Category Archives: Uncategorized

 What is same-sex orientation? According to the APA’s definition (The American Psychological Association), same-sex orientation is defined as the following: 

Sexual orientation refers to an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction to men, women, or both sexes. Sexual orientation also refers to a person’s sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions.

The APA goes on to indicate that said orientation “ranges along a continuum, from exclusive attraction to the other sex to exclusive attraction of the same sex.” The APA is clear: sexual orientation is constitutive of both same-sex sexual attractions/desires including patterns of emotional and/or romantic attractions/desires, on the one hand, and same-sex sexual identification with said attractions/desires, on the other hand! One of the questions for the modern church–as we struggle to understand sexual orientation– is this: is sexual orientation as an “enduring pattern of attraction” morally neutral or sinful? Biblically speaking, sexual desires are never morally neutral. This is why the seventh commandment governs all issues related to sex. In the seventh commandment God is explicit that the issue of sex is always a moral issue, never neutral. This is patently true for the Christian faith. 

However, the issue set before the church is this: is homosexual orientation “as an enduring pattern of attraction” a sin or not? Related to this, is heterosexual desire also a sin or not? Too often in the church we have assumed heterosexuality to be a moral good, while homosexuality to be a moral evil, that God’s design is heteronormativity, while homosexuality is a deviation from God’s norm. In fact Secular Reparative Therapy’s goal for a person struggling with a homosexual desire is to replace it with heterosexual desire. Joseph Nicolosi, a leading therapist in Reparative Therapy, makes the case that “As shame is slowly diminished in therapy and the same-sex attracted man grows in self-awareness and self-assertion, he should gradually begin to find within himself a natural heterosexual response.”  

The question is this: is heterosexuality a normative desire, and conversely, is homosexuality also an equally normative desire? Many Christians will affirm the former, while rejecting the latter. But, biblically speaking this is not the case. Both heterosexual desires (outside the context of marriage between one man and one woman) and homosexual desires are sinful. In fact, Scripture calls such desires, lust. 

What do I mean? In Matthew 5:27-28 Jesus says, “You have heard it said ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ but I say to you, that everyone who looks upon a woman to lust for her has committed adultery.” Jesus is connecting the seventh commandment (which explicitly covers behavior, and implicitly covers desires) with the tenth commandment (which explicitly covers desires). In other words, the sinfulness of sin is not a matter of just behavior, but is also a matter of desire and will, whether intentional or not. The tenth commandment condemns both intentional and unintentional sinful desires. Whether a person chooses a desire is irrelevant because the Mosaic law required sacrifices to atone for sins that were also unchosen and unintentional.  In short, Jesus is talking about the pre-behavioral sin of sexual desire, the sin of longing for a woman who is not one’s wife. Jesus is very clear that, in this context, heterosexual desire and attraction is lust. 

But what is the difference between a morally normative desire and a morally deviant desire, i.e., lust? Some incorrectly contend that the difference between a normative and deviant desire is the intensity of the desire. For instance, on the one hand, a slight and passing sexual desire and attraction for another man’s wife is normative; while on the other hand, an intense and longing sexual desire and attraction for another man’s wife is deviant. Nothing could be further from the truth; Jesus no more condones a slight and passing desire than he condones an intense and longing desire. Others also incorrectly contend that the difference between a normative and deviant desire is the intentionality and/or chosenness of the desire. But Scripture is clear that intentionality or chosenness is irrelevant according to Leviticus 4:1-5:13, as well as contrary to the Standards according to WSC Q&A 14. 

So, what exactly denotes a normative desire and attraction from a deviant desire and attraction? The verb used in Matthew 5:28 is ἐπιθυμέω which means to either desire or lust. According to BDAG the noun ἐπιθυμία refers to either a normative desire for a good thing or a deviant desire for a bad thing. Case in point, in the LXX, Proverbs 10:24 says that the “desires of the righteous will be granted.” In this text the noun ἐπιθυμία is a normative desire. In the case of Matthew 5:28 ἐπιθυμία is a deviant desire. What this demonstrates is that using a lexiconic definition of ἐπιθυμία is insufficient to distinguish a normative desire from a deviant desire; both verb and noun are multivalent, ranging, in part, from a normative desire to a deviant desire.

Ethically speaking, what denotes a normative from a deviant sexual desire is simply the object of said attraction. The objective component of the domain of ethics defines, in part, the nature of desires. BDAG confirms this in its discussion of ἐπιθυμία. For example Mark 4:19; Luke 22:15; Phil. 1:23; 1 Thess. 2:17; Rev. 18:14–these are all translated as desire, longing, cravings because the objects of said desires are normative or neutral or positive. In contradistinction, Rom. 7:7; Col. 3:5; James 1:14; 2 Peter 1:4 are all translated as craving or lust–all because the objects of said desires are morally deviant. The sinfulness of our desires is not defined by the intensity and/or the chosenness of desire but the object of our desires. In short, an illicit desire is defined by its concomitant forbidden object (e.g., Ex. 20:17). This applies to both homosexual and heterosexual desires. Regarding homosexual orientation/ identity/desire, it is always illicit because the object of desire is always forbidden. Regarding heterosexual orientation/ identity/desires, it is only lawful in the context of marriage between one man and one woman because the object of desire is permissible because it’s countenanced by God in His moral law. The object(s) of all other heterosexual orientation/identity/ desires are always forbidden, denominated in Scripture as adultery, fornication, etc. In short, outside the context of marriage, all heterosexual and homosexual orientations/identities/desires are lust. The so-called sexual attraction of “heteronormativity” is no more normative than the sexual attraction of homonormativity being pushed by the LGBTQ sexual militants in our culture. Both heterosexual and homosexual lusts are morally deviant according to Scripture.

This takes us to the subjective component of the domain of ethics. Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus was tempted, “tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” This does not mean that Jesus faced each and every trial, in each and every way, that each and everyone of us has ever faced temptation. What this means is that Jesus experienced suffering up to and including the cross. The Greek verb πειράζω means to tempt or test. In Hebrews the context is clear that God the Father was not tempting Jesus in the context of Christ’s passive obedience, but was testing Jesus in the context of His passive obedience. When the author of Hebrews argues that Christ Jesus’ temptation or testing was without sin, he means that no aspect of Jesus’ testing involved sin: i.e., no desire to sin. Jesus had no subjective orientation or proclivity or disposition to sin. Jesus experienced the external pressure and strain of sin, not an internal stress and/or tension to sin. This is the difference between our temptations and Jesus’ temptation. Jesus was tempted by sin. Man is tempted to sin! The former is normative because this was the God-ordained nature of man’s testing before the fall. The latter is deviant because this is the nature of man’s temptation after the fall. Jesus’ experience of temptation was prelapsarian as the Second Adam! Jesus had no original sin. Our subjective experience of temptation is postlapsarian in Adam. Man is totally and radically corrupt! 

James 1:13-15 describes the subjective etiology of sinful temptations. When James argues that God never tempts man to sin, he’s talking about the subjective domain, not objective domain, i.e., the temptation to sin, not the temptation/testing by sin. God tests man with the external pressure and strain of sin, but James is clear that God does not tempt man with the internal stress and tension and dissonance to sin. This noetic dissonance is a subjective longing of one’s own evil desires for what is objectivity forbidden by God. External temptation has an internal outpost in the very depths and heart of the nature of man that radically corrupts the whole man, i.e., body and soul, which is traditionally called concupiscence. Jesus’ temptations were external. Man’s temptations are both external (sinful objects) and internal; these concupiscent enticements and enchantments to sin come from our own sinful desire. The only reason why we desire forbidden objects in general is because our desires are concupiscent. In this sense, temptation itself is sinful!  

So, is same-sex attraction sinful? If Satan were to set before a Christian man who struggles with same-sex sexual attraction to tempt him to sin, then as long as that man only apprehends that man as being handsome then it’s not a sin. (This is no different than a heterosexual man noticing that another man is handsome; there is no sin involved because there is no sexual attraction involved.) The same goes if Satan were to set before a Christian man who struggles with opposite-sex sexual attraction to tempt him to sin, then as long as this man only apprehends that woman as being beautiful then it’s not a sin. In both cases as long as there is no emotional and/or romantic and/or sexual attraction involved, then there is no sin. However, in both cases, if that external apprehension turns into an internally commensurate and  sinful pattern of emotional and/or romantic and/or sexual attractions/desires, then both men, homosexual and heterosexual, have both sinned; the former being an unnatural sin (a sin against nature i.e., contra naturam according to Romans 1:23), with the latter being a natural sin according to Romans 1:23. This is why heterosexuality is not inherently a sin, but a natural orientation. In contrast, homosexuality is inherently a sin because it’s an unnatural orientation. This is why homosexual sexual desires are more heinous sin, while heterosexual lust is a less heinous sin according to Scripture and the Westminster Standards. Some of the problems with this discussion—discussions revolving around terms and phrases like homosexual orientation and same-sex sexual attraction and identity—is definition. How do we define these cultural terms and phrases? The way we define these cultural terms and phrases that are extra-biblical is by pointing to how the culture defines these extra-biblical terms in their extra-biblical sources. As shared at the beginning, the APA has defined these terms for us. As noted, the APA is clear: sexual orientation is constitutive of both same-sex sexual attractions/desires including patterns of emotional and/or romantic attractions/desires, on the one hand, and same-sex sexual identification with said attractions/desires, on the other hand! This means that sexual orientation is sinful because it involves same-sex sexual attractions and desires, including emotional and romantic attractions. This also includes same-sex sexual identification. As Christians our primary and ultimate identification is being Christian, i.e., the covenant formula of grace which states “I will be your God, and you shall be my people.” Our adoption into the family of God, our union and communion with Christ is our primary and ultimate identification. Along that line, we also have penultimate identifications: e.g., within the sphere sovereignty (a la Kuyper) of the family one is a father or mother or son or daughter, etc. Within the sphere of sovereignty of the state one is a citizen, a judge, a mayor, etc. mutatis mutandis for the church and/or political communities, etc. However, the nomenclature “LGBTQ” is not an appropriate identification marker; it’s a sinful identification marker. “Gay Christian” is an oxymoron, a contradiction to a Christian’s identity. In short, the pre-behavioral sin of same-sex sexual orientation/attraction/desire/identity is at the root of the sin of same-sex sexual behavior/practice which is the fruit. The root and the fruit of homosexual orientation are both sins.

In conclusion, how should the church minister to believers and unbelievers alike who struggle with such a besetting sin? We are to minister with both love and compassion, truth and integrity! Next time I will share how Scripture guides us in this matter.

Pastor Carl

¹⁸ Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off ¹⁹ and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” ²⁰ Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” ²¹ The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

(Exodus 20:18-21 ESV)

Often in Scripture we see many paradoxes: for example, Jesus taught the first shall be last, and the last shall be first; Paul taught that God’s strength is made complete in weakness (epitomized in the death of Jesus)—these are just a few noticeable examples in Scripture. However, there is an example of a paradox that is not so noticeable. In Exodus 20:20 the paradox reads: Do not fear [God]…that the fear of him may be before you.” The paradox is that the children of Israel are to fear God so that they may not fear God! This seems to be a contradiction; in fact that’s the definition of a paradox: that is, a paradox is something that seems contradictory on the surface but in fact is not. On the surface this looks like a contradiction. How can fearing God cause us not to fear God? The reason for this is that there are two different notions of fearing God in Scripture. On the one hand, fearing God is a sin. On the other hand, fearing God is not a sin. In short, there is a fear of God that is a sinful fear, and there is a fear of God that is a holy fear. The former is a vice; the latter is a virtue.

As I shared last time, over the next few months we will take a look at the biblical teaching on the “fear of the Lord.”  A correct notion of the holy fear of the Lord is not only missing in our culture, but unfortunately also missing in the modern church. What is not missing in the culture at large, and much of the church in particular, is a sinful fear of God. Michael Reeves has written extensively on the notion of the holy fear of God. I will share that with you the next time. But for now, let me share with you the sinful notion of the fear of God, a notion which is prominent in our increasingly godless culture that no longer fears God in a holy way. What is the sinful notion of fearing God? Well, some things we should fear. We live in a hostile and fearful world. Since the fall, the world has become a fearful place. The fear of death; the fear of disease; the fear of pain; the fear of enemies; the fear of war, etc.—these fears are the result of God’s curse on sinful man, the result of Adam’s rebellion against God. In fact, Mark 4:33 tells us that Jesus was “greatly distressed and troubled” over his impending death on the cross. Even Jesus struggled with such fear (temptation) but did not succumb to fear (sin) because Jesus was sinless and could not possibly sin. This sort of natural fear per se is morally neutral.

However, in contrast to natural fear, there is a fear that is sinful. This is a fear that flows from sin, a fear whose fountain and foundation is sin. James tells us that demons have this kind of fear of God; demons shudder to think of God (James 2:19). In Genesis 3:10 Adam was the first human to experience this sinful fear of God. This fear drove Adam to run from God not toward God. That’s the moral trajectory and orientation of sinful fear; it drives us away from God. The reason why all unbelievers hate God is because all unbelievers sinfully fear God. And, conversely, the reason why all believers love God is because all believers have a holy fear of God. This is what John means in 1 John 4:18: “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” Usually there are two ways people run from God. They either run from God by inventing alternative (made up) realities, realities that replace God, or they run from God via legalism by seeking to appease God out of slavish and servile fear, fearing God as though He was a tyrannical dictator or cruel slave master! The former, i.e., sinful fear, invents the fiction of no God (i.e., atheism) or some other god(s) (i.e., idolatry and false religions). Why is this? In the case of atheism, God being out of sight, and out of mind is a psychological respite, a delusional break from reality, the reality of an all Holy and all Watchful and all Vigilant God. In the case of legalism, one seeks to appease God and earn salvation, while all along secretly despising God just as a slave despises his master while giving lip service.

This is the sort of sinful fear that drives our society and culture. And sadly this sort of sinful fear can drive the church. In Exodus 20, the people of Israel (the church of God in the old covenant) were driven by this sinful fear. If this was true of the old covenant church, then this can be true of us, the new covenant church. We are not immune from the sin of fearing God! Satan is always tempting and attempting to have us look to God (not as a loving Father), but as an exacting tyrant much as he did with Eve! This is why legalism has been a constant enemy of the church. What’s the remedy? It’s the balm of grace, the salve of salvation in the form of a holy fear of God.

Next time I’ll discuss this holy notion of the fear of God in conversation with Michael Reeves. But I’d like to conclude by saying that Satan is a liar. God is not a cruel slave master, a tyrant to appease. God the Father sent His Son to appease His holy and just wrath; Jesus Christ took your place on the cross. Christ willingly and lovingly did this. The Father lovingly sent His Son. Beloved, let us serve our God not out of a sinful fear, but out of a holy fear!

In Christ

Pastor Carl

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs 9:10

The book of Proverbs is known in biblical theology as a sapiential genre of literature within the canon of Scripture.  Sapiential is taken from the Latin which means “wisdom.” Proverbs 9:10 serves as a sort of “life verse” for the entire book of Proverbs, a verse which encapsulates the heart of all the sayings in Proverbs.

As we look at Chapter 9 and verse 10, wisdom is paired with understanding. This means, biblically speaking, wisdom is a certain type of understanding; it’s a type of moral understanding. This means biblical wisdom combines both the head (intellect) and the heart (the will, the desires). It’s not enough to know what’s right, but we must also desire to do the right and then do what is right. Philosophers of antiquity called this the Cardinal Virtue of Prudence: it’s the ability to deliberate and judge (intellectual virtue of the mind) and then decide and act (moral virtue of the will). Prudence is both an intellectual and moral virtue. But what distinguishes the bare pagan notion of wisdom from the full orbed Christian notion of wisdom? Again, Proverbs 9 tells us. Notice that the “fear of the Lord” is paired with “knowledge of the Holy One.” What God’s Word is saying is this: the fear of the Lord is a specific kind of knowledge of God. This certain knowledge serves as the beginning or foundation of wisdom itself. In other words, having both intellectual and experiential or intimate knowledge of God—that is having one’s mind and thoughts, will and desires conform to God’s ways, to reality as God made it—is the starting point of all wisdom. Another way of saying this is that without the fear of the Lord man’s wisdom (Prudence) devolves into foolishness.

Over the next months we will take a look at the biblical teaching on the “fear of the Lord.” Fear of the Lord is not only missing in our culture, but also missing in the modern church. In large part this is due to the fact that the modern church has a skewed view of the biblical teaching on the fear of the Lord. Over the next months, we’ll be taking a fresh look at the biblical notion of fearing God. I will do this with the help of a recent book that came out in 2021 by Michael Reeves; it’s entitled Rejoice and Tremble. Reeves will guide us into a fresh and refreshing understanding of the fear of the Lord. This will be an important study because “the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him” (Psalm 147:11).

In Christ

Pastor Carl

“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. ² Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. ³ And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.”

Daniel 7:1-3

We’ve come to the end of our study of Daniel. So far we have taken a cannonball run through Daniel chapters 1-6. Those seven chapters narrate the life of Daniel (including his three friends) during the seventy years of exile. In contrast to the first half of the book of Daniel, the last half of the book (chapters 7-12) is not sequential and/or narratological as the first half. When we come to chapter 7 the book takes on a completely different outlook and way of looking at history, the world, and eternity. This completely different perspective is “apocalyptic.” Apocalyptic genre of literature is writing intended to shock for dramatic effect. Alistair Begg correctly notes that “God employs apocalyptic language in order to express that which falls outside the normal boundaries of our use of language.” Eternal realities from above in the age to come transcend temporal realities here below in this present age. They transcend in a number of ways; one of those ways is conceptual. Eternal realities are truths which are harder to conceptualize than temporal realities here below. Because of this, the normal language we use to understand the eternal truths of God fall all too short. This is where apocalyptic language comes into play. Apocalyptic language pushes the normal boundaries of ordinary language. Apocalyptic language is highly symbolic and pictorial.  The graphic nature of apocalyptic language is prophetic and visionary. This is why John says in vs 2 that “I saw my vision.” Apocalyptic language is closer to a video game than an academic dissertation. Daniel 7, and onward, does not argue about the exact timing of last day events, but are pictures visualizing, through symbolic imaging, the majesty of God: i.e., God who is on His throne ruling and reigning where the future is securely in His hands! Case in point are the four beasts in Daniel seven: the lion with wings, the bear raised up on one side with three ribs in his mouth, the  leopard with wings, the composite beast with iron teeth and ten horns—these beasts are pictures visualizing through symbolic imaging the four successive kingdoms/nations/empires of antiquity!

Daniel 7:13-18 predicts that during the last beast’s reign (the Roman Empire) the “son of man” will ascend to heaven before the Ancient of Days and will be bestow to Him a kingdom of the age to come, an everlasting dominion which will never pass away, a kingdom that will destroy the kingdoms of this age! Daniel is depicting, hundreds of year into the future, Jesus Christ’s ascension into heaven where Christ did in fact receive the kingdom of God as God the Father’s vicegerent.

Beloved, what does this mean for us today, the 21^st century church? It means we are living during the days of Daniel’s prediction. We are living in the last days where Christ’s kingdom has already been conferred to Him; Christ is presently ruling and reigning on His throne in heaven! And the good news is Christ will return for us; he will return to consummate His kingdom by bringing heaven to earth (or more correctly) heavenizing earth and all creation via glorification: that is, new creation! Providence is moving this way, moving toward consummation. How should we live in light of this reality? We should live (as the Heidelberg Catechism teaches) in confident expectation no matter the ups and downs we experience in this age.

In Christ

Pastor Carl

Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. ⁴ Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. ⁵ Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.” (Daniel 6:3-5)

The late Eugene Peterson called the Christian life a life of obedience; he called it “a long obedience in the same direction.” The prophet Daniel embodied this. As a young man, he and his friends refused the king’s diet in obedience to God’s mandate in His Word. As we have seen, Daniel and his three friends’ obedience was tested early on and throughout their lives while in exile in Babylon. Chapter six opens up with Daniel now an elderly man around the age of eighty. Daniel has possibly outlived his three friends who are not mentioned here in chapter six. However, now nearing the end of his life, Daniel is confronted with the greatest test of his life: the test of the lion’s den.

Daniel chapter six opens with Darius, king of Persia, setting over his domain 120 satraps. The satraps were high ranking officials, something like governors in our day. Darius places a Triandria over the 120 satraps: that is, three prominent rulers who were the political elite of the elites.  Daniel, we are told, was one of three elite rulers of the elites. Their job was to make sure that the Persian Empire ran smoothly with special emphasis on the treasury so that the king was to “suffer no loss” of royal income. However, vv 3-4 tell us that Daniel so distinguished himself not only by his skill-sets but also because an “excellent spirit was in him,” that the king was planning to bestow on Daniel the office and position of prime minister over his entire kingdom, making Daniel second to no one except for the king himself. 

It’s in this context we find collusion; the two other members of the Triandria and the satraps (maybe all 120 of them) conspire to destroy Daniel’s reputation. However, they concede that Daniel was a man of such stellar reputation and integrity and virtue that they could not find any fault with him. The conspirators are shrewd enough to know that the only way they could remove him from office was by pitting the law of the land against the law of God. These schemers convinced the king to sign into law an edict, an edict that would prohibit praying to anyone other than king Darius for thirty-days. We all know the rest of the story: the threat of penal sanction is death via the lion’s den; Daniel chooses to obey God rather than man; he gets thrown into the lion’s den; God shuts the mouths of the lions; Daniel is delivered, while his schemers and their households are in turn thrown into the lion’s den.

Alistair Begg asks a challenging question: “would it make any substantial difference in our lives…if prayer were to be banned for the next thirty days?” Usually when we think of obedience, we think of big things: remaining chaste in singleness or faithful to one’s marriage vows or refusing to embezzle money from one’s employer, etc.; but how about so called little things: e.g., prayer, reading the Bible, not forsaking the assembly of the saints on the Lord’s Day, etc.—these little things were nonnegotiable. Daniel was willing to die rather than not pray for just thirty-days. All of us will go through a time of crisis in our lives; not once, not twice, not thrice, but throughout our lives, especially near the twilight of our mortal lives like Daniel. Such crises do not create who we are, but reveal who and what we are. Long obedience in the same direction is the only way you and I are going to be ready for a crisis in our lives. You and I may never endure the crisis of being thrown in a lion’s den, but crises will come rest assured. The key is to get routinizes and familiarized through daily and weekly habits of grace: that is, daily prayer and reading God’s Word both individually and corporately in worship on the Lord’s Day. So when a crisis comes a long obedience in the same direction will get you through!   

In Christ

Pastor Carl  

²⁴ “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. ²⁵ And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. ²⁶ This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; ²⁷ Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; ²⁸ Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

Daniel 5:24-28 ESV

Around 30 years have passed by between the closing of chapter 4 of Daniel and the opening of chapter 5. During these 30 thirty years a lot has changed for Daniel much like they have in our lifetime. King Nebuchadnezzar has died. His infant grandson took his place which precipitated Nabonidus to seize the throne. Nabonidus along with his son Belshazzar ruled together as father-son co-regents. When Nebuchadnezzar is referred to as the father of Belshazzar this doesn’t mean biological father. It means Belshazzar was cut-from-the-same-cloth politically as Nebuchadnezzar. By way of analogy, it would be like a contemporary president claiming that his presidency is in the fashion or in the same vein as a president George Washington.

During this time, God has been forgotten, wiped out of the memory of the Babylonian cultural elites; Daniel had been relegated to the sidelines. Chapter 4 ends with Daniel in effect being Prime Minister and chief of the Wise Men, and chapter 5 opens with Daniel disappearing from the minds of all the government elites. During this time Babylon has devolved into absolute debauchery and godlessness. The holy items taken from the Temple of Jerusalem were stolen 50 years earlier in 586 BC, and are now being used in a banquet to mock God, an expression of arrogance and desecration and idolatry.

 In vv 5-6 this king who was on the top of the world is suddenly cut down to size. He quickly sobers up when he sees the hand writing on the wall from the finger of God. The message inscribed cannot be deciphered by the wise men. At this time Daniel has been forgotten, but the king’s mother remembers Daniel. Vv 10-12 says:  

The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “O king, live forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. ¹¹ There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, ¹² because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.”

This is when Daniel is summoned by the king to interpret the cryptic inscription. The king offers him gold and silver along with being third in command of Babylon behind the king and his father the coregent. Daniel denies the offer. Then he interprets the inscription by telling the king these three things: first, the number of days for his kingdom has come to an end; second, the king has been weighed on the scales of justice and has come up short; and third, that his kingdom will be divided by the Medes and the Persian— all coming true that night. The Medes and Persians under the leadership of Darius had taken the city of Babylon, and Belshazzar was assassinated that very night.

Our nation is very much like Babylon in the days of Belshazzar. Our nation and culture have forgotten and forsaken God. The Bible is discarded from the public square and from much of our political community, including government. God has blessed this nation and has showered this country with affluence and prestige. And our nation has been a blessing to this world by setting the example of self-government under God as well as spreading the gospel to the rest of the world. But now we have ignored God, and we mock Him and His commands. Like Belshazzar, our cities and people are drunk with debauchery and self-confidence and pride. We boast that we are a great nation, that nothing can or will destroy us. And like Daniel, we Christians (including the church) are marginalized, consigned to the sidelines of post-Christendom. But like Daniel let us take heart. Daniel was faithful when he was on the top of cultural influence, and when he was at the bottom of cultural influence. You may be laboring at your job in obscurity because you won’t follow the culture like Daniel, but that doesn’t mean you are not being used by God and won’t be used by God as God may one day take you from the sidelines back to the center stage of influence. But either way God is using you greatly where He has placed you in His providence. Beloved, Romans 1:18-21 tells us that the “handwriting on the wall” is upon the nations of this world. We are, as the apostle John said, in the last hour (in our case minutes) before our Lord and Savior comes back again to bring final judgment on this world. Since this is the case, let us take heart, knowing that we too are being used to speak the gospel truth to power and lead by example. You may think that your voice and actions do not matter, but beloved they do; they matter eternally because they have eternal consequences!

In Christ,

Carl

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

(Daniel 4:37)

In the early years of the Christian church (first half of the 2^nd century AD) there was a heretic by the name of Marcion. In part, what marked Marcion as a heretic was that he rejected in toto the entire Old Testament (Hebrew Bible). Marcion reasoned that the God of the Old Testament was not the God of the New Testament. For Marcion, the God of the Old Testament was vengeful and wrathful and angry, while the God of the New Testament was loving and patient and merciful. The church immediately (and rightly) excommunicated Marcion, making him the first arch-heretic.

Why did Marcion come to that conclusion? In part, it’s for the same reason people do today: our biases blind us. A good example of this is taken from the fourth chapter of Daniel. As we noticed so far, king Nebuchadnezzar was a hard nut to crack. His pride and hubris were legendary. You would think that the king would have learned his lesson. If you recall, early in Daniel’s tenure, the king had an upsetting dream, one that haunted him. Daniel alone of all the Magi was able to interpret the king’s dream; this event marked the first time that the king came face to face with the one and only true God, a God he acknowledges as the “God of gods and Lord of kings.”

But God wasn’t done with king Nebuchadnezzar. His pride drove him to build a statute of himself made of gold, representing his dominion and domain. He commanded everyone to bow down to his image. We know the story; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not bow down. So the king commanded his guards to bind and to throw these three men into the furnace; which they did. To the surprise of the king, these three men were not touched by the fiery furnace; not even the hair of their heads was singed. The king promoted these three young men, and proclaimed that “no god was able to rescue this way” (3:29).

But God wasn’t done with king Nebuchadnezzar. This takes us to the fourth and final chapter of the life of Nebuchadnezzar. In chapter 4, the king is once again uneasy about another dream, his second dream. The king once again decreed that his astrologers and magicians and enchanters interpret his dream. And none of these spiritualists and occultists could interpret the king’s dream. You would think the king would wise up and realize that these spiritualists and occultists were imposters. Just like today, spiritualists and occultists are imposters. The only spirits that inspire occult practices—for example, things like card reading, astrology, séances, etc.—are demonic spirits. This is why God forbids such occult practices. God forbade such practices then, as He does now! King Nebuchadnezzar should have known this. But his pride and arrogance drives him to these demonically inspired imposters. And as you would guess, these imposters could not deliver when it mattered. So the king again comes to his senses and beckons Daniel to interpret the king’s dream. Daniel interprets his dream. He tells the king,

It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king,that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will (4:24-25).

Then Daniel pleads with the king to repent and humble himself before God because his pride would be his ruination. But we are told the king did not follow Daniel’s counsel:

All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon,  and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws (4:28-33).

Why did this happen? It happened because the king ignored the prophet’s message and would not repent. But God was not done with king Nebuchadnezzar. After God in his mercy and grace and longsuffering gave the king 12 months to repent, God lowered His blow of judgment. For seven long years God humbled the king by driving him, quite literally, insane. But notice that the duration was itself an act of mercy. God had every right to strike the king with insanity for an indefinite period and then leave him to die, but God did not. God in His mercy struck him sufficiently to realize an important truth. As Alistair Begg says, “God was showing king Nebuchadnezzar that in truth he was not a mighty, self-sufficient, all powerful ruler but a lowly, needy, dependent creature.” Finally the proverbial light bulb went off; the king got it. He finally…

 lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (4:34-25)

The king finally came to his spiritual senses. Daniel pointed the king to God, but it took the work of God to open his heart. But notice God’s work. God wasn’t vengeful or wrathful or angry. God was patient, merciful, and loving. This is how God has always worked in the Old Testament. God was longsuffering with Sodom and Gomorrah. God was longsuffering with the Canaanites. God was longsuffering with the Nineveh just as He was with king Nebuchadnezzar.     

As Christians, what should we learn from this? What can we take home? First, we can take home the fact that God has always been and will always be a patient, longsuffering God. In fact, what distinguishes the Old Covenant era of law vs the New Covenant era of grace in salvation history is that God is even more longsuffering and patient in our dispensation of grace than in the old dispensation. That’s not to say God was not longsuffering in the Old Testament. As demonstrated in Daniel, the God of the Old Testament is the same longsuffering and patient God as He was in the New Testament Apostolic church and is in the church age today. The difference is that under this age of grace (that is, the time between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ), the state of affairs under the condition of God’s longsuffering and patience has been accelerated and enhanced. Second, we can take home the fact that God’s grace of longsuffering and patience is not infinite. When Christ returns the age of grace will give way to the day of the Lord, the day of ultimate judgment and wrath. In the meantime, our calling as Christians (and especially the corporate church) is to relay a message to the world. What is this message? As Psalm 2:12 says, our message is a mandate, a mandate and warning to “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Our mandate is to relay this message of amnesty, that is, the gracious and merciful terms of surrender of our conquering king to an already conquered enemy. It was customary in the Ancient Near East before kings razed conquered lands—i.e., demolish walls, public building, infrastructure, etc.—to first expend much effort through the power of persuasion to convince foreign people to submit willingly. The mandate of the Great Commission is simply king Jesus sending his ambassadors to relay the message that the king of the age to come has already conquered the god of this age, that total destruction is impending. Holy Spirit power has been given to the church to persuade the foreign nations (the city of man) to submit willingly in this dispensation of grace and mercy. This is our singular and most important mandate given to the church. This mission defines who we are: ambassadors of Christ imploring the world of sinful men and women to be reconciled to God. Amen!

In Christ

Carl

Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!

 (Daniel 3:28 ESV)

In Daniel, we have been discussing the topic of faith and culture: i.e., the Christian’s place in this world. Daniel, along with his three friends, serve as a model for us on how to live in a post-Christian world. In chapter 1, Daniel helped us to know where we must draw the proverbial line between cultural accommodation, on the one hand, and cultural capitulation, on the other. In chapter 2, the topic was about confidence and stability: i.e., where should we place our confidence and assurance. Now, in chapter 3, the topic is about trusting and obeying God.

Roughly, nine years have passed between the events that transpired between chapters 2 and 3. Chapter 2 ends with king Nebuchadnezzar acknowledging the God of Israel as the only true God, the “God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries” (Daniel 2:47). Nine years later, king Nebuchadnezzar was back to his old ways. In chapter 3 the king commands that a 90-foot-high golden image be erected in the king’s image and worshiped in the king’s honor. What happened? In chapter 2 the king had a strong conviction that Yahweh was the God of gods and Lord of kings. What was lacking? Matthew Henry explains that “Strong convictions often come short of sound conversion.” That is what king Nebuchadnezzar lacked: i.e., a sound conversion. A sound conversion includes conviction, conviction of the truth, but it must include more, much more. It must also include trust and obedience to God. A saving faith, a sound conversion is a trusting and obedient faith.

We see this played out in Daniel 3:4-5. The king commands everyone at the sound of the music to fall down and prostrate, in worship, before the golden image. This image is a symbol of the mighty power of Babylon personified in Babylon’s king.  Like the Tower of Babel, king Nebuchadnezzar wants to ensure his name, making sure it remains great! Anyone who refuses to bow down in worship of the golden statue will suffer death in the fiery furnace. We all know what happens next. In Daniel 3:12, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship. The king gives these three young men another chance to recant as the king taunts them by mockingly saying, “who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” (v 15). In response, Daniel’s three friends answer this way:     

O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. ¹⁷ If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up (Daniel 3:16-18)

We all know the end of the story. God did in fact deliver them from the fiery furnace. Daniel’s three friends did have faith, a conviction that God could in fact deliver them. But notice they also said, “if not,” if God chose not to deliver them from certain death, then so be it; they said, “we do not serve your gods, nor will worship the gold image.” This is amazing! They know God could deliver them, but they are not assuming He will. They are prepared for God not to deliver them. Yet, they still obeyed. Alistair Begg says that “Faith is not believing in spite of evidences; rather, it is obeying in spite of the consequences.” Beloved, this is saving faith; this is evidence of a sound faith: trusting and obeying God in spite of the consequences.

 The Christian’s life is a Pilgrim’s life. And the Pilgrim’s life is a life of “fiery trials.”  1 Peter 4:12 says, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.” Peter is alluding to Daniel 3; he is saying the life of a Christian is a life of fiery trials, and we should not be shocked but expect such trials to come our way. What both Peter and Daniel teach us is that God will not deliver us from the fiery trials of life, but God will deliver us through the fiery trials of life. Trusting and obeying God in spite of the consequences is trusting and obeying God to get us through the fiery trials of life. This is how we make progress on our journey in the Christian life. We like Daniel’s three friends are formed by our trials, trials that ironically bring blessings, trials that mold us and shape us into the glory-image of Christ. The temptation to bow our knee to the idols of our generation is just as enticing: the idols of status, the idols of our agendas, the idols of reputation, the idols of peer pressure, the idols of pleasure, etc.—these are just as tempting as any of the idols of antiquity. However, Christ has promised to be with us as He was with Daniel’s three friends in the fiery furnace as he too delivers us through the fiery trials of life. Let us take heart in this dear Christian, knowing Christ will never leave or forsake us, that he will be with us to the end of the age!

In Christ

Pastor Carl

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, ⁴⁵ just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

(Daniel 2:44-45 ESV)

In Daniel, we have been discussing the topic of faith and culture: i.e., the Christian’s place in this world. Daniel, along with his three friends, serve as a model for us on how to live in a post-Christian world. In chapter 1, Daniel helped us to know where we must draw the proverbial line between cultural accommodation, on the one hand, and cultural capitulation, on the other. In chapter 2, the topic is about confidence and stability: i.e., where should we place our confidence and assurance. The world is a volatile place; the reliable patterns of predictability, stability, and certainty can give way in an instant to unpredictability, instability, and uncertainty. A season of harmony can give way to a season of upheaval! When the ground is shifting beneath your feet, where do we find solid ground?

Daniel chapter 2, in part, addresses this. Chapter 2 opens up with the great king Nebuchadnezzar.  King Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful king of the ancient world. His empire was the greatest of all human kingdoms. In fact, his kingdom was so great, God gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream that depicted his kingdom as a kingdom of gold. The kingdoms that will follow Nebuchadnezzar will pale in comparison: the Persians will be great, but they will be but silver; the Greeks will be great, but mere bronze; the Romans will be great, but mere iron mixed with clay—none of these kingdoms compare to the greatness of the Babylonian kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar.  

That part of the dream was not unsettling. What was unsettling was the rest of the dream. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, he saw “a stone cut out from a mountain by no human hands.” This stone demolished the statue which represented all four successive kingdoms. This kingdom shall never be destroyed and shall stand forever! After Daniel retold and interpreted the king’s dream, then Nebuchadnezzar’s heart was at ease and then the king promoted Daniel to chief of all the Wise Men and provincial governor over Babylon. 

What is Daniel predicting? The prophet Daniel is predicting the rise and fall of all the kingdoms of this world. Daniel predicts the rise and fall of four kingdoms: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome! It was during the Roman Empire that the stone cut from the mountain began the destruction of the kingdoms of this world; that stone is the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus! By virtue of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the kingdom of God was inaugurated. The inauguration of the kingdom of God, with Christ being the mediatorial king, was the beginning of the end of the kingdoms of this world. With the first coming of king Jesus, king Jesus began the upheaval process, a process that will culminate with Christ’ second coming to bring total and lasting judgement. Predictability and stability and certainty are an illusion because the kingdoms of this world are built on the shifting ground of unpredictability, instability, and uncertainty—all doomed to destruction!

Where are we to turn when the ground is shifting beneath our feet: shifting from COVID, shifting from inflation and economic upheaval, shifting from the fear of another World War, shifting from the moral madness and dithering haze of sexual and gender chaos? Daniel reminds us that we are citizens of a kingdom that cannot be shaken. As Christians, we are citizens of an eternal kingdom, a kingdom that can never be destroyed! The church is an outpost or an embassy of Christ’s heavenly kingdom where he rules and reigns on God the Father’s very throne. The church is the only institution that will stand when all else tumbles and falls. Beloved, this should give us comfort and confidence and stability in our lives. The reason why we shall stand for ever is because Christ’s kingdom shall stand forever!!

In Christ,                                 

Carl

And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.

Deuteronomy 31:8

Before the holidays, I was sharing with you insights I have been gleaning from my study of 1 Peter and from Alistair Begg’s recent book entitled Brave by Faith: God-Sized Confidence in a Post-Christian World. Some of the questions asked by Begg are:“What does it look like to live as a Christian in a society that does not like what Christians believe, what we say, and how we live? How are you going to live in this new normal?” As I noted last the last time, these are great questions, ones that the Bible has an answer.

As previously noted, as our culture and society and institutions (including Western civilization) experience further spiritual and moral declension, the greater our sense of exile will be.

However, this awakening isn’t bad. It gives us a proper perspective, a perspective that reminds us of the reality that all along America has never been Jerusalem, but Babylon. And second, this awakening isn’t bad because it forces us to long for heaven, especially for the creation of the new heavens and earth when Christ returns to bring heaven to earth after He has destroyed every kingdom of man. As D. L. Moody noted in the late 18^th century this world is shipped wrecked. The only hope for survival is to get into the lifeboat. The lifeboat is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the only hope for safe passage is Jesus and His church!

Today we’ll talk about how and where we must “draw the line” as we engage our society and culture. Are we as Christian obligated to draw a line at some point between us and the world? Most Christians assume we do. But where exactly are we to draw the line? At first glance this may seem easy, but it’s not. Consider again the prophet Daniel and his three friends. Neither Daniel, nor his three friends protested their pagan education after being forcefully relocated from their home country of Judah to Babylon. They dutifully studied the worldview of Babylon, along with its science, literature, mathematics, etc. Second, they did not protest their new pagan names: Daniel became Belteshazzar; Hananiah became Shadrach; Mishael became Meshach; and Azariah became Abednego. The purpose of renaming these young men was to refashion them from being committed to Israel and Israel’s God to being committed to Babylon and Babylon’s gods, to being good Babylonian citizens and servants.

You would think that these young men would have protested and drew the line there. On the contrary, they did not. However, we are told they did protest and resist changing their diet. Seems like a strange place to draw a line. Why did they draw the line there? The reason why is that from a Jewish perspective one’s diet was just as much about one’s faith as it was about nutrition. Daniel and his three friends grew up as religiously devout Jews in religiously devout homes. And devout Jews were particular about what they would eat. The reason is because God had explicitly commanded through the Mosaic Law what one could eat and what one could not eat. These “Ceremonial laws” were morally binding because God commanded them. The reason why Daniel and his three friends drew the line there is because Scripture drew it for them. Scripture is explicit that the food offered to idols at the King’s table was ceremonially unclean. And to eat food that God has forbidden was a line they would not transgress. In short, God drew the line for them. Alistair Begg makes the point that this “…kind of resolution doesn’t come just as a whim. It doesn’t come overnight; it doesn’t well up in a moment of challenge. Crisis shows what’s inside of a person; it doesn’t create it as much as reveal it.”

Beloved this is true for us as well. We may never experience a crisis on par to what Daniel and his three friends faced, but crises will come into our lives from one degree to another. The question is how do we prepare? We prepare the same way Daniel and his three friends prepared. First, we prepare by knowing Scripture. We must be able to discern the difference between what is a nonnegotiable and what is negotiable. This requires both knowledge of the Word and wisdom in prayer: i.e., God speaking to us in his Word, and we speaking to God in prayer. Second, we must know that God is in control. In every fiber of their being these young men knew,  no matter what the circumstances were, that God was in absolute sovereign control of those circumstances: God was in control of their relocation; God was in control of their reeducation; and God was in control of their renaming. And God is in control of every circumstance and situation you are going through. Though we live in a post-Christian and hostile world, we can take heart that God is still in control! And He will continue to be with you and never forsake you. We have nothing to fear, nothing to dismay us!

In Christ,

Carl