The Trail of Terror

Last night Nathan Edwards and I went to the “Trail of Terror”—a haunted house and hayride in Shakopee. It was fun to go back to something like that, as I have great memories of going to haunted houses with my dad and other friends that local police departments used to put on when I was a kid, but it’s been years since I’ve been to one of these things.

After this latest experience I got to thinking: What's the draw to things like this for people? They’re super cheesy, almost more funny than scary, and cost way too much money. So what brings people back to stuff like this?

Though there's likely a number of reasons, a couple things came to mind:

First of all, on the simplest and most universal level, I think people enjoy haunted houses for the adrenaline rush and because they know there’s a “back door,” an end to the maze. They can scream, jump, and wince through it because they know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. They also know that none of the actors can touch them, but only surprise them. So no matter what the haunted house-goer sees, he knows going in that though he’ll likely get scared, no harm will befall him.

Secondly, and building on this from a Christian perspective, it’s hard for me not to think of spiritual matters when I’m at an event like that. On one level then, it reminds me that there is a real evil in the world that’s much scarier than anything put on by a bunch of dudes dressed up like zombies. And it leads me to thanksgiving and worship, for though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death, I fear no evil, for God is with me as my guide and my salvation (Psalm 23:4). Though I walk through a dark haunted warehouse, no one can touch me, and I come out “saved” from darkness on the other side, covered by the blood of the Lamb. As the Scriptures say elsewhere:

Romans 8:38, For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers...nor powers...will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Luke 22:31, [Jesus speaking] “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.”

So part of me wonders if this is why other people (especially non-believers) like these things so much too: they’re human beings who were created with a God-shaped hole in their hearts too (like any Christian), and going to haunted houses is a way to--in a very small way--experience a shadowy form of salvation. The victory of Christ over sin, death, darkness, and Satan is reflected in the passing through of the haunted house unscathed. Or again, the experience of death in passing through a dark maze points to the experience of the believer dying with Christ on the cross and being raised with him again into new, eternal life on the third day.

The sad and (truly) scary thing, then, is that many people going to haunted houses, though by God’s grace “seeing” the gospel in their trail-of-terror-experiences never truly believe the real gospel--in deliverance from the eschatological haunted house of sin--and without Christ never have hope of passing through darkness alive.

May the Christian laughing at and mocking of evil that occurs on Halloween point the unbelieving world to the good news that Christ has died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures, and insodoing destroyed darkness and evil forever for all who believe in him!

Happy Halloween everyone! As the Scriptures say, may perfect love cast out fear in our lives (1 John 4:18).

Chris

Mountains and Covenants

Hebrews 12:18-24 paints a graphic picture of the relationship between the covenants (testaments) of Scripture by using the metaphor of mountains. The first mountain of Scripture is Mt Sinai, where God covenanted with Israel after calling them out of Egypt, gave them the law, drew near to them (sort of), yet commanded them to not touch the mountain lest they die. The mountain itself was engulfed in fire, darkness, whirlwinds, clouds, lightning, gloom, and loud trumpet calls. Even Moses, the “friend of God” physically trembled he was so afraid. And the people begged that God not speak to them anymore otherwise they would die (Ex 19:12; 20:18-19). This historical experience of Israel before God, underneath a covenant based on their own acts of righteousness to maintain God’s blessing, showed us what it’s like to draw near to God without a mediator, still in our sin.

Peter Carlson sent me this picture today which is way cooler than the lame illustration I showed on Sunday. It’s a picture of a lightning storm generated by a Chilean volcano. I think this gives us a better idea of what Mt Sinai would have looked like during the establishing of the first covenant.

It also helps us freshly appreciate the fact that Christians haven’t come to that kind of "mountain!" (Heb 12:18). They have come to the mountain of the new covenant: Mt Zion, a heavenly Jerusalem, “to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb 12:22b-24).

Praise God that fear has given way to joy, gloom has given way to “festal gathering,” death has given way to life, and untouchability has given way to the one who came to touch lepers and dine with sinners. Praise God for establishing a new covenant with us that depends solely on his work on the cross alone, not ours! Praise God that we’ve been called to this “mountain” of the gospel!

Thanks for the picture Peter!

Chris

Evan Almighty and Hebrews 11:7

In Hebrews 11:7 it says, "By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith."

I mentioned today how funny (or sad?) it is at how often children’s books and movies get the point of Noah and the ark wrong. In the movie Evan Almighty, the God character (Morgan Freeman) has a short exchange towards the end of the movie with Evan’s wife that reveals “God’s perspective” on the matter, as they see it:

God: I love that story, Noah and the Ark. You know, a lot of people miss the point of that story. They think it’s about God’s wrath and anger. They love it when God gets angry.
Joan: What is the story about, then? The ark?
God: Well, I think it’s a love story about believing in each other. You know, the animals showed up in pairs. They stood by each other, side by side, just like Noah and his family. Everybody entered the ark side by side.

That "interpretation" might make it a little easier to swallow and a little less offensive, but nothing could be further from the biblical truth. God (not the Morgan Freeman “God”) shows us what the story is really about in Genesis 6:17-18, “Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark." Clearly, avoiding wrath and death is the point.

Furthermore, from a New Testament perspective, the story is a picture of judgment and salvation that typify things that surround New Testament realities, namely Christ and his gospel. Jesus says in Luke 17:26-27, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” This helps us make the connection between “the days of Noah” and “the days of Jesus” and, again, we see that wrath is in fact part of both stories after all. But not just wrath—salvation from wrath too. Jesus’ point? The gospel is the new eschatological "Ark" in which we must take refuge if we hope to survive the coming judgment, which will, by the way, be much worse that a worldwide flood, because it will have eternal and spiritual implications. (see also 2 Peter 3:1-7)

In this sense, love is also a part of the Noah story, but not in the overly-simplistic, interpersonal way Evan Almighty portrays it. Rather, "Noah and the flood" shows us that God’s love doesn’t leave us to destruction. Like he offered a way out to Noah and his family, he offers a way out—through his Son’s death and resurrection which atones for sins—to all who believe.

This is the faith we are supposed to emulate according to Hebrews 11:7: Noah’s faith in God’s salvation from his own wrath (not a faith in the “love of human beings” or something as sappy, and misguided, as that).

One of the challenges that I look forward to navigating, but don’t have all the answers for, is how to begin to teach this story to my kids in a right biblical way, and encourage faith in Jesus Christ through it. At this point I’m just trying to make connections between God saving Noah and his family and Jesus saving us, hoping that starts to stick, then we can work on more details later. But in the end, my prayer is that my children see the story for what it really is: a foretaste of the hope we have in Jesus Christ through the gospel.

Chris

The Matrix and Melchizedek

In one of my favorite clips in the movie The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo in a training program that the sentient programs “live” in a world based on rules, and because of this, they will never be as strong or as fast as he can be. Neo’s somewhat sarcastic comment of, “What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?” would later find fulfillment when he literally changes the rules inside the matrix, bringing a new order and a new type of salvation with him to the world.

In Hebrews, Jesus is similarly shown to be a harbinger of a new order—a priestly order, to be exact—in the order of Melchizedek, and from the tribe of Judah. Without going into much detail about these complex matters here, his major point was to show scripturally how Jesus resembled someone greater than Levi (the “father” of old covenant priests), and actually descended from a tribe that Moses never associated with priestly activity. Because of this, not only does the priesthood change, but the law changes with it, for “when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well” (Heb 7:12).

So, just like ultimate deliverance in The Matrix did not come through the rules and laws that constituted the matrix, but rather through a man who brought new order and laws into it, so, biblically, does ultimate deliverance not come through adherence to laws, but through Christ, who has not come in the line and order of old covenant priests (who were associated with rules, and regulations), but on the basis of a divine oath (Psalm 110:4), “by the power of an indestructible life,” and in this, he fundamentally changes the way mankind is mediated with God. Christ fulfills the old law, and in so doing, surpasses it and establishes a new one. Christ is the law, hence Paul’s use of the phrases “law of Christ” and "obey the gospel" in the New Testament. The gospel serves as a much more effective means by which we are saved, for under the old system “nothing was made perfect” (Heb 7:19).

Or to put it another way, more simply: we’re saved by God’s grace, by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, through faith, not by works (Eph 2:8-9).

Many times as Christians we are quick to believe that a change in the priesthood has come with Jesus Christ, but we are slow to believe (and practice) the fact that a change in the law has occurred as well. This connection between priesthood and law is somewhat foreign to us. We believe the gospel, but then quickly go back to the law as if it were still required to keep in order to please God.

The more we embrace this change-in-the-law-idea, and see it in the glory of gospel of Christ, the more gospel-motivated zealousness we will have to continue in belief, repentance, and good works. We have a perfect high priest who has fully atoned for sin, fully deterred the wrath of God, and ever lives to make intercession for those who seek to draw near to God through him.

Ask yourself this continually: in my efforts to pursue spiritual growth and maturity, am I striving to do things to please God, as if Jesus Christ were not a priest of a different order, but one who brings us right back to the old laws that could never make anything perfect? Or am I striving to know the gospel more—the new law—ushered in by a new kind of priest? Am I the source of my own good works (law), or is Jesus Christ the source of them (grace, Eph 2:10)? When people ask me how I'm doing spiritually, does the gist of my answer hang on what I am currently doing, or in whom I am currently believing.

Our answer to this last question speaks volumes about our present state of spiritual maturity.

May God help us to believe in a holistic gospel—one that not only saves, but empowers us for love and good deeds, and transforms us daily into the image of his Son...something the first covenant could never do!

Chris

A Prayer from "The Valley of Vision"

O GOD OF MY EXODUS,

Great was the joy of Israel’s sons, when Egypt died upon the shore, Far greater the joy when the Redeemer’s foe lay crushed in the dust.

Jesus strides forth as the victor, conqueror of death, hell, and all opposing might; He bursts the bands of death, tramples the powers of darkness down, and lives for ever.

He, my gracious surety, apprehended for payment of my debt, comes forth from the prison house of the grave free, and triumphant over sin, Satan, and death.

Show me herein the proof that his vicarious offering is accepted, that the claims of justice are satisfied, that the devil’s sceptre is shivered, that his wrongful throne is leveled.

Grive the assurance that in Christ I died, in him I rose, in his life I live, in his victory I triumph, in his ascension I shall be glorified.

Adorable Redeemer, thou who wast lifted up upon a cross art ascended to highest heaven.

Thou, who Man of sorrows wast crowned with thorns, art now as Lord of life wreathed with glory.

Once, no shame more deep than thine, no agony more bitter, no death more cruel.

Now, no exaltation more high, no life more glorious, no advocate more effective.

Thou art in the triumph car leading captive thine enemies behind thee.

What more could be done than thou hast done! Thy death is my life, thy resurrection my peace, thy ascension my hope, thy prayers my comfort.

“Behold, the man!” and Hebrews 2:5-9

John 19:5, So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”

“Behold, the man!” Kind of a strange phrase; one that I always wondered at. Why call Jesus “the man” and stop there? It seems misplaced, incomplete, or maybe too generic. But on closer inspection, this serves as one of those instances in Scripture and history where God sovereignly moves through the mouths of people to speak something into existence that the speaker may not intend or even fully understand, namely, in this case, declaring Jesus Christ to be the new man, the second Adam, the one through whom a new creation will be associated, and who will have true, full dominion over everything as King of the universe.

Gerald Borchert in the New American Commentary on John, says about this verse: When Pilate came out of the Praetorium again to face the crowd of Jews who did not want to defile themselves, he must have thought that the sight of the emaciated looking Jesus would have been sufficient to justify his desire to release Jesus. What problem could such a pathetic figure engender among these rebellious Jews? Surely he was harmless. Pilate’s forceful introduction of Jesus in “Here is the Man!” is therefore loaded with sarcasm toward the Jews. Undoubtedly, however, John found this statement to be a powerful, ironic theological announcement that Christianity has preserved in its Latin form of Ecce Homo. As such it is also a theological affirmation that Jesus was indeed “the man,” the second Adam, God’s Son, who dealt with the sin of the world introduced through the first Adam (cf. Rom 5:12–21; 1 Cor 15:22).

Connecting Adam and Jesus is not something unique to the rest of the New Testament. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:45, “The first Adam became a living being, the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”

So how does this relate to Hebrews 2:5-9? Really, in every way. The author’s argument is that one like a son of man has come into history, fulfilling the “ideal” of Psalm 8, lowering himself below angels for a little while (incarnating himself into human flesh and “tasting death for everyone”), then being raised up from that state to a place of power, honor, and glory (resurrection, ascension). In short: Jesus is the ultimate human. And through his death and resurrection, humanity is renewed and re-created to a place of honor and glory. Sin is taken away, and righteousness is restored.

In this, “Behold the man!” is a wonderful gospel-saying that’s worthy of repeating in worship, instruction, and other forms of exhortation. As we sing in How Deep the Father’s Love For Us: “Behold the man upon the cross, our sin upon his shoulders!” And in exhortation: behold, the man, the instigator of eternal life, a new heavens and new earth—the one through whom we find refuge and salvation!

Thank you God for re-making, in the image of your Son, a wretch like me!

Chris

The Habits of Highly Effective Bible Readers

Here’s a link to a CT article I was exposed to in a church history class in seminary a few years ago. It’s extremely relevant to our study of Hebrews which employs a robust gospel-centered reading of the Old Testament. I cited Irenaeus from this article a couple weeks ago, who said, about the whole of the Bible, in the second century: “If anyone reads the Scripture carefully, they will find some word, some hidden treasure in the field, which is Christ.” Enjoy it!

http://www.ctlibrary.com/print.html?id=7827

Chris