POST WOKE (Review)

Post Woke: Asserting a Biblical Vision of Race, Gender, and Sexuality by Neil Shenvi & Pat Sawyer helps give you a handle on what Woke is and even provides a strategy of how to combat it. “This book is our attempt as Evangelical Christians to explain what happened (and is till happening) to our culture and to equip people to push back against it by reasserting a biblical perspective of race, gender, and sexuality. We want to show people not only how wokeness gets these topics wrong, but how the Bible gets them right.” p. 14.

“Wokeness – as it is expressed in our culture today – is rooted in an area of knowledge known as critical theory, which stretches all the way back to the writings of Karl Marx.” p. 60. “Whereas classical Marxists believed that class inequality could be remedied only by reshaping the material structure of society (i.e., by changing who controlled the means of production), critical theorists believe that social inequality can be remedied only by reshaping the ideological structure of society (i.e., by changing the dominant narratives promulgated by the media, education, and the government).” p. 73.

I appreciated that the book distinguishes between the role of the Church and that of Christians in society in their various vocations. There is much debate about Christian Nationalism and Two Kingdom Theology and the likes that seems to end up with one group favouring disengaging itself from society rather than transforming it with the Gospel. Thankfully, this book advocates the latter. “Christians should do good not merely in the cultural sphere, but in the political sphere.” p. 235.     

MY BIG BROTHER STUART

        STUART MALEY MCKINLAY: Eulogy

Photo montage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbKgGjof2RY

One of Stuart’s literary heroes was Sir Walter Scott. He could quote him with ease. “Breathes there the man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land.”[1]

Though native to Ontario, born in 1953, Stuart echoed Scott’s words about Scotland, “This is my own, my native land.”

Stuart’s parents had five children: Fearghas, then Stuart, Neil, Catriona, and Mhairi. Fearghas, the eldest, accompanied our parents to Canada as a two-year-old around 1950, where, subsequently, Stuart, then Neil were born. Eight years later the family returned to Scotland on a ship called the RMS Carinthia. Stuart recalled that there was a marble under the floorboards that could be heard through the night rolling from one side to the other as the ship rocked. Catriona then Mhairi were added to the family in Scotland.

Catriona once remarked to Stuart that he and Fearghas were “D.P.s” meaning “Displaced Persons”. Stuart got beaten up in primary school because of his accent. Forced to say “twenty” (he pronounced it à la Canadian), punched and told with derision to say it again. One wonders if his latter years focus on French was an echo of Canada – he talked more than once of having a French-Canadian pal when he was young in Canada.

Stuart grew up in the Vale of Leven, attending Jamestown Primary School and then the Vale of Leven Academy. He’d often lament about failing the qualifying exam (the “quallie) at the Jamestown school. He hadn’t noticed there was another page!

Also, Alex Rannie, the Vale of Leven Academy’s Headmaster, had applied the old adage to him, that, “Good for nothing comes to nothing”, saying that young men like him and his fellow students would never amount to anything; that he should know his place in society.

Stuart’s mum had to argue with Rannie to get him into the “girls” secretarial class to learn typing and shorthand. Catriona says, “I recall that Neil Yeaman remarked that ‘Stuart had the right idea, whilst we were all chibbing lumps out of wood in the Tech department, he on the other hand was spending 2 hours a week in a class full of girls’, duh!”

Stuart went on to become a newspaper man, first with the Lennox Herald in Dumbarton, and then with The Herald in Glasgow, where he was a Features Editor and Chief Sub-Editor.

Meanwhile back in Canada. Stuart was given the honour of helping his big brother Fearghas build a sledge. Stuart said,

 

Fearghas, Stuart & Rusty

            I had to kneel on the frozen tundra and hold in place the recalcitrant components struggling to make their slippery escape from your cheerfully demented designs while you banged them into a likely shape this way and that way and this way again, while my knees became the glacial centre of my tiny universe. Frozen. Inanimate. Pain. And still the thing wasn’t finished. Every bid to depart was halted. Wait. Soon. Hold That. Shut Up. Wait. Finally, an approximate finish. I could go. And off you raced to the undulating slopes of Syfor’s Farm. I couldn’t walk. But, later defrosted, I got a shot on the back of the sleigh! Yippee![2]

 

As we were growing up, Stuart went from putting on puppet shows to running printing presses. He even built the fastest bogey in the Jamestown Big and Wee Terraces. He would come flying down Auchencarroch Brae with his wee brother, Neil, on the back hanging on for dear life!

Over the road from where we lived, was a field full of giant thistles, running alongside the River Leven. It was there that Stuart would become the proverbial warrior poet. He shaped an iron pipe into a sword, a “scimitar”, as he corrected me. He became like something out of the Braveheart movie, beating back the invading English as he chopped down the thistles. He called his sword, sorry, his scimitar, “Thistledown.” See how his poetic mind worked?!

Though he made use of slings and slug guns, he was becoming slightly more civilised upon our flitting to Tullichewan (housing scheme) around 1965, where he built a lifelong friendship with Billy Scobie.

He became interested in a remunerative enterprise of printing business cards and the likes. It was then he began putting his poetic writing skills into practice, publishing a few sheets of a wee weekly newspaper, illustrated by Scobie, with the snazzy name, Agenda.

Later, he married Linda Conn, who gave birth to their only child, Sharon. He returned to Canada around 1978, intending to bring his wee family over once he had secured a job with the Toronto Star or one of the other big dailies. His Toronto Star application failed only because the guy about to hire him lost his job!

He went back to Scotland, after which, the family spent some time in England. Subsequently, Sharon married Ross Pollock, giving birth to Mathew, Stephanie, and Dylan, Stuart and Linda’s three grandchildren. Tragically, Sharon passed away at age 27, and Stuart’s marriage to Linda ended in divorce.

Stuart & Neil

        Stuart was a brilliant oarsman with the Loch Lomond Amateur Rowing Club, an expert in the single sculls. In later life he would beat himself up upon being reminded the way he had treated some of the scullers he competed against, on the likes of the River Clyde at Glasgow Green. When in the lead, he’d often stop, wait for his opponent to catch up, look at him, smile, and then overtake him, completely psyching out and thus demoralising his competition.

“Good for nothing comes to nothing”? Stuart went on to become such a kind, gentle, generous, loving, caring and sensitive man. And, with his charmful wit, with ease, he was able to bring out the best in others.

Working for The Herald, he moved to Byres Road in Glasgow, where he met Anne, who was to be his beloved partner for the rest of his life, yeah, even unto death. Stuart wrote in an email about one of his dreams,

 

Hooray, Anne and me are off to her beloved Borders tomorrow, Tuesday, for lunch at Traquair House and a walk around the Tweed at Peebles. Thinking of flogging one of our flats and buying a wee place there, say around Melrose (just love Trimontium and the Eildons). Never happen, probably, but one can dream of leaving Glasgow if for no better reason than it is full of, well, er, footbally Glaswegians.

 

Stuart was a great guy to have a pint with (or a cup of coffee). Because he knew them well, he was able to intelligently interact with literary works, from giants like Leo Tolstoy to comedy relief artists such as Spike Milligan.

When it came to classical music, what most of us knew only as The Theme for the Lone Ranger, Stuart knew as Gioachino Rossini’s William Tell Overture. What we would call the Tune for the Hamlet Cigar Advert, he knew as Johann Sebastian Bach’s Air on a G String, played on piano by Jacques Loussier. Yet, Stuart never came across as a show-off with his erudition and massive ‘thesaurus-ian’ vocabulary. He could meet you on the same level wherever you were at, whether discussing those verboten subjects such as politics and religion, or cats and dogs, current events, or simple complaints about the weather.

The one huge blackhole in his massive intellect was football! Here is a sample of Stuart’s understanding (or lack thereof) of the world game,

See Amazon

It is a game apparently of two halves, I’ve noticed, the halves and the halve-nots, in which a complex chain of conventions serves to add piquancy to what would otherwise seem the straightforward propulsion of the revered leather sphere into the elusive onion bag (I’ve listened to reports). I hadn’t seen a football until I was six, fresh off the boat from Canada … As a child, I was as a newcomer somewhat fazed by the altering directions of play, having been assigned only to guarding a goalmouth which was defined by a half-brick and a discarded Eldorado wine bottle.[3]

            Neil Yeaman, Catriona’s late husband, would take Stuart to watch Hamish McKinlay, Neil’s son and Stuart’s nephew. Hamish played forward for Clydebank. Even with Neil’s patient coaching, apparently Stuart never got a handle on the game’s basics!

It was with the illness and subsequent death of Sharon back in 2000, that Stuart began considering the deeper things in life, such as checking out the claims of Jesus Christ. He became a believer.

  For those of us who are Christians, Jesus has taken the sting out of Stuart’s death. When the fiery darts of his death enter our minds, they’re immediately extinguished by the living water from Christ. When we were kids a docken leaf cured a nettle sting. More so, the balm of the Gospel soothes and then heals the pain of the death of a loved one.

Yes, we grieve Stuart’s passing but are comforted in the knowledge that now he gets to see the face of the resurrected Jesus. He also will meet his mum and dad in Heaven; his daughter, Sharon, too! He gets to mingle in Glory with all the Christians who have gone before us. Because of Jesus, we will meet each other again. And we look forward to the resurrection of our bodies on the Last Day.

Yes, there’s a shock with the realisation that Stuart has left us. But comfort comes from knowing that he is safe in Jesus’s arms. For “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psa. 116:15).

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[1] Walter Scott, My Native Land. Faint allusion here to the Canadian National Anthem, “O Canada! Our home and native land…”

[2] Stuart McKinlay, “Time To Go Home: To the Back of Beyond”, The Time Horse: Life, Laughs, Lows, & Literature, by Neil Cullan McKinlay, Stuart McKinlay & Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh, 2022.

[3] Stuart McKinlay, “Football Crazy”, The Time Horse: Life, Laughs, Lows, & Literature, by Neil Cullan McKinlay, Stuart McKinlay & Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh, 2022, 46. 

INAUGURAL

                                                                            Inaugural

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Jesus began His inaugural speech by saying, what has become known as the Great Commission, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.’ (Matt. 28:18b-20).

To help Him with the lengthy process of turning all the nations into His disciples, the Father promised Him, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool’ (Psa. 110:1). Paul refers to this, ‘For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet’ (1 Cor. 15:25), as does the writer to the Hebrews, ‘But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool’ (Heb. 10:12-13).

Christians tend to focus on Christ’s humiliation more than His equally important ascension where His inauguration took place. This Jesus, who was ‘Humbled for a season, to receive a name’, ‘God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (Phil. 2:9-11).

After the victorious Jesus’ inaugural speech, the songs change from being ‘Humbled for a season’ to ‘Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne…’ where He awaits the Holy Spirit, through His Church on earth, fulfilling the Great Commission. Binding him with, ‘the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes’, Christians plunder the strongman’s house. Jesus promised, ‘I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it’ (Matt. 16:18).

His Church on earth at times gets distracted in her mission of nation discipling. ‘By schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed.’ Pessimism with its attendant apathy sometimes set in. E.g., one may wonder how Christ’s kingdom was expanding during WWI and WWII. However, the LORD has promised every success among all the nations, ‘He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore’ (Isa. 2:3b-4). ‘They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea’ (Isa. 11:9, cf. Hab. 2:14).

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            What power can stop the successful discipling of all the nations? Didn’t Jesus say in His inaugural speech, ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the age’? What He said to Joshua entering the Promised Land, ‘I will not leave you nor forsake you’ (Josh. 1:5), is repeated to us, ‘He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”’ (Heb. 13:5b).

Here’s what happened at Jesus’ inauguration after He ascended, ‘Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed’ (Dan. 7:14). Bow the knee to Him, now!

JESUS IN GENESIS

                                                                    Jesus in Genesis

Introduction

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            Did you know that no matter the question, the Sunday School answer always seems to be ‘Jesus’? This is helpful for what we are looking at. After His death and resurrection Jesus said, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Rev. 1:8). However, not only does Jesus have the keys of death and hell, but He also has the key, nay, He is the key, that unlocks the Book of Genesis and the rest of the Bible for us.

Not that we would try to force Jesus to do anything, but we don’t have to look for places in Genesis where we can try to squeeze Him in to make Him fit. Because Jesus is “the light of the world,” like a detective with a flashlight, all we need to do is simply point Him at the text. For “In Your light we see light” (Psa. 36:9b). To be sure, without the Christ-Light, things are a bit shadowy in Genesis. However, by using Jesus, we simply mean that our method of interpretation is to let the Bible interpret Itself.

 

The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture, is the Scripture itself; and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it may be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.[1]

            “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). Another way of saying that Scripture interprets Scripture is that our hermeneutic is to use truth to interpret truth. God’s Word inscripturated is truth and God’s Word incarnated is truth. Jesus prayed to His Father, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17). And Jesus said, “I am … the truth’” (John 14:6a).

Genesis is the first Book of Moses. Let’s see if we can use Jesus to see Jesus therein.

It’s All about Jesus!

One of the things you begin to realise when reading the opening verse of the Bible is that miraculous things like the parting of the Red Sea, Jonah being swallowed by a great fish, the virgin birth, Jesus feeding the five thousand, healing the sick, raising dead people back to life – all the impossible miracles of the Bible become possible. He is the “God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not” (Rom. 4:17b).

            God speaks, and all creation snaps to attention like an army following orders on a parade ground. Every atom is under His sovereign command. Split one atom and the energy produced can power or destroy a whole city.

God alone is Almighty. He is the Creator. Everything else is a creature. Space, time, and matter are creatures every bit as much as fish, birds and animals, yes, including human beings. Everything in existence, apart from God, is a creature. The sovereign God spoke everything into existence. He created space into which He placed the matter He created. When? At the very beginning of time. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).   

We see from these awesome opening words of the Bible that it is not about you or me. It is all about Jesus. Another way of saying this is that God created creation so that He could live in it. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Therefore, the majestic and magnificent opening verse of the Bible is all about God initiating His eternal plan to establish just that for the future. “God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev. 21:3, cf. Lev. 21:11-12).

            When it comes to human beings, there are two ways God makes Himself known to us, a) Creation, b) His Word. The Bible is God’s Word written and Jesus is God’s Word incarnate. Thus, God’s Word written, reveals God’s Word incarnate (John 5:39). The Spirit reveals the Son who reveals the Father (John 14:9, 26; 15:26). “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word” (Heb. 1:1-3a).

If we want to know what God looks and acts like, we look at Jesus as the Scriptures reveal Him, and not how we wish Him to be. And if we want to know of God’s power and abilities, we study His creation. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). Therefore, through our five senses as human beings, God reveals Himself to us through His creation and His written Word, the 66 books of the Bible. We begin in Genesis chapter 1.

We’re All Theologians

Theology has become a scary word to some Christians. However, theology is the study of God. The word theology comprises of two Koine Greek words, (θεολογία), formed from theos (“god”) and logia, (which has to do with λόγος (logos) meaning “word.”) Thus, for the Christian, theology means God-Word.

Our understanding of God comes from our study of God’s Word written, wherein is revealed God’s Word incarnate. As Reformed, we believe that Scripture interprets Scripture. Another way of saying this is that the Word interprets the Word. Thus, we use Jesus, the “express image” or “exact representation” of God to study God and His creation. Christ is the glass we look through to magnify God. We cannot and will not see God (or His Kingdom) without Christ (John 3:3).

Notice how the Belgic Confession in Article 12 speaks of the beginning of creation. Under the heading, The Creation of All Things, it says, “We believe that the Father, when it seemed good to Him, created heaven and earth and all other creatures from nothing, by the Word—that is to say, by the Son…”

If we may be permitted to paraphrase the opening verse of the Bible, we might say that the Father spoke His Word and Their Spirit brought forth creation. “For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one” (1 John 5:7, NKJV). Herman Bavinck reminds us that, “The Father is pre-eminent in the works of creation and redemption; He represents the Trinity; hence, He is often called God, even by Christ. Nevertheless, the Son and the Holy Spirit are also God.[2]

Notice that the three Persons in the Godhead are mentioned in the following, “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” (Gen. 1:2b-3). Thus, the Father (God) speaks His Word and Their Spirit brings into being whatever is commanded. “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth” (Psa. 33:6). “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God” (Heb. 11:3a, ESV). “[The Word] is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). Therefore, Christ is the glue that holds all creation together.

        Logos is the New Testament equivalent of Old Testament Debar, which, among other things, generally means “word,” “matter, or “promise.” In the Bible, Debar can also refer to a spoken word, a command. In Genesis 1 God spoke ten words or commands, i.e., ten times we read, “and God said, ‘Let there be…, Let Us…’” etc., as He spoke things into being.

It’s All about God’s Glory

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            Whether stargazing from a mountaintop or through a telescope into deep space, we are observing something of God’s almightiness. We ought to give Him the glory as Creator. As Christians, we thank God, thereby glorifying Him, before eating even the simplest of meals. How much more then ought we to thank Him for revealing Himself to us by His creation and His Word? “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). Our giving thanks to Him is an act of worship. To give God glory is to worship Him.

God reveals His character in His creation and in His Word. No doubt there is a relationship between those ten words spoken by God and the ten words, as in the Ten Commandments. It is no accident, therefore, that before He speaks His ten words of creation, God reveals that He is the One who created us. Likewise, before He gives His ten commandments to His people, (which were written in our hearts upon our creation, Rom. 2:14-15), He reveals that He is the One who has redeemed them. In both instances, (Creation and Redemption), human beings are to worship and serve Him as Creator and now, after the Fall, also as Redeemer. When it comes to the Word becoming flesh to redeem creation, Herman Bavinck says, “The incarnation has its presupposition and foundation in the Trinitarian being of God.”[3] The great Bible Commentator, Matthew Henry, on Genesis 1 writes,

 

The author and cause of this great work—GOD. The Hebrew word is Elohim, which bespeaks, 1. The power of God the Creator. El signifies the strong God; and what less than almighty strength could bring all things out of nothing? 2. The plurality of persons in the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This plural name of God, in Hebrew, which speaks of Him as many though He is one, was to the Gentiles perhaps a savour of death unto death, hardening them in their idolatry; but it is to us a savour of life unto life, confirming our faith in the doctrine of the Trinity, which, though but darkly intimated in the Old Testament, is clearly revealed in the New. The Son of God, the eternal Word and Wisdom of the Father, was with Him when He made the world (Prov. 8:30), nay, we are often told that the world was made by Him, and nothing made without Him, John 1:3, 10; Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2. O what high thoughts should this form in our minds of that great God whom we draw nigh to in religious worship, and that great Mediator in whose name we draw nigh!

We see in the New Testament, for example, that Jesus, the Word, “spoke the word [logos] to them” (Mark 2:2; cf. 4:33). An Old Testament example would be, “After these things the word (debar) of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great’” (Gen. 15:1; cf. 15:4). Thus, the Word comes with the word.

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            The Word of God brings to us God’s revelation. We will remain humble for as long as we remember that it is all about Jesus. We wonder how there can be light in creation because the sun was not created until the fourth day. This is only because we have not properly understood what it means where it says, “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” (Gen. 1:2b-3). If we remember that creation is not all about us but all about Jesus and God’s glory, then we will begin to understand what Jesus means when He says, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).

If we keep our eyes on Jesus, not only we will begin to understand this fallen creation better but also the redeemed creation, especially when it is fully renewed. “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light” (Rev. 21:23).

God speaks to us through Creation. “The heavens tell about the glory of God. The skies show that His hands created them. Day after day they speak about it. Night after night they make it known. But they don’t speak or use words. No sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into the whole earth. Their words go out from one end of the world to the other” (Psa. 19:1-4, NIV). After speaking of God’s creation, the psalmist goes on to talk about God’s Word. We must not miss the connection between God’s creation and God’s Word.

We have already talked about Jesus as the Logos, meaning Word. Related to the word logos is logistics which may be defined as the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. When moving men and materiel, the military involves itself in logistics. From calculating the amount of food rations to feed the troops, how much fuel, how many trucks are needed to transport them, weapons and ammo, route to travel, viewing weather reports, bridge capabilities, etc., how much more so would God need to prepare creation for “The Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world (Rev. 13:8b) to enter it to redeem it?

Creation is all about Jesus, the Logos who became flesh. Before He rested on the seventh day (4^th Commandment), Scripture makes a declaration: “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good” (Gen. 1:31a). Being creatures in God’s creation we must not think that we have any goodness apart from God. Jesus says, “No one is good – except God alone” (Mark 10:18b). But what about Jesus, the Logos? Well, Jesus was part of God’s detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. Jesus is God’s logistics!

In Genesis 1 we see God organising and implementing His complex operation so that the Word could become flesh and dwell among us. Everything was considered right down to the wood needed for the cross, the metal for the nails to pin Him to it and the men to crucify Him. When viewed in light of God creating the heavens and the earth and all therein out of nothing, the miraculous raising of Jesus from the dead pales to insignificance.

God introduces humanity on the sixth day of creation, thereby creating the manpower with the skills needed to put His incarnate Son to death so that He could pay the price required to purchase creation. With Isaac Watts we sing,

Were the whole realm of Nature mine,

That were an offering far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

The whole realm of nature now belongs to Christ. As to His humanity, Jesus is descended from Adam (Luke 3:23-38). When the Word became flesh, though fully God, He became also fully human. This was a continuation of God’s “Cultural Mandate.”

Glorifying God by Obeying the Cultural Mandate

            The Cultural Mandate is also referred to as the Dominion Mandate. God mandated it in Genesis 1 and again after the Flood in Genesis 9. The idea is that of mankind cultivating God’s creation to the glory of God. It is about ruling over creation as God’s vice regents. It involves relationships as individuals, families, nations. It goes from cultivating soil, plants, livestock etc. to space exploration.

 

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            Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “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.” Genesis 1:26-28.

Each Person in the Triune God has a relationship with the other Persons. The Father loves the Son and Spirit. The Son loves the Father and Spirit. And the Spirit loves the Father and the Son. Thus, in the Godhead each Person loves God and His neighbour as Himself. Part of being created in God’s image is that mankind is to image God by ruling His creation righteously and expressing His love in our relationships. We are to “image” God on earth by doing everything to His glory.

God created the heavens and the earth and all therein for His own glory. Yes, even rockets to the moon, Mars, and beyond are to be to His glory. The science that enables us to do these things is to be to His glory, be it physics, chemistry, mathematics, linguistics, architecture, biology, zoology, theology, philosophy, whatever, all of this is included in God’s “Cultural Mandate” which means that all of mankind is to be about the business of cultivating all things to God’s glory.[4]

Jesus is All of Creation’s Commander           

God upholds all of creation by His Word, which means that He is in command of all things. Jesus, the Logos, the LORD of hosts, whether an army of electrons, angels or humans, Christ is the whole creation’s Commander. Remember, it’s all about Him!

We already mentioned God resting on the seventh day, on which the 4^th Commandment of God’s Law is based (Exod. 20:11). As do all Ten Commandments, the 4^th Commandments points us to Jesus.

After telling us about creation in Psalm 19, “The heavens declare the glory of God” etc, the psalmist goes on to tell us about God’s Law. “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether” (Psa. 19:7-9).

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                The “Cultural Mandate” (Gen. 1:26-28) operates in accordance with God’s Law as applied to every sphere of activity, be it mankind’s rule or relationships. However, something went horribly wrong with mankind. We ought to be delighting in the character of God, (the character we are supposed to be imaging), as revealed in His Law. However, “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:22-24). God had a plan that He put into place “In the beginning…” Enter Jesus.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-3, 14).

Summary

            God created creation so that Jesus could live in it with His people.

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[1] Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 1, paragraph 9.

[2] Herman Bavinck, The Doctrine of God, Translated by William Hendriksen, (Banner of Truth, Reprinted 1991), 266.

[3] Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Sin and Salvation in Christ, Vol. 3, (Baker Academic, 2006), 274.

[4] Neil Cullan McKinlay and D. Rudi Schwartz, The Unfaithful Bride and the Faithful Groom (Weemac Publishing, Queensland, 2023), 421.

Dark Clouds & Silver Linings (Review)

Dark Clouds & Silver Linings by Russell Brandon is a very enjoyable stand-alone book which follows in the footsteps of its prequel A Rainbow in My Heart. Brandon develops some of the characters from his previous book with much engaging dialogue and human (including angel!) interaction.

The life-changing power of Jesus Christ and answered prayer is on full display in this work of fiction. Without giving too much away, the ups and downs of life, yes, dark clouds from failed marriages to threats of suicide, are tastefully addressed. 

Recommended.   

TASTING WORDS

                                                            Tasting Words

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            Job is being rhetorical when he asks, “Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food?” (Job 12:7-11). Christian writers know how to distinguish tasteful from untasteful words. For just as there are poison foods, so there are poison words. For example, politicians well-know that a poison-pen will be used to write hit-pieces about them. Those that read these poison pen letters may just as well have drunk the ink straight out of its container! Poison!

How often do we read things that leave a bad taste in the mouth? As choice ingredients make for a good healthy meal, so do carefully chosen words.

One gets the impression that the ex-slave trader, John Newton, understood the art of tasting words. The first stanza of one of his hymns, begins, "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear! It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear.” He, of course, also wrote, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” However, as Christian writers we know that what may be healthy food for Christians, can taste like poison to non-Christians. “For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life” (2 Cor. 2:15-16a). Therefore, as Christians we must be mindful that the name of Jesus does not necessarily sound sweet in every ear.

Our intention as Christian writers is to glorify God by our work. Therefore, we serve His Son by making sure that we do not dishonour Him in any of our writings. We ensure this by adding, as it were, Elisha’s flour to make sure there is no death in the pot (2 Kings 4:40-41). Yes, even in writing, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt” (Col. 2:6a).

            Speaking through His Prophets and Apostles, we can easily see that the Bible makes use of the ‘tasting words’ motif. “Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matt. 4:4; Deut. 8:3). “Taste and see that the LORD is good, blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him” (Psa. 34:8).

When the Gospel is proclaimed, we hear it through the ear. In the Lord’s Supper, we see it with our eyes. However, we are also tasting that the LORD is good as we partake of the bread and the wine – “wine that gladdens human hearts … and bread that sustains their hearts” (Psa. 104:15).

As Christian writers let us be about the business of tasting words before we write them down. And, regardless of our writing genre, may God be pleased to use our writings also to help gladden and sustain human hearts.

NONE OF THESE DISEASES (Review)

None of These Diseases: The Bible’s Health Secrets for the 21^st Century by S.I. McMillen & David E. Stern was first published in 1963 and was revised in 2000. I had read an earlier edition (1984 I think) and was pleased when I spotted this updated version. 

Though the Word of God never changes, this is one of those books that could continue endlessly being revised and updated. Biblical assessment and application to current developments of modern medicine and medical science are always appreciated. Both authors are medical doctors and they make the following claim,

“None of these diseases!” What a promise! For centuries epidemics has killed thousands of Egyptians and Hebrews. Ancient treatments rarely helped. Often the “cure” was worse than the disease. Yet God made a fantastic promise – freedom from diseases.

God gave Moses many health rules, filling a whole section of the Bible…

Thousands have died through the centuries, however, because doctors ignored the biblical rules. Finally, when doctors read a tried these guidelines, they quickly discovered how to prevent the spread of epidemics. Thus Moses could be called the father of modern infection control.

Even today we are still benefitting from God’s 3,500-year-old instructions.[1]

The book is plainly written in easy-to-understand language and is not shy in using a bit of humour to help get its message across. Though I found some of its Biblical references and applications a bit challenging here and there, (such as the material on circumcision and the avoidance of animal fat), it nevertheless got me checking out its claims against Scripture. And that is a really healthy thing to do!

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[1] S.I. McMillen and David E. Stern, None of These Diseases: The Bible’s Health Secrets for the 21^st Century, (Revell, a division of Baker Books, Revised edition, 2000), 11.