She Lived in the Wall

Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall. Joshua 2:15 (ESV)

Rahab the prostitute helped the Israelite spies. Joshua sent them to Jericho to spy on it before battle. Rahab belonged to a city that was going to be destroyed. Not only that, but she lived in the wall of the city, the wall that God was going to bring down through supernatural means.

Rahab feared the Lord, the God of Israel. She believed the stories of the miraculous exodus of God’s people from Egypt. She knew that Israel had destroyed both Amorite kings Sihon and Og. She foresaw the destruction and ruin of her city. By faith she determined to help the Hebrew spies in exchange for her life and the lives of her extended family.

Believers in America are living in the wall. We love our nation. We pray for our country’s leaders, but we fear that this economy and perhaps the nation are headed toward a downfall. Institutions of Wall Street, our Banks and our heavy industry teeter. We are living in the wall. When those walls tumble down by God’s sovereign decree, we wonder whether we will tumble with them.

In the story of Rahab, there is a parallel to the Jewish Passover. The two men tell her to hang a scarlet cord from her window when the Israelites attack the city. That will be a sign to pass over her home and leave all inside unharmed. Like the destroying angel of the Exodus, the warriors of Israel will pass over her house, but spare none of the unbelievers around her.

Our Passover Lamb has already been slain. We may not escape every trial or testing. We may even give up our mortal lives, but our souls stand secure even in the face of a dreadful enemy. Whether it is famine, nakedness, peril or sword, we will not fear. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Our scarlet cord hangs from the window of our hearts though we be tucked into the wall of this world.

Evil and the Question of Obama

Galatians 1:4 “…who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father…”

I am not ready to call Senator Obama “evil.” When I consider some of the people he has associated with, I’d say he has been exposed to a lot of evil. When I consider the tyranny of big government he advocates, I might call that evil. When I think about abortions, the right to which he so jealously guards, I could use the term “evil”, but that is different than labeling the man evil.

Still, when I read Galatians 1:4 on the eve of the election, I had to feel a sense of comfort. Even if Senator Obama becomes President Obama, and even if all the branches of government are controlled by the likes of Reid and Pelosi, we are going to be okay. If the absolute worst case scenario was to emerge and we were to lose our freedoms to fascism, God has delivered us.

We often think of how Christ freed us and forgave us of our sins. We sometimes think of how he delivered us from the power of the devil. How often do we consider that he has delivered us from the present evil age? No matter how evil the world powers become; no matter how repressive or harassing, the Lord has delivered us from them all. So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?" Hebrews 13:6

Joy for the Mourning.

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. (ESV Psalm 30:5)

I have known dear Christian people who genuinely wrestle with balancing valid passages of warning with scriptures of assuring promise. Admittedly, there are verses, even in the New Testament, which show us the stern side of God’s countenance. If I quote to them a passage like Romans 8:1 they agree, but invariably go back to some passage that causes them distress.

John Bunyan fought that same internal battle. When he opened the scripture it seemed that the words of woe and warning always leapt up from the page rather than those that brought comfort. For many years, after he had repented and believed in Christ, he could not break free to the assurance of his salvation.

David portrays a balance in Psalm 30:5 that comforts me and ought to ease every believer’s discomfort. God’s anger at sin is but for a moment. Yet, His child can depend upon God’s favor, i.e., His gracious acceptance, forever. Though we have times of distress and grief, we know that joy always returns as inevitably as day follows the night.

Christ has borne the wrath of God on our behalf. God still uses warnings and circumstances to correct a wayward child. He disciplines the child he loves, but even in the discipline is the assurance of his paternity. We can take seriously His correction without losing sight of His grace. He is Holy; He is love. He is full of grace and full of truth. Allowing both to inform our faith is most salutary to our souls.

Beaten Censers

Can unholy men serve God or proclaim him to others? There is an interesting answer to that in the book of Numbers.


If you’ve seen the movie the Ten Commandments, you may remember the rumble between Moses and Dathan. With high-tech special effects, the best Hollywood could achieve at the time, the ground opens up and swallows Dathan and his rebel band. God vindicates his servant Moses.


There is an interesting footnote to the story. Moses had challenged the associates of Korah, Dathan included, to meet him on a certain day. Each was to bring a censer to burn incense before the Lord. Korah had questioned the exclusive claim of Aaron as priest. Moses stated that this would be the test to see whom God had chosen as priests.


After the earth swallowed the “unfavored,” Moses does a curious thing. He tells Aaron’s son, Eleazar, to take up the fallen rebel censers and hammer the metal into a covering for the altar. Moses says, “For they offered them before the Lord, and they have become holy.

Even though they were not approved as priests, the act of offering incense before the Lord made the censers holy unto God. They were not to be rejected though the men themselves had been severely punished.


Is this not like the mega-church pastor who commits a moral failure? People ask, “But did he not do much that was good and fruitful? Didn’t he preach the gospel? Weren’t men saved through his ministry?” That work was indeed holy, but the man suffers his penalty. One bad action does not nullify what has been done in the name of the Lord.


Our God is bigger than our sin. He can make the wrath of men to praise Him. By the same token, we should not presume because we have offered sacrifices in His name that he will be pleased with those works. God looks to our hearts. We should be humble before Him, and come to him on His terms, namely through the one High Priest, Jesus Christ.

The Hubris of Atheism

This morning I caught a snippet of Bill Maher on "The View" talking about his new movie, which is an attack on theism and religion. I'm not sure if Maher considers himself an atheist or agnostic, but he is at the very least an antagonist.

I wonder if Maher is familiar with the story of Anthony Flew. When I was in seminary in the late 80s, one of the chief nemeses of the Christian faith was this atheist philosopher, Flew. I've slept since then, so I can't say I remember much about his chief arguments about Christianity. All I remember was that he was intelligent, virulently anti-religion, and hard to ignore.

Imagine my delight a few years ago when it came out that Flew has migrated to a belief in some sort of higher power. He has not confessed Christ, but he is a kind of "theist". Flew turning away from atheism would be like the equivalent of Billy Graham deciding that there really is no God.

One wonders how Maher can be so smug in his certainty. He may think that he has it all figured out, but really how could he be sure? Is it likely that only a few enlightened individuals in the world see the truth for what it is, and the rest of us mere mortals are ignorant or demented (including now Flew)?


If the universal testimony of humanity is in favor of theism, aren't you forced to produce incontrovertable proof that God doesn't exist? Has Maher managed? If even a top notch philosopher like Flew eventually succumbed, how will Maher manage? Perhaps a man like Maher is simply not smart enough to see how impossible his case truly is. It is easy to become deluded and believe something you want to think is true. A proud man may ignore opposing data in order to appear right.

The Bible says, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" There is nothing new here. Bill is not the first and will not be the last to mock the belief in God. It is sad to watch a blind man mock those with sight. You cannot prove to him that there is such a thing as light, color, or image. If he wants to insist in his superior reason and accuse the sighted of delusion, you cannot help him.

Fearful Worship

ESV Hebrews 12:28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,

These words fall at the end of a chapter that is breath-taking in its dire warnings against disobedience. God is the good Father whose discipline shapes us toward holiness and righteousness. This speaks to His ongoing work of sanctification.

Then there is the City of the Living God motif—the heavenly Jerusalem to which we come, a city inhabited by God, the heavenly angels and the assembly of the first born. The picture of heaven is almost frightening. This is not something we take lightly. This is the reality whose shadow the Israelites feared approaching for fear they would die.

In light of this our worship is not simply to be the light fare of easy-going God-is-my-buddy stuff. Our worship should remind every participant of the awesome and fearful God into whose presence we have dared to enter through the sacrifice of our savior. It would be like the feeling we might have if a magical spaceship could protect us and take us into the Sun’s corona without harm. Protected though we might be, we would shudder and wonder at the sight.

The experience of approaching such an awesome God should force us to our knees in humble prostration. Jaw-dropping awareness of our God would bring us to repentance and lead beyond to the deepest and most profound joy.

We cheat ourselves of so much when we tame worship to only the familiar and never the truly majestic. If our worship doesn’t make us cry out “Woe to me for I am a man of unclean lips…” we must ask. “Have we worshipped the almighty and living God or just a cardboard cutout downsized to our level of comfort?”

As we continue to plumb the meaning of abiding in Christ, it is worth our time to consider the concept of “rest.” In fact the word “rest” and the word “abide” are nearly synonymous. One who abides (remains, tarries, lingers) in Christ also rests in him.

Like John, the “disciple whom Jesus loved”, we recline with him at the table and we receive from him. Like Mary, the sister of busy Martha, we stop what we’re doing; linger at his feet and take in what he serves to us. That is rest.


In one sense, we as believers know that we’ve already entered into His rest. This is the promise of the invitation to believe. In Matthew 11:28 he says to us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And then in vs. 29 he adds, “…and you will find rest for your souls.” That stands as an irrevocable promise.


The book of Hebrews carries an extended treatment on the subject of rest. Here rest seems to be code for the heavenly rest that awaits the believer when he dies. Rest isn’t just the current condition but it is both the current state of the soul coupled with the fulfillment yet to be experienced in eternity.


In the fourth chapter there are two verses that capture this “now and not yet” aspect of rest. On the one hand it states “For we who have believed enter that rest…” (Hebrews 4:3) Every believer has that present sense of being in the rest that Christ gives. We’ve ceased from our dead works (Hebrews 6:1) and we’ve entered into the works prepared in advance for us to do, which are by grace (Eph. 2:10)


On the other hand, there is also a sense in which we’ve not yet entered that rest. A few verses later in Hebrews four we read, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:11)


This sounds like one great oxymoron. We’re striving, i.e., working to cease from work. We’re doing this while currently resting. Talk about your conundrums! This is incredible. While not working, we must work to not work. It all seems to be nothing more than a contradiction in terms.


But, abiding in Christ is work. We do have to strive to not labor in our own strength. The easiest thing for us is to become self-sufficient and self-righteous. It takes effort to remember to abide in Christ.


Am I striving daily to take time out from my busy, Martha-like, frenzy to quiet my heart and find my cadence with him? Am I accepting the yoke that he bears with me, or breaking loose in a full gallop of my own energies. I know for me that the urge to bolt is strong. My prayer for me and for you is that we might strive more to rest more. May we keep abiding in his rest with all our strength as he enables.

My First Post

I was reading in Leviticus today. There's a show stopper of an intro. But it was actually very interesting. There was a lot of info about the various feasts God gave to the Jewish people and a lot about Sabbaths of various kinds.

In summary, God then tells His people that if they obey Him in these things that he will provide abundantly for them even with little effort on their part. In fact rest in Him will produce more than much labor done in their own strength. (my paraphrase)

ESV Leviticus 26:9 I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. 11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

But if they do not obey Him, and observe his ordinances and Sabbaths the reverse will happen.

ESV Leviticus 26:16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

ESV Leviticus 26:26 When I break your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.

As Christians we are not under the same ceremonial aspects of the law that were unique to the calendar and civil laws of the Jewish nation. Yet, the principles of Sabbath rest are still valid. When we abide in Christ, we are fruitful. Life may not always be easy, but God will provide. When we do not abide in Christ, our efforts are in vain.
ESV Psalm 127:2 “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.”

Both covenants are in agreement. Living in the Sabbath of God’s strength is more powerful than the strength of men. From abiding comes abundance, but to disconnect through disobedience and unbelief means heartache and spiritual poverty.