Deluge: You - Part 1

We’ve seen over the past weeks, that Scripture teaches God is sovereign over natural disasters and He has temporal purposes in these things including Judgement, Mercy and Purification. We’ve also looked at the ultimate purpose for these events, which is the same as that for which the universe was created and for which His blameless Son was crucified: the exaltation of His glory.

During our time of focus on this we’ve seen the floods that started in Queensland spread  across four states. Shortly after that Category 5 cyclone Yasi decimated a path hundreds of kilometers wide from North Queensland inland, and this was followed by the Earthquake in Christchurch that killed over 160 people. Finally, just this week the 9.0 quake in Japan which generated a Tsunami which has caused enormous loss of life and the threat of nuclear catastrophe. This surely reminds us of the passage which initiated Job’s trials, when each messenger bringing news of some affliction had not even finished speaking before the next messenger with news of another disaster arrived.

These events highlight one thing for us: suffering will come, including suffering as a result of calamity. 1 Thessalonians 3:3 tells us that we are destined for suffering. Over 50 million people die every year. That means in the time it has taken you to read to this point, almost a hundred people have died, and most of them died in absolute agony. This doesn’t count in the aborted unborn whose silent screams have been heard only by the Almighty who will judge the guilty at the relevant time. By God’s grace we are sheltered from this, (He hears the screams of each of these people) but it is worth reminding ourselves of this because we can easily forget that we live in a world where suffering is the status quo. Some of those who read this may die this year, be diagnosed with an incurable terminal illness, be paralysed after a car accident or lose someone in their family.

Acts 14:22 says that we must enter the Kingdom of God through many tribulations. As Christians who live in this world and minister to the needs of others, we’d better have a theology of suffering on which to base our lives. The conclusions you reach from a careful study of Scripture are difficult to come to terms with, especially in the context of a post-modern, first-world society that worships convenience and comfort. Sadly, the Church has avoided teaching about topics like suffering and this has left the flock inadequately equipped to live biblically in a world of suffering. However, we need to know how to deal with living in a world like this and our dealing with it must be biblical. Romans 8:16-17 even links the existence of suffering in our lives to our assurance that we are children of God, saying “we are children of God … provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” So this is very important.

Scripture reflects a number of the ways in which we should respond to disaster and suffering in general.  This post we’ll look at the first two…

1 Worship

Most importantly our response to any natural disaster should be to worship God. Job’s reaction to the suffering that “the Lord had brought him” (Job 42:11) was to worship Him in acknowledgement of God’s sovereign decision to send suffering, saying in Job 1:21 “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord”.

The early chapters of the book of Hosea describe in detail the Lord’s anger at Israel and Judah for their unfaithfulness to God and mention famine and whirlwind as examples of the many impending consequences of God’s judgment. God says at the end of Chapter 5 that He will turn away from them until they acknowledge their guilt and seek His face. Then Hosea 6:1 indicates the response which should follow saying, “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.” Similarly, Psalm 57 shows how the psalmist exalts and worships God, taking refuge in Him in the midst of storms of destruction.

Hebrews 12 instructs us to look to the sufferings of Jesus as the example we should follow in trials. In doing so, it draws into the argument both the example of persecution (which Jesus endured) and the struggle against sin (which we endure) in illustrating that the very existence of suffering in our lives is evidence of us being legitimate children of God. God’s use of suffering in our lives to achieve His infinitely wise purposes in us needs to draw us into thankful, submissive worship.

2 Weep

Disaster should lead us to weep for and with those who suffer and to mourn over our sin. The new heart which Christ gives us in the new birth causes us to feel for those who are suffering. The first thing to do after a calamity is not to give people answers. They need love and care and they need help getting their lives in some kind of order. There will be plenty of time for giving answers after comfort has been provided.

Calamity brings to light the immense potential within people for doing good. We see dim reflections of the nature of mankind before the fall. A friend who is not a Christian and who lost everything made an amazing statement after the floods earlier this year. After recounting the experience and the extent of his loss, he began to speak about his being “blown away” by the generosity of strangers who just showed up to help. Then he said “I think we should have a flood like this every ten years!” That is amazing! In fact a bible scholar in the time of Martin Luther once said that seeing the sinful nature of the world, he was surprised there was not a Noahic deluge every year!

Romans 12:15 says we should “Weep with those who weep” without any qualification. Our weeping with those who suffer does not depend on the cause of the suffering. We know from our reading of Scripture that the Lord sovereignly decides which disasters will and will not come. Empathy comes from the pain and is unrelated to the cause.

We know that the Lord is just in sending disaster, because the horrific nature of the sin of mankind in stark contrast to the worthiness of God to receive our worship and obedience means we are deserving of nothing better. However, this should not undermine our compassion for those suffering either. We are sinners too, and we feel their pain.

We should weep with those who suffer regardless of their faith or their lack thereof. Mercy is by nature undeserved, which is why Luke 6:27 says “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you”.

The other reason for weeping is over sin. We know that creation groans as described in Romans 8 because of the effects of the fall which resulted from sin. In James 4, in giving a warning against sinful worldliness, verses 8 to 10 tell us that the appropriate response is to “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

Not only is sin often directly or indirectly the cause of calamity, but the depravity of man is evident even during and after disaster. It is tragic how many examples you see of people who, not being affected personally by a natural disaster, continue on in the midst of the destruction as if nothing has happened – mowing the lawn, jogging, having haircuts etc. Some who are much less affected than others help themselves first even as they receive help from those who choose to help them first. Others instantly move into a “victim” mode and instead of being happy for those whose lives and property is spared, they show anger and bitterness that they were not spared. Still others vent the stress in road rage, family arguments, and deceitful scheming to take advantage of government financial assistance, not to mention looting and theft.

As always, our response to sin should be sincere and godly repentance. We should mourn over the contribution our sin makes in general to a fallen world, we should be sorrowful if our response in disaster is not what it should be and we should repent for the fact that it is only when we experience disaster that we selfishly focus on all these things. Every day around the world, the majority of people on earth experience worse than we do in disasters, and yet we rarely even notice. Where are the good Samaritans among us?



Deluge: Why - Part 2



Last post, we looked at some of the temporal purposes God has revealed for suffering. These temporal purposes however can be seen as subservient to the ultimate purposes God has in ordaining suffering including the suffering we endure in calamity.

We’ve already seen that the notion of God not being in control of the events which bring suffering is not biblical even if it seems like the right answer. God controls the waves and the winds (Matthew 8:27). He controls people’s hearts and actions (Prov 21:1; Lam 3:37). He governs the outcome of things which appear to be chance (Prov 16:33). He ordains the actions of evil spirits (1Sam 16:14-16; 1Kings 22:19-23; Mark 1:27). In summary God is sovereign, or as He puts it in Isaiah 46:9-10, “remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose”.

We also know that God is good. Deuteronomy 32:4 says “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” Psalm 100:5 says “For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” So we know that His purposes are good.

Ultimately, the entire universe and even the smallest events that take place in our lives are ordained for God’s glory. Suffering serves to magnify His glory too.

Redemptive History

This world, with all its suffering, exists to enable the necessary conditions for God’s redemptive plan as a theatre for the display of His character and His infinite worth through His undeserved grace towards sinners. 2 Timothy 1:9 shows us that God’s purpose in redemptive history was established “before the ages began”.  The names of those people who are not the undeserving recipients of His grace have “not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb” according to Revelation 13:8. Redemptive history is an opportunity for us the see the character of God revealed in His mercy, grace, justice, holiness and love. Without it we could not know Him as fully as we can.

Highlighting Sin

In our fallen nature, our view of sin grossly undermines its seriousness. Our sin is outrageous in view of the infinite worth of God to receive our love, attention and worship, and the suffering which exists in the groaning created order (Romans 8:22) is a physical manifestation which serves as a reminder of sin and how horrendous it is. Many examples in the gospels show that we are carnal by nature – unable to see beyond the physical. Suffering is the physical way that God screams at us about sin. C. S. Lewis said God whispers to us in our pleasure and shouts at us in our pain. The evil of the physical world is all pointing to the evil of the moral world.

Displaying Christ

A suffering world exists to confound people when they see that the followers of Christ are satisfied in the midst of suffering. As Paul shows in Phil 1:21 everything in life is about Christ and death only brings us closer to our treasure. Matthew 5:11-16 illustrates this well. The back-drop to our “saltiness” is suffering, and in this way suffering provides the contrast against which our joy and peace, which come from the Spirit of Christ, can be on display.

The Cross

Without a world where there is suffering and persecution, Jesus would not have suffered and been persecuted. The cross - the place where the greatest sin in history was committed - is the apex of God’s glory. It is the centre of the universe and of all  history. Acts 4:27 make it clear that the crucifixion of Christ was planned by the Father. As it says in Isaiah 53:10, “it was the will of the Lord to crush him”.

God’s power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor 12), and without the cross and the reconciliation the cross made possible, God’s power could not be displayed in our weakness. In heaven, the cross will forever be at the centre of our worship as we sing of how “worthy is the lamb” (Rev 5:12).

Thinking about these things stretches our minds well beyond our capacity to understand. We should be humbled that God chose to reveal these things to us, that we might get even these glimpses of His unfathomable glory.

He is our God, and by His grace we are His children. When He appears we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is.

We are undone!

Deluge: Why - Part 1?



In the aftermath of a natural disaster, when we ask the tough questions and diligently search the Scriptures to see what the Lord has revealed, we see that God is decisive in these events, and that contrary to our instincts, our refuge from the storms of life is to be found in knowing this.

God "works all things after the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11) and governs all things “declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’,.. (Isaiah 46:10).

So why do these things happen or become rephrased in light of our previous conclusions; why does the Lord send these calamities? From where we stand as human beings, it seems impossible at one level to imagine any reason that makes sense. The terrible images of carnage and grief beyond what we have ever experienced before flash through our minds as we grapple to find meaning in what seems so brutally indiscriminate.

We must accept that we cannot understand God’s purposes perfectly, because we are not meant to. John 8:23 says “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.” John 18:36 reads “My kingdom is not of this world.” Isaiah 55:8-9 says further “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Psalm 145:3 says “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” Isaiah 40:28 emphasizes, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.” "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever" (Deuteronomy 29:29). Finally, Romans 11:33 repeats the same thoughts, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”

Scripture is at pains to make sure we understand that God is not like one of us. That in itself is great news!  So we can’t know all the answers, but, as with the previous questions, the Lord has revealed something of His purposes in these things. There are really two levels at which we can ask why these things are sent. At the level of immediate purpose there are many specific examples of the kinds of purposes God has for us in suffering. We’ll look at these in a moment. At the second level, all these purposes are subservient to the ultimate reasons why this “groaning creation” exists as it does. We’ll take a look at the ultimate reasons in the next post.

One thing to keep in mind as we focus on the first category of temporal purposes, as we hinted at in the last post, is that the Bible does not separate types of suffering. From our perspective we would tend to separate natural calamity from persecutions for instance but the Bible does not do that when illustrating its applications. Romans 8 is the example we used before where in verse 35 Paul refers to a broad range of sufferings including natural disaster: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” In second Corinthians 11:25-29, Paul speaks of his own sufferings for the gospel, and again he groups together a wide range of sufferings including those related to nature saying “Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” One final example is in the next chapter, in verse 10 of chapter 12, where Paul shares his position in relation to the “thorn” in the flesh which was given Him by God, and which God would not remove. Here Paul says “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

So let’s take an inventory of some of the temporal or immediate purposes God has for suffering as described in Scripture.

1. Judgement
The first temporal purpose God has for suffering is judgment. Especially the Old Testament is riddled with such examples. The most obvious example is the global flood in which the entire world was destroyed except Noah and his family. Genesis 6:13 gives God’s reason saying “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

Micah chapter 1 describes the disastrous results of God’s “coming out of His place”, and then says that “All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel.  Nahum 1:3b-8 describes the effects of God’s judgment saying “His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.”

Verse 7 of Nahum 1 is especially interesting in the context of our previous post. In the midst of describing God’s furious judgement, the inspired writer says that the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. Deuteronomy 32:35 says “Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.” Proverbs 24:16 says “for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.”

Finally, for those who do not treasure Christ, suffering and death are God’s judgment. Peter says in 1 Peter 4:17 “It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

2. Mercy
God shows His mercy in disasters. In the Olivet discourse. earthquakes are a wake- up call alerting people that the end is near. Similarly, the earthquakes in Revelation are calls to repentance to unbelievers. Disasters draw people’s attention to eternity and to the Lord’s sovereignty, thereby calling them away from eternal destruction and to eternal joy in God’s presence. The joy that await us in eternity far exceeds what we can imagine in this life.

In Job’s personal disaster, God’s declares that "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away" (Job 1:21). Our lives do not belong to us and as Proverbs 111:10 says, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom".

In Luke 13, Jesus shows that the falling of a tower in Siloam was a merciful call to repentance when he says “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” The clearest illustration of how suffering is merciful, is the death of Christ. It was judgment on Jesus who bore our sins but it was mercy toward us who trust him to bear our punishment (Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24).

Lastly, disasters are a call to Christians to show love and mercy to those affected, that we might be salt and light in the midst of suffering and give an answer to “anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you”.

3. Purification

God, in His wisdom uses many things to conform us to the image of Jesus. Job’s sufferings are a clear example of how God uses natural disaster to refine His people. Job is described as being “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” His sufferings, though extreme, were for Job’s benefit, and his willing submission to them shows that Job accepted God’s wisdom in sending them.

The natural reason for disaster is the “groaning of creation” described in Romans 8. In verse 23, Paul says we as Christians groan too, and this groaning is as result of the subjection of creation by God (v 20). Notice though at the end of verse 20 that this subjection was done in hope.

Suffering is also meant to test our faith. John MacArthur puts it this way, “God doesn't have to test any of us so He can find out what's in our heart, God tests us so we can find out. In other words, He assists us in doing that spiritual inventory. If you're shaking your fist at God, if you're wondering why it's happening, if you're fretting all the time and worrying, if you're in anxiety from morning till night, there's a good indication that you have a weak faith. If, on the other hand, you're going through a trial and you find yourself resting in the Lord, having placed it into His care, letting Him bear the burden of it, and going on your way rejoicing as best you can in a difficult situation, waiting for God to show you the way out, then you are seeing for yourself that you possess a strength of faith.”

Suffering comes to humble us too. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12 that the thorn God gave him was “to keep me from becoming conceited…” God does promise blessings to His children, especially if they are faithful, but our nature requires that this be tempered or we would become proud.

Suffering also weans us from worldly ways. Like Moses in Hebrews 11:26 who “considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt…” God used many trials in his life to draw him away from the life of wealth and worldly success that could have been his in Egypt.

Suffering in this world reminds us that it is a fallen world, and that we are fallen and it points us to the joy that lies before us in eternity. Afflictions prepare us for “an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). As Paul says in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Suffering reveals what we treasure most in life. In the floods we went through, although there was loss of life, for most people their loss was material. It is never easy to lose your home and your livelihood, but the effect of these losses on us as Christians should not indicate that these things were our treasure. If you loved these things more than Christ, you’re going to question God, and be filled with anxiety. God does not suffer idols in the hearts of His people, and He often removes them. So in your own life, make sure nothing is dearer to you than the Lord. That’s the point of Jesus controversial remarks in Luke 14:26. Christ must be your treasure, or you cannot be His disciple.

Trials teach us to value God’s blessing. In the midst of trials and suffering, if we obey, we receive blessings. Jesus was our example in this. His perfect obedience to the will of the Father through the most extreme suffering is what gave us life. The psalmist says in Psalm 63:3, “Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.”

Finally, God sends trials to make us more useful as we grow in spiritual strength and maturity. Each time you suffer and learn the things God teaches you in it, you become stronger and as you do God uses you more. As Thomas Manton said, "While all things are quiet and comfortable, we live by sense rather than faith. But the worth of a soldier is never known in times of peace."

In summary, Peter has some advice for us…
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:6)

Deluge: Hope...



Many who come face-to-face with what scripture teaches will be confronted by the conclusion that God was ultimately decisive in the recent floods. People may have good intentions for supporting the notion that God could, or would, not bring calamity. However, refusing to accept that scripture teaches God is decisive in calamity is an error with potentially serious consequences.

Although it would require omniscience to say for certain, it is likely that this is a response which is characteristic of Christians in modern times. The tentacles of modern social tolerance and the inadvertent effects of our increasingly “comfortable life” seem to have skewed the degree to which we are able to accept the biblical realities of suffering and sovereignty.

By saying that God could or would not act to bring about a calamity, we take an anthropocentric view of God, presuming that He should act as we would act. We need to be on guard that our difficulty in accepting these truths is not undergirded by a feeling that people deserve better than this disaster. As Christians we know what we humans deserve, but there is a vast gulf between mediocre assent to this and the deep sorrow we should feel over our depravity. All of us are sinners. We deserve to perish. Every breath we take is an undeserved gift.

Having said all this, we need to know that our conclusion is good news. God does all things with infinite wisdom and for good purposes. "He also is wise and will bring disaster" (Isaiah 31:2). God is good (Psalm 100:5), and even if what He brings seems not to be good, it must be good or we have to forsake our belief in the inerrancy of Scripture. So, God had good and wise purposes for this tragedy and we must humbly submit to them even if we don’t understand them.

Most importantly, the very thing which we remove out of empathy for those who have lost so much in a well-intentioned attempt to create hope, is the very same thing they need most. If we deny God’s decisive sovereignty in calamity we lose our only hope. If He has no control over this, then He is not in control when we need Him to save us in the hour of our trial, and there is no hope.

Our hope is founded on the death of Jesus Christ to purchase our forgiveness and righteousness for us (Eph 1:7; 2 Cor 5:21) and God’s promise to use His sovereignty to keep us for the inheritance He has promised (Jer 32:40; Rom 8:29-30). We surrender this hope if we sacrifice His sovereignty.

All suffering, including that which comes from natural disasters, is the furnace by which the Lord makes our cold hard hearts malleable, so He can mould and shape us according to His good pleasure. So know that He brought this disaster, for His own wise purposes, and in this know that when you call out to Him, He will answer. Our flesh may not like His answer, but we know that His answer is designed for His glory and our joy – for those who love God, all things work together for good (Rom 8:28).

Further into Romans 8, Paul boldly proclaims God's Everlasting Love by asking “If God is for us, who can be against us?” in verse 31, and then again in verse 35 asking “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” We know he has our sufferings in this disaster in mind, because the list of things which Paul gives to finish verse 35 includes famine – a natural disaster in itself which Paul chooses to be sure we understand that this applies to our kind of suffering.

God’s final word to us in our sufferings comes in the last verses, when through the inspired author God declares that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us… neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In giving Himself to you eternally, through the sacrifice of His precious Son, He has given you the greatest gift He could give, that your joy would be complete forever.

Let what you value most be in the next world, that the appeal of this one would diminish with each passing day...

Deluge: Who or What?

Natural disasters have a way of waking us up to the reality of death, making us think about the sort of issues we don’t usually think about in the relative ease and comfort of our first world lives. To a Christian, coming face-to-face with death and the destruction of the highly predictable world we are accustomed to can confront us with questions about what caused the calamity.

The most common explanation is to say that “God did not cause it, but he can use it for good”. This sort of statement has become a kind of slogan which even people who are not saved affirm in the face of calamity. It sounds reasonable at one level because God is good and compassionate and He is not the author of evil. Deuteronomy 32:4 says “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” Habakkuk 1:13 says “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?”

However, does this mean that God could not or would not act to bring about a flood like the one we experienced? Instead of trusting our fallen instincts we need to know what the Lord has revealed in scripture. We can’t believe something just because it sounds right, especially if it contradicts the clear teaching of scripture. So what does the Bible teach? Before we go looking for answers, let’s be sure to recognise that there is the potential for every fiber of our being to want to reject what the Bible says if the answers we find don’t fit with what we feel must be right. We are fallen and we live our lives immersed in a culture that has subtly but very effectively manipulated how we view the world we live in. Scripture says we should “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). So let’s be vigilant and tread carefully…

The book of Job is a natural place to start. The events in chapter one of Job present one of the most compelling incidences of suffering by natural calamity in scripture. Verse 19 describes how Job lost his ten children as a result of a “great wind”. Although Satan was the agent in Job’s affliction we see in verse 12 that it was God who gave him permission. In fact, in verse 8, God initiates the discussion that leads to the affliction by asking Satan “Have you considered my servant Job…?” In verse 21, in responding to the news of this natural disaster Job says “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord”.

In chapter 2, the heavenly discussion between God and Satan that initiated the events in chapter 1 is repeated – God asking Satan to consider Job again in verse 3. Then in verse 5 Satan says to God “…stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” Then in verse 7 it says that “Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores”. Here we see that Satan’s delivering this affliction is the result of God’s “stretching out His hand”. Satan is real and his intentions are evil, but he did nothing which God did not permit him to. Then in verse 10 after Satan afflicts Job, Job tells his wife, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”

Moving further into the book, in Job 9:6 the inspired author says “who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble” and in Job 9:12 he says “Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?” In Job 38:8-11 God asks Job “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, …and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?” Job’s understanding of what happened in the first chapters is confirmed towards the end of the book where in Job 42:2 he says in prayer “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Again a few verses later it says Job’s brothers and sisters “comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11).

There is little doubt in this instance, that God is ultimately decisive in this calamity. But what about the rest of scripture - is Job’s affliction an isolated case? The Psalms are another part of scripture that is filled with suffering and affliction and a number of verses specifically relate to our quest. Psalm 135:6 says “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.” Psalm 89:9 says “You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. (89:9); Psalm 104:32 says [He] looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke! Also Psalm 147:18 says “He sends out his word, and … makes his wind blow and the waters flow”.

The book of Isaiah likewise makes it clear that God is sovereign over calamity when in Isaiah 45:7, God says “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things. Isaiah 31:2 says “And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words”. The book of Amos asks rhetorically "If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?" (Amos 3:6). Similarly, Lamentations 3:38 says “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?”

The global deluge that destroyed the entire world with the exception of Noah and his family is described in Genesis 6. In verse 13, God declares “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” In response to the depravity of Sodom in Genesis 19, the Lord “rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.” Another example from the Old Testament is the foreshadowing of the “lifting up” of the Son of Man in Numbers 21, when God responds to the grumblings of Isreal by sending “fiery serpents among the people” which bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

What about the New Testament - do we see the same declaration of ultimate sovereignty over nature and natural disaster? Jesus showed His control over nature when He rebuked the waves in Luke 8:24-25, and commanded unclean spirits in Mark 1:27. The smallest events in nature are shown to be under God’s control including even the death of a sparrow (Matthew 10:29). Also, the very hairs on your head are all numbered according to Matthew 10:29-30.

In Luke 13, Jesus is questioned about the tower in Siloam which fell on and killed some Galileans. His response indicates that the event was an intentional form of temporal judgment saying in verse 5 “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” James refers in James 5:11 to the afflictions of Job as “the outcome of the Lord's dealings”.

Make no mistake, our conclusion is a hard truth. Floods are ultimately from God. In spite of the world’s tendency to attribute disaster to “Mother Nature”, the creation does not have a will of its own. God is sovereign and Satan has no freedom other than what God gives him. God governs everything in creation including natural disasters that result in pain and suffering. That is what the Bible teaches, and in light of that fact, no matter how good our intentions are we cannot say that He was not ultimately decisive in bringing the floods we suffered through.

There is good news though, and we’ll look at that next post…

For now, let us sing to the Lord as David in his Song of Deliverance:

“The waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me. . . This God—his way is perfect” (2 Samuel 22:5, 31).



Deluge: Drowning…

This is a picture of what was a bridge to a neighboring suburb just a few days ago before the unimaginable happened. With my wife and three young children I drove across that bridge the day before this photo was taken. The world awoke that day to the horrific images of a violent deluge resulting from a deadly combination of a land soaked to capacity from many weeks of rain and a series of freak storms delivering masses of water over a wide area.

The Queensland floods last week, were and still are a calamity that is hard to come to terms with. The area declared a disaster zone is larger than Europe - this is a flood on an unprecedented scale. The torrent caused widespread devastation well beyond the borders of Queensland across four of Australia’s six states, bringing the city of Brisbane to its knees and washing away whole towns in regional areas. The news of floods in many other countries across the globe is staggering.

For many hundreds of thousands of people this disaster has cast a deep shadow over their lives. We watched helplessly as the silent unstoppable killer rose up and devoured everything in sight, witnessing this devastation first-hand. We were cut off from access to the outside world with no power and dwindling food stocks, and had no access to vital medicines. We were engulfed by the adrenaline rush in the frantic rescue of people, pets and possessions in the early hours of the morning, and worst of all many lost friends and family who were swept away in the raging waters. In the aftermath, the overwhelming scale of the clean-up and the grief we feel for friends and family who’ve lost everything brings our emotions to the brink even as the stench of death and disease still fills the air.

In the wake of this disaster, when the reality of what has happened starts sinking in, questions arise. Who or what has caused this tragedy? Why has this happened? How do we live after this and what should we do now? Answering those questions is not easy and it does not come naturally. Something inside us wants to run and hide and forget this ever happened. Nothing makes sense. Despair is all around.

Answers seem very far from our grasp, but for Christians having biblical answers for the sake of our own understanding and to enable us to respond appropriately is crucial. Many Christians will be tempted to answer the questions that arise after this disaster in the same way as the world. These answers may seem right and even sentimental but they are a hindrance. We need to know the truth.

The first glimmer of light comes when we remember that we have been given truth. Psalm 119 says that God’s Word is “a lamp to [our] feet and a light to [our] path” (v 105) and that the “sum of [His] word is truth” (v160). Fortunately, in His providence, our Lord has plenty to say in His Word about natural disasters. What follows over the coming days is a look at what our Master has revealed about calamity – who is responsible, why does it happen and how we should respond…

Treasure Christ

...press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus...(Phil 3:14)

Read Dead Men!



Although the Scriptures are paramount in the Christian diet, other resources can be helpful. We should search the Scriptures like the Bereans in Acts 17 who “received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily”, but also we should recognise that God has used people throughout the ages to establish a beacon for biblical truth.

In fact, God ordains that there have been teachers throughout the history of the church to help us grasp and apply the truth of Scripture. God Himself says of this in Ephesians 4:11-15 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ … so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” Also, in Hebrews 13:7 He says “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.”

God has called a long line of godly people to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3) by producing resources which He wants us to use.

God has also ordained increasingly abundant access through technology to a rich array of resources from people like the early church fathers and the reformers of the 16th Century.

The reality is that although there are today people who are fulfilling this mandate from the Lord, it is of immense value that we leverage the full spectrum of additional resources God has provided. In short, we should “read dead men”!

Have you heard that a fish knows least of all what it is to be wet? You’re thinking this must be part of another blog post right? Wrong! This saying perfectly illustrates why we should “read dead men”. The benefit of reading books written by the leading shepherds in previous generations and era’s is that it provides a sort of portal through which we can escape the natural bias that is built into anything which anyone in your own time says or writes. This is critical because the lenses of your culture do have a distorting effect which you most often cannot even discern, never mind escape.

With hindsight, the distorting effect of culture can be seen in the mistakes or omissions that have been made by some of the greatest teachers that ever existed, who were unable to escape cultural bias.

This effect is especially magnified today when the average number of media messages each person is exposed to is in the thousands. The post-modern world distorts ideas and concepts in very specific and unhelpful ways, some even blatantly satanic. Our culture today is one in which there is an exponential numbing to things which even a generation ago would have caused an outrage.

All this is important for Christians, because we are supposed to be the stewards of a gospel message that never changes, and the lamps from which the light of the glory of God is seen by the world. Flowing on from that, the under-shepherds of the body of Christ especially need to be well equipped to teach away from the errors of our day.

Finally, we should  “read dead men” because the Lord has instructed us to do so.  

“Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.” (Jeremiah 6:16)

Tethered



Sometimes we need to be reminded of the foundational issues in our faith. Going back to basics is often what yields the most fruit in our walk with the Lord.

There is really no more a foundational issue than what you believe about the Bible. As Christians, we should be tethered to it, and there are some very good reasons for this:

1. it is inspired by God or God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20–21)

2. it is inerrant (contains no errors – Psalm 19)

3. it is authoritative (we must do what it says - Psalm. 119).

4. it is sufficient - 2 Peter 1:3–4; Psalm 19; 2 Timothy 3:17; Hebrews 4:12
5. it is relevant - totally relevant for every situation. (Psalm 19; 2 Tim. 3:17; Psalm 119:105; Isaiah 40:8)

Although these things can be denied by someone who is still a Christian, denial would raise questions about a person's salvation since accepting these shows the work of regeneration of the heart by the Holy Spirit. Given the biblical support for believing these things about the Scriptures, 1 John 2:4 reinforces this: “Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him…” A fruit of the indwelling Spirit is agreement in word and deed with the scriptures.

Especially at this time of year, when many people break from home groups or are away from fellowship as a result of the holidays, drawing near to God through His Word is essential not to neglect.

The Word is the weapon of choice for the soldier of Christ. According to Ephesians 6, God’s Word is the sword of the Spirit which has been given to us to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might because we wrestle against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So we must be sober-minded and watchful because our adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

For the word of God is living and active... 

Hearing God’s Heart at Christmas

So much can be said about the wonder that Christmas should be, and the tragedy of what it has been made.

For those who love Christ, it is enough to meditate on what is in God’s heart at Christmas time, and through this to hear His still small voice.

My Son “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2:7-8)

He has done this for you; what have you done for Him?"

Does your heart beat with his heart this Christmas?

Are you pursuing in your life the things He was born and bled to obtain?

There is nothing that we should want more in life than the reward of His incarnation, His humiliation and His suffering.

Make War!

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. (1 John 3:9)  We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Rom 6:6) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own". (1 Cor 6:19)

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Cor 10:13) In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Heb 12:4) For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Heb 2:18) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (James 4:7-8) Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. (Luke 13:24) Destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. (2 Cor 10:5) Discipline your body and keep it under control. (1 Cor 9:27) Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:14) For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. (1 Tim 4:10)
  
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb 12:1-2)

“Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” (John Owen)

Surveying the Separation of Sheep

The internet has made it too easy for anyone with a computer to publish just about anything and claim that it is fact. In addition, the exponential effect of more convenience combined with many more “truth-claims” has made us lazy. Combining these trends creates the potential for the body of Christ to be easily deceived.

Adding to this problem, our culture unfortunately makes it hard to get at the truth. The idea of “tolerance” has been twisted to the point where nobody can challenge anything that anyone says (culture says there is no absolute truth, and everything is relative). This is the breeding ground for today’s “pluralism”, which says that it does not matter what you believe.

One of the effects of this is that churches have buckled under the social pressure to be “inclusive” and so have avoided teaching hard things. These churches focus instead on being “seeker-sensitive” and tailor their messages to meet people’s “felt needs” instead of teaching the Bible. As a result doctrines that are not “soft” like Predestination, Perseverance and many others are often neglected.

There is a biblical obligation for us to avoid being deceived which underscores the fact that it does matter what you believe. 1 Timothy 4:16 says “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers”. 2 Peter 3:18 exhorts us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”.

We should always be driven by what Scripture says, and not by our own fallible minds and emotions. Jeremiah 17:9 says “The heart is deceitful above all things…” If at any time, our thoughts and feeling seems to contradict what Scripture says, we should reject our thoughts and feelings. As we grow in spiritual maturity, and are exposed to deeper insights into things in Scripture which we may not have been aware of before, and we may then be tempted to compare what we think and feel to what the Bible says. The deep rooted pride in all of us may not want to yield to biblical truth that exalts God and gives Him the due credit for things that the flesh would prefer to take credit for.

Although Predestination and Perseverance are not essential to believe for salvation, they are still important. God has given us His Word, so that we may know Him and understand His plan of redemption. He is glorified when we study His Word and understand what He has done for us. We come to know Him more intimately when we do, which leads to deeper worship. Denying anything which is clearly taught in the Bible is an act of disobedience. If we love Him we should not want to be purposefully disobedient.

We should never evaluate God or His works as if He is like us. In fact, many people struggle to accept hard teachings like Predestination and Perseverance for this reason. God has revealed enough about these issues to make it clear that they are biblical. As humble fallen creatures, we must strive to acknowledge and embrace what God has revealed, and accept that we cannot understand His ways perfectly. John 8:23 says “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. John 18:36 says “My kingdom is not of this world.” Isaiah 55:8-9 says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” The fact that something does not make perfect sense to us does not make it untrue if it is clearly taught in scripture.

Here are six observations extracted from an exposition by John Piper on John 10:15-16…

1. Jesus Calls Himself a Shepherd

Verse 11: "I am the good shepherd." Verse 14: "I am the good shepherd." Jesus is probably thinking of himself here as the fulfillment of Ezekiel 34:22–24 where God says about his people Israel, I will save my flock, they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them: I, the Lord, have spoken.

The flock of God is the people of Israel. God promises to put his servant David over them to be their shepherd. And he speaks of having to judge between sheep and sheep.

This leads to the second observation, namely, that in John 10 . . .

2. Some Sheep Are Christ's and Some Are Not

Verses 3b–4: "He calls HIS OWN sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them." Verse 14: "I am the good shepherd; I know MY OWN and MY OWN know me."

In other words, not all the people in the flock of Israel truly belonged to Christ. Some were his sheep. Some weren't.

The reason some belonged to Jesus so that he could call them HIS OWN is that . . .

3. The Father Had Given Them to the Son

Verse 29: “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.”

This is Jesus' way of talking about election. God has chosen a people for his own. These are his elect sheep. He then gives them to his Son so that they can be saved by faith in him. You can see this clearly in John 17:6 where Jesus says to his Father, “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”

So Jesus can speak with confidence about some sheep among the flock of Israel that are definitely his, because they first belonged to the Father by election and then were given to the Son by the Father—"Yours they were, and you hast given them to me." (See John 6:37, 6:39, 6:44, 6:65; 17:9, 17:24; 18:9.)

Therefore, knowing those who are his,

4. Jesus Calls Them by Name and They Follow

Verses 3b–4: “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” Verse 27: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

He separates sheep from sheep, as Ezekiel said, by calling his own by name. When he calls, his sheep recognize his voice and they follow him, and he gathers them into a new flock, namely, the church, the true Israel of God.

Be sure you see the thrust of these verses: being one of Christ's sheep enables you to respond to his call. It is not the other way around: responding to his call does not make you one of his sheep. That is the offensive thing about this chapter. It strips the unbeliever of the presumption that the final determination of his life lies in his own power. Notice verse 26: "You do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep."

Picture yourself as a Pharisee hearing the message of Jesus and saying to yourself, "If he thinks I am going to be sucked in to this movement along with the tax collectors and sinners, he's crazy. I have a will of my own and the power to determine my own destiny." And then picture Jesus, knowing what is in your heart, saying, "You think you are in control of your life. Truly, truly I say to you, you do not believe because the Father has not chosen you to be among my sheep." The final boast of unbelief is destroyed by the doctrine of election. Those whom God chose he also gave to the Son, and those whom he gave to the Son the Son also called, and his sheep hear his voice and they believe.

But that is not all that Jesus does for his sheep.

5. The Good Shepherd Also Lays Down His Life for His Sheep

Verse 11: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Verses 14–15: "I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep."

In other words those whom the Father chose, he also gave to the Son; and those whom he gave to the Son, the Son also called; and those whom he called, he also justified by laying down his life for the sheep.

And on the basis of this sacrifice . . .

6. Jesus Gives Eternal Life to His Sheep and It Can Never Be Taken Away

Verses 27–30: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.”

In other words those whom the Father chose for himself he also gave to the Son, and those whom he gave to the Son the Son also called, and for those he called he also laid down his life, and to those for whom he died he gave eternal life, and it can never be taken away.

The picture we have in John 10 is of a great shepherd who sovereignly saves his sheep. The Father gives them to him. He dies for them. He calls them by name. He gives them eternal life. And he keeps them forever.