It takes him until page 23 to reach the point at which he is trying to get. It is sad that today we are not as immersed in the study of classics as our predecessors. Barrister convincingly argues the case for the parenthetical use of the so-called “exception clause” in Matthew as no exception at all, except to understand that the case of adultery is understood as being treated separately and remarriage after divorce would place the guilty party under the penalty of the established law. Have fun.
All posts by jthomas
Don’t Be Distracted
John 10:27
Do we even know the voice of the Lord anymore? “MY sheep will KNOW my voice,” says Jesus in the Gospel of John. The commands of Christ are as unfamiliar as a foreign language. We have tuned out the fluency of Christ’s Word and exchanged it for a babbling of the barbarian. God’s Word will not return void.
Sinners will continue to fight for acceptance of their lifestyle, yet will still find the personal hatred of themselves to never cease. Acceptance and involvement in sin by the individual or the masses still leaves the one with a feeling of personal void and depravity. A homosexual will try to take the language and the living away from the heterosexual, but still be burdened with the individual feeling of guilt and conviction brought on by their debauchery. Mob mentality has always moved the masses to great acts of destruction. There is no greater evidence of sheep who know not their master’s voice, the one inherently calling them to virtue. More sermons on intolerance of sin and the pursuit of the virtuous life need preached and less of sin’s acceptance and further more, its embrace. Sermons are too commonly preached that embrace the sin of remarriage after divorce, and other morally abhorrent sinful practices designated by God as abominable but are not preached to prevent such occurrences from happening through the exercise of godliness.
Secret sin is a public sin because the public is moved by its industry therefore it is a public shame, or have we forgotten how to blush? Whatever the habit is—alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography—it is not a secret sin that one can commit without the support of the masses who have industrialized and sanctified its consumption. Like open sin, it’s sanction is sought for the promulgation of the lifestyle and by the futile thought that acceptance will make one virtuous. Popularity is to virtue as ignorance is to the philosopher.
2 Peter 1:3 bring the relationship of virtue and knowledge together under God. Ignorance is not bliss. Virtue comes with knowledge and knowledge by moral instruction. Let God’s Word be to us what it is meant to be, “Living and active . . . penetrating to the joints and marrow (Hebrews 4:12) . . . given for instruction in the ways of righteousness, reproof and correction (2 Timothy 3:16).
At the Gates of Glory
Psalm 122:1-2 (NASB)
1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
2 Our feet are standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem,
Daniel 9:2-6 (NASB)
2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,
5 we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.
6 “Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.
Daniel 9:9-17 (NASB)
9 “To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him;
10 nor have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets.
11 “Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.
12 “Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.
13 “As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth.
14 “Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.
15 “And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have been wicked.
16 “O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us.
17 “So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.
What a difference a generation makes. Daniel, believed to be a part of the first deportations to Babylon around 605 B.C., bore witness to the desolation of God’s people and His temple. The identity of God’s people was associated with the city of Jerusalem. Daniel remained faithful apart from the geographical association and served God personally, even bringing the knowledge of God Most High to the gates of Babylon. At the time of 536 B.C., Daniel called upon a covenant God to restore a national identity again for the sake of His name.
Warnings of the reproach of God’s people are explicitly recorded throughout Scripture from the time of Moses and his Deuteronomic homily. Even in the time of David and God’s choice of an early king to govern His people, the warning is very conspicuous:
2 Samuel 7:12-16 (NASB)
12 “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14 “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men,
15 but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
16 “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”‘”
Worship took preparation. Worship was preceded by expectation. To the devotee, it is an approach to the gates of God’s throne. David and Daniel both stood in defense of the name of God Most High in the face of a dominant nation. Zerubbabel said in Zechariah 4:6, “Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.” A prayer attributed to Blaise Pascal says, “Lord, help me to do great things as though they were little, since I do them with your power; and little things as though they were great, since I do them in your name.”
The Gracious but Hard Master
His master answered him, “You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 25:26-30).
What’s the difference between the first two servants and the third servant? Faithfulness. The first two servants received their talents graciously, and they faithfully served their master by using those resources to do the work their master would be pleased in their doing. The third servant focused on himself rather than his master. He didn’t want to work; he didn’t want to take risks. So he did nothing. He was unfaithful.
One thing that the unfaithful servant does acknowledge is the character of the Master. You could say all three servants acknowledge the character of the Master. You might have read this before and thought, “What does this mean?” Consider this interpretation that brings out a meaning for us today that is very sensible. The wicked servant judged his Master based on a flawed understanding of GRACE. Some may think the Master was wicked and exploited the talents of others by robbing them of their hard earned fruit; however, what does the story reveal about the Master? He gives to those who have not themselves worked for it. I’m taken back to the Promised Land and the story of Israel. It says something of God’s grace when He gives to Israel all the fruitfulness of the Promised Land that comes from the toil of another. Some in Israel wanted the status quo to remain and refuse to share the wealth of their godly potential. Men like Joshua and Caleb took advantage of the grace of God and by sowing it’s promise found a future reward that would benefit generations to follow. When you think about it, all people have been given a chance to experience God’s grace (Romans 1:19, 20) and have opportunity to work for a return from it. The wicked of the world who stifle such grace accuse God as being a tyrant and a hard man continuing to “show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance” (Romans 2:4) whereas others who benefit from God’s redemption will appreciate Him as a benevolent benefactor.
Know God and Be Strong
“The people that do know their God shall be strong.”
– Dan 11:32
Every believer understands that to know God is the highest and best form of knowledge; and this spiritual knowledge is a source of strength to the Christian. It strengthens his faith. Believers are constantly spoken of in the Scriptures as being persons who are enlightened and taught of the Lord; they are said to “have an unction from the Holy One,” and it is the Spirit’s peculiar office to lead them into all truth, and all this for the increase and the fostering of their faith. Knowledge strengthens love, as well as faith. Knowledge opens the door, and then through that door we see our Saviour. Or, to use another similitude, knowledge paints the portrait of Jesus, and when we see that portrait then we love him, we cannot love a Christ whom we do not know, at least, in some degree. If we know but little of the excellences of Jesus, what he has done for us, and what he is doing now, we cannot love him much; but the more we know him, the more we shall love him. Knowledge also strengthens hope. How can we hope for a thing if we do not know of its existence? Hope may be the telescope, but till we receive instruction, our ignorance stands in the front of the glass, and we can see nothing whatever; knowledge removes the interposing object, and when we look through the bright optic glass we discern the glory to be revealed, and anticipate it with joyous confidence. Knowledge supplies us reasons for patience. How shall we have patience unless we know something of the sympathy of Christ, and understand the good which is to come out of the correction which our heavenly Father sends us? Nor is there one single grace of the Christian which, under God, will not be fostered and brought to perfection by holy knowledge. How important, then, is it that we should grow not only in grace, but in the “knowledge” of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. –Spurgeon
It is easy for us to increase wholly in grace and avoid the instruction of God by the Word. We trust too freely in the knowledge of a loving and merciful God. The people of Israel stood condemned before a jealous and merciless God who also poured out grace upon grace as chronicled in the pages of the Old Testament. There is also written how a people favored by God showed contempt for His goodness and mercy by their lack of knowledge. God tells Hosea (4:6), “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” (2 Peter 3:17, 18) We have taken advantage of God’s tolerance for too long. And too often, due to our own lack of knowledge, we believe that it is by grace that others will be redeemed without the law. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, not of ourselves, but the gift of God. An inadequate faith in the obligation of God to fulfill His great redemption has made ignorant those whose active obedience is replaced with an indulgence of grace. The Bible never says that the law is ineffective. On the contrary, it brings us to a guilty remorse. The elementary effects of God’s ever-present and relevant Law leads us to repentance. In the last day it will be by the knowledge of the neglect of the law that will convict us. The Law to which I refer is not the ritualistic code of social practice redacted by rabbinical tradition over centuries. It is the Law to which Paul’s Gospel to the Romans refers which is a “law written on every person’s heart.” The knowledge of this Law and the consequences of being bound to this course of the earth is most fully understood when juxtaposed to the cross. Of necessity, Christ came to claim those whose conscience was seared with the conviction of justice. It was by the elementary principle of law that the sinner first encounters grace. (Hebrews 6:1-2) With the greatest remorse we have become a people who as revealed in Job (35:10ff.) where, “none say, ‘Where is God my maker, who gives us songs in the night; who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?’” Our attempt at knowledge has reduced us to a barnyard mentality and comparable to the beasts of the earth.
In what then must we grow if not in the knowledge of the covenant law? How will we prosper then without the knowledge of consequence and benefit; of reciprocity and rejection? We sin without remorse because the knowledge of God has not been perfected in our lives and we are destroyed as those in Hosea’s day. We strive without gain because we know not the law by which we can attain peace and we are destroyed. In this, I hold myself condemned. How little of the knowledge of grace is exhibited by our lack of grace exercised toward others? When little grace is known, little grace is shown. When you show little grace, you show much lack of its knowledge and comparatively great lack of God’s law.
I can think of many whose own law they exercise contrary to God’s. Many who in all appearances are godly. They consistently give of themselves to others, are devoted husbands and wives and are committed to their families. They are called by such titles as philanthropist. It would seem that this elementary knowledge would save, but it does not, as revealed to the rich young ruler in Luke. The law on the hearts of men is a convicting sentence, condemning us to damnation unless we loose ourselves of our contempt of God. “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4, NIV)
Coinciding with the knowledge of grace is the expectation of justice; the preparation of condemnation, and the habitation of damnation. Justice will be executed, by the law of grace. Preparation is being made for God’s justice to be meted out upon the world. There is a habitation for those who will eternally stand condemned by the law where grace did not save. There is also a habitation being prepared even now for those whose guilt of the law once condemned, but by the righteousness of Christ stand redeemed from the law’s effects. How great a grace there is “known” with the knowledge of the law. How great a confession and repentance there is with the knowledge of the grace.
Hate the Sin and the Sinner
Originally posted June 2013.
God is opposed to those who are opposed to Him. It is bad theology to say that God hates the sin but loves the sinner.
Does God hate anyone? The answer is yes.
- Psalm 5:5, “The boastful shall not stand before Thine eyes; Thou dost hate all who do iniquity,”
- Psalm 11:5, “The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates.”
- Lev. 20:23, “Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I shall drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them.”
- Prov. 6:16-19, “There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, 19 A false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.”
- Hosea 9:15, “All their evil is at Gilgal; indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house! I will love them no more; All their princes are rebels.”
As God honors His covenants, we must understand where those who are not part of His covenant stand—opposed to Him. Those removed from Him stand condemned by Him and in the fullness of the wrath reserved for all workers of iniquity. His love is for those whom He would not willingly see perish, but who should come to repentance (Matthew 9:13, 2 Peter 3:9). Many have termed this as God’s “general love.” General love, or general grace can be understood as God’s abiding patience for those would turn to what He predestined in Christ. For the saint to remain in God’s favor, he must remain part of the covenant. 1 John 1:9 calls every Christian to confess his sins in order that God’s faithfulness be proven in forgiveness and cleansing of unrighteousness. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him,” (John 3:36). Hebrews 10:26 says, “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.”
Thoughts on Zacchaeus
When Jesus Calls You By Name (Luke 19:1-10)
I really enjoy Christian service camp. It’s been a part of my life for over 25 years. I grew up in PA and attended Elkhorn Valley Christian Service Camp which was started in 1958. After attending, I wanted to help so I volunteered to spend the summers doing whatever it took to maintain the campgrounds. We were nicknamed the “Pollocks.” I was led to the decision to attend Cincinnati Christian University after the military. Returning years later to the area in which I grew up, I signed on as education and recreation director of Elkhorn Valley Camp and for years I was allowed to give back to the camp which had given so much to me. Camp was a life-changing experience. Make the most of it. Whether it’s camp, or church group, there is value in being together.
I get to experience the Lord
I get to serve the Lord
I get to grow in the Lord
I get to share in the people of the Lord
Zacchaeaus is widely known by the song that some of us learned when we were younger—a song about his experience with Jesus.
“Zacchaeus was a wee little man . . .” His name means “Pure, noble, bright or clean ”
Contrast Luke 18 and the Rich Reluctant Young Ruler with Luke 19 and Rich Ready and Repentant Publican. Luke 19:1 makes the point the Zacchaeus was “very rich.” The town of Jericho represented great wealth, so he was no small man of means.
Those who criticized Jesus only knew Zacchaeus the rich chief publican, the wickedest of the wicked. If you asked the crowd who Zacchaeus was, you may find his reputation would be one not worthy of salvation and too far gone to be shown grace.
What curiosity does? Curiosity seeks to find. It enables you to climb to great heights to get the vantage point you need. It’s first a fascination then an attraction and then an action. There are many things that move us in our life’s decisions. Most influences are first rehearsed in our minds by way of fascination which then progress toward attraction and then action/reaction. Some influences are a result of desperation. Sometimes we, like Zacchaeaus, are moved by the mob’s direction. I’m sure just as everyone who took to the streets that day to see Jesus, he was curious enough to be attracted to the spectacle.
A friend of mine from Haiti named Brennus Etienne shared a story with me of his experience one time with a mob in Porte au Prince. He was in a store and noticed that everyone in the street was getting stirred up and starting to yell. Before long everyone had started bustling about in the street and the numbers and the volume level began to swell and then all of the sudden the crowd just started to run. What do you do? Of course, Brennus was curious as to what the commotion was all about so he randomly grabbed one of the running persons and asked them, “What’s going on?” The person said, “I don’t know, we’re just all running.”
The mob can move us. The mob can push us. The mob can convince us that being part of their crowd is the most rational and reasonable way to go. A mob can come to the wrong conclusion as to who a person really is. Look at Jesus. He was accused wrongly. But, the experience of the tree that separated Zacchaeus from the mob turned into the experience of a Savior. Our identity with Christ will place us into a group comprising what Hebrews 12 describes as a great cloud of witnesses—those of the faith whose conviction led them to overcome the world.
Wouldn’t you like to have an identity that can’t be trampled on by the world—an incorruptible name that identifies you with eternal significance? You can literally have the name, “Clean, Pure, Spotless, Bright, Noble.” Knowing Christ is to know him as a person who is first of all seeking you—so find a tree. Knowing Jesus also means he is inviting you to come and follow and he will surely want to come to live with you. And you can walk away with a new name (Isaiah 62:2; Revelation 2:17, 3:12, 19:12).
Jericho to the cross.
Calvary is the tree that separates us from the world and introduces us to a Savior. Redemption means that someone paid for your escape. The wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23). Can a dead person offer anything to God to pay for his own escape? No. Like a tow away zone with the sign “Redeem your car at Joe’s Impound Yard. Fine is $1,000,000/ second.” What? The car’s not worth that much. But you are. You are worth everything to Christ. In the light of this grace, we, like Zacchaeus, would easily respond in repentance to the point he have half of all he owned and promised to return fourfold anything taken dishonestly.
If you are a Christian, think about this. All of us have people we know who need a glimpse of the Savior. We’ve probably had lessons on being a mirror to reflect the light of Christ. Today, think about being a TREE. Kind of like the famous book, “The Giving Tree,” by Shel Silverstein. After giving of itself entirely and the tree was spent except for a stump, it gave the character “Boy” a place to prop himself, and “the tree was happy.”
People may step on you to get closer to Jesus. They may tear off a limb to get a clearer vantage. Remember the sacrifice of others who came before us. Jesus laid down his life to bring us to the Father. Is it too much to sacrifice our Time, Resources, Effort and Energy (TREE)? And, are we Totally Resolved in Engaging the Enemy (TREE)?
“Trees” by Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Theodicy
In a majority of biblical accounts, God’s people were more concerned about the justice upon the wicked then they were about their own personal struggles and afflictions. Job sought out a Redeemer who would be and Advocate on his behalf only to say, “NO! He did everything right. He even interceded on behalf of his children through prayer and sacrifice.”
Looking at the context of Amos 5:24, the message to those who have defiled the name of the Lord, His Temple, and His offerings is the burden of Amos and the call for justice. “Let justice roll down like water and righteousness like a stream.” A deluge of cleansing was needed to disinfect God’s people.
Habakkakuk likewise called out to God (1:1-4), “How long shall I cry out and you, oh Lord, will not hear?” There was injustice. In place of the Lord God, Israel had graven images of foreign gods. It was typically their practice to blame their gods when things went wrong. Child sacrifice and mutilation was the answer when the harvest was not plentiful or when drought had stricken the land.
When people blame God for suffering, they have reduced God to nothing more than an image graven from a heart of stone. Educating the world on how a child of God should act in the midst of suffering will go a long way to show the world a living God.
Theodicy– “defense of God.” God’s justice demands an answer to lawlessness. Sin must be answered with its consequences for God to be holy. God’s Word reveals the “full disclosure” of His holiness. His Word does not hide His faithfulness and His justice We should have certain expectations of a Holy, Righteous, and Just God as we should have expectations in anything else (see Romans 3). The Book of Romans tells us we have God’s law instinctively written on our hearts. God is the God of law. All creation falls under the law of God. God is fair by sticking to His rules, even though it means that it applies to us, we should expect nothing less than consistency. One person will not be saved by good works and another by Christ. Does not our realization of disobedience and the consciousness of sin demand a greater response to the grace and mercy of God? If by our good works we were saved and suffered the consequence of sin in the immediate sense, we would have no need for a Savior? Romans 3:26 sees God as both Just and Justifier. Without the understanding of God’s Law, we would be lost in our sin and not aware of it. All have sinned (Romans 3:23) and the wages of our work of sin is death (6:23). The only way to the Father is through the Son.
Job is not so much a story of injustice suffered wrongly but is a story of victory and justice for right-doing to extend outside the limits of a single person to expand broadly to a periphery of witnesses. John 9:1-3 is the scripture where Jesus was questioned with the sins of a blind man’s parents. The victory and purpose for many who would see Jesus as the “light of the world” was at the expense of one person’s temporary affliction. Scripture also speaks of mortality being swallowed up in death and creation being prone to decay and corruption (Romans 8:22, 21) in HOPE. We must define again what evil is and what sin is. Evil can be defined as that which works contrary to God. It is not evil when suffering works toward his providence, right? Many things today come from bad interpretation. Looking at Hitler, and more recently in the Middle East, we can call these men—evil men. The two young men recently who decapitated their mother and severed her hands are evil. Psalm 11:5 says that God hates the one who loves violence. There’s no such sentiment in the Bible that leads us to believe that God only hates the sin and not the sinner. What justifies the condition that brought about their propensity toward evil? In these cases, it’s sin. The effects of evil and the environment of suffering for the preservation of the saints of God is providence. Remember the houses built on the sand and the rock? For the non-Christian, every day is a chance for repentance, no matter how we look at it and His will toward their salvation. Anything suffered by an unsaved person is an expression of God’s holiness, not an expression of his love, or lack of love. To sin is to rebel against God’s law and therefore against His own holiness. Sin separates us from righteousness and affects us with death.
To live outside of a relation with God IS to live contrary to our created purpose. Genesis: and things were created after “its kind.” We are created God-kind FOR a relationship with Him. That is why we can become brothers and sister with Christ when we are transformed and born again as a new creature through the breath of God’s Spirit and implant of the seed of His Word. To attempt to relate with creation or anything that isn’t God is to deny our purpose. To look at God as unreasonable for allowing suffering is accepting a relationship with creation and death, not our Creator and life.
The Sympathetic High Priest
Hebrews 4:15, 16–For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.
I was helping to move a friend yesterday and he made a statement that prompted this meditation. It is rare for me to have Saturdays off and in observance of my day off I took the time to help with the family’s relocation. He expressed his gratitude by saying, “Having been in retail management I know much you appreciate a day off.” Considering the couple’s background, the sentiment of gratitude was compounded by that statement. In the Book of Hebrews, chapters 2 and 4, Jesus is seen as one who has experienced life as the Son of Man and been tempted in all ways as we.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter,” Hester Prynne, who was found to be guilty of adultery, was forced by the townsfolk to wear a scarlet “A” across her breast, branding her as an adulteress. Nevertheless, she attracted an interesting following. Hawthorne writes:
“But, in the lapse of the toilsome, thoughtful, and self-devoted years that made up Hester’s life, the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world’s scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence too. And, as Hester Prynne had no selfish ends, nor lived in any measure for her own profit and enjoyment, people brought all their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel, as one who had herself gone through a mighty trouble. Women, more especially, – in the continually recurring trials of wounded, wasted, wronged, misplaced, or erring and sinful passion, – or with the dreary burden of a heart unyielded, because unvalued and unsought, – came to Hester’s cottage, demanding why they were so wretched, and what the remedy. Hester comforted and counseled them, as best she might.”
Because of her acquaintance with a particular sin, Hester Prynne became one who could sympathize with the plight of others. This attracted others who likewise were acquainted with sin for counsel.
In Jesus, we have someone who in a way stands in a similar place as Hester Prynne – able to sympathize with our human plight; however, he was without sin. Because he was without sin, he is able to sympathize in a greater way because His counsel is true. Thus we should find ourselves flocking to the counsel of Jesus, so to speak. And we should cling to him, because in Jesus we have a high priest who was appointed by God as one sympathetic with our human plight, a “merciful and faithful high priest.” Jesus was not a retail manager, nor construction worker, but He knows what it’s like to be in the company of those who would persuade Him to sin, and he did not. It could even be said that he was tempted in greater ways considering the faculties available to him as Deity. Therefore we should not use the excuses, “That’s just how we talk in the faculty lounge, or in the prison, or in the shop.” We cannot say, “That’s just what we do on the jobsite or in the company of this or that group.” No, there is never an acceptable environment for sin.
The Anvil of God
The Anvil of God’s Word
“Last eve I paused beside the blacksmith’s door,
And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;
Then looking in, I saw upon the floor,
Old hammers, worn with beating years of time.
“‘How many anvils have you had,’ said I,
‘To wear and batter all these hammers so?’
‘Just one,’ said he, and then with twinkling eye,
‘The anvil wears the hammers out, you know.’
“And so, I thought, the Anvil of God’s Word
For ages skeptic blows have beat upon;
Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,
The Anvil is unharmed, the hammers gone.”
—Attributed to John Clifford
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever… 1 Peter 1:25