, they, too, hardened their hearts. This is a common pattern when God reveals himself with signs and wonders. 

An interesting note: when Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, comes to Jesus, he states, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Don’t miss that this man who was “a ruler of the Jews” doesn’t say “I believe” but he says “we believe”. Could he be speaking of the other leaders as well? It is not clear who the “we” are, but it is clear that the leadership understood that Jesus had come to destroy their world and that instead of embracing Jesus and acknowledging that his works were from God, they publicly attributed his works to Beelzebub. Jesus had come to destroy what they had known and their privilege. In the parable of the vineyard Jesus describes the leaders as ones who were willing to kill the son to protect what they had in the hopes that the vineyard would remain in their possession. There was a stubborn rejection of the signs and wonders given to them in order to protect what they had. 

Revelation only brings judgement

It is clear that the more revelation God gives us of himself, the more judgment we will incur if we continue to reject him, and if we continue to harden our hearts, there will come a day when it will be declared that we shall never enter God’s rest. 

“Jesus said, ‘For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.’ Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, ‘Are we also blind?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.’” (John 9:39–41) 

So, we must be careful how much we want to see because the more we see, the more we are hastening the day of our final judgment if we continue to harden our hearts. Those who claim they want a sign in order to believe are like these Pharisees: if you will not hear the gospel, you will also not be convinced by a powerful sign. We will later see that it is only the gospel that can make one believe.

God will reveal himself 

There will be a day when God makes himself fully known to humanity in a definitive and decisive way as atheists have asked, where no one can deny who he is. They won’t doubt his existence or attribute it to the failings of their mind. All eyes will see him. They will know that he is God. Atheists will confess that he is God with no doubt in their minds. But on that day, our fate will be sealed. On that day, every knee will bow down and confess that he is Yahweh. But for many, like the demons, this bowing and confession will be to their judgment. For having knowledge and acknowledging who God is and his sovereignty is not enough.  

If like the Jewish leaders, we believe that God owes you an extraordinary sign to prove his existence, even if your request was granted, like the Jewish leaders who contributed the miracles to the work of Beelzebub, we too, would find some other explanation other than being willing to hear the call of God. We are not much different than the Israelites in the wilderness or the Jewish leaders who saw the works of God.  

Those who ask God to reveal himself in this way do not understand what they are asking. If God made himself known, as many atheists have asked, then that day would be their judgment day. They would perish without hope. We cannot presume that we would repent, even if we saw the most ardent proof of God. And so again, we need to be careful what we ask for, for just as the demons determined their own fate despite such evidence, if God gave us what we asked for, God could do nothing more after that to rescue us. 

But I would repent 

Some may say, “But my heart would change, I would repent if I saw that kind of evidence!” I know many believe this, but would it be enough? Just as belief is not enough, so repentance is not enough to rescue us from ourselves. It is unlikely we would change, but even if we did and let’s say lived a perfect life, the Christian faith requires something more profound than living a moral life. It requires dying to ourselves and losing our lives, not a frantic attempt to save it by changing our outward behavior in order to be rescued from judgment. Blaise Pascal wrote, “God has given evidence sufficient for those with an open and an open heart, but it is sufficiently vague as not to compel those whose hearts are closed”. God is not interested in “compelled hearts”. 

No, God has given enough evidence for us to believe; we are just really good at suppressing his call. We are like children playing on the playground who don’t want to listen to their parent calling to them from afar off to come home. Because they want to continue to play, they suppress that call. And like these children, we want to continue in our own way, and so we suppress the call of God to come home. And just because the parent leaves their home and no longer yells from afar, but shows up on the playground and makes it clear that their child is to return home, and the child yields to their parents demand and walks with them home, this does not mean that the child’s heart values their parent’s voice in that moment more than the playground. Given the chance, if not compelled, they would rush back to the playground without hesitation.  

Of course, the analogy would be more fitting if instead of playing in the playground, the kids were playing on a busy highway. For though the pleasures of this world are intoxicating, they are fleeting and in the end, cause us harm. Peter describes our love for the things of this world as vomit and mire, 

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:20–22) 

Yes, if God showed up, we might submit, but our hearts would still be attached to this world. Know one who is attached to this world can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Pride is destructive both to the person and those around them, and it has no place in the Kingdom of God.  

Was Esau able to find hope in this kind of repentance? His weeping and tears were those of bitterness, loss, and sorrow but not of a broken heart or of a man who had died to himself. We do not realize how much sin and pride have infected our hearts. Just as one gets used to a horrid rotting smell after a while, we have gotten used to the depths of our sin and see them as light. We are used to the smell of death that sin brings. But Jesus made it clear that if we say a harsh word to another that we are far more infected by sin and pride than we realize. If we look at another with lust, we are subject to eternal judgment. Jesus made it clear that none of us are as good as we think we are and justly deserve judgment. Our passions and desires are at war with one another and with God.  

We would not embrace God 

Do not think that if God gave us direct revelation that you would embrace him or want to be near him. Apart from Christ, just as Adam fled and hid from God, so we, too, will shrink back and flee from God’s presence. Those who love darkness do not want to be in the light. Gehenna is described as a place of darkness; and it is described with qualities that are in opposition to God. This is one of the ironies of the fate of those who reject God, 

     Woe to those who draw iniquity 
       with cords of falsehood,  
          who draw sin as with cart ropes,  
     who say: “Let him be quick,  
          let him speed his work  
          that we may see it;  
     let the counsel of the Holy One
      of Israel draw near,  
          and let it come, 
           that we may know it!”  
     Woe to those who call evil good  
          and good evil,  
     who put darkness for light  
          and light for darkness,  
     who put bitter for sweet  
          and sweet for bitter!  
     Woe to those who are wise 
       in their own eyes,  
          and shrewd in their own sight! 
                (Isaiah 5:18–21) 

We reject God because we think our way of doing things is good and God’s way of doing things is evil. The irony is that because we love the darkness, we will abandon God, and in doing so, we will abandon the source of life, light, love, joy, goodness, etc., and flee to dwell in a place that has none of these things to be free of God’s presence. It would not matter if God showed up because we would not want to come to him if he did. 

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:19–20) 

Let’s suppose I dwelt in a dark cave for a long time, and all of a sudden, I found myself in a bright open field. What would my response to the light be? For those who only have knowledge of God, this light is unbearable. They cover their eyes and shrink back. They do not want to be near God. They will not be able to bear standing before God. 

     Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
         And who shall stand in his holy place? 
            (Psalm 24:3)    

Only those found in Jesus and who are a completely new creation can stand in the light and embrace it. Without Jesus, no one can approach God. But for those apart from Christ, they are unable to stand and do not want to be in his presence. This response to rejecting God and fleeing his presence is deeper and more ingrained in us than someone in a cave being exposed to light. If God showed up, we would not embrace him; instead, like roaches fleeing when the light is turned on, we would frantically flee to a place of darkness. The same light that opens a world of beauty for those who love the light is torment for those who love darkness. Our hearts must change if we are to be able to be near God. No amount of evidence would change this. We are no better than the demons, Pharoh, the Israelites, or the Pharisees. Thankfully, God has presented himself through Jesus in human flesh, breaking the veil that kept God separated and hidden so that we might be able to stand before God on the day he is fully revealed, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. Those who have come to the Lion of Judah and embrace him in love will not flee like the wicked,  

The wicked flee when no one pursues,  but the righteous are bold as a lion. (Proverbs 28:1) 

the lion, which is mightiest among beasts, and does not turn back before any (Proverbs 30:30)

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:39) 

When dealing with someone who is struggling with the idea of Christianity and asking the question of why they should believe in the God of the Bible, we must realize that the struggle is rarely merely an intellectual one. And this is the case whether the person is an atheist, agnostic, going through deconstruction, or having doubt. As I have talked with people this is often the core issue. Even after giving what they agree to be a solid answer, they still don’t want to give up what they believe. They are often dealing with what they believe to be right and good, for without the King, every man does what is right in their own eyes. Sin often entangles us because we believe it is good. Psychologically we are often more persuaded by a good story than we are by facts. This is why slogans of those who attack Christianity often appeal to this condition and speak to the heart rather than the intellect. We hear things like, “Love wins” or “Love always”. After all who can argue with love, is not love the supreme good. Our responses though to these kinds of questions often deal with the intellect rather than the heart. I’ve seen many times where someone asks a genuine heart felt question where they are struggling only for the depth of their questions to be ignored by some intellectual response. The Bible though solid in its intellectual compacity does not ignore this flaw of human nature and how we often follow our hearts. In dealing with these kinds of questions we must follow the scriptures example. It is the word of God and the beautiful story of the Gospel that changes hearts. If we are patient and willing to listen to the depth of the questions that the person is having, we can have no fear, for the word of God is perfectly capable of handling a rowdy, struggling, sinful human heart. It sets the captives free. So instead of giving a solely intellectual answer that satisfies our own questions, we must dig deeper in our conversation with others and deeper into the word of God and let God’s words speak. The story of the Gospel is intriguing, compelling, beautiful, and awe inspiring. In the light of God’s beauty, the slogans of this world become a pale whisper and are exposed for the foolishness they are. The Gospel is far better than the silly slogans the world provides. It attacks both mind and heart. We need to be get better about not just giving an answer to the questions but entrancing people with wonder of the story. A story that unlike the slogans of this world stands on a firm and solid foundation. Unlike the fickle hearted ruled slogans of this world, thankfully there is not just beauty but also solid scholarship and intellect to back it up the Gospel, for only things in Christ can stand.

We often ignore the heart of the questions people are having because an unruly heart is so difficult to tame. It takes time, patience, struggle, and a willingness to get close and wrestle. We must keep in mind that the sword described in Hebrews 4 is not a long sword, but one meant for close combat and wrestling. It meant for this kind of struggle. So, we should not be surprised at this kind of warfare and be ready for close combat and wrestling with the enemy. We can stand against the enemy without fear, for it is easy to be brave when facing a foe, when there is a lion backing you up. As Augustine said, we need to uncage the lion and let the word of God roam free and stop holding it back. So don’t be afraid to intently and purposefully listen to the questions of those challenging Christianity, they are only whimper and pale in comparison to the lion. But also, do not attack them in your own strength or with what is right and wise in your own eyes. We do not depend on Egypt to win our battles. That glory goes to the Lord alone. Be patient and listen to their question and wait on the Lord and allow his word to conquer not your intellect. Let us gather around the fire of God’s word and experience the light and heat of the Gospel as we listen to the story and let it envelope us and sink into our hearts, breath, blood, flesh and bones.

The Problem of Futile Suffering

I listened as an atheist admitted that the most difficult quandary for him in believing in God is the presence of pointless suffering. He could not understand how a perfectly-loving God could allow pointless suffering in the world? He described a scenario of a tree that had fallen on deer in the middle of nowhere. Even though the deer cried out for help, there was no one to rescue the deer. This deer did not die instantly but languished for days before it finally succumbed to its wounds and lack of food and water and died. Because no one was there, no one ever knew what happened, it had no effect on anyone whether good or bad. Nor was it caused by foolishness or evil. It just happened. If you have experienced enough life, you have experienced this kind of futility. It is easier to take hold of the idea that suffering can in some way help us to grow or the fact that God can use evil in this world to produce good. We are easily captivated by the idea that God not only triumphs over evil, but ultimately thwarts the plan of evil for his own purposes, making a complete mockery of evil. After all this is ultimately what we see in the death of Jesus. But what about suffering that occurs where we look at it and it is just utterly futile. Do we tell people, “It is going to be ok”, “It will get better”, or “There is some purpose behind it”. We can try to paint a rosy picture on this kind of suffering, but I do not think that is what we find in scripture. The scripture is honest, yes, there is futility, vanity, and chaos in the world. Ecclesiastes declares, “’Futility of futilities,’ says the Preacher, ‘Futility of futilities! All is futility.” (1:2, NASB). And Paul confirms this, “For the creation was subjected to futility” (Romans 8:20a).

It is not surprising that we perform evil acts. We have rejected God and chosen to do what is right in our own eyes. God does not have the quality of goodness; he is the basis and source of goodness. God is good. So, when humanity rejects and abandons their only source of goodness, that goodness withers away and dies. God has made us in the image of God, but just as a rose on a branch withers away when separated from its source, so we too cannot maintain our goodness apart from God. The moment that branch is cut off it is decaying, and it is cut off from life. You might place it in water, but it does not change the essence of death. When we reject God, we too fall into depravity. The psalmist understood this when he wrote, “You are my Lord; I have nothing good besides You” (16:2, NASB). So, it is not surprising the horror that has resulted from humanity’s rebellion and hatred of God. When you abandon good you have evil. But does this explain why there is futile suffering?

Let us go back to Romans 8:20a and read it in its context,

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. (Romans 8:18–24a, ESV)

Paul is clear that God has subjected creation to futility, but it is a futility with purpose so that the sons of God may be revealed and even creation itself will be restored as humanity is once again in their rightful place as royal priests presiding over creation bringing prosperity to creation. So, why did God subject creation to futility, and how does this accomplish the restoration of mankind?

When Adam rebelled against God by eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, he broke the command of God and his covenant. God had made it clear that if he broke the command, “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17, ESV). The term, “in the day” refers both to the immediate fall of man, but also refers to the day of judgement when we stand before God’s throne and see him face to face. What we find is that though we experience the former, God postpones the later. Instead of bringing Adam before his throne, God veils himself and keeps his face hidden and then expels Adam and Eve from the Garden, keeping them from his throne. If God had not done this, you and I would not be here today. (For more on this, read here.) When God hid his face from mankind, he also hid his face from creation and this act has significant consequences.

We have noted that when we actively separate ourselves from God in our rebellion, because we have abandoned the only source of good, our hearts become depraved and evil results. Likewise, when God veiled or hid himself in order to save mankind, this absence of the fullness of his glory affected all of creation. Like us, creation requires God’s presence in his fullness to be good. Neither we nor creation work properly without the fullness of God’s presence. So, when God veiled himself chaos, decay, and futility occurred in nature. And so yes, there is futility in this world. But as Paul writes, God did this in hope. In hope he kept Adam and Eve from his face and from his throne room, because he had a plan to save both mankind and creation through the seed of the women, Jesus.

Though we groan inwardly, we have a great hope. And this is our hope, that both we and creation will once again experience the fullness of the presence of God. As the psalmist cries out, “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved” (Psalm 80:3). It is in seeing God’s face that we are restored. And because of the work and worth of Jesus, those who put their trust in him, will see God’s face. “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12, NASB). John describes how we will be healed when we see God’s face, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (John 3:2, NASB). And likewise, creation will be healed when it experiences the fullness of the presence of God. “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9, ESV). “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face,” (Revelation 22: 3-4a). God will not only conquer evil, but he will also conquer futility as well. God is a God that can bring order out of chaos. He is God over all, and he will truly use all things for his glory and for the good of those who love him. It is only an all-powerful, all-knowing, perfectly loving God that can accomplish all this.

     On this mountain the LORD 
       of hosts will make for all peoples 
          a feast of rich food, 
            a feast of well-aged wine, 
          of rich food full of marrow, 
            of aged wine well refined. 
     And he will swallow up 
       on this mountain 
          the covering that is 
           cast over all peoples, 
          the veil that is spread
           over all nations. 
     He will swallow up death forever; 
     and the Lord GOD will wipe 
       away tears from all faces, 
         and the reproach of his people 
           he will take away 
            from all the earth, 
         for the LORD has spoken. 
     It will be said on that day, 

“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him;let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
(Isaiah 25:6–9, ESV)

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:3-4, ESV)

     The LORD bless you and keep you;
        the LORD make his face 
         to shine upon you and 
         be gracious to you;
        the LORD lift up his countenance
         upon you and 
         give you peace. 
         (Numbers 6:24–26, ESV) 

To read the series Hidden God in and evil world, click here.

The story of hiddenness

Questions often have presumptions

We all have heard that “there is no such thing as a bad question.” Though in an important sense this is true, this phrase is not about the questions themselves, but about the dangers of refraining from inquiry. If we have questions, we ought to ask them because if we are silent, we cannot learn. For even if one has a bad question, knowledge cannot be had if questions are not asked. But as we grow in wisdom, we understand that though we ought to continue to ask questions, our questions are often indicators of our presumptions on a subject. This is because our questions often come with baggage. We see the situation from our perspective, and it takes a lot of work to step outside that perspective. Often, our presumptions are wrong.

We see this clearly in our relationships for many of us know what it is to hurt someone by asking a question that implied certain assumptions about the person, only to find out that we were way off base. We end up finding ourselves profusely apologizing for our ungrounded and incompetent question. Often, in these cases, we do this because we don’t have the full picture or context, or story. Though it is still better to ask a question in this situation than to hold on to false ideas about a person, we are aware that are question was one based on ignorance rather than truth. This humility is important if we desire to pursue truth.

We must be willing to scrutinize and discern both the answers as well as our questions. For we also understand that sometimes questions, if not scrutinized, can be used to limit our ability to learn. Lawyers, for example, use this fact to their advantage to get the outcome they desire. When we are more interested in winning an argument than the truth, questions can become a dangerous tool for closing our minds and blinding us to the evidence. If, when confronted with the presumptions of our questions, we insist that our presumptions are true, then we will never learn. In our relationships, we will only be building walls that separate us from knowing those around us. And in our pursuit of knowledge, we will only end up falling into a pit of our own foolishness.

Asking bad questions can lead us down the wrong path. Sometimes, when we can’t get the puzzle to come together, it is because we are so determined to get a square peg into the circular hole. But often, when we step back and see things from a proper perspective, the puzzle easily falls into place. This is often what happens when people struggle with the hiddenness of God. They bring their baggage to the story, filtering it and distorting it to match their preconceived ideas instead of pausing and listening and letting the story speak for itself.

A God who pursues unashamedly

One of the presumptions we make is that if knowing God is what it takes to be saved from our sin and the wrath of God, then all God would have to do is make himself clearly known with some show of extraordinary evidence. We might argue,

All it would take is for God to just show up and say, “Hi”. That would be powerful and convincing evidence. I would believe in him and so would the rest of the world. If God is loving, surely, he would do what it takes to bring us to himself. . ..

If this were the case, and this is all it would take, it is clear from the Bible that God would not hesitate for a second to make this happen. Our loving Father would not only be willing but also eager to run to our rescue. The Bible gives us imagery of his desire to bring us to himself and shelter us under his wings and to envelope us in the Father’s embrace as we are lavished by his kisses. Indeed, his love and longing for us is deeper than the father of the prodigal son in Luke 15.

The parables of Luke 15 show a God who is desperately and actively seeking the lost. In the parables of the lost sheep, coin, and son, we find someone who will face the dangers of the open country and one who leaves no stone or pillow unturned as they sweep the house and seek diligently till what was lost is found. We see this theme as well in Proverbs 1,

     Wisdom cries aloud in the street, 
	in the markets she raises her voice; 
     at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; 
	at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: 
               (Proverbs 1:20,21)

God is not aloof but is active in his pursuit of the lost. These parables describe God’s joy over just one sheep, one coin, one prodigal son . . . “one sinner who repents”. If this is his pursuit and passion for one sinner, what can we say of his pursuit of all humanity?

Pursuit of the two sons

But there is more, for in these parables, we also see with what abandonment God pursues us, particularly in the parable of the two sons. In that culture, when a son asked for his inheritance while his father was alive, it was the same as the son saying, “Father, you are dead to me.” And this was indeed true, for he forgot his father and went off to a faraway country, abandoning both his father and home. This son had spat in his father’s face, heaping insult upon his father. He then squanders his father’s hard work, making his father’s years of labor amount to nothing.

Despite what his son had done to him, we see the father, having seen his son from afar off, girding up his loins, exposing his bare legs, and running toward his son. And when he reaches his son, he embraces him with kisses. In that culture, a father running and exposing his legs would have been a shameful and disgraceful act. And his running was not a private act. Because the father had to run quite a distance, his shame was probably seen by many and possibly the village as well. But we can feel the joy he had, despising the shame, so he could embrace his beloved son.

Some have speculated that the father ran so urgently because the son being far off might have also been noticed by those in the village before he had a chance to reach his father. Those in the village would have been well aware of who he was and the shame he had brought on his father. If this was the case, the father would have worried that those in the village might intercept his son and having intercepted his son, brought him before the village in a ceremony known as Kezazah and pronounced official judgment on him for the shame he had brought to his father and the village, a judgment that would have cut off the son from the community and declared him to be dead from that point on. The father, in urgent haste to prevent this, was willing to be seen with bare legs running for all to see to reach his son. Regardless, the emphasis of the parable is that the father ran because he loved and longed for his son in the deepest parts of who he was. Though his son had already shamed him and spit in his face, he was more than willing to take upon himself even more shame and public humiliation if that is what it meant to have his son back. In this act, he declares his son alive, not dead, for all to see. In his act of shame, he takes away the reproach of his son, giving his son the honor he does not deserve. And instead of a Kezazah, the whole village rejoices and celebrates with the father that his son is alive.

We ought not think that God is not above shaming himself to receive us back into his arms. God took upon himself the ultimate shame to win us back.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5–8, ESV)

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— (Galatians 3:13)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

If God is not above shaming himself, he is not above showing up, making himself bare and fully evident, and saying, “hi”. This realization ought to make us pause . . . and think about our questions. Do we understand what we are asking? Do we know the whole picture? Could we be wrong in our assumptions? Maybe there is more to the story. . .. Maybe there is more to the heart of God and his love for us . . .. He cries out to us, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37).

If there were another way

Now, let us look at a pinnacle moment in the life of Jesus that gets to the heart of the question of whether there was another way. In the Garden of Gethsemane, in anguish and wrestling to the point of sweating blood, Jesus “prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’” Do not read this too quickly. . .. Jesus, while teaching during his ministry, is clear that the Father always listens to him. Jesus is asking, “if it is possible”. This was not a shallow request on the part of Jesus, this was a request coming from deep in the bowels and the heart and soul of Jesus. And this was not the request of a passerby, this was a request of a much beloved son. The Father deeply loves the Son. His son was in deep agony and was sweating blood. We who are evil would not hesitate to heed the call of our child in this situation. Make no mistake, neither would the Father. Jesus said, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” If it were possible, if there were even some remote prospect of another way to redeem humanity, his father would not have hesitated to answer this request from his son.

Maybe there is more to the story

And so, once again, these things ought to make us stop, pause, and look at the presumptions of our questions. What baggage or assumptions are we bringing? Is it not human nature to think we understand the story or situation well, even when we don’t? Yet, we often don’t know as much as we think we do. And as we often bring poor questions in our relationships with others due to our misunderstandings, perhaps we are doing the same with God. And because we do this in everyday life, this should not surprise us. Despite this, the scripture invites us to ask these questions. The scripture does not ignore them. But we must also be willing to cast off our presumptions and have ears to listen. When we listen, we will find that when it comes to the hiddenness of God, there is more to the story . . ..                                                  

Things go bump in the night

As a child, you may have woken up in the middle of the night with darkness all around you, and as the shadows creep into your imagination, you cry out in fear. . . .

Soon, you are held by loving arms that comfort you with their voice. But what if those comforting arms and voice never came. . . .

How can this be?

Many have wrestled with the idea of the “hiddenness” of God. This struggle is more than just an intellectual proposition. It bores its way deeply into our hearts and our understanding of love. If God is perfectly loving, why does he not make himself clearly known? Has he left us in the dark? No loving parent would leave their child in the dark. If God is loving, why does he not make his presence clearly and definitively known? If you love someone and want them to come to you, you don’t hide yourself. How crazy is that? More importantly, if we must know God in order to be saved, and not knowing him means experiencing his wrath, why does God hide himself? And if God is all-powerful, why does he not just make it happen? If he wanted to make himself known all he would have to do is just show up and say, “Hi” or make himself known clearly in some other way. Wouldn’t it be solved if He could just make himself known to everyone on earth? We would all believe. And everything would be great. Problem solved.

But more importantly, many struggle with the fact that they feel like God, if he exists has not revealed himself personally to them. The evidence against God’s existence is so overwhelming, they do not know how to tenably hold on to the idea of a God. Many also feel that despite seeking answers from God, they haven’t received any. They feel like if God does exist, then it is his fault that they don’t believe in him. After all, if God is loving and all-powerful, he ought to be able to make himself known with clarity to me. And what about the rest of humanity? We cannot know God unless he reveals himself, so he is the one responsible for making himself known, not us. Many who have asked this question find it difficult to see how God, if he exists, is loving, just, fair, or good. For if knowing him is so vital and necessary for our salvation, then why would he hide? We ought to wrestle with questions like these and not run away or hide from them. I have had sleepless nights struggling with questions like this. And it is in this wrestling between my own questions and the two-edged sword of the word that has grown and refined my faith as I come to see the beauty and wonder of the face of God more clearly.

We will find that there is more to the story and that God indeed does come wrapping his arms around us, but there are those who reject his love because they have come to love the shadows. And in loving the shadows, they have become the things that go bump in the night. When the father comes, he destroys the shadows and the things that go bump in the night to comfort his children. And so, having become the things that go bump in the night, they shrink back and hide from the father.

Before we discuss the hiddenness of God, I first want you to put a picture in your mind of Jesus weeping. Why is he weeping?

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! (Luke 13:34)

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44)

As discussed in the previous article, these scenes are not static and chromatic, simple scenes, but instead are vibrant, and full-color events. Yet each gospel writer is only giving us gist snapshots of this dynamic event. It is good to look at what the denials are not. They are not Peter getting one question and then giving one denial each time, but instead three occasions where there are conversations in which Peter denies Jesus. This is also not a scene like mannequins in a store window where the characters remain in the same place and are immobile. There is a lot of movement and a lot of talking. So for example when one author speaks of sitting and another standing, the answer is yes. There is a fire in the middle of the courtyard with a group of people over several hours. There will be a movement among those people. Sometimes they will be standing, sometimes sitting, and probably at one time, you will have both. The Gospel writers are writing the gist of the story. If we were there and giving a gist, we would have described it in similar ways and with many people telling the story would have it told as it is told in the Gospels. Peter is also in distress, most in this kind of emotional distress do not remain still for long. So in the first denial, we see the gatekeeper servant girl start asking him questions and then following him to the fire and continuing her questioning multiple times as Peter sits and stands or stands and sits is a scene we would expect. It looks like she at least asked him three times. Peter’s denials are broken up into three periods of denials where a conversation occurred where Peter was questioned more than once and he responded more than once as he was questioned. So in other words, three dynamic periods of questioning with three dynamic responses or denials. If we only saw a one-question-one-reply response, the skeptics would be complaining that that is not how real conversations work and would be calling the story fake. Also, remember Peter was in distress, people in this kind of distress typically can’t stay still and will pace. Not only is he in distress but he is also trying to protect himself and get away from the questioning. So in the second scene, a possible scenario is that he leaves the fire, the gatekeeper servant girl takes advantage of this and questions him again and as he tries to get away from her and head back to the fire another servant girl nearby comes in on the questioning, they are both saying this to bystanders as well and others joined in in this episode of Peter’s second denial. Again on the third denial, we see a group of people questioning Peter, and Peter responds to those questions with cursing and denials. In between these episodes is a clear period of time in between each denial of probably about an hour. Which is fitting with what we would expect of the two rooster crows. So despite what some might complain the accounts in the Gospels of Peter’s denial are not contradictory.

Conclusion

The account of Peter’s denial makes sense if we understand the dynamic nature of normal life and conversations, there was a dialogue between Jesus and Peter and there were dialogues between Peter and his accusers. Peter was in distress and moving about. People were in a courtyard around a fire for hours and were also not static. This account also fits with what we know of how a rooster crows. Instead of being contradictory, these Gospel accounts give us a more realistic picture of what occurred.

God made us with the compacity of creativity. Because of sin, this creativity can be used wisely or foolishly, for good or evil. Skeptics no matter how the Bible is written will imagine faults and errors, it is human nature to deny God and it is human nature to creatively, though foolishly build arguments of what we think is evidence against God, for “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” When we say there is no God, we become like mannequins in a window. When we trust in the faithfulness of God we enter an adventurous and beautiful story.

Articles to Read:

• You Asked: Are the Differing Narratives of Peter’s Denials Reconcilable? (thegospelcoalition.org)
• MARKed – astonishing text variants – Page 2 – Biblical Criticism & History Forum – earlywritings.com
• Previous Article: The Rooster Crow

There is a song I relate to, that exposes me for who I am. It has these lines in it . . .

Behold the man upon a cross,

My sin upon His shoulders;

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers.

from How Deep is the Father’s Love for Us

Most of us at least consider Jesus to be an ok guy. Christians may be jerks, but Jesus was a good moral teacher that taught people to love one another. Love is good. Can’t hate a person like that, right? I suppose, but do we know the man. We can say we like Jesus because for most of us Jesus is an idea, a concept more than a real person, with whom we must interact. We can define and mold an idea to our imagination. Jesus is not a person we have to get to know. So, if you have this casual knowledge of Jesus and like him, it is probably because you don’t know much about him. Those who were alive and interacted with him when he was here ended up crucifying him.

We might say, “Yeh, they crucified him back then, but I wouldn’t do that”. Well, . . . is that really true. We tend to see the best in ourselves. “If I was there, I would have behaved differently. . .I would have stood up to Nazism, racism, slavery, etc. blah, blah, blah . . .” But if we are honest with ourselves, we are no better than others, our hearts are prone to the same longings for safety and comfort. We are not unique but all of us have weaknesses and faults.

Here is the thing, Jesus was not a moral teacher. He was not creating a to-do list of how to be a good person. He wasn’t giving strategies of how to love others. He was calling people out of the kingdom of this world, out of the darkness, out of oppression into his Kingdom. Jesus said, “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” (John 12:46).

Most of us are attached to the world we live in, so were most in the days Jesus walked the earth. Imagine if someone was coming to destroy your world. How would you respond? They were no different than us. Jesus is by no means comfortable. Jesus has come and threatens all that we know and hold on to. He calls us to abandon this world and follow him. This is not casual moral teaching; it is a line in the sand. Jesus said that the world “hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.” (John 7:7)

A popular verse is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” But right after this, Jesus makes it clear, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:19,20) We may be intrigued by Jesus, but in the end, we love this world, we want to hold on to it. Jesus has come to destroy this evil age and if we cling to it, we will be destroyed along with it. Jesus is a threat to the life we love. He is a threat to us. He says things like, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” He came to rescue us from our fate, to save us from the darkness, but we love the darkness more than the light, and the light becomes our enemy.

Jesus’s miracles and teachings fascinated and intrigued the masses, but in reality, he was not well-loved by the people of his day. On occasion, people picked up stones to kill Jesus after hearing him speak. He was hounded by the Pharisees and Sadducees. Even the crowds who followed him and appeared to love him, eventually abandoned him, because they found his teachings too hard for them. Only a few stuck it out, and even those deserted him. And in the end, when he was brought before the people to see what they would have done, they cried out, “Crucify him!”  

When I take an honest look at my own heart, I am with those who tried to stone him, with those who abandoned and deserted him, and in that crowd who called for his death. I can say with the hymnist, “Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers.”

 Jesus said, “Whoever hates me hates my Father also.If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ (John 15:23-25)

 We love this world and are ready to fight against anything that has come to destroy what we cherish. And this is what the Kingdom of God does, it destroys this evil age and calls us to come to and be reconciled with God. In the end, Love will overcome and this evil age will come to an end. Though we fight it, we can’t stop it. Love will conquer evil. However, this world is all we have known. What God has called us to is unknown, uncomfortable. We cringe and shrink back. We see our world being destroyed and we want to fight to keep it. We believe when we fight against Jesus, we are protecting the good we have. And we are willing to do anything to keep what we have, and so, in this frantic desire to protect what I have, I hear my angry voice defending what I love and crying out “Crucify him!” “Away with the man who has come to threaten my world.”

Thankfully, the song and the scriptures do not end there. . .

Behold the man upon a cross,

My sin upon His shoulders;

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers.

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished;

His dying breath has brought me life –

I know that it is finished.

Yes, I was an enemy of Jesus. Yes, I put him to death. But my hatred for him is what held him there. Before Jesus was betrayed, he prayed that if there was another way to rescue humanity that God would provide it, that he would not have to suffer on the cross. God the Father who loved his Son would have granted his Son’s request if there was another way. Jesus chose to bear my hatred for him on the cross because it was the only way that we might be reconciled to God. On the cross, Jesus defeated hate with Love, darkness with Light.

Don’t deceive yourself by “liking” Jesus or being fascinated or intrigued by an idea of Jesus. This is not knowing the man. Jesus will not be ignored or fooled. He knows our hearts and who we are. Jesus warns, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:22–23).

Despite this warning, we continue to love this world more than God and so we scoff. “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money [ie. this world], heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God’.” (Luke 16:14,15). We are not given the option of a casual relationship with Jesus. Jesus has come for a bride, the most intimate of relationships, the most powerful Love. We will either be lovers of this world or intimate lovers of Jesus. If we are lovers of this world, we will cling on to it and follow it into its fate, . . . Fortunately for me, Jesus did not die for the righteous, he died for sinners. He died for those who scoff and hate him. Before your world crumbles around you and it is too late, come to him, his arms are open wide. He is calling, “Come out of this evil age of darkness into the light.” Love is more than you have known.

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”

“I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”

“Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Jesus has come to destroy your world. How will you respond?

If we believe in a God, most believe that God is love. But what does this mean? Is love some ethereal quality, a good feeling, a perspective? Does it exist before God? Does it exist without God? Is it greater than God? Paul writes, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13). The Bible describes love as loosng onself for others. It is the opposite of pride. Love is not greater than God but comes from him. Love comes out of the very essence of who God is. God from all eternity has loved outwardly and relationally, as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. From all eternity God created love. He is the source and fountain of love, just as he is the source of beauty, joy, life, and all that is good.

In love, God made mankind to be in intimate relationship with him. We are made to soak in and thrive in the goodness of God. As beautiful gardens thrive in rich soil, water, and sun, we thrive in the presence of God. We are made to know his love and we are made to love. We are complete when, we are with God. However, when Adam and Eve fell, they decided to become their own source of good and evil, a separation occurred in mankind’s relationship with God. We have become like a rose plucked from a rose bush, separated from our source. Though still beautiful, we are withering away, not only us but the world around us.

What would the strongest love do? God has pursued us. Though we have rejected him and hated him, he continues to pursue us. Though when he came, we spit on him, brutally treated him, and put him to death, he pursues us. He calls us back to himself.

So what is this wide gate? Humanity in our pursuit to define good and evil for ourselves have rejected God. Each of us are our own little god, and each of us defines good and evil in our own way. We each have our own reality. This is the wide gate. Our turning from God to the myriads of other “truths”, other “loves”, other “fountains” to satisfy our thirsts. Yet in all these endeavors, no matter how noble, great, or grand, we are left wanting, because we have left the only one who can satisfy us.

Thank you, for your response. I appreciate that you are open and willing to discuss things, even hard things with patience. Not many are willing to talk even when they disagree and try to understand the other. I learn so much from those discussions and look forward to learning more.

You are right there are many religions that claim to have aspects similar to Christianity, Buddhism being one. And on the surface, they may seem to. Jesus himself said there is a wide road, but he also said there is a narrow road that leads to life. Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.” We can search the wide roads, see similarities to Christianity, but only one road leads to Jesus. No other religion has this. In other words, all of our efforts are of no avail, except to be known by Jesus. What Jesus did at the cross, was the only means of restoring that broken relationship. If it were not Jesus would not have gone to the cross, nor would God the Father have allowed it. Jesus says that the Father always answered his prayer, yet when He asked for this cup to pass if it were possible, even to the sweating of blood. The request of the Son to His Father was intense. The answer was the cross. Jesus said that the deepest love of an earthly father is evil compared to the immense love of the God the Father. If there was another way, no matter how remote it was, there is absolutely no way the Father would have sent His son to the cross. If Buddhism was a way, Jesus would not have gone to the cross. If any other religion provided a way to restore our relationship with God, Jesus would not have gone to the cross. But because of the Love of the Father and the Son, they were willing to go through this, to restore a relationship with us. This is the power and romance of a Love that conquers. After His resurection, Jesus was walking with two men on the road to Emmaus “and he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” The whole of scripture is about the work and worth of Jesus.

This in itself does not prove that Buddhism is better or worse than Jesus. Nor would I claim that I am wiser or better than others. I am not. I have great love and respect for you and Michael and learn from my discussions with y’all. One of the reasons I want to hang out with y’all is I love how you challenge me to grow. Wish we lived closer together, and we could hang out and talk more. But Buddhism and Christianity only have superficial similarities and those similarities have a very different core, and essentially are not the same in the end. I don’t say this to put down your comment, but to discuss and help you understand why I would say Buddhism and Christianity are different. And I am eager to hear your thoughts.

If who Jesus claimed to be is true, then we must abandon all other so-called gods, religions, or ways to life, for if we reject Jesus, then we have now rejected the only true God and have rejected the source of love. And life and like a rose plucked from a bush, even in our grandest beauty and most fragrant smell, we too will one day wither and decay. No matter how much nutrition we place in the vase, it is fundamentally different from the source of life. The wonder of the Gospel is that in order for us to be restored into a relationship with God, we cease striving, and trust in the work and worth of Jesus. This is personal and engaging. It is not an idea we trust, it is a person we trust. God, himself, coming and living amongst us in order to restore a relationship with us. Which is something you expect from a God, who from all eternity has been in relationship.