mdemchsak

Dec

2024

The Christian View of Revelation

When a CEO wants to communicate with someone, he has different ways of doing so.

One CEO dictates a letter to his secretary, who prints it out for his signature.

A second CEO tells his secretary to write a letter to Smith and say these three things. She writes the letter and presents it to her CEO, who then tweaks it and signs it.

A third CEO says, “I’m going to go see Smith myself,” and he pays Smith a visit and talks face to face.

I use the examples of CEOs communicating because they illustrate some differences among different types of revelation. For example, when Muslims speak of revelation, they have in mind something like the first CEO. Islam claims that Allah dictated the Quran and all other revelation. To Muslims, Mohammed has no role in the Quran other than merely reciting and repeating what he received.

The Christian concept of revelation is much more complex. To be sure, the dictation model of revelation does exist within Christian thinking. Sometimes God reveals His words through means like writing ten commandments on stone and handing them to Moses or speaking directly from heaven, “This is my Beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to Him.” Within the Christian concept of revelation, there are times for “Thus saith the Lord.”

But the Christian concept of revelation is bigger than mere dictation. To a Christian, God does not just speak to men. He speaks through men. In other words, God is not just a giant dictator. He works with men and through men in order to communicate His will. In this respect, God’s communications can include a process akin to that of the second CEO. Revelation from the top can include lower-level involvement, yet still come from the top. We see this all the time here on earth. God certainly can do it. In the Christian idea of Scripture, we have the concept that men spoke from God.

Men spoke. But they spoke from God. It was not the will of man that produced the revelation. But the men still had a role. They had to seek God, hear from God, and communicate to their situation what God communicated to them. When they did this, they spoke. And when they spoke, they did not all sound alike. Paul communicated with his own personality and style. John with his. Jeremiah with his. David and Solomon sound different. As do Luke and Micah.

In the Bible, God does not crush the voice of a man when He communicates through him. He uses the man. He works through the man in such a way that God’s message is never compromised, but the man is still himself.

Some people have difficulty with this type of revelation. They think that God must dictate or we have all sorts of room for error. This thinking misunderstands God. It thinks that God cannot preserve His Word unless He dictates it. The God of this thinking is much too small and weak. The problem with this view is not with its concept of revelation but with its concept of God. These people do not know God at all. The idea that God cannot preserve His Word unless He dictates is blasphemy. It focses only on earth and ignores God Himself. But when Christians speak of revelation, they are not focused on earth. Christians speak of God with infinite power directing the whole affair so that the message revealed is the message God wants revealed. Human ability to mess up God’s message is finite, but God’s ability to preserve His message is infinite.

And here’s the thing. The human ability to mess up God’s message exists even within the dictation model, for the one receiving the dictation must remember it correctly, copy it correctly and pass it on correctly. But this is nothing for God. God has infinite power, and infinite power outstrips any measure of finite weakness by the same amount in any form of revelation. God has preserved His message through men, not just to them.

But Christianity has a deeper and more complete form of revelation than this, for in Christianity the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Creator became a man. God revealed Himself not just through words but through a life. God did not just tell us about Himself. He showed up. He lived among us, so that people could see Him and hear Him. He healed. He taught. He suffered. And those closest to Him could see His glory. God’s fullest revelation was the Incarnation. His most complete message was Jesus.

This type of revelation is more like that of the third CEO, who paid Smith a visit. This revelation is more personal.

People have different kinds of problems with incarnational revelation. On one level, if God truly came to earth in the person of Jesus, then Jesus is your Lord. And He is your Lord whether you like it or not. For most people, especially in the West, the idea of making someone else your lord does not sit well. Their problem with the Incarnation of Jesus is not philosophical but personal. They don’t want to follow Him.

Others somehow think that God cannot or will not come to earth. Those who think God cannot come to earth do not believe God is all powerful. Their god is not God. Those who think God will not come to earth usually say that an Incarnation would be too demeaning for God. To them, God would never condescend in such a way as to mingle with men.

To them an Incarnation is abhorrent. To the Christian it is glorious. To them it is insulting. To the Christian it is love in action. To them it contradicts God’s character. To the Christian it reveals God’s character. The Incarnation is like a king who came to live among the people for a time. He doesn’t give up his royalty while living among the people, but he does allow the people to know him in a way they never could have known him had he remained hidden in his palace. The Incarnation is wondrous and glorious. It is reason to exalt God even more.

Christian revelation has, thus, included all three forms of communication that the three CEOs represent. Sometimes God dictated, frequently He spoke by His Spirit through people, but when the time was right, He paid a visit.

The fact that God communicates to us in all these ways says something about His relationship with people. It says that God is not merely transcendent. He is not a distant god who dwells in the sky and issues decrees for us to follow. Instead, the God who is beyond you and me wants to come near. He wants to include you in His work. He wants you to know Him so well that you can describe His character and will in your own words. He wants you to be united with Him.

The Christian concept of revelation flows out of the Christian concept of God. Revelation and theology are integrated. God chooses to reveal Himself through men and to personally visit men because He is a relational God, a humble God, and a loving God.

Dec

2024

Who You Are and What You Do

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s sed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God (I John 3:9)

Squirrels run through trees and eat nuts. Eagles soar in the sky and hunt squirrels. Otters play in rivers, and lions lie in grasslands. Bats sleep during the day and fly at night, while spiders build webs and wait.

Squirrels do not act like eagles, and bats do not act like spiders. Creatures behave in accord with what they are. Their DNA affects how they live.

The spiritual world is the same way. Who you are determines how you live. John wrote that those who abide in Christ do not continue in sin because God’s seed is in them. (I Jn 3). Yet this same John also said that if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us (I Jn 1:8).

The Christian is, thus, someone who still sins but who does not continue in sin. Sin is not our home. It is not our habit. It is not our lifestyle. Even if we may fall into it and be impure as a result.

The Christian needs forgiveness because he still sins, but the Christian has a new DNA from above and has changed.

This is why Scripture will say that Christians are righteous and then say that they need to confess their sins. We are new creatures who still live in our fallen bodies and within this fallen world. We are salmon swimming upstream against this world, but sometimes the current catches us and we fall back into the ways of the world.

The way to tell the difference between a genuine Christian and a false one is by looking at the overall direction – the pattern – of his life and not with a single incident. Even in looking at the pattern we can be mistaken, for we can mistake reality, and a Christian is more than behavior. But you will tend to be more accurate if you look holistically at a person and not just at the particular sin or act that irritates you.

Christians are new but not perfect. We err when we neglect either of those truths. Some people expect perfection and, consequently, show no grace to their brothers and sisters. Other people excuse sinful lifestyles under the guise that Christians are not perfect and, in doing so, compromise the Christian witness to the world.

When God makes Christians new, He does so from the inside out. He changes who you are. It’s like going from a squirrel to an eagle. The behavior will follow. It may not follow immediately or perfectly, but it will come. A new heart that never results in a new life is not a new heart. Continued sin is evidence of an old heart. A changed life is evidence of a new heart. But if, in your changed life, you find that you still sin, do this: repent, seek forgiveness, be cleansed, and move on.

Sep

2024

Questions for My Soul

Why do you think, O soul, that God must give you what you want?

Does the Almighty owe you?

Is He your slave that He should do your bidding?

Must the only Sovereign bow to the will of His servant?

Who is the King of kings and who is a mere man?

Who is exalted and who lives in the dust?

Does He who formed the stars answer to clay?

Or He who gives life bow to flesh?

Should you, O soul, live in the fear of God, or should He live in the fear of you?

Do you govern the laws of the universe that He should take note of you?

Do you command angels?

Does all of creation bow at your feet?

Do you dwell in unapproachable light?

Do the centuries come and go in your presence?

Does all of history serve your purpose?

O soul, why then do you exalt yourself? Why do you think the Exalted One must answer to you?

Jul

2024

Eyes to See

We are more sinful than we think. We deserve far worse than we think. The Cross is God’s infinite mercy, but too often we don’t believe we need mercy.

Until God opens the eyes of your heart to see the depths of your sin, the Cross will make no sense. You need to see the justice of hell in order to fully see the mercy of God.

We deserve eternal punishment but believe God owes us earthly happiness. Our blindness in this respect drives our dissatisfaction. We complain that we don’t have as if we somehow deserve to have.

The happiest people are the ones who know they deserve condemnation but also know they have received grace. Those who think they deserve grace don’t know what grace is.

Jul

2024

The Biggest Sin

Lawrence (not his real name) showed up for class one morning. We were more than a week into the fall semester, and I had never seen him before, though I knew his name from the class roster. I asked to speak with him after class.

“We’ve missed you?” I said. “Have you been sick?’

No, he had not been sick. He had simply been skipping. Didn’t feel like coming.

“Well, then. Here are the assignments you have missed.”

He promptly told me he would not do them and that he would not be coming to class. School was not important.

“You do not understand what you are doing.”

“I know what I am doing,” he said.

“No you don’t,” I said. “You have no clue. You go try to find a decent job as a high school dropout and then come back and tell me you know what you are doing.”

Lawrence left the room, and I never saw him again.

Sometimes people don’t understand the full consequences of their choices.

In fact, if Scripture is true, you and I don’t understand the full consequences of our choices. Most of us are Lawrence painted worse.

We are backwards concerning what matters. We think we are OK simply because we have not murdered, robbed a bank, or cheated on our spouse. We don’t understand that those sins are merely derivative – that another sin is actually bigger than they.

Jesus gave us the greatest commandment. He said it is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is like it – to love your neighbor as yourself. He then said that all the commandments hang on these two. In other words, if you love the Lord, you will not murder, steal, lie, commit adultery, or do any other sin. And wherever you find murder, stealing, lying and sexual sin, at their foundation is the absence of a love for God.

The greatest commandment is to love God; the greatest sin is to not love God. When you refuse to love God and refuse to worship and serve Him alone, God gives you over to your passions, and you further sin by following your passions (see Romans 1). If you fail to love God, you fail. Period.

And here’s the thing. Most people fail to love God. In fact, most people don’t even think on God. They don’t see God, and they certainly don’t see any connection between their relationship with Him and their sin. In fact, when people don’t see God, they usually don’t even see their sin. They, thus, don’t see the consequences of failing to love God.

But to not love God is the biggest sin. It is the foundation for all other sins, and it excludes you from the kingdom of God; for the kingdom of God is built on the love of God, and those in that kingdom love Him.

Jun

2024

Jesus is for the World

“All authority is given me in heaven and earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” (Mt 28:18-19)

Lord, I praise You that You love the nations and that I am a beneficiary of Your great love for the nations. If You had not taken the initiative to save the entire world, I would be lost today. Hallelujah!

Jesus is for the world. Sometimes we get so focused on what God is doing in our local circumstances that we forget that God is for the nations and not just for us. Jonah forgot this, and God had to correct him. Peter forgot this, and God had to instruct him through a dream and a visit from three Gentiles. Paul forgot this, and God had to convert him and make him an apostle to the Gentiles. It is easy to get so focused on our people that we neglect the nations.

But the Bible doesn’t neglect the nations. God has a heart for the world right from the beginning. He created one man through whom all nations have come (Acts 17:26). In the flood, He judged all nations. At the Tower of Babel, he scattered all nations. He chose Abraham and his descendants to be a people through whom He would bless all the families of the earth (Gen 12:13).

He commands all the nations to be glad (Ps 67:3-4). He says that Messiah would be a light for the nations (Is 42:6) and that all nations will come to the mountain of the Lord to learn from God and walk in His ways (Mic 4:1-2). He sends Jonah to preach to a pagan nation. He says that Egypt, Assyria and Israel will all be one in worshiping the Lord (Is 19:23-5). He reveals Himself to Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 4:34-7) a pagan king who praises Him. He does all this and more in the Old Testament.

Then Jesus comes. At His birth the angels sing, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace . . .” (Lk 2:14) and Gentile magi pay a visit to worship Him (Mt 2:1-12). Jesus, the Jew, then ministers beyond His immediate Jewish context. He heals the Roman centurion’s servant (Mt 8:5-13). He proclaims salvation to the Samaritan woman and stays in her town teaching for two days (Jn 4:1-45). He casts Legion out of the man of the tombs in the region of the Gerasenes (Mk 5:1-20). He says that He has sheep not of this fold (Jn 10:16) and that His disciples must take His message to the entire world (Mt 28:18-19; Mk 16:15; Lk 24:46-8; Acts 1:8). He calls Himself the light of the world and says that whoever follows Him will have light (Jn 8:12). He then calls His followers the light of the world (Mt 5:14), for they have His light and must take it to the world. He calls Himself the bread of life and says whoever comes to Him shall not hunger (Jn 6:35).

In Acts, the church then takes the message of Jesus to the world. The story begins in Jerusalem, goes to Judea, then to Samaria, then all over the Roman Empire. It goes to Gentile peoples in places like Macedonia, Achaia, Rome, Crete, Cyprus, Bithynia, Galatia, Asia, Lycia, Cilicia, and more. Peter and Paul personally bring the good news of Jesus to Gentiles, and Paul writes multiple New Testament letters to churches with significant Gentile populations.

Scripture says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (Jn 3:16), that Jesus was a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (I Jn 2:2), that in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself (II Cor 5:19), and that Christ came into the world to save sinners (I Tim 1:15).

Then in the Revelation, we see people from every nation and tribe and language standing before the throne and before the Lamb crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to the Lamb.” (Rev 7:9-10). We then see the judgment of all the earth and the establishment of a new heaven and a new earth. And God’s people from every nation and tribe and language shall be with Him forever.

In this grand scope – from Genesis to Revelation – God’s end game has always been the nations. He wants all peoples, not just your people. And He wants you and me to be a part of reaching all peoples. God’s method is to reach all peoples through people. In order to do this, however, He must begin with some people. That is where Abraham and Israel fit into the plan.

Israel is not and never was God’s end game. But she was always central to God’s means. He made a covenant with Abraham that got passed down to Isaac, to Jacob, and to the people of Israel. They were to be His people by grace, and He would reveal through them to the world His plan and means of salvation by grace. For salvation is of the Jews (Jn 4:22).

This is why the Bible is so Jewish. When God speaks and moves in specific circumstances and cultures, you can’t help but see the circumstances and cultures. When God saved you, the details of your story are very – well – you. God entered your world and met you where you are. When He chose to begin reaching the world through the Jews, He entered their world and met them there. He said that the Messiah who would reign over kings (Ps 2 and 110) would come through the Jews.

Jesus was that Messiah, but when He came, in keeping with God’s plan, He emphasized that His first target was to the Jews, even if His ultimate target was the world (Mt 15:24-6; Mk 7:26-7; Mt 10:5ff; Lk 24:46-7; Acts 1:8). You and I do this. Our first responsibility is to those around us even if we may desire to reach the ends of the earth. Paul did the same thing (Rm 1:16), for though he called himself an apostle to the Gentiles, when he entered a city to preach the gospel, he always began at the synagogue. The Jew first was a method, not an ultimate goal. Paul was Jewish. It would be only natural for him to begin with his people. Jesus was the promised Messiah through the Jewish people. It would be essential for Him to begin with the Jews. Messiah is supposed to come through the Jews, which means He comes to them first.

Thus, Jesus is for the world, and Jesus is for the Jews. Both statements are true to the fullest extent, and neither statement removes the other. Some people so focus on the universal aspect of Scripture that they miss its Jewishness, and others so focus on the Jewishness that they are blind to the universal. Jesus is for the world. Period. Jesus is through the Jews. Period.

Praise His name that He came through the Jews for you and me. Had He not come, you would remain lost. And so would I.

Feb

2024

The Necessity of Suffering

. . . vanity of vanities! All is vanity. (Eccl 1:2)

It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. (Ps 119:71)

The past few weeks I helped care for my mom as she died from cancer. I briefly discussed in the last blog how this experience has affected my thoughts on death. It has also made me think on suffering as I watch my mom suffer. Let me take some time and share some thoughts on suffering.

Consider these two questions: Why did God allow Stalin to take the lives of 20 million Russians? Why did God allow a gunman to take the life of my son?

Which question is harder to answer?

The Stalin question multiplies the evil 20 million times, so on a purely objective basis, the Stalin question would seem to be the more difficult one.

But it isn’t.

The two questions are the same question, and yet they are not. To the man who lost his son, the question is deeply personal, but for the man today asking about Stalin, the question is intellectual and theoretical. To the man who lost his son, the suffering is close and intense, but for the man asking about Stalin, the suffering is distant.

Suffering is not primarily an intellectual issue. It is a pastoral one. This fact does not deny intellectual answers to why God allows suffering. Such answers exist, and as intellectual answers they can be cogent. But the most difficult aspects to suffering are the pastoral ones.

When people suffer, they don’t need logic. They need a hug. They need compassion. They need an ear to listen. They need love. Reason is inadequate to meet their needs. Sometimes we forget this, but suffering has a way of bringing to the surface human weakness and the human need for something beyond food, water, and sleep. Suffering reminds us that there is more to a man than biology and logic. Suffering, thus, points us beyond earth. In suffering, the curtain is pulled back and we get to see earth in its rawest form.

Suffering is natural to earth, but most people make earth the pursuit of their lives. They want more of earth – more money, more land, more power, more fame, more sex, more knowledge, more youth, you name it. All of the above are among the pleasures earth offers. They are the things people chase. People chase earth. In this sense, Earth is the most common god people have.

The problem, however, is that earth is not God. God made us for Himself, but we would rather be a rich, comfortable business owner with a poster family. To most people, that kind of pursuit is more important than knowing God.

But suffering exposes earth. It calls us not to make earth our hope. Earth may offer good food, a warm home, a fat bank account, political power, and the adulation of others, but it also offers cancer, divorce, rape, poverty, backbiting, prison, injustice, floods, earthquakes, death, and more. In other words – suffering. If someone wishes to chase the goods of earth, suffering is a stark slap in the face that in the end, earth isn’t what you hoped for. In the end, earth is bankrupt.

To people inclined to pursue the false god of Earth, suffering is a necessary mercy. If suffering opens someone’s eyes to see the emptiness of earth and to pursue instead the knowledge of God, it will have been a great blessing. Earth is short-sighted. Suffering has the potential to turn people away from a path that promises short-term pleasure but delivers long-term pain and emptiness.

God insists that this broken, fallen earth produce suffering because He wants us to look beyond earth for our meaning and fulfillment. In a fallen world, suffering is necessary. We need it because without it, we would be all the more enticed to chase that which would doom us.

Sometimes you hear people talk about life on earth being meaningless, and when they talk such talk, often one of the first examples they mention is meaningless suffering – perhaps the suffering of an innocent child. And on the terms of mere earth, they may be quite right. They do see something that is real, for apart from God, earth is meaningless. Earth all by itself leads nowhere. That is the message of Ecclesiastes. If you rip God out of earth and try to discern meaning in earth, you will come up empty. Thus, what seems to be meaningless suffering carries meaning because if nothing else, it demonstrates the meaninglessness of earth on its own. So-called “meaningless suffering” screams to you to stop pursuing earth. There is no meaning there.

But the irony is that the very people who say earth has no meaning often spend their lives pursuing their meaning in earth. They recognize that earth cannot fulfill them, but they seek their fulfillment in it. When you recognize that earth on its own is empty, broken, and meaningless, you should look beyond earth for meaning and fulfillment. Suffering helps you see this reality.

Thus, even when suffering seems meaningless, it is that sense of meaninglessness that is part of its meaning. It points you away from earth so you can find your purpose elsewhere.

As I watched my mom suffer, I saw so clearly how empty and shallow earth is. I saw suffering that, on earthly terms, had no meaning. But what I saw drove me to think more on God, who Himself suffered and bled for me, and in doing so, instilled meaning into His suffering and gave me hope in mine.

Feb

2024

You, Me, and Death

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. (Eccl 7:4)

It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. (Eccl 9:2)

Lord, help me to see more of my own weakness now, that I may trust you more.

Death makes us think about earth in a different way. I say this because right now I am in the midst of watching my mom die. She is in the late stages of terminal cancer, and I and my brother and sister are watching her suffer and grow weaker by the day.

My mom was once an independent woman. She wanted control over her world. In that sense, she was not much different from you and me. We all want to control our lives. But in death, she is losing control, and as I watch my mom die, I see my future self. In fact, I see the entire human race. Death is God’s ultimate statement that you are not in control. Death is God’s reminder that you and I are weaker than we think.

Of course, I already knew that I was weak compared to God, but watching my mom die adds something important to my knowledge. I don’t just know I am weak. I feel it.

And that, I suppose, is a good thing. It helps me see reality. Even if it hurts.

Dec

2023

The Scandal of Love

Love came down and walked on earth.

Have you seen him?

Love was wrapped in a virgin birth.

Have you known him?

———————————-

Broken. Dying. Stealing. Lying.

Corrupt and needy. Weak and greedy.

Love came here.

———————————–

In weakness he was clothed.

Unheard of!

And took weakness as his betrothed.

Scandalous!

———————————–

Have you heard this scandal of love?

————————————

To a bleeding, fallen world

he was sent

to bleed for paupers and prisoners.

His life was spent

to rescue the sinful, selfish soul.

————————————

Have you heard the scandal of love?

————————————

The king who spoke and galaxies formed

lay in the straw that first Christmas morn.

Infinite love met finite flesh,

cried as a babe, walked to his death.

————————————-

Have you heard the scandal of love?

————————————-

“Impossible!” you say. “Insulting! A disgrace!”

Yes. All scandals are.

But the shame that love bore

was both mine and yours.

————————————-

The insult was for you,

the disgrace for me.

For love came to set us free.

—————————————

Perhaps this is too much.

Perhaps over this you stumble.

But perhaps love is a lion,

and perhaps love is humble.

Nov

2023

Abiding and the Voice of God

And now, little children, abide in Him (I Jn 2:28).

Abiding in Jesus is life itself. It is the greatest joy, the strongest peace, the deepest desire you can have. When you abide with Jesus, He satisfies your soul.

It is good to hear God’s voice on an issue, but it is better to abide with Jesus. God speaks more to those who abide with Him. When we make hearing God our greatest focus, we limit our ability to hear because we go only halfway. God wants us not merely to hear from Him but to abide with Him. Abiding involves intimacy. God is most intimate with those who are most intimate with Him. My wife is more apt to tell me her heart than my neighbor is because I abide more closely with my wife than with my neighbor.

Abiding with Jesus increases your ability to hear from God because it draws you near Him. If you want the voice of God, abide with Jesus.

mdemchsak

The Christian View of Revelation

Who You Are and What You Do

Questions for My Soul

Eyes to See

The Biggest Sin

Jesus is for the World

The Necessity of Suffering

You, Me, and Death

The Scandal of Love

Abiding and the Voice of God

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