Excerpted from my e-book "Disembark the Ark"
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006WTDLRC/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb
I've now had the privilege of walking my three daughters down the aisle and presenting them to their husbands to be. I also had the privilege of marrying each of them to their respective husbands. I don’t know which wedding number the final one was on the long list of weddings that have taken place since the beginning. The very first wedding took place on day six of ‘Creation Week.’ Of course, like every other wedding, this wedding was special. But unlike every other wedding since then, this wedding was even more special. For God had first to build the woman He was going to give to the man!
It was no problem for the eternal God to bring into being the whole of creation out of nothing. He simply spoke and things that were not became things that are. He formed Adam from the dust of the ground, and showed Adam all the birds and animals. Adam named them all. Thus Adam could see that not even a chimpanzee was comparable to him. As Scripture says, ‘But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.’ Genesis 2:20b. Chimps, cats, dogs, and budgies might be good company, but who wants to marry one? Each according to its kind! The very first wedding is prefaced with the following: ‘And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”’ Genesis 2:18. Marriage is very good because God instituted it because it was ‘not good that man should be alone,’ and also because at the end of that very first wedding-day we read these words, ‘Then God saw everything He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.’ Genesis 1:31.
‘And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.’ Genesis 2:21. Back in the 60s and 70s cloning was the stuff of science fiction. Then in the 90s some son of Adam named a Scottish sheep ‘Dolly.’ This sheep was special. It was the first cloned animal to survive – for a wee while. Why then should anyone think it strange that the first woman was ‘built’ from a man’s rib? ‘Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made [lit. built] into a woman, and He brought her to the man.’ Genesis 2:22. Then the LORD God - as her heavenly Father - walked Eve down the aisle and presented her to Adam. Then He married the two. And just as there are wedding speeches today, so the very first wedding speech was uttered by Adam who waxed poetic and said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Genesis 2:24. Adam knew exactly what the woman was. And they both knew that they could now lawfully also reproduce themselves, for Scripture says, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.’ Genesis 2:24. ‘Leave and cleave’ is how we put it nowadays. And so we see that marriage was instituted in the beginning by the LORD God Himself.
It is interesting to note that Jesus performed His very first miracle – attesting to the fact that He was the Son of God in the flesh – at a wedding. As the LORD God transformed the dust of the ground into a man, and the rib of the man into a woman, so Jesus transformed into wine the water in six large water-pots (of over twenty gallons each) filled to the brim (John 2:6-10). Why so much wine, especially since the wedding guests had polished off whatever wine there was till that point? That great Reformer, John Calvin, offers the following answer: ‘But it is wonderful that a large quantity of wine, and of the very best wine, is supplied by Christ, who is a teacher of sobriety. I reply, when God daily gives us a large supply of wine, it is our own fault if His kindness is an excitement to luxury; but, on the other hand, it is an undoubted trial of our sobriety, if we are sparing and moderate in the midst of abundance; as Paul boasts that he had learned to know both how to be full and to be hungry, Philippians 4:12.’
Nothing to everything, the dust of the ground to man, a man’s rib to a woman, and water wine, nothing is too hard for God. He can even transform a multitude innumerable, dead in its trespasses and sins, into the living Bride of Christ ‘that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.’ Ephesians 5:27. O to have our heavenly Father walk us down that aisle on the last day and present us to His Son! I love weddings! Such joyous occasions!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
POLITICS & RELIGION
As in Scotland and Canada, so in Australia: a general rule of thumb is that politics and religion should be avoided in general conversation lest an argument ensue! What is a minister (whether political or religious) supposed to do? These are two of my favourite subjects! In the Christian-influenced West politics focuses mainly on State affairs and religion focuses mainly on Church affairs. Some refer to this as the ‘separation of Church and State’ by which term is meant that Church and State are sovereign spheres and operate as such.
Church and State are but two aspects of any one nation, i.e., one nation under God. These apply both tables of God’s Moral Law, but each in their respective sphere. The first four of the Ten Commandments focus on love for God and the last six deal with love for neighbour. Thus the summary of God’s Law is: Love God and your neighbour as yourself.
The nation that works best is one in which the Church and State are kept distinct but not separate. A nation is a family. It is also a political and a religious entity. It is one as the Triune God is one and it is many as God, the Triune God, is many. As Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct (not separate), so the spheres of Family, Church, and State are distinct (not separate). As in the Trinity, each sphere compliments and penetrates the others.
There are aspects of God’s Law that specifically apply to each of these three spheres, e.g., in the sphere of the Family it can be seen that the 5th, Honour thy father and thy mother, and the 7th, Thou shalt not commit adultery, have special application. In the sphere of the Church, e.g., the 2nd, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, the 3rd, Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain, and the 4th, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, have particular application. And in the sphere of the State, e.g., the 6th, Thou shalt not kill, the 8th, Thou shalt not steal, and the 9th, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour, have direct application. However, if a nation is to remain united (i.e., one as God is one), then it would do well in each sphere to encourage the keeping of the 1st, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, and the 10th, Thou shalt not covet.
To be sure, no one is saved by their keeping God’s Moral Law. Jesus Christ is our only Saviour. However, about nations Scripture says, ‘The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God’ Psalm 9:17; ‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people’ Proverbs 14:34. It is the role of the State to reward good (righteousness) and punish evil (sin/crime). Whereas the Church holds keys, the State bears the sword. The former opens and closes Heaven to the nation’s citizens by the proclamation of the Gospel and the latter rewards good and punishes evil by upholding and enforcing the law.
Consider the 4th Commandment as an example of where the Commandments overlap at a national level. The State could ensure that its citizens are given opportunity to have quality family time as well as time to gather as the Church to worship God, simply by applying and enforcing Sunday as the national day of rest. Of course, essential services would need to remain open, fire, police, ambulance, hospitals, not to mention the cows needing to be milked and the chickens fed etc. Duties of necessity and mercy still need to be performed.
The 10th Commandment clearly demonstrates the need for the distinction between Church and State under God. The mere thought of the State trying to enforce this Commandment conjures up images of ‘thought police’ as illustrated by the present ‘Political Correctness’ movement’s stifling ‘free speech.’ This happens when a State forgets or rejects its Christian mandate. The Reformation, to lesser and greater extents, set the law-abiding citizens of Western nations free from interference from Church and State. Citizens of nations that turn their back on God’s Law and Gospel are destined to return to the type bondage the pre-Reformation people experienced.
A nation has many aspects, three of which are Family, Church, and State. The Church has many aspects, three of which are the governing bodies of the board of elders (or Session), Presbytery, and Assembly. The State has many aspects, three of which are local government, state government, federal government. The more these spheres, Family, Church, and State, work in harmony with God’s Law as their basis, the greater the freedom for that nation’s citizens. For then everyone learns and knows the difference between good and evil, because each sphere is operating from the same manual. And when everyone knows the difference between good and evil, then the Church can do its job more effectively, pointing sinners to the only Saviour of sinners, Jesus Christ. By far the most obedient citizens in any God-honouring nation are those that have been reconciled to God in Christ.
If we are to honour God at a national as well as an individual level we will need to think nationally and talk more about politics and religion, not less! ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you’ Matthew 28:19-20.
Church and State are but two aspects of any one nation, i.e., one nation under God. These apply both tables of God’s Moral Law, but each in their respective sphere. The first four of the Ten Commandments focus on love for God and the last six deal with love for neighbour. Thus the summary of God’s Law is: Love God and your neighbour as yourself.
The nation that works best is one in which the Church and State are kept distinct but not separate. A nation is a family. It is also a political and a religious entity. It is one as the Triune God is one and it is many as God, the Triune God, is many. As Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct (not separate), so the spheres of Family, Church, and State are distinct (not separate). As in the Trinity, each sphere compliments and penetrates the others.
There are aspects of God’s Law that specifically apply to each of these three spheres, e.g., in the sphere of the Family it can be seen that the 5th, Honour thy father and thy mother, and the 7th, Thou shalt not commit adultery, have special application. In the sphere of the Church, e.g., the 2nd, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, the 3rd, Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain, and the 4th, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, have particular application. And in the sphere of the State, e.g., the 6th, Thou shalt not kill, the 8th, Thou shalt not steal, and the 9th, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour, have direct application. However, if a nation is to remain united (i.e., one as God is one), then it would do well in each sphere to encourage the keeping of the 1st, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, and the 10th, Thou shalt not covet.
To be sure, no one is saved by their keeping God’s Moral Law. Jesus Christ is our only Saviour. However, about nations Scripture says, ‘The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God’ Psalm 9:17; ‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people’ Proverbs 14:34. It is the role of the State to reward good (righteousness) and punish evil (sin/crime). Whereas the Church holds keys, the State bears the sword. The former opens and closes Heaven to the nation’s citizens by the proclamation of the Gospel and the latter rewards good and punishes evil by upholding and enforcing the law.
Consider the 4th Commandment as an example of where the Commandments overlap at a national level. The State could ensure that its citizens are given opportunity to have quality family time as well as time to gather as the Church to worship God, simply by applying and enforcing Sunday as the national day of rest. Of course, essential services would need to remain open, fire, police, ambulance, hospitals, not to mention the cows needing to be milked and the chickens fed etc. Duties of necessity and mercy still need to be performed.
The 10th Commandment clearly demonstrates the need for the distinction between Church and State under God. The mere thought of the State trying to enforce this Commandment conjures up images of ‘thought police’ as illustrated by the present ‘Political Correctness’ movement’s stifling ‘free speech.’ This happens when a State forgets or rejects its Christian mandate. The Reformation, to lesser and greater extents, set the law-abiding citizens of Western nations free from interference from Church and State. Citizens of nations that turn their back on God’s Law and Gospel are destined to return to the type bondage the pre-Reformation people experienced.
A nation has many aspects, three of which are Family, Church, and State. The Church has many aspects, three of which are the governing bodies of the board of elders (or Session), Presbytery, and Assembly. The State has many aspects, three of which are local government, state government, federal government. The more these spheres, Family, Church, and State, work in harmony with God’s Law as their basis, the greater the freedom for that nation’s citizens. For then everyone learns and knows the difference between good and evil, because each sphere is operating from the same manual. And when everyone knows the difference between good and evil, then the Church can do its job more effectively, pointing sinners to the only Saviour of sinners, Jesus Christ. By far the most obedient citizens in any God-honouring nation are those that have been reconciled to God in Christ.
If we are to honour God at a national as well as an individual level we will need to think nationally and talk more about politics and religion, not less! ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you’ Matthew 28:19-20.
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