Different Kinds of Laughter

I am not thinking here of God's derision at human rebellion (Psalm 2:4), but of the contrasting kinds of laughter spoken of in Genesis 17 and 18, where Abraham and Sarah both laugh on hearing that Isaac, the child of promise, was soon to be born.

Isaac's name means laughter, and Abraham's laughter at the divine promise (Genesis 17:17) is appropriate, and not rebuked. I am sure we can infer that it was a kind of joy or glee, expressive of great delight at the improbability of such an event, not the token of an unbelieving mind.

Sarah's laughter, however (Genesis 18:12), was not so benign. It was a token of unbelief; and, though it was 'within herself', and behind the tent door, not openly expressed, the LORD knew it instantly, and reproved her for it, despite her fearful denial that she had laughed (verse 15).

It may be at this point in Abraham's history that he 'rejoiced to see [Christ's] day: and he saw it and was glad' (John 8:56). It may be that he was given to look down the long ages to come, to the climax of Israel's and the world's hopes, the appearing of the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel and the Saviour of the world.

Sarah did not persist in unbelief, since we read in Hebrews 11:11 that it was through faith that she received strength to conceive seed, judging God, who had made the promise, to be faithful. All the same, we should beware of an unbelieving attitude which suggests the thought that there are some things too hard for the Lord (Genesis 18:14), and we should remember that nothing screens our unbelief from God's all-seeing eyes (Genesis 18:15).

But above all, we should rejoice with faithful Abraham that all God's promises of a gracious Saviour have been and are being fulfilled in Jesus Christ, our only hope, and the cause of the inward joy and rejoicing of all the saints.

    

When Body and Soul Must Part

We speak of keeping body and soul together, but the Scriptures show that a time is coming for all of us when body and soul must part. For the believer, this is not a matter for regret, but for happy expectation. As the great Puritan preacher and writer, Thomas Watson, said: 'At death all sorrows die.' The seventeenth-century poet, Richard Crashaw, wrote in his poem Temperance:

And when life's sweet fable ends,
Soul and body part like friends;
No quarrels, murmurs, no delay;
A kiss, a sigh, and so away.

But in our day, many think that the idea of two substances together - body and soul - making up human nature is 'scientifically untenable'. No doubt for that reason, 'Even many Christian philosophers and scientists assert that the human soul is just a complex property of the body and, as such, cannot exist apart from it.' This quotation is from John Byl's excellent book, The Divine Challenge (Banner of Truth, 2004). And here I would like to commend the chapter in that book entitled, 'Body and Soul', as the most satisfying brief account of this topic by a modern author that I have seen.

One aspect of this subject that is worth emphasizing is that, for all Christian believers who subscribe to the Westminster Confession,the Baptist Confession of 1689, the Belgic Confession, or the Heidelberg Catechism, denying or questioning the doctrine of human nature as composed of body and soul is not an option. Byl gives the relevant references.

'But', it will be objected, 'our authority is Jesus Christ, not creeds and confessions.' Yes indeed! Therefore let us listen to Jesus' words: 'Fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul' (Matthew 10:28). These few words from him who is the Truth carry more weight than whole libraries of science, psychology, and philosophy, to those who believe in him, love him, and entrust the salvation of body and soul to him alone.

Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, 
Till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide; 
O receive my soul at last.
                        Charles Wesley
     

No Discharge in This War

Today I pass another milestone which I never expected to see. It is my sixty-fifth birthday, and so, in accordance with U.K. practice, I am officially retired.

But I am reminded that there is a happy service from which the children of God do not retire till death. Like our beloved Queen here in the U.K., they do not think of laying down the service with which they have been entrusted till death releases them from it.

Take up thy cross, and follow Christ,
Nor think till death to lay it down;
For only he who bears the cross
May think to wear the glorious crown.
                                                  Charles Everest

But it is not only a cross that they bear. It is the privilege of a place in the ranks of the army of the Lord of Hosts. 'There is no discharge' in the war in which we are engaged (Ecclesiastes 8:8), If the Lord has chosen us to be soldiers, we dare not entangle ourselves more than we have to with the affairs of this life (2 Timothy 2:4).

Do we not long to lay down our weapons and rest from our conflict? Of course we do. Says Thomas Watson, 'Here we are combatting with Satan, and should we not desire to be out of the bloody field, where the bullets of temptation fly fast, and receive a victorious crown? Think what it will be to have always a smiling look from Christ’s face! to be brought into the banqueting-house, and have the banner of his love displayed.'

But we seek an honourable discharge, not a premature dismissal. And the Captain of our salvation knows when it is best to withdraw us from the battle and give us a place among his honoured veterans in glory.

From strength to strength go on,
Wrestle and fight and pray:
Tread all the powers of darkness down,
And win the well-fought day.

That, having all things done,
And all your conflicts past,
Ye may o'ercome, through Christ alone,
And stand complete at last.
                                      Charles Wesley
 

The Fountain of Our Mercies

I have quoted before from John Flavel's book, The Fountain of Life. I would like to include another extract now. This is only the beginning of his sermon on John 3:16, 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life', but I hope it might be used to arouse more interest in the expositions of this excellent man. They are all available in the Banner of Truth edition of Flavel's Works.

You have heard of the gracious purpose and design of God, to recover poor sinners to himself by Jesus Christ, and how this design of love was laid and contrived in the covenant of redemption, whereof we last spoke. Now, according to the terms of that covenant, you shall hear from this scripture: how that design was by one degree advanced towards its accomplishment, in God's actual giving or parting with his own Son for us.

The whole precedent context is spent in discovering the nature and necessity of regeneration, and the necessity thereof is in this text urged and inferred from the peculiar respect and eye God had upon believers, in giving Christ for them; they only reaping all the special and saving benefits and advantages of that gift: 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in him should not perish.'

In the words are to be considered,

First, The original spring or fountain of our best mercies, the love of God. The love of God is, either benevolent, beneficent, or delightful. His benevolent love is nothing else but his desire and purpose of saving, and doing us good; so his purpose and grace to Jacob is called love, Rom. 9:13. 'Jacob have I loved;' but this being before Jacob was, could consist in nothing else but the gracious purpose of God towards him. His beneficent love is his actual doing good to the persons beloved, or his bestowing the effects of his love upon us, according to that purpose. His delightful love, is nothing else but that delight and satisfaction he finds in beholding the fruits and workings of that grace in us, which he first intended for us, and then actually collated or bestowed on us. This love of benevolence, is that which I have opened to you, under the former head, God's compact with Christ about us, or his design to save us on the articles and terms therein specified.

The love of beneficence, is that which this scripture speaks of; out of this fountain Christ flowed to us, and both [benevolence and beneficence] ran into that of delight, for therefore he both purposed and actually bestowed Christ on us, that he might everlastingly delight in beholding the glory and praise of all this reflected on himself, by his redeemed ones. This then is the fountain of our mercies.

Everlasting Remembrance

'Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance' (Psalm 112:6).

I read the last part of this scripture just yesterday, not in the Bible, but engraved in stone on the Martyrs' Monument in St Andrews, which has just undergone expensive restoration work. The monument commemorates four men who died a martyr's death in St Andrews because of their adherence to the truth of Christ, as rediscovered in the Protestant Reformation. They were Patrick Hamilton, Henry Forrest, George Wishart, and Walter Mill. I could point interested readers to further information on these men, and the cause for which they died; but there is already abundant information on the Web.

What is striking is the way in which the scripture mentioned is being fulfilled before our eyes, here in St Andrews, and more widely. It is surely a token from the Lord that he intends to confirm his Word concerning such men.

And, of course, it is true that there are vast multitudes of more obscure saints whose names are precious in the sight of God (see Malachi 3:16, 17). A book of remembrance is being kept, and no doubt names are being added to it daily, as believers seal their testimonies with their lives.

But what of their persecutors? Does anyone remember their names? Or those who were just lukewarm - who remembers their names with love and veneration? Their names are forgotten. 'The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot' (Proverbs 10:7). 'Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints' (Psalm 116:15).

However, when we have said all this, we cannot forget that our names deserve to be left for ever in obscurity, and would be, were it not for the Name which is above every name. 'His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed' (Psalm 72:17). This is the name through which we must be saved, the name of JESUS CHRIST. Let his name be exalted for ever. Even the greatest names among men are less than nothing compared with his.

  

A Time to Be Born, and a Time to Die

We read in Ecclesiastes 3:1, 2, 'To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die . . .'

The timing of these events, then, is not arbitrary, but purposeful. God has appointed them both, and we cannot alter them. It is a blessing that this is so. Just as we could not know when the time was ripe for our birth, so we cannot tell the best time for our departure out of this life. But the God of infinite wisdom knows, and in that we should rest.

The Puritan John Flavel turns this truth to very practical account in his book, A Token for Mourners, reprinted by Banner of Truth in 2010 as, Facing Grief: Counsel for Mourners. He pictures mourners filled with vain regrets, believing that, if only this had been done, or that left undone, the one who has died would still be with them. 'No, no', says Flavel, 'the Lord's time was fully come, and all things concurred, and fell in together to bring about the pleasure of his will.'

This does not excuse voluntary or sinful neglect, but it does provide comfort concerning involuntary oversights or mistakes. Despite them, the Lord knew what he was doing, and his timing was right. 

This is what I believe about the time of my own departure. There is good reason for my being unexpectedly spared this long. I am certainly in the last stage of liver cancer, but only God knows when he will take me home to himself. I do not know, and do not need to know. I must trust him who knows best.

The supreme example of the perfect wisdom of God's timing is seen in the birth and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. His birth was at the time appointed, 'the fulness of the time' (Galatians 4:4). As to his death, it too was according to God's timing, not man's. His enemies plotted to bring it about at the time they chose, 'Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people' (Matthew 26:5); but God determined that it should be at that very time, during the Passover, so that our Saviour should fulfil all the types of the Passover lamb, and be very publicly lifted up to die (John 12:32).

God's timing is always perfect. We can and must trust him.

 

A Two-Years' Unexpected Journey

Today marks the second anniversary of the first post on this blog. I cannot let this occasion pass without pausing to give thanks to God, and thanking all readers for their support and prayers.

This milestone coincides with reaching another: total page views have just passed the 50,000 mark. This does not mean that 50,000 people have read the blog, but that, according to the Blogger system, there have been 50,000 occasions when someone (other than my wife and me) visited the blog. This is nothing when compared with the major blogs, but it is something when you consider that I did not expect to have long to write. I thought I might have about six months at most, so that most of the past two years are, to me, a gracious gift of God.

For those who have not heard the story of the origin of the blog, it is briefly this: In late May 2011, I was feeling particularly low, and one night I wondered if perhaps the end my earthly life was near. But in the morning, I felt much better, and the text  at the head of the blog came into my mind, 'I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD' (Psalm 118:17). I began to think that perhaps there was something I could do, before mortal life ceased, to exalt the Saviour I loved.

I had previously toyed with the idea of blogging during my retirement, but the idea now became sharper, and I published the first post on 7 June 2011. Except for a hiatus in the early part of this year, when my family, after diligent research, realized that I was being adversely affected by morphine, I have been enabled to continue till now with the major aim of the blog: to exalt Christ and his great salvation.

I am indebted to Tim Challies, a leading Christian blogger, for mentioning one of my posts in January, which led to many new readers, and I am very thankful to all those who have read and commented on the blog. Above all, I am overwhelmingly grateful to the covenant God of Israel, in the Trinity of his Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and the unity of the Godhead, for saving and keeping me, an unworthy sinner, all these years, and adding, as it were, these two unexpected years in which to praise him.

I intended to have said something about my health, but I will have to do that on another occasion, if the Lord will. Meanwhile, may all of us who are believers join in singing, with Isaac Watts:

I’ll praise my maker while I’ve breath,
And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler powers;
My days of praise shall ne’er be past,
While life, and thought, and being last,
Or immortality endures.

Happy the man whose hopes rely
On Israel’s God: he made the sky,
And earth, and seas, with all their train:
His truth for ever stands secure;
He saves th’oppressed, he feeds the poor,
And none shall find his promise vain.

The Lord has eyes to give the blind;
The Lord supports the sinking mind;
He sends the labouring conscience peace;
He helps the stranger in distress,
The widow, and the fatherless,
And grants the prisoner sweet release.