TWO WOMEN/COVENANTS

                                                                 TWO WOMEN/COVENANTS

^{Galatians 4:21} Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? ²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. ²³ But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, ²⁴ which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— ²⁵ for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— ²⁶ but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. ²⁷ For it is written:

“Rejoice, O barren,

You who do not bear!

Break forth and shout,

You who are not in labor!

For the desolate has many more children

Than she who has a husband.”

²⁸ Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. ²⁹ But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. ³⁰ Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” ³¹ So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. 

Introduction

            If we use Christ as our key, we can easily unlock all of Scripture. Think about, Christ was circumcised but was also baptised. He partook of the Passover meal, and He partook of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus straddled both administrations of the covenant, the old covenant and the new covenant. He was “born of a woman, born under the law” (4:4). He came to set us free from the condemnation of the law (Rom. 8:1).

All the promises God made to Abraham have been fulfilled in Him and by Him (2 Cor. 1:20). Indeed, all these same promises that were made to Abraham were also made to Christ (Gal. 3:16). If we keep in mind that a covenant, at its very basic level, is a conditional promise, we will see clearly how the law failed. It failed because no one was able to keep it perfectly. Thus, it brought only condemnation – until “when the fulness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (4:4-5).

Jesus perfectly kept the law on behalf of those who could not, He received the condemnation of the law on behalf of those the law condemned, and, by so doing, He redeemed or bought back everyone who trusts in Him and His redemption. This, of course, it the very heart of the gospel, the same gospel the Galatians are on the verge of rejecting.

To be an adopted son of God that you are no longer a child of the flesh but are now a child of the promise. A son was promised to Abraham. Isaac was that child of promise. However, what Isaac typified, Jesus was the antitype. In other words, the promise that Abraham would have a son was totally fulfilled in Jesus, who, as to His flesh, is descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We, along with the believing Galatians, have been adopted as sons of Abraham, not according to the flesh, but according to the promise.

 Paul uses and allegory, a symbol, to teach the Galatians this truth, that believing Gentiles are also Abraham’s children.

Two Women

Though her name is not mentioned, the “freewoman” is Sarah, and the “bondwoman” was Sarah’s servant, Hagar. To be born of Hagar is to be born of a servant or slave. To be born of a freewoman is to be born free. Though Jesus was born of a woman, He was also born under the law, which the bondwoman is symbolising. However, because He perfectly kept every jot and tittle of the law, He demonstrated that He was in realty born of Sarah not Hagar. In other words, He was THE Child of promise, the promise God made to Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 15:4, 18:14).

Now, that this promise was to include both Jews and Gentiles, including those at Galatia, has already been made clear to Abraham, when God said to him “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). That blessing, of course, comes in, by, and through Jesus Christ and His gospel. It does not come through unbelieving Jews or Gentiles.

Some, in our own day, think that modern day Israel and those who follow the different forms of modern Jewish religion is what God is referring to with the blessings and curses in God’s promise to Abraham. However, Paul exposes that false idea by his allegory about the bondwoman and the freewoman.

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“For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all (4:24b-26). Hagar represents Jerusalem below and Sarah represents Jerusalem above. How plainer could Paul make it? Whether it is Jerusalem in Israel before AD70 or whether it is Jerusalem in Israel post AD1948, this Jerusalem the not the “Jerusalem above”! Whereas the Jerusalem below is the Jerusalem of the bondwoman and therefore those who are born of her are likewise in bondage, so those who belong to the Jerusalem above are born of the freewoman and therefore are free.

One woman equals bondage and one woman equals freedom. Which do you think represents curses and which do you think represents blessing? The Galatians, under the influence of the Judaizers, were contemplating placing themselves under the curse of the law!

Mount Sinai is where God handed down His law which included all its rules and regulations for Old Testament Israel, including both the ceremonial law and the judicial law which have expired now that Christ has come. The ceremonial law was essentially the gospel in picture form, and the judicial law was how Old Testament Israel were to conduct themselves as a corporate body. The writer to the Hebrews contrasts the old covenant with the new, the bondwoman with the freewoman, i.e., the then with the now:

 

For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. (Heb. 12:18-24)

All engrafted into one olive tree (Image from Web)

        The “heavenly Jerusalem” spoken of here is the “Jerusalem above”, the same one that John speaks of in Revelation, “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:2). So, the “Jerusalem above” is the both the bride of Christ and the place where the bride dwells. The question then becomes: Does God have two brides or one bride? “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:26-29).

Yes, we are all one in Christ. The Judaizers where teaching the Galatians that they needed to become Jews to get right with God, but Paul was teaching that both Jew and Gentile get right with God through faith in Christ Jesus. Only those who belong to Christ are children of Abraham, children of the promise, i.e., children of the freewoman.

Two Covenants

Which two covenants is Paul talking about when he says, “For these are the two covenants…”? He is not talking about the pre-Fall covenant God made with Adam. Nor is he talking about the Noahic covenant. Clearly, the covenant of bondage is the Mosaic covenant.

It is not hard to see that the Mosaic covenant somewhat echoes the Adamic covenant and the Noahic covenant. The pre-Fall Adam was promised life for obedience and death for disobeying God. Yes, blessings and curses. Same for Israel after Sinai (Deut. 28). Noah knew the difference between clean and unclean animals (Gen. 7:2, 8:20), which would be incorporated into the ceremonial law as part of the sacrificial system. Of course, the sacrifice of these “clean” animals was foreshadowed in the covenant God cut with Abraham (Gen. 15).

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So, we see two main covenants, viz, the Mosaic and the Abrahamic. The former was the old covenant that is now obsolete, and, as Abraham is the forefather of all believers, so the latter, i.e., the Abrahamic covenant, is the antecedent or forerunner or predecessor of the new covenant. In other words, God’s covenant with Abraham is the promise of the new and better covenant. The covenant is the same, only its administration changed when the new arrived. E.g., circumcision became baptism, Passover became Lord’s Supper.

If we keep in mind that the ceremonial law was essentially picturing what the promised Messiah was coming to do, i.e., the seed promised to Abraham, we won’t confuse the Mosaic and Abrahamic covenants. Though both are administrations of the covenant of grace, the Mosaic covenant emphasised works of obedience while the Abrahamic covenant emphasised faith. The idea of the Mosaic covenant was not given as a means for Israel to earn salvation. It was given to teach Israel about the promised Messiah, the One who would bring salvation, the One who was promised to Abraham.

Confused? Well, so were the Galatians and so are many Christians today. Why? Because of false teachers. Salvation was never by faith plus works, even works of the law. It was always by faith alone, but a faith that was never alone. As James says, “But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18). Good works are a fruit of faith, i.e., a fruit of the Spirit who gives the gift of faith. The Galatians along with some Christians today were thinking that it is works that produce faith and not the other way around. It’s covenantal.

The Mosaic law and the history of Old Testament Israel under that covenant demonstrated time and time again that no one could keep the law. It was given to show our need of someone who could keep that law on our behalf. Thus, the promise of the Messiah! That is why Jesus was “born of a woman, born under the law.” He needed to be like us in every way apart from our sin which condemns and disqualifies us. The Mosaic covenant is about how we are adopted as children of Abraham.

Mosaic covenant is about the flesh epitomised in fleshly circumcision. The Abrahamic covenant is about believing the promise depicted by fleshly circumcision, “Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer” (Deut. 10:16). How does one circumcise the foreskin of one’s heart? Do like Abraham the father of the faithful, “And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3). “How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also” (Rom. 4:10-11). The “foolish” Galatians were giving up salvation by faith alone for a faith plus works, a works righteousness.

Abraham did what Jesus commands us to do where He says, “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Wait! say some. There was no gospel in the Old Testament! Weren’t they saved by keeping the law? That’s what the Judaizers were erroneously teaching. However, Scripture begs to differ where it says, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham” (Gal. 3:8-9).

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We see something of a lapse into a works righteousness taking place with Abraham himself under Sarah’s beckoning. Like the Judaizers adding to the gospel, Sarah took the initiative and added to the promise. Because she had not yet conceived and remained barren, she invited Abraham to sleep with her servant Hagar, the bondwoman. This was a work of the flesh. It was not the work of the Spirit nor the fruit of the Spirit.

Hagar conceived and bore Ishmael. Subsequently, Sarah conceived and bore Isaac. Ishamel. In the process of time, “Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. Hagar and her son were ejected from the camp. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac” (Gen. 21:9-10). This is what Paul is referring to where he says, “But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now” (4:29). The Judaizers are persecuting the Galatians who have been born according to the Spirit!

Because of the weakness of the flesh, the Mosaic covenant brought only bondage. Because of the power of the Spirit, the new covenant foreshadowed in the Abrahamic, brings freedom. Freedom from what? From bondage, from being a slave to the flesh and the works of the flesh. God doesn’t need a hand to save you. Therefore, “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” And remember, “So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.”

Conclusion

The old covenant was administered and kept by shedding the shedding of lots of blood, of bulls, goats, lambs etc., and even human blood through circumcision, external ceremonies all representing what the promised Messiah was coming to do. The Old Testament saints were saved through believing these promises. Jesus perfectly kept every jot and tittle of the requirements of the law. The new covenant is administered and kept through unbloody sacraments representing the shed blood of Christ and the faithful proclamation of the gospel, the good news of what Jesus has done and our belief in His righteousness revealed therein.

Christ is the key to understanding Paul’s allegory of the two covenants. Hagar and her son were excommunicated. They were sent away. They were of the flesh, additions to the gospel. Sarah’s son was a child of the Spirit, a child of God’s promise. Jesus is the true Son, the One from whom all of God’s promised blessings to Abraham flow. Therefore, we must be done with all our feeble attempts to improve on the gospel and thereby be guilty of trusting in the flesh and not the Spirit. Trust only in Jesus!      

SPITTING IMAGE

                                                                    SPITTING IMAGE

Galatians 4:¹² Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. ¹³ You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. ¹⁴ And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶ Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? ¹⁷ They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. ¹⁸ But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. ¹⁹ My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, ²⁰ I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.

Introduction

Paul is urging the Galatians to become his spitting image. Previously, the had received him as a true messenger of God, as an angel. He says that they had received him, “even as Christ Jesus” (Gal. 4:14). In other words, they could see Christ Jesus in him.

He calls the Galatians, “My little children” (4:19). Children image their parents. Sometimes they are more than similar, they may even be the spitting image of their mother or father.

The Galatians have seen Christ Jesus in him, and now he wants to see Christ manifest Himself in them. “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you” (4:19). So, it’s all about Christ Jesus in him and in them.

Clear Image

Who is Christ Jesus? “He is the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15a). “He is the express image of [God’s] person” (Heb. 1:3). We use the vernacular, “spitting image” to mean the same as “express image.” This, of course, should instantly bring to our mind the words found in the Cultural Mandate, “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26a).

Now, we don’t want to get too hung up on the etymology of the term spitting image, whether it really has to do with spit or is a corruption of splitting image. To say “splitting image” where the idea is that the image is split, divided in two, like when you look in a mirror, there is both you and your image, may lead us away from the true source of spitting image. However, it does help us to understand what is going on here. The Galatians, the “foolish” Galatians, “before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified” (Gal. 3:1), are forgetting what they saw in Paul and his message.

“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:23-25). The Galatians had looked into “the perfect law of liberty” when Paul had shown them “Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2) but now, under the evil influence of the Judaizers, were becoming forgetful hearers.

Adam was tempted or tested in the Garden. He failed the test. Christ Jesus was tempted or tested in the wilderness and passed the test. The Galatians, by imaging the fallen Adam instead of the righteous “last Adam” are failing their temptation or test.

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Whether he appears as a serpent or in person or uses men such as the Judaizers, the devil is the tempter, the tester. The Galatians were failing badly. Why? They were looking to themselves instead of looking to Jesus. Like doctors and nurses looking after a pregnant woman while watching monitors and listening to electronic beeps until the child is born, so the Galatians were now observing the things that pointed to the Christ that was coming instead of the Christ that has come. “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman” (4:4).

Corrupted Image

The Galatians were returning to observing the signs that point to Christ and His coming, i.e., the law. The ceremonial law was the umbilical cord. This was cut because it had become obsolete when Christ was born of a woman. When Christ was crucified, the ceremonial law was cut away like the circumcisional foreskin. That previous covenant with its administrations, at the time of the Galatians, was being phased out as the old covenant transitioned into the new. The Book of Acts records this period of transition with all its teething troubles.

The Galatians were corrupting the gospel by reintroducing those things that the gospel had put paid to. “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6). Bloody circumcision was already transitioning into unbloody water baptism. “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Col. 2:11-12). Thus, although administered differently, Old Testament circumcision and New Testament water baptism mean the same thing – the “putting off the body of the sins of the flesh.”

Circumcision was the Old Testament “mark of Christ.” Water baptism is the New Testament “mark of Christ.” Both are the application of the covenant promise of God. The Old Testament saints believed in the Christ to come. We New Testament saints believe in the Christ who has come. Therefore, to be “buried with Him in baptism” is more about having the “mark of Christ” affixed than about being lowered into a six-foot hole in the ground and having dirt shovelled on top of you, apparently depicted by immersionist baptism! Can you imagine being held under water for three days and three nights?!

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We are “buried with Christ” (funeralized) through baptism. However, Christ was never buried the way we do burials in Western nations. The sprinkled or poured out water on the baptismal recipient represents the finished work of Christ. It signifies the same as that which circumcision pointed to. The foreskin of our sin has been removed by Christ. We shed no blood (as happened in circumcision). He shed His blood, the “blood of sprinkling” (1 Pet. 1:2) that cleanses us of all our iniquities. Christ is the High Priest who sprinkles us, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with His own blood (Heb. 9:11-15). Therefore, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:22).

Corrected Image

The blood Christ poured out while on the cross is applied by the poured out Holy Spirit depicted in water baptism. The Galatians, by misunderstanding the true nature and intent of circumcision, were in danger of severing Old Testament circumcision from New Testament baptism. They were about to make their circumcision the profession of their faith, much in the same way as many today view their baptism as their profession of faith rather than it, like circumcision, being the covenant promise of God.

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Just as circumcision did not make anyone a Jew under the old covenant, neither does baptism make anyone a Christian under the new covenant. As a sheep was daubed with dye to identify its owner, so these are simply signs that God’s covenant promises have been applied to you. A sheep’s bleating does not identify the owner. The dyed wool does. The bleating only identifies you as a sheep and therefore are a possible candidate to be daubed with dye.

Just as many today look to their baptism as the sign of their faith, so the Judaizers looked to their circumcision. To view things this way is to look to our own works, things you have done/are doing. However, these are only reminders, signposts. The writer to the Hebrews says that we should be “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2a). The signposts of Old Testament circumcision and now New Testament baptism show us where to look. We are to look away from ourselves to the One they depict, i.e., the Owner.

There are two sacraments in the new covenant: baptism replacing circumcision and the Lord’s Supper replacing the Passover. Each of these ceremonies transitioned into the other via Christ. Though some Protestant denominations are guilty of doing much the same thing, the Roman Catholic denomination, with the doctrine of its mass, elevates the Lord’s Supper over the gospel. For Rome, the elements literally become what they are only supposed to represent, viz., Christ and Him crucified. However, some Protestant denominations do something similar with baptism. Instead of receiving the sign and seal of the covenant, they make it all about something they do, something they give, i.e., their profession of faith. Therefore, baptism becomes more about a person’s profession of faith than the promise of God. Thus, we are back to what the Judaizers were doing with the fulfilled ceremonial law. They saw their participation in the ceremonies as that which saved them rather than the Christ depicted therein. The law only pointed to Christ, but the Judaizers want to use it as a means of salvation.   

The Judaizers want to form the Galatians in their own image, “they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them” (4:17b). However, Paul corrects them. He wants them to conform to the image of Christ. He is like the midwife monitoring a woman giving birth, nay, he himself is like the one who is given birth, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you” (4:19).

Paul wants the Galatians to be the image of Christ and not the Judaizers. So, he has to correct the image that has been distorted, corrupted by the legalistic Judaizers. Some Christians do not like to have their errors corrected. “Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” (4:16). However, we ought to follow Paul’s example, just as he is following Christ’s example. Christ corrected everyone including the devil. “Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?” (Mark 12:24). “Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” (Matt. 4:10).

We get our doctrine of Christ and His gospel from what is written in Scripture. The Scriptures are about Him. “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). They saw their salvation in the use of the Scriptures rather than in the One the Scriptures reveal. For them it was sign over substance.

Whether it is circumcision and all the rest of the ceremonial law or the mode and meaning of baptism, the old and the new covenant, we must diligently search the Scriptures for the answers and we must correct anywhere that we have got it wrong. That’s what Paul is doing with the Galatians. They are in error.

Paul reminds them, “You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first” (4:13). Some tend to think that Paul’s injury or illness had something to do with his eyes because he says, “For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me” (4:15). This may be true, but by these words are we not being reminded what he has written earlier to them? “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?” (Gal. 3:1).

The Galatians have gone from loving Paul to the point of plucking out their own eyes to help him, to becoming his enemy because he is correcting their error. Why? Because they have taken their eyes off Christ and Him crucified! And by doing so they are in danger of totally rejecting the gospel.

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Paul has been using the stick with the Galatians when he would rather be using the carrot. “I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you” (4:20). We see then why he has been using the stick, “for I have doubts about you.”

If you have doubts about other Christians, then let God’s Word be the judge of that. Paul knew what he had taught the Galatians. He could see that, under the influence of the Judaizing Party, they were beginning to reject the clear teaching of the gospel. They were beginning to reject the finished work of Christ in favour of ceremonies, yeah, their own “good” works.

Conclusion

We must listen to the Spirit speaking in the Scriptures. We must conform to what is taught therein. For by doing so Christ will increasingly be formed in us, and we, like Him, and like Adam when he was first created, will again become His image and likeness, His spitting image.

Therefore, seek a church that faithfully preaches Christ and Him crucified, properly administers the two sacraments, administers discipline, a church that does not neglect to preach the whole counsel of God (of which the gospel is the heart). Pray that our teachers and preachers, like Paul, will love us by being bold enough to correct our errors.  

CITY V COUNTRY

                                                                    City v Country

Brisbane (image from Web)

         City dwellers have better access to hospitals, health facilities and shopping malls etc. However, unlike country dwellers, city dwellers would never think of leaving their cars and houses unlocked. The television show ‘Midsomer Murders’, set in the beautiful English countryside notwithstanding, cities would seem to have higher crime rates.

God, the Creator, planted a garden ‘eastward in Eden’ (Gen. 2:8), created Adam (Gen. 2:7), entered into a covenant with him as the head of humanity (Hos. 6:7; Rom. 5:12); made a wife for him from his rib (Gen. 2:22), and issued the ‘Cultural Mandate’: ‘God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground”’ (Gen. 1:28). Thus, Adam and Eve were commissioned to produce offspring and extend the country garden to the ends of the earth to God’s glory. What could go wrong? ‘Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness’ (1 John 3:4). Adam sinned by breaking God’s covenant with him, and instead of the country garden expanding throughout the world, lawlessness spread with humanity.

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On my way from Brisbane to Hobart, as I drove through Eden in New South Wales, I saw a sign, ‘Eden Sawmill.’ It created a picture in my mind of Adam cutting down trees and building things to the glory of God – as per the ‘Cultural Mandate.’ Solomon building the temple at Jerusalem illustrates this. God supplies the raw materials and we humans reflect our Creator by being creative with them. Beauty is in the eyes of God. He is the Beholder. Sin distorts. Therefore, we must follow the manual, the Bible. ‘So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God’ (1 Cor. 10:31).

Contemporary Christianity has reduced the ‘Cultural Mandate’ to mere pietism and quietism, i.e., the saving of sinners. As important as salvation is, this is a kind of neglect of ‘the weightier matters of the law’ (Matt. 23:23). It is remedied by viewing the post-Fall ‘Great Commission’ together with the pre-Fall ‘Cultural Mandate.’ The same God who gave mankind the raw materials in the country garden to make things to His glory, gave Noah the wood to build the ark, gave Solomon the supplies to build the temple, also supplied the Romans with wood to make a cross. Jesus was taken outside of the city and into the country to be crucified.  ‘A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”)’ (Mark 15:21-22; cf. Lev. 4:12, 16:27). ‘And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through His own blood’ (Heb. 13:12).

Image from Web

        So, Adam was ejected from the country garden. Jesus, ‘the last Adam’, was ejected from the city. However, we are back to the country garden with the death and resurrection of Jesus. ‘At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden’ (John 19:41a).

City or country?  There’s both for following Jesus! And it’s with Him that the ‘Cultural Mandate’ and ‘Great Commission’ meet. It ends with the country garden and the city united (Rev. 2:7, 20:2), the Garden City of the ‘New Jerusalem’, the ‘Jerusalem above’ (Rev. 21:2; Gal. 4:26). ‘Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city’ Rev. 22:14).

BILLY THE GOALIE

                                                        Billy the Goalie

    We lived in Tasmania for five years back in the early 2000s. A lot of the mountains and hills reminded me very much of where Billy and I grew up in Scotland, the Vale of Leven, “The Vale”. 

            Our local mountain was Ben Lomond, overlooking the beautiful Loch Lomond, made famous in song.

Ben Lomond, like a sentinel, with its head and shoulders, watched over the Vale of Leven, winter, spring, summer, or fall. Snow-capped in the winter, it looked like a Christmas pudding with icing on the top of it! Or the more noble, if you will, a bald eagle about to take off! Magnificent!

It was while my wife and I were in Tasmania that I became reacquainted with Billy. I’ve known Billy since the late 60s, from School at the Vale of Leven Academy and the Jamestown Boys Brigade. Billy was a great goalie at soccer, football, or as we call it, “fitba.”

            Billy was one of those guys that aren’t scared to dive into a frozen, muddy puddle in winter just to make a save. Who knows how many saves Billy made over his football career.

Anyway, about twenty or so years ago I looked after a wee church next to Hobart, Tasmania. As Dorothy and I were opening up the building for the evening service, we noticed a car pulling into the church’s parking lot. A woman jumped out. I thought she was going to ask for directions. But she said something like, “Can you save my soul?” It turned it that it was Billy and Morena Cameron!

I think it was Morena’s sister Ingram who had told them that I was a minister in Tasmania. They had no idea where or what church I was minister at. “Och, you’ll find him,” said Ingram, “Tasmania is just a wee place!” It was sort of miraculous that they found me as Tasmania is about the size of Wales!

They declined my invitation to attend our wee worship service. So, we gave them our house keys and directions and told them to watch out for our dog. Wee Jamie was a Sydney Silkie, an overgrown Yorkie, that wouldn’t hurt a fly. We joined them after the service and reminisced about things in the Vale as well as things in the Bible.

One of the things in the Bible is the idea of getting “saved.” There was a jailer who asked Paul the Apostle, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul gave him a simple answer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved…” (Acts 16:31).

Now, Billy diving into a frozen puddle to save a goal is pretty impressive, but Jesus having Himself nailed to a cross to save everyone who believes in Him is impressive to the max!

And just as Billy would get out of the frozen puddle after having saved a goal and kick the ball back up the pitch, so Jesus got out of the grave after having saved all who will believe in Him and He takes them to be with Him in Heaven when they die.

To get the ball into the back of the net you needed to get through Billy the goalie. And that wasn’t an easy thing to do. To get into Heaven you need to go through Jesus the Saviour. And it’s impossible to get to Heaven without Him. Because Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

I hadn’t seen Billy for a year or two before he died. To my knowledge, Billy was never hostile toward Jesus, at least not in my company. As his health failed, I hope that he started trusting in Jesus. As Paul says, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom.10:9).

My wife, Dorothy, and I left Tasmania and came back here to Brisbane in sunny Queensland. In 2008 I became an army chaplain posted at Gallipoli Barracks, Enoggera, here in Brisbane. I was with 2GHB, a sort of M.A.S.H. unit, all doctors and nurses, where I was a sort of “Father Mulcahy.” Anyway, as I was walking to my car, there was Billy with his head under the open hood or bonnet of someone’s car! He worked for RACQ at the time. “Hello Billy!”

    From then on Billy was the main organiser for the Scottish contingent living in Brisbane of which I was part. We’d all go out for meals together. A lot of the men would go golfing together.

Billy was the one who would gather us all. He would organise things. He was like the team manager. The rest of us, it would seem, couldn’t organise a “manáge!”

Billy, today you’ve really outdone yourself. You’ve gathered friends and family from all over the world! And we’re all going to miss you!

Apparently, family and friends are going to have a wee service for Billy on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond soon. I’m sure we’ll be there in spirit.

By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes,

Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomon'.

where me and my true love were ever wont to gae

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomon’.

O ye’ll tak’ the high road and I’ll tak the low road,

An’ I’ll be in Scotland afore ye;

But me and my true love will never meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomon’. 

Billy, we’re really going to miss you. Goodbye old friend.

Watch a recording of the funeral service here: OneRoom - Viewer

A RAINBOW IN MY HEART (Review)

A Rainbow in My Heart by Russell Brandon is a delightful little book that follows the lives of two precocious youngsters as they grow up in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. It well illustrates the truth of “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6 NIV).

Jack and Ellie are a positive influence on all they meet as they negotiate many of the pitfalls along life’s journey in a fallen world. They avoid these wiles and snares of the devil by wise use and application of Biblical teaching. They become entrepreneurial and altruistic as per the Bible. Their success is measured by their service to the glory of God and their enjoyment of Him.

It is a book to be enjoyed by all, especially those going through their teen years.  

GOSPEL GUIDANCE (Take 2)

Psalm 51

For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
    you who are God my Saviour,
    and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.

18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
    to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
    in burnt offerings offered whole;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar.