In Wrath Remember Mercy

 "O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." ~Habakkuk 3:2

"We now apprehend the real meaning of the Prophet.  After having confessed that the Israelites justly trembled at God's voice, as they saw themselves deservedly given up to perdition, he then appeals to the mercy of God, and prays God to revive His own work. He brings forward here nothing but the favour of adoption: thus he confesses that there was no reason why God should forgive His people, except that He had been pleased freely to adopt them and to choose them as His peculiar people; for on this account it is that God is wont to show His favour towards us even to the last.  As, then, this people had been once chosen by God, the Prophet records this adoption, and prays God to continue and to fulfil to the end what He had begun. With regard to the half course of life, the comparison ought to be observed; for we see that the race of Abraham was not chosen for a short time, but until Christ the Redeemer was manifested.  Now we have this in common with the ancient people, that God adopts us, that He may at length bring us into the inheritance of eternal life.  Until, then, the work of our salvation is completed, we are, as it were, running our course.  We may therefore adopt this form of prayer, which is prescribed for us by  the Holy Spirit,- that God would not forsake His own work in the middle of our course."

"When he now subjoins - in wrath remember mercy, is intended to anticipate an objection; for this thought might have ocurred to the faithful- "there is no ground for us to hope pardon from God, whom we have so grievously provoked, nor is there any reason for us to rely any more on the covenant which we have perfidiously violated." The Prophet meets this objection, and he flees to the gracious favor of God, however much he percieved that the people would have to suffer the just punishment of their sins, such as they deserved. He  then confesses that God was justly angry with His people, and yet that the hope of salvation was not on that account closed up, for the Lord had promised to be propitious. Since God then is not inexorable towards His people - nay, while He chastises them He ceases not to be a father; hence the Prophet connects here the mercy of God with His wrath."

"We have elsewhere said that the word wrath is not to be taken according to its strict sense, when the faithful or elect are spoken of; for God does not chastise them because He hates them; nay, on the contrary, He thereby manifest the care He has for their salvation.  Hence the scourges by which God chastises His children are testimonies of His love. But the Scripture represents the judgement with which God visits His people as wrath, not towards their persons but towards their sins.  Though then God shows love to His chosen, yet He testifies when He punishes their sins that iniquity is hated by Him.  When God then comes forth as it were as a judge, and shows that sins displease Him, He is said to be angry with the faithful; and there is also in this a reference to the perceptions of men; for we cannot, when God chastises us, do otherwise than feel the accusations of our own conscience.  Hence then is this hatred; for when our conscience condems us we must necessarily acknowledge God to be angry with us, that is with respect to us. When therefore we provoke God's wrath by our sins we feel Him to be angry with us;  but yet the Prophet connects together things which seem wholly contrary- even that God would remember mercy in wrath; that is, that He would show Himself displeased with them in such a way as to afford to the faithful at the same time some taste of His favour and mercy by finding Him to be proptitous to them."

"We now then perceive how the Prophet had joined his last clause to the foregoing.  Whenever, then, the judgement of the flesh would lead us to despair, let us ever set up against it this truth - that God is in such a way angry that He never forgets His mercy - that is, in His dealings with His elect." ~ John Calvin

Is there no man who executes justice and seeks truth?

"Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

 And though they say, The Lord liveth; surely they swear falsely.

O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God.

 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased. 

 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife.

Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the Lord's.

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord.

They have belied the Lord, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:

And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.

Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith theLord: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.

Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.

And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.

Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you.

And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth theLord our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not your's.

Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:

Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?

But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.

Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.

For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.

They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?" ~ Jeremiah 5

He Has Made Us For Himself

"When it comes to knowing God, we are a culture of the spiritually stunted. So much of our religion is packaged to address our felt needs—and these are almost uniformly anchored in our pursuit of our own happiness and fulfillment. God simply becomes the Great Being who, potentially at least, meets our needs and fulfills our aspirations. We think rather little of what he is like, what he expects of us, what he seeks in us. We are not captured by his holiness and his love; his thoughts and words capture too little of our imagination, too little of our discourse, too few of our priorities."

'In the biblical view of things, a deeper knowledge of God brings with it massive improvement in the other areas mentioned: purity, integrity, evangelistic effectiveness, better study of Scripture, improved private and corporate worship, and much more. But if we seek these things without passionately desiring a deeper knowledge of God, we are selfishly running after God’s blessings without running after him. We are even worse than the man who wants his wife’s services—someone to come home to, someone to cook and clean, someone to sleep with—without ever making the effort really to know and love his wife and discover what she wants and needs; we are worse than such a man, I say, because God is more than any wife, more than the best of wives: he is perfect in his love, he has made us for himself, and we are answerable to him.'

D.A. Carson, Call to Spiritual Reformation, A: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers

Thankful for Dr. Trueman.  He often makes me smile, but always makes me think. Must add Bannerman's books to my ever increasing list of must reads.

Bannerman Take 3: Or, 3 take Bannerman

By Alliance@AllianceNet.org (Carl Trueman) on Apr 24, 2015 08:24 am

On Wednesday night, Banner of Truth and Westminster Bookstore finally launched the new edition of Bannerman. Patman from Banner HQ was there in the Bannermobile.  Benny was absent due to illness but the Jets turned up to man the bookstall (yes, we still 'man' things at Westminster). Even the Mad Woman in the Attic was seen lurking in the shadows and was recognized as such by at least one attendee – indicating that it is her evident madness, not her location in the attic, which is her most characteristic feature.

Three of us gave talks. Dave Garner, my WTS colleague chaired the short lectures and the subsequent panel discussion. I spoke on Bannerman on church power and confession as protest.  Jonathan Leeman, of Nine Marks Ministries, addressed the importance of the church as an institution in an anti-institutional age and suggested that polity was both a highly important and much neglected topic among evangelicals – and yet is vital to the church’s health.  Then Nathan Sasser, of Sovereign Grace Ministries, gave a very personal account of his involvement in the development of polity in that organization before launching into a passionate, funny and compelling plea for Baptists at least to adopt Presbyterian polity.   It was a polemic for the ages.  I could have said it but nobody would have listened because the reaction would have been, to quote Mandy Rice-Davies, ‘He would, wouldn’t he?’ That a Credo-Baptist said it was truly magnificent. That he is a former student of mine made me glad to see that he is now not far from the kingdom of heaven.

All three of us agreed on some key fundamentals.  The church is an act of God’s grace and is thus to be governed in form and content by God's Word.  The local congregation is the place for Christian discipleship.  Well-structured polity helps prevent the church from becoming a cult while at the same time curtailing rampant individualism.  Church power is ministerial, rooted in the kingship of Christ and thus limited by his Word.   And that the Bible teaches a polity and thus polity is very important.

Benny and the Jets tell me that the video will be available at some point soon.  In the meantime, what was so clear as the evening drew to a close is that each of us sees self-conscious, well-constructed polity, connected to an elaborate doctrinal confession, as vital to Christian discipleship.  We are moving into an era in America where the gap between Christianity and the wider culture is going to be more dramatic and more hostile than previous generations might have anticipated. Identities are all the rage today; But such is the pressure on Christianity that only a self-conscious understanding of our identity reinforced and cultivated by proper church community, will (humanly speaking) enable us to survive as distinct from the world around us. And as those committed to the supreme authority of the Bible, which teaches both confession and polity, we must realize that our theology, if biblical, must profoundly shape the governance and worship of our churches.

Jonathan Leeman, a congregational Baptist, paid Bannerman the significant compliment of saying that his book is an excellent foundation and guide to the issues and the discussions of polity which need to take place.   Once again, cue Blue Mink and buy the book.

What is the Church?

“This leads us to the second question, an all-important question, What is the church? No-one can answer such a question fully in a few minutes, but we can look at  the picture which the New Testament affords us, and find there the central important truth. The name given to the place of worship very often by our forefathers was Meeting House. It was a good name. But the question which arises today is, For what reason are we meeting? We have already seen that many think the church is a place where people meet together on Sunday, in a public religious service, but they also insist that they should meet one another during the week to speak together, to debate, to listen to lectures on all sorts of topics, to play together, to perform plays, to dance, and so on. The church, they say, should do all these things, more especially in order to entice the young people and to keep hold of them.  Now, the important question is not what we think about these things in and of themselves, but does the church have anything to do with such matters? 

What is the church in the New Testament?

There is only one answer to that question – a fellowship of saints.  What we see there is a number of people coming together for a special purpose. Who are those people? What brings them together? What is the common interest which is so strong in their hearts, that they often endanger their lives in order to be present at such meetings? They are people who are very different from others, people, according to the apostle Paul, who have been pulled out from the world and divorced from society; people who have proved things which the world knows nothing about; people who have had an experience of God’s grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, people who have come to see that the most important thing in life is a knowledge of God, in a relationship in accord with His commandments. They have seen their pitiful, desperate state before God, but they have also seen God forgiving all of their sins in Jesus Christ. They are aware of a new life and an uplifting power which makes them more than conquerors – even when face to face with the temptations and trials of life. 

Everything is new to them, and they see life in this world as a pilgrimage towards God and heaven. They do not scorn the world, but they do not live for it, or because of it, either. ‘For here have we no continuing city,’ they say, ‘but we seek one to come’ (Hebrews 13:14). They meet together – for what reason? To worship God, to praise His blessed Name, to thank Him for the grace which has led to the forgiveness of sins, and for new life in Christ.  They meet together also so that they may know Him better and come to understand His providence more perfectly. They hunger and thirst after righteousness. They also thirst for the sincere milk of the Word, and listen to it being proclaimed. They feel a strong urge to meet with one another, in order that they may exchange experiences, that they might help one another to unravel many a problem, and that they should stimulate one another to go forward. They all have the same basic experience, they are all traveling in the same direction. They feel, therefore, that ‘the company of brothers who have their faces set towards that country is sweet’. A church is a place where they recite “His faithfulness to them in the burning desert’ and where they love to speak about ‘journey’s end’. This is the picture which we have in the New Testament, the portrayal which has been a hundredfold since then in the life of the church. The church portrays a collection of people, of whom it can be said: ‘But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light’ ( 1 Peter 2:9). No-one else has a right to be a member of the society.

What can we do then? Above all else we would see that the first step is not to bring down the standard of church membership, but to raise it. We must grasp once again the idea of church membership as being the membership of the body of Christ and as the biggest honour which can come a man’s way in this world. Through discipline, we must lay great acclaim on membership of the society and we must re-emphasize the truth that God gives the Holy Spirit only ‘to those who obey him’ (Acts 5:32). The need is not for widening the appeal, but to proclaim that ‘strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life’ (Matthew 7:14). 

This means possibly that many will shy away from the churches and will leave them; and from the point of view of statistics and accounts and collections everything looks hopeless, and those who try to keep the churches alive are afraid. But as sure as that, the Lord’s word will be verified: ‘whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it’ (Luke 9:24). Like Paul in Athens long ago, we must realize that our work is not to argue about the truth but to declare it and proclaim it with authority. We are not just to get people to take an interest in the truth, and to appeal to their minds only; that is not our business, but rather to awaken their consciences by proclaiming God’s judgment on sin, and God’s wrath against ‘all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men’ (Romans 1:18), and to warn them to flee from the wrath that is to come. We must convict men of the truth of the extreme importance of the spiritual side to life, of an everlasting world and everlasting destiny. No-one will see the need of the Lord Jesus Christ as a Saviour but the person who has seen himself as lost before God, and the only true motive to live a moral and worthy life is thankfulness to God and the realization that one day we will stand before Him.

We must realize that the state of the world is such that nothing but the power of the Holy Spirit can cure it, and we must feel this to such an extent that we are brought down upon our knees to pray to God in His mercy to look down upon us in pity, and for His great name, that He should send a mighty revival among us. That is the only way, that is the only hope, because with men it is impossible, but not with God, for ‘with God, all things are possible’ (Matthew 19:16)."

Lloyd-Jones, David Martyn. "Religion Today and Tomorrow." Knowing the Times: Addresses Delivered on Various Occasions 1942-1977. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2013. 27-31. Print.

Therefore Do Not Scoff

“Therefore hear the word of the Lord,you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem!”    

“Now therefore do not scoff, lest your bonds be made strong;for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land.” ~ Isaiah 28:14, 22

J. Alec Motyer comments on this passage of Isaiah stating,

“The heart of the initial ‘woe’ is their refusal of the word of the Lord,the‘message’ which Isaiah brought. Their attitude is described as scoffing and mocking. Mocking (√lis) is the same word as in verse 14, but here it means ‘showing yourselves to be scorners’; the sense of going beyond the outward act to the character of the person. Deliberate action fixes character and the point comes where there is no return, the point of bondage. The word expresses an advanced stage of practical atheism. To this Isaiah replies (9-13) that experience will prove the scorned word to be inescapable and that to turn from the way of faith is to embrace death (14-19)."

In commenting on this text, J Alec Motyer makes a very powerful observation, one that in light of our current pride, evidenced by the general scorn and mocking of the Word of the Lord in our culture, should give us great pause, he states:

“The coming destruction is ‘something definite and decisive I have heard from the Sovereign, the LORD Almighty over all the earth.’ Isaiah’s call to reform is based on what he knows is coming (he has heard it from the Lord); he advocates repentance not because repentance will prevent it (it is definite) but because there is no other way to prepare.”

Throughout history there have been times when the “decree of destruction” went forth, and even now is ravaging many nations and peoples. Often God would warn His people and use that warning to bring about repentance and with it a reprieve on the coming judgment. In this case, the warning would go unheeded by the majority, destruction was certain. Even so, God is still urging them to repent, though they have been unfaithful, God is faithful. If any (though few in number) would repent He would walk with them through the certain destruction. He would prove strong on their behalf, if only they would return to Him.  We only have to look at Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to see just how faithful God was to be with His people during the “decree of destruction.”

God granted the nations in Isaiah’s time many years, patiently waiting, calling them to repentance and providentially caring for them. Then one day, the decree was called to action. We are as guilty before a Holy God as they, equally deserving of the same destruction, nay, even more so because we have been granted greater knowledge and grace. One day, be it near or far, America too will be held accountable for our pride and rebellion.  We desperately need to repent, God will not be mocked.

Motyer concludes with this final thought:

“The only way to flee from God is to flee to Him.”

Motyer, J. A. (1993). D. The Lord of History. The prophecy of Isaiah: an introduction & commentary (230-235). Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press.

God May Often Lead Us in a Rough and Unpleasant Way, but He Always Leads Us in a Right Way

"God may often lead us in a rough and unpleasant way, but he always leads us in a right way. God never sends an affliction to us but when he sees it needful for us; and he never removes it from us, before it has answered the end for which he at first sent it. Outward afflictions are not accidental things, they come not by chance, but are sent to us by a wise and merciful Father, who causes them to answer the end for which he sends them. By them we are purged from our dross and tin; grace is tried and refined in the furnace of affliction, and they, who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, are hereby confirmed to his heavenly image – made partakers of his holiness, Hebrews 12:10, and more prepared for his heavenly kingdom. Afflictions are furtherance to us in our way heavenward – not an hindrance to us; though when we are exercised therewith we often conclude ourselves to be in a desert and desolate land. We must be first of all prepared for glory, before we can, in consistency with the perfections of our God, be received into it: and this is the end, and proves the blessed issue of our present afflictions, 2 Corinthians 4:17. Hereby, then, it further appears, that God leads his people the right way, though it may be a rough way, to the city of habitation. “ ~ John East