SECURITY

                                                                       Security

Security? ‘Safe as houses!’ Shouldn’t Christians celebrate the fact of being the most secure people on earth? For don’t we sing, ‘And in God’s house for evermore my dwelling-place shall be’? (Psa. 23:6b). Then why is it that some Christians lack any sense of security? Could it be because God’s house had been destroyed twice, once in 586 BC and then in 70 AD? Would it help to know that God, for His own purposes, sovereignly had His house destroyed at these times? Or perhaps some Christians lack a sense of security because they are never sure whether they actually are in God’s house or not?

A change of imagery might help the insecure Christian feel secure. God had His house destroyed in 70 AD because His bricks and mortar temple was no longer needed. ‘Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple’ (1 Cor. 3:16-17). Therefore, not only are Christians in God’s house, they are God’s house – a house ‘made without hands’ which cannot be destroyed (Mark 14:58; 2 Cor. 5:1). Security! ‘Safe as houses.’

But wait! How does the Christian know that he or she is good enough or has done enough good stuff to be in or part of God’s house? Well, that’s where a lot of the feelings of insecurity lie. It’s because of their misunderstanding of the gospel. The security of salvation is only for self-confessed sinners, i.e., those who trust in God’s grace alone to save them, and not their own supposed good life and good deeds. Jesus saves sinners not saints! However, you can tell some people this till you’re blue in the face and they still won’t get it. Could it be because they are deluded? Consider the following scary verses, ‘Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness’ (2 Thess. 2:11-12).

A false gospel is any other that does not have Christ alone as Saviour. It’s not Christ plus attempted obedience, or perceived goodness. Our security lies in Christ alone. As Christians we dwell in Him, and He dwells in us. We are the temple of God because Christ is the temple of which Christians are the bricks. ‘As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ’ (1 Pet. 2:4-5).

So, security comes with a proper understanding of the gospel. Do you know yourself to be a sinner? Do you know that Jesus is the Saviour only of sinners? Have you asked God to forgive you for all of your sins? Then Christian, what is it about ‘Your sins have been forgiven you’ that you don’t believe? Do you think God would lie to you? Try the following couple of verses, ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 5:9). ‘And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins’ (1 John 2:1b-2a).

It is true personal assurance of salvation can be a long time coming for the Christian (Mark 9:24; 1 John 5:13). I wonder daily how God could save ‘a wretch like me’! But these are who God saves, i.e., sinful wretches like you and me. Therefore, paradoxically, our sense of security comes through understanding that you are not worthy of salvation (Luke 18:9-14).

COVENANT ETERNAL

                                                                Covenant Eternal

(Excerpted from my up and coming new book The Covenant: Simple yet Profound) 

Get a copy here: THE COVENANT: Simple yet Profound: McKinlay, Neil Cullan: 9798849660288: Amazon.com: Books

The Covenant is eternal because God is eternal. God is the eternally triune God. Therefore, God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, i.e., the three persons in the Godhead, are in an eternal bond, past, present, and future. Scripture says, “A threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Eccl. 4:12b). The Westminster Larger Catechism asks and answers,

Q. 9. How many persons are there in the Godhead?

A. There be three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one true, eternal God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory; although distinguished in their personal properties.

The word “distinguished” in the last line of the above quote must always be borne in mind when discussing the Trinity. It is very important that we only distinguish the persons but never separate them. Each person in the Godhead owns personal or private property, by which we mean that we are able to see that each person has attributes belonging only to Himself. The Father has the attribute of Fatherhood. Fatherhood does not belong to the Son, but Sonship does. Sonship does not belong to the Father or the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has neither Fatherhood nor Sonship. Therefore, the Spirit also has a distinctive attribute. Thus, the Father is not the Son or the Spirit. The Son is not the Father or the Spirit. And the Spirit is not the Father or the Son. However, though there are distinctions, the three Persons are always one God.

If we focus on the Father, we will begin to see the Son and the Spirit. Likewise, if we know more about the Son, we will understand the Persons of the Father and the Spirit better. And, of course, the more we know the Person of the Spirit, the more we begin to know the Father and the Son. How so? It is because the three Persons are one God, as revealed in Scripture. Who is the Father the Father of? The Son. Who is the Son the Son of? The Father. Who is the Spirit the Spirit of? The Father and the Son. The Spirit reveals the Son who reveals the Father (John 14:9; 15:26).

There is a Celtic-knot that symbolizes this three and oneness of God. It is called the triquetra, from a Latin word meaning three-cornered. (See book cover picture above.) The symbol is triangular, with three loops, which, if you trace each one, appear to have no beginning and no end. Though each loop is distinct from the others, the three interconnect and interpenetrate each of the others. This is the same with the eternal covenant.

If you were to look at the covenant of redemption, as it is revealed in Scripture, long enough, the covenants of works and grace begin to appear. If you study the covenant of works, the covenants of redemption and grace will begin to appear.[1] And, of course, if you look at the covenant of grace long enough, the covenants of redemption and works will begin to appear. This is because the three distinct covenants are one eternal covenant. It is all trinitarian! Later, we shall see more of this when we consider the threefold division of Old Testament law; viz, moral law, legal law (judicial, civil), and ceremonial law.

Already the astute reader will have noticed that, just as there is an order of sequence in listing the persons of Trinity, i.e., the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, so there is a covenantal order, i.e., redemption, works, and grace. Shouldn’t it be grace, works, and then redemption? Or perhaps works, grace, and redemption? The point being that it doesn’t matter where you begin, like the Celtic-knot, each interconnects and interpenetrates the others. And, as within the Godhead, each reflects certain aspects of the others. However, though, like the Godhead, the covenant is one, the sequence is, covenant of redemption, covenant of works, then covenant of grace, in that order. This is because each covenant reflects each person in the Godhead. In the covenant of redemption, the Father gives the Son His eternal moral law to keep as the covenant of works on behalf of Himself and those He represents, and the Spirit applies the benefits of the Son’s covenant-keeping to those who are represented. Again, it is all trinitarian.   

Yes, it is impossible for finite human beings to comprehend the eternality of the triune God. And, because His triuneness has to do with His eternality, we also, on account of our finitude, have trouble comprehending God’s triuneness.

Thankfully the eternal triune God has condescended to reveal Himself to us by way of His eternal covenant as per the “Book of His Covenant”. As the triune God says to Abraham, the father of all who believe, “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you” (Gen. 17:7). Note the word “establish”. God had already “cut” His covenant with Abraham (Gen. 15).

It should be kept in mind that in the beginning everything was embryonic and therefore was in need of being delivered, and then developed to maturity, i.e., perfected. Says Abraham Kuyper,

 

Man was not created in the fullness of his power, but in the beginning of his potential, carrying in him the prophecy of what would yet develop in all of its fullness from this foundation. And consequently in the covenant of works man was promised something greater – a richer and more potent life, provided he remained faithful to God’s demand. And thus it is especially from this promise that it also follows that man initially at his creation was less than what he would be, and therefore in a certain way he stood in weakness before God. He was indeed holy, but still had not yet attained to the perseverance of the saints. He was holy and just, but in a way that he could still fall. He was on the way, but on that way he was still at its beginning, and the end of the road was yet far away.[2]

God had written His eternal covenant law (albeit in pre-fall positive terms), on the heart of humanity when He created Adam (and, in time, each one of us in Adam) in His own image (Rom. 2:14-15). Thus God, while giving His blessing, mandated Adam, our pre-fall representative (with his wife Eve and their posterity), to “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28).

Tied or bonded to the triune God by His eternal covenant, pre-fall humanity (in Adam) had losable eternal life (but had unlosable existence). Adam could maintain his present life and secure unlosable eternal life (with all its blessings) upon condition of perfect obedience to God in all his endeavours. However, by eating the forbidden fruit, Adam broke his covenant-probation with God, while at the same time forming a covenant with the serpent, i.e., Satan, against the eternally triune God.

Yes, Adam (and humanity in him) broke covenant with God. However, being eternally triune, God cannot deny or break covenant with Himself. Therefore, God graciously and immediately after the fall began to reveal His eternal covenant as it applies to fallen humanity. Thus, the covenant of grace or gospel covenant in which the eternal triune God says to the serpent (humanity’s new covenant partner), “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Gen. 3:15).

Jesus Christ, Son of God/Son of Man, is the promised Seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15). Thus from eternity past, as witnessed by the eternal Spirit, the eternal Father has given a conditional promise to His eternal Son (as the federal or covenant head of all who are in Him), that if He, as the new Adam, were to keep the covenant of life or works perfectly, if He were to keep the eternal covenant as it applied to pre-fall Adam, then the Father would give to the man Christ Jesus the eternal life blessings that were promised to the pre-fall Adam as humanity’s representative. The man Christ Jesus perfectly kept the covenant of works, and He shares His reward with all believers. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).

The eternal life promised by the Father to pre-fall Adam (and the Son of Man in eternity past and in time as the last Adam) is summed up in the eternally triune God’s gracious gift of the Holy Spirit. For, Jesus said to His Church at the time of His ascension, “Wait for the Promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4).

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[1] We mean here, of course, the covenant of works as viewed in light of the whole of Scripture, not as the pre-fall Adam would have seen it.

[2] Abraham Kuyper, God’s Angels: His Ministering Spirits, eBook version, (Translation by Rev. Richard Stienstra)

MUSIC

                                                                        Music

St Giles, Edinburgh

Beauty is to the eye of the beholder as music is to the ear, which is to say that I love all good music! My music tastes are quite eclectic, running from Bach to Bachman Turner Overdrive, Haydn to Hendrix. I like Christian and non-Christian music. And there’s the rub. When is music Christian? Let’s begin by saying that all music that glorifies God is Christian music. By this definition angel, whale, and bird song are Christian music. However, this is not exactly what we mean. If you were to flip through your car’s radio stations, you will probably find a Christian radio station that plays Christian music. You’ll know it when you hear it. I turn my radio up when songs like Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit in the Sky come on! But wait! Isn’t that rock ‘n’ roll? How did Christians end up playing rock ‘n’ roll? Apparently, the father of Christian rock is Larry Norman. He started it when he wrote the rock ‘n’ roll song ‘Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?’

The question now becomes: Should we sing and play this sort of music at congregational worship of God? And if not, then why not? Well, we’re back to our modified adage, ‘Music is in the ear of the beholder.’ Therefore, the intended audience is the key. Is it God or people? Both is an acceptable answer. And it may help if we ask if you are sitting in your car or on a pew. In the car we are listeners. The music is aimed usward. In church we are performers. Our music is aimed Godward. Both are Christian music, but let’s call the former Kingdom Music and the latter Church Music. We’re in Christ’s Kingdom in all we do in our daily activities. We’re in God’s Church when we are gathered with our fellow saints to worship God.

All Christian music ought to seek to glorify God whether you’re at church or at work, rest, or play. The great reformer of the church, John Calvin, had the following to say about Church Music, ‘Songs composed merely to tickle and delight the ear are unbecoming the majesty of the Church, and cannot but be most displeasing to God.’ Now, because much error can be taught through song, Biblical song lyrics are important. ‘For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires’ (2 Tim. 4:3). The danger for Christians is that church music can switch from seeking to glorify God to trying to attract the world (read non-Christians) to come to fill church pews.

Though usually attributed to CH Spurgeon, in Archibald Brown’s 1889 book ‘The Devil’s Mission of Amusement’ is found an article called ‘Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats.’ Christian Music on the car radio out there in the Kingdom can get away with a certain amount of amusing non-Christians, but not Church Music. How so? Because it then becomes man-centred instead of God-centred. Christians get fed at church by praising God in song with sound doctrine. If the focus is not on God, then the Church Music becomes mere ear-tickling amusement. Entertainment! Remember, fattened goats find wooden pews more comfortable to sit on than do bony lean sheep.

The psalmist gets it right: ‘Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens! Praise Him for His mighty deeds; praise Him according to His excellent greatness! Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp! Praise Him with tambourine and dance; praise Him with strings and pipe! Praise Him with sounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!’ (Psa. 150:1-6).