Christ Died For God

“Indeed, if one reflects even for a moment on the sinful condition of the race vis-a-vis the holy character of God, it will become clear that its Godward reference was the cross’s primary reference. The Bible plainly teaches the doctrine of the wrath of God. It teaches that God is angry with the sinner, and that His holy outrage against the sinner must be assuaged if the sinner is to escape his due punishment. It is for this reason that a death occurred at Calvary. When we look at Calvary and behold the Savior dying for us, we should see in his death not first our salvation but our damnation being borne and carried away by Him!”

Dr. Robert L. Reymond
A New Systematic Theology Of The Christian Faith — pg. 639

There is a bit of a contradiction in this otherwise fine quote from Dr. Reymond. Early on in the quote he says that, ‘it will become clear that its Godward reference was the cross’s primary reference.’ Yet later Dr. Reymond can say of the cross work, ‘we should see in his death not first our salvation but our damnation being borne and carried by him.’

Because Dr. Reymond was correct the first time Dr. Reymond should have said in the later quote something to the effect that, we should see in his death, not first our salvation, nor even first our damnation being borne and carried by him, though those are both fundamentally true, rather what we should recognize in his death first, precisely because Christ’s cross work was Godward in its primary reference, is that Christ was clearing any doubt about the Character of the Father being both just and merciful. In the death of Christ the Father’s justice is upheld regarding His opposition to sin thus showing that He does not leave guilt unpunished. In the death of Christ the Father’s mercy is revealed in the reality that God, in the incarnate second person of the Trinity, would rather take upon Himself His own just wrath then visit that Wrath upon His own people. At the cross we should see in Christ’s death first the vindication of God’s name and then and only then should we see that in the vindication of God’s name the Father showers the Son by giving Him a people (Isaiah 53:11).

In short the cross is not primarily about us. Christ died for God before He died for us. To be sure our fate was tied up in His but the blessing that we receive from Christ’s death is a blessing because the Father was the Son’s primary consideration.

Now this reality blows holes in most evangelistic efforts which often tend to communicate that people were at the center of Christ’s death. Christ died for people, or so we often say, and that is true in a secondary sense. But if Christ died first and foremost for people then it seems what we are saying is that the chief end of Christ was to glorify people so that He might fully enjoy them forever. Yet we know that even in the death of Christ the chief end of Christ as 100% man was to glorify God.

The reason that this idea needs to be trumpeted is that we have tended to make the good the enemy of the best in our evangelism. Because we tend to think that the death of Christ was first and foremost about us and forget how God’s glorious name was first and foremost we tend also to diminish God’s glorious name in how we craft the message. Because we tend to think that the death of Christ was first and foremost about us we tend to craft a Gospel message that is more sensitive to fallen sinners and their feelings then a Gospel message that is reflective of the work of Christ who prioritized the Father’s desires. I sometimes wonder if it is the case that because we think the Son’s death was first and foremost about us that we end up communicating a Gospel that has God prioritizing sinners repenting over the character of His name being upheld. (Yes, Yes, I know …. there shouldn’t be that kind of dichotomy in our thinking since the only way sinners will genuinely repent is if God’s name is upheld, but such are the times that such dichotomies seem to exist in people’s thinking.)

Another thing we should interject here before we finish is the idea that it is not the case that in the Christ’s atonement the Father was changed from being mean to being nice. We must remember that it was the love of Father that sent the Son. The atonement did not cause God to be gracious but rather was indicative of the already existing character of our eternally gracious God. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The love of God for His glory required His Holy opposition to sin. The love of God for His justice visited His punishment for sin upon Christ. The Love of God for a company to publish His glorious character sent Christ to be our propitiation. Herein is Love indeed!

The atonement was the revelation of a Father’s love who loved His glory so much that He would rather win a people by bearing His own punishment in the incarnate second person of the Trinity then have the character of His mercy come into question. His love for His own glory became the overflow for our rescue.

The Race In November

Increasingly it looks like Barak Hussein Obama will be the Democratic nominee for President in 2008. Already the Republicans are running focus groups on how to deal with the race problem that Barak Hussein Obama represents. The conventional wisdom that seems to be gaining strength in the ‘Stupid Party’ is that McCain will have to walk on eggshells in the general campaign for fear of shooting himself in the foot the way that George Allen is perceived to have done with his ‘Macaca’ comment in the last Virginia Senatorial election.

The fact that race is already a reality that people are being sensitive to can be seen by the tactic of popular neo-con mega radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh has assigned the position of ‘official critcizer of Barak Obama’ to one of his black employees. Obviously, Limbaugh believes that the only person who can criticize a black man is another black man . On the most listened to talk radio show in America we see the fear of being seen as ‘racist’ already haunting Limbaugh as it is also haunting the Republican Party?

Clearly in all this we see the Marxist effect of political correctness in this country. White males have descended to the point that they are afraid of criticizing a black person for the things about which he needs to be criticized. Who cares if Obama is coffee latte colored? What matters is that Barak Hussein is the biggest Socialist this Party has coughed up since George McGovern in 1972.

You see race has already come into this campaign in more ways then you can shake a stick at. When Bill Clinton ran in 1992 his previous Marijuana toking became a national issue. By all accounts Barak Hussein Obama has drug using in his past but you don’t hear about that anyplace but on the fringes of the media outlets. Why are the two men held to different standards? Could it be due to the race issue? Could it be that those white people campaigning against and reporting on Barak Hussein Obama are paralyzed by the handcuffs of political correctness? Another recent example was when the wife of Barak Hussein Obama said that, ‘For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country.’ Now if the wife of a white candidate said that would it get the kind of media pass that Michelle’s comment recently received from the media? Obviously not, because people tend to think that black people are entitled to think that way since liberal politically correct thinking believes that white America has been so universally mean, nasty and hateful to black folk. The thinking seems to go something like … “Well, naturally she has never been proud of her country… she’s black after all.”

If you want to find Racism in this campaign all you need to do is look on the other side of the aisle. Barak Hussein Obama attends a Church with a mega racist pastor (Jeremiah Wright) who has said some of the most racist things imaginable against white people. I guarantee you that if any white candidate even attended one service (never mind being a member) where the kinds of things are said against blacks that Rev. Jeremiah Wright has said about White people the major media would still be writing about it 200 years from now. And yet, nobody inquires about Obama’s membership in a Race mongering Church. Why is that? Well clearly it is because in Marxist politically correct America it is not possible for anybody but White people to be racist.

Let us continue to talk about racism. Barak Obama has most recently had his praises sung by one of the most racist men in America (Louis Farakhan). Now the Media went gonzo when Ron Paul received a little money from outlandish groups going so far as to demand that Congressman Paul send the money back. Tell me though, have you heard any demands from the media for Barak Hussein Obama to disassociate himself from Louis ‘Spaceship’ Farakhan? No, and you won’t either because racism is only a one way street in America.

Barak Hussein Obama is a Black Socialist with a drug using and Muslim past but it is doubtful whether or not anybody will attempt to lay a glove on him on these issues solely because the virtue of being Black in America is that if one even questions the qualifications of somebody who is black that is proof positive that somebody is a racist.

And if anyone reads this and concludes that I am a racist, then it proves that you’ve swallowed the Marxist politically correct Kool-aid.

Clothes Make A Man

The Drudge report is reporting that Hillary Clinton Staffers are circulating a picture of Barak Hussein Obama showing the Illinois Senator Presidential favorite dressed as a Somali Elder.

http://www.drudgereport.com/flashoa.htm

Now what is interesting is that Drudge finishes the report with pictures of President Bush and Hillary also in non-Western attire, thus communicating that all kinds of politicians, when touring a country, or when in the appropriate circumstance will likewise dress in apparel indigenous to other countries.

There is a kicker though here.

When you see Bush or Hillary in those pictures with them outfitted in non-Western attire they look goofy — kind of like seeing someone in a pirate outfit showing up at a formal dinner. You can just tell that the person and the outfit are unnatural.

No so with Barak Hussein Obama. When you see Barak Hussein Obama in that outfit you think, “He looks like a Muslim Somali Elder,” or, “He looks like he belongs in that get up.”

I think the picture hurts Obama.

Galatians 4:27 and Eschatology

“For it is written:

Rejoice O barren one, you who do not bear;
Break forth and shout, you who have no birth pangs;
For more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband.”

This text is taken from Isaiah 54 where the prophet, by prophetic vision, sees the consequences of Zion’s Babylonian captivity. The captivity is tantamount to a barrenness where Zion is bereft of all her children. In the midst of this misery, Isaiah brings a message of promise and cheer. Captive Zion, though barren, will yet be magnificently fruitful.

The Apostle Paul quotes this passage and finds its fulfillment in the book of Galatians to the growing Church (Jerusalem that is above). The Apostle cites the passage in connection with his ongoing dispute with the Judiazers who are pushing the Galatian church to return to the captivity and bondage of the Law. The Apostle sees that this return would likewise be a return to sterility and barrenness. The barrenness that is the law is removed and in the Church there are children galore. It is in the Church where the vision of Isaiah is fulfilled.

There is one more fact I want to look at here. I wonder how it is that this passage isn’t appealed to as a Post-millennial passage? Here the prophecy is that ‘the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.’ In the context of the passage there is a clear and ongoing anti-thesis going on between the children of the promise and the children of the flesh. That same antithesis is relevant to the just quoted snippet. What the Apostle is saying is that the children of the promise (desolate Sarah — see context) are more than the children of the she who has a husband and who produces children according to the flesh. The prophecy suggests that numerically speaking the number who are called of God are greater than the number who are not. This promise should give us great hope in our evangelism. God’s word has spoken that the Church is such a fecund wife that she will have more children then those who oppose her.

The Gospel will go forward. Great will be the number of the children of the Jerusalem from above and the size of the tent in which the children of the promise will inhabit will need be extended so that there is room for all the children. Indeed, that tent will be expanded so it covers the whole earth.

The Times They Are A Changing

“In 1960, only 5 percent of our children were born to unmarried mothers. In 1990 the figure was 28 percent. In 1960, 7 percent of our children under three lived with one parent. In 1990, 27 percent. In 1960, less than 1 percent of our children under 18 experienced the divorce of their parents. In 1990, the figure was almost 50 percent.”

Neil Postman
The End Of Education pg. 48

The culture of un-marriage (which includes children apart from marriage and divorce) has done more harm to our culture then anything that the culture of homosexuality will do. Indeed, it wouldn’t take much creativity to connect dots between the culture of un-marriage in one generation and the culture of homosexuality in the next. Allow children to grow up where the basic structure of family is perverted and bent and it shouldn’t be to much of a surprise if they become individuals whose perversion and bentness manifests itself in a host of areas including sexuality.

Now couple these statistics with the reality that America tries to provide a social safety net for all these casualties in the way of welfare, ADC, low income housing, food stamps, and a plethora of other benefits and it doesn’t take to much brilliance to see that a net that was ill advised, but still sufficient, in 1960 will break apart if the numbers continue apace. A family network financially supporting one or two strung out types is feasible. A family network financially supporting ten or twenty makes the whole family strung out. The same goes for nations.

The only cure for this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Reversing legislation on no fault divorce, making divorce more difficult again won’t change this because people won’t desire that legislation until enough of them have been convicted of their sin in despising God’s goodness. Preaching at people moralisms on the importance of loving their children more then their selfish desires won’t change this since love of self over love of everything else is at the heart of the sin problem. The only cure for this is the preaching of Law and Gospel. The law must be preached so that people can see the ugliness of their rebellious selfishness against God and their families so that the Gospel can be proclaimed that forgiveness can be genuinely be found in Christ. Only once people look to Christ can we expect the rejuvenation of the individual, family, and culture.

The statistics above are only a symptom of a far greater problem.