WAR & PEACE

War & Peace

‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ I think I may have added at least three flagstones to that road. It has been my good intention to read Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Homer’s Illiad, and Plato’s Republic. Someday! But if war is hell, is peace heaven? Well, there’s a verse of Scripture that says, ‘War broke out in heaven’ Revelation 12:7. But have no fear, for Michael and His angels prevail against Satan and his demons. ‘So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him’ Revelation 12:9. Satan and his demons were cast out of heaven to earth. When? The immediate context of this verse is sometime in human history. However, the remote connection is before the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Thus, the war in heaven began pre-Fall and the wars continue on earth until the resurrected Jesus through His Spirit overcomes His enemies. ‘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’ Hebrews 10:12-13. Would it surprise you to hear that God considers all non-Christians His enemies? Which is to say that only those who have the Jesus of the Bible as their Saviour have been reconciled to God. There is no Switzerland in this war. If you don’t belong to Jesus, then you belong to Satan’s army and therefore are an enemy of God. To enlist in Jesus’ army, you must do as He says, ‘Repent, and believe in the gospel’ Mark 1:15. Therefore, turn your back on self, sin and Satan and follow Jesus.

‘For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil’ 1 John 3:8b. And Jesus, the Son of God, said, ‘I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’ Matthew 16:18b. This doesn’t mean that the gates of Christ’s church will hold against the attacks of Satan and his demons, but rather that the church, i.e., Christians will storm the gates of the non-Christians. Thus, the war that began in heaven pre-Fall will end with the nations transforming their weapons of war into agricultural implements. For who or what can hold back Michael our Prince with His angels and church? For ‘Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore’ Isaiah 2:4b. ‘Of the increase of His [i.e., our Prince, the Prince of Peace’s] government there will be no end’ Isaiah 9:7a.

Peace increases as war ceases. The Gospel is designed to bring peace, peace between humans and God and peace with each other, and peace among the nations. Yes, the Gospel can bring peace between the Campbells and the McDonalds, the Hatfields and the McCoys, and between North and South Korea. Who or what can stop this? Satan and his demons? The Gates of Hell? ‘For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God’ 1 Corinthians 10:4-5b.

‘He makes wars cease to the end of the earth’ Psalm 46:9a. ‘This shows the perfect security of the church, and is an assurance of lasting peace. Let us pray for the speedy approach of these glorious days, and in silent submission let us worship and trust in our almighty Sovereign.’ Matthew Henry. Exit the road to hell by turning to Jesus. Do it now!

BOSSES & WORKERS

Bosses & Workers

Having worked in Scottish shipyards and Canadian railyards I am personally aware of the tensions that sometimes arise between bosses and workers. Try being on strike and on outdoor picket duty during a Winnipeg winter! Why the tension? Isn’t it usually because either or both contracting parties are (perceived) to be failing to uphold their end of the bargain? Unlike the Egyptians demanding the Israelites “make bricks without straw” debacle, which was slavery, bosses and workers in Western nations are obligated to fulfil the terms and conditions of their agreements. Sometimes bosses lock out workers and sometimes workers go on strike in times of failure. Right, what does the Bible have to say? First off, we should note that ‘work’ is not a curse. Even before the Fall God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden ‘to work it and take care of it’ (Genesis 2:15). Sure, after Adam rebelled against God we would ‘through painful toil’ and ‘by the sweat of our brow eat our food’ (Genesis 3:17&19). However, ‘The worker deserves his wages’ 1 Timothy 5:18.

For the Christian (and indeed for all mankind) God is the Boss and we are His workers. He has given us a contract with terms and conditions. One of the places the terms and conditions are spelled out is in the much neglected 4^th Commandment: ‘Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy’ Exodus 20:9-11. Sure, people have disputed with the Boss over His Commandment, (e.g., over which day, and whether Christians should keep it at all!). However, surely we can see the principle that the Boss wants us to work six days and rest (i.e., sabbath) with Him by setting one day a week apart from the others – just as He did on Creation week. God is telling us to rest. He’s the Boss! We are the workers. As a Christian minister I have been accused of breaking the Christian Sabbath by working on it (e.g., preaching etc.). This is to completely miss the Boss’s terms and conditions. Works of mercy and necessity permitted, such as cooking meals and helping donkeys out of ditches etc. It’s as Jesus says, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath’ Mark 2:27. Why go on strike by becoming either legalistic or antinomian about the Sabbath? Why picket at the gates of the Garden of Eden? Why not accept the fact that God wants you to have one day off every seven? And by the way, this doesn’t mean that you have to work in the factory six days a week. Grocery shopping, doing the laundry on Saturday is still work. We’re to do everything, even work, to God's glory.

So, bosses ought to emulate God and reward the labours of their workers. And workers ought to emulate God by being worthy of their wages. And both bosses and workers ought to emulate God and have a day of rest. Don’t be wicked, for you know the old saying. ‘There is no rest for the wicked’ (Isaiah 48:22; 57:21). But don’t think you can earn Heaven. For the Boss says, ‘The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord’ Romans 6:23. Gracious Boss!

A SENSE OF IDENTITY

A SENSE OF IDENTITY

We hear a lot about “Identity Politics” nowadays, whereby some people form exclusive alliances based on skin colour, social background and religion among other things, rather than traditional politics. In Scotland they have an inclusive saying, “We’re all Jock Tamson’s bairns,” meaning that we’re all God’s children, (see e.g., Acts 17:28-29). And God’s invisible hand is behind where and when we live: “From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands” Acts 17:26.

I’d have to say that my nomadic meandering around the globe has given me a sense of belonging. Whether Toronto, Winnipeg, Brisbane or Hobart I am ever accosted with the question: Where are you from? Upon which my brain-muscle immediately starts to do a Pilates’ regime as it tries to figure out the depth and width of the probe. Do they mean which suburb or which country? Is the question because of my accent or are they just trying to make conversation? I imagine myself stretched out on a psychiatrist’s leather couch as I try to formulate a sane reply. What do you mean? is how I usually reply. Then a strange look of puzzlement inevitably comes across their face. And then I think that they think I’m a bit far behind in my education, so I quickly hit them with “born in Canada, raised in Scotland, went back to Canada, now I’m here in Australia. I got fed-up shovelling snow in Canada and moved to sunny Queensland!”

Mind you, sometimes I do find myself short-circuiting their inquisition by simply saying, “Scotland, the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond” – even singing that last part! Therefore, the Vale of Leven is the place with which I have most affinity. Toronto has a very slight pull, but not Winnipeg where I lived for ten years, or Hobart where I lived for five.

Why the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond? Well, I’m sure it’s because the eighteen letters of the Gaelic alphabet are embedded in my DNA, one for each of the years I lived in Scotland. Where’s the Gaelic in the Vale of Leven you ask? It runs all the way from Dumbarton to Drymen (aye, I know!), from Bon’ill to Balloch, from Dalreoch to Dalvait etc. It’s on every island that floats on Loch Lomond. Oh, and it’s on my name tag “McKinlay” (MacFhionnlaigh).

The people who ask me where I’m from expect me to be an expert on all things Scottish. So, over the many years I’ve felt the need to do at least a wee bit study of the country’s history, geography and culture. To do so is to fall in love with the place and its people! It’s to discover who you are, i.e., who I am. It’s to find my identity. Sure, like Abraham I too look “for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God”, but unlike Robert the Bruce, who wanted his heart buried in the Promised Land, I would be happy for my dust to be buried in the dust from whence it was hewn. “Up the Hill” (a euphemism for the local cemetery) would suit me fine, especially if my grave has a clear view of Ben Lomond!

I identify with the Vale folk. We have a shared collective memory and a shared history, from Silk Factory fires to drownings in the Loch, from old red sandstone ornate buildings to wide empty ugly spaces with random rundown social boxes. Yes, the January Storm, the year(s) the Loch froze, the Stirling Railway Line, the old Bon’ill Brig, the Strand Picturehoose, the Christie Park putting green, and dare I mention it? – the Vale Hospital!

And then there are my personal memories of family, friends and fitba doon the Argyle, rowing on the Leven and the Loch, swimming in the same, sailing on the Maid, sliding off your seat as you go around the Fountain on the top deck of a 132 bus. The schools I went to. The fights I got into. The lassies I fancied. The goals I scored. The fish I caught. The hills I climbed. The walks in the woods with my dog and my pet jackdaw, and then my crow. The cafes I ate in. The pubs I drank in. The church pews I (albeit infrequently!) sat on.

Yes, I love my adopted country of Australia too. Of course I do! But it is true what they say, “You can take the boy out of the Vale, but you can’t take the Vale out of the boy.” Its extended hand of culture with its five fingers of genetics, genealogy, geography, history, and language is what holds my homesick heart. The Welsh call it “hiraeth”, but I call it home, dachaidh. As in the song, “Beautiful Vale, beautiful Vale, beautiful Vale of the Leven!”

I am made of the dust and soil of the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond and her refreshing waters flow through my veins. An image of Ben Lomond has been burnt into my retina and my heart beats in time to the waters lapping on the Loch’s eastern shores. 

TRUE LOVE

True Love

Many years ago my true love bought me a guitar. The first finger-picking song I learned was Scarborough Fair made popular in 60s by Simon & Garfunkel. Are you going to Scarborough Fair?/Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme/Remember me to one who lives there/For she once was a true love of mine. Then he makes a list of impossibilities for her to complete before he will accept her again as his true love. For example, she’s to make him a shirt without a seam or fine needlework. Apparently some of the lyrics were inspired by an earlier Scottish ballad called Elfin Knight which contains the following line: ‘For thou must shape a sark to me/Without any cut or heme,’ quoth he. Regardless of the song’s origin, true love is ordinarily displayed when someone does something seemingly impossible for someone else. We might say then that the true love in the Scarborough Fair song is a conditional love.

Much has been made of the Bible’s usage of the Koine Greek words for love, such as phileo and agape. Some maintain that agape always means unconditional love. However, D.A. Carson in his book Exegetical Fallacies begs to differ. Is God’s love for us a true love, i.e., a conditional love or is it always unconditional? Bear with me here: The Bible has always taught that the way of salvation is through perfectly keeping His Commandments. Impossible? The Pharisees when Jesus walked the earth didn’t think so. They thought they were doing a fine job of keeping the Decalogue, that was until Jesus came along and exposed their sin by saying things like, ‘You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I tell you, that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart’ Matthew 5:27-28. In other words, to get right with God includes our hidden thoughts as well as our words and deeds. So, if getting right with God and getting into Heaven is based on perfect obedience then it’s impossible for us to satisfy God’s conditional requirements. Enter Jesus! God’s true love for His people is demonstrated in Jesus doing the impossible. He perfectly kept the impossible conditions for all who believe in Him. ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life’ John 3:16.

Unlike the Pharisees, and unlike people who are living today who think all you need to get saved is to try to be good or at least less bad than axe-murderers or Adolf Hitler, God has not made it easier to be saved. It is still impossible – unless you have Jesus Christ and His perfect Commandment keeping as you the believer’s Representative. So, Jesus did what neither you or I can do. He kept God’s Ten Commandments perfectly for all who believe in Him. And what was He doing dying on a cross? He was paying what we owed to God’s justice for our breaking of God’s Ten Commandments – in thought and word and deed! True love then is God forgiving our sins for the sake of Jesus Christ. God gave His Son our sins and poured out His wrath on Him in our stead while giving us His Son’s righteousness, i.e., His Commandment keeping.

A seamless shirt? Too easy! ‘Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece’ John 19:23. Only God’s love is true love.

BEGINNINGS

Beginnings

Has there ever been a better and more profound opening line for a book ever written, than ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’? In this majestic opening verse of the Bible we have the beginning of all beginnings! Here we have the beginning of space and time and matter. We might say it something like this: Before the beginning there was only the eternal Triune God who began time by creating and placing matter into the space He had created. How did the Triune God do it? The Father spoke His Word and by Their Spirit things that were not became things that are. What did He create? Space, time and matter. Where? There was no where before the beginning. Why? For His own glory. When? ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’

Some have been known to ask, that if God created all things, then who created God? When did God begin? God has no beginning and has no end. God always was, always is and always will be, which is to say that God is eternal. Others ask when did the Trinity begin? At the beginning the Trinity (i.e. the plurality of Persons, Hebrew Elohim), He created (singular verb bara) the two heavens and the one earth. Therefore, the word ‘Trinity’ is simply a word we use to describe the eternal God who was, is, and always will be the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

God is the great beginner of all things. Therefore all things ought to begin with God. Even God begins His written revelation with God, as in ‘In the beginning God…’ For example, when studying God and the things of His creation some Christians begin at Christ’s cross and resurrection. However, if one were to begin with God one would begin to see that all things in creation reflect their Creator. God is Triune (i.e. a plurality of Persons) yet He is One (i.e. a unity). The Godhead is the original One and Many, Unity in Diversity, the General and the Particular.

Peace among people begins with the Godhead. Nations stop studying war and start beating their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks when they begin studying the Triune God! For example: America can get so politically divided. Whereas Republicans want unity, Democrats want diversity. Division! But is the Godhead divided? Does the One lord it over the Many or the Many over the One? Does diversity trump unity or does unity trump diversity in the Godhead? No! There is peace and harmony in the Godhead because of the equal ultimacy of the One and the Many. Like love and marriage going together like a horse and carriage, ‘you can’t have one without the other.’

Is a family one or is it many? Is a nation one or is it many? Why argue about the obvious? They are both! One of the things written on the Great Seal of the United States is E PLURIBUS UNUM (i.e. out of many, one or one from many). The many individuals have all become one (America). The many nationalities have become one nationality (American). It’s not hard to see how this reflects the Godhead who is many but one, who is diversity in unity etc.

All disputes about all problems of the one and the many or unity and diversity et al are resolved in the Godhead. Begin with the great beginner of all things and you won’t go wrong ‘For the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever’ Psalm 111:10.

RELIGION

Religion

Candlewax, chanting monks in hooded cloaks with voices echoing off cold-brick walls in monasteries. This is what the word ‘religion’ brings to my mind: monks and monasteries! To be sure, it could just as easily be Muslims and mosques or any others involved in religious rituals in religious buildings. Yes, ‘religion’ is one of those funny words that can mean different things to different folks. I heard one preacher say that when he was converted his mates started saying that he had found religion. But he maintains that he hadn’t found religion. Rather that he’d found his Creator! I would even contend that Atheism is a just another religion! So, what is religion? Is it all about relics and robes, chants and churches and bats in belfies? Or is there more to it?

Let’s dig a little deeper. An on-line Oxford dictionary uses the expected words such as faith, belief and worship of God or gods to define religion. However, it also includes the following: Religion: ‘A pursuit or interest followed with great devotion.’ We see how hard it is to nail down a precise meaning for the word religion when we consider the following: Many (but not all) Atheists are greatly devoted to removing every last vestige of God from Western civilization! For example, consider the title of the late great militant Atheist Christopher Hitchens’s book, ‘God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.’ Clearly Hitchens excluded his own form of Atheism from ‘religion.’ So, the question then becomes: What is true religion? True religion is about worshiping God as He is (i.e. Spirit) the way He wants (i.e. in spirit and in truth, Exo. 20:2-8). For Jesus gives the following definition, ‘God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth’ John 4:24. Therefore, God is not sticks and stones, lakes and mountains, planets and stars. Nor are these sorts of things to be used as props or aids to worship. Nor should buildings, no matter how ornate. For, when the woman at the well said to Jesus, ‘“Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem worship the Father”’ John 4:20-21. None of this is to say that there is anything wrong with donning your Sunday best to worship God in a nice church building, but only that garments and garb, spaces and places are things indifferent. For true religion has to do with greatly devoting ourselves to God. One may feel closer to God in a garden than in a building, but whether in a garden or in a building God wants to be worshiped in ‘spirit and truth’ (c.f. Luke 10:27-28).

Spirit and truth are spelled out in the Bible. For example, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, ‘You worship what you do not know’ John 4:22a. Matthew Henry comments on this: ‘Ignorance is so far from being the mother of devotion that it is the murderer of it.’ Therefore, true religion devotes itself to the pursuit of the knowledge of God. Jesus went on to say, ‘We know what we worship…’ John 4:22b. Thus, true religion is about knowing God, which includes engaging the mind as to how He wants to be served and to be worshiped. 

How is true religion to be practiced? , ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbour as yourself.’ Luke 10:27.

VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers

When I told my older brother in Scotland that I was becoming and Australian Army Chaplain, ‘Great!’ he exclaimed, ‘God’s army is invading the Australian Army!’ God’s army, like the Australian Army, is made up of volunteers. There is no conscription. David, the sweet psalmist of Israel said it best, ‘Your people shall be volunteers, in the day of Your power…’ Psalm 110:3a NKJV. Psalm 110 is called a ‘Messianic psalm,’ i.e., a Gospel psalm. No one enters God’s army kicking and screaming. No one becomes a Christian against their will. Indeed, another version of the Bible renders the same thus, ‘Your troops will be willing on your day of battle…’ Psalm 110:3a NIV. God’s army therefore is made up of volunteers, people who willingly worship and serve God.

I first heard the word ‘voluntold’ used when I was in the army. It describes the idea illustrated in the following sentence. The sergeant major said, ‘I need three volunteers, you, you and you!’ However, there’s none of this regarding the prophet Isaiah. When the Triune God asked, ‘“Whom shall I send, and who shall go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”’ Isaiah 6:8b. Isaiah was being sent on an onerous mission to rebuke God’s disobedient people.

The enemy strives to remain undetected in modern warfare. From stealth aircraft to missile-loaded drones. No longer do soldiers stand in trenches firing bullets at each other across ‘no man’s land.’ The Christian wars against an invisible enemy too, an enemy who shoots ‘fiery darts’ that can smoulder in any chinks in the Christian’s armour. ‘Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints’ Ephesians 6:11-18. Who would volunteer for an army that fights an enemy it cannot even see? – such a formidable enemy as Satan and his host from hell? Only those who God has enabled to see the invisible, which is only those who have been born of the Spirit. ‘Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’ John 3:3b, such as was Moses, who ‘By faith ... forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible’ Hebrews 11:27.

Whether a heavenly host or a detachment of demons both are spiritually recognised. ‘But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned’ 1 Corinthians 2:14. In God’s army the faithful wear night vision goggles, enabling the discerning to observe the movements of the forces of darkness as plain as day! (2 Cor. 2:11)

Enlist now! Volunteer! And ‘Be all you can be in [Christ’s] army!’