Category Archives: Bible

A biblical perspective on Tuesday’s elections

02 Sunday Nov 2014

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Government is a necessary, God-ordained institution whose primary purpose is to restrain sin by maintaining law and order in society (see Rom 13:3-4; 1 Pet 2:13-14). Christians who live in a democracy should seek to influence the government by casting their vote—though, admittedly, sometimes we feel that we are voting for the lesser of two evils. Some Christians are even called to a career in government and politics, although this is becomingly increasingly difficult in the American context.

This Tuesday, November 3, is an important “midterm” election for congressional and state officials. How can we put this election in biblical perspective? First of all, we can say that it is a mistake to place your hope for the future on the results of this election. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that if the Republican party can just win control of Congress, followed in two years by the White House, they will fix the spiritual problems in America. While there are some evangelical Christian politicians in the Republican party, most Republicans are essentially secular, and most have a secular agenda. Even if all the Republican politicians were Bible-believing Christians, there still is just not much interest in the Christian gospel in America today. If the Republicans regain control of the Senate, this will, at best, only slow down America’s moral and spiritual decline.

Our hope as a Christian has to do with the world that is to come—that world where the redeemed are raised from the dead, where there is no pain, no suffering, and no death, and where God Himself is ruling directly and visibly. If you set your hope on anything in this world, you will be sorely disappointed, because this world and everything in it is passing away. Don’t hope for a political party or a politician to solve the world’s problems. Don’t think that government, science, or business will solve the world’s problems. Put your hope in Jesus Christ, who is the only Solution to the world’s problems. Jesus will in fact solve all the problems in the world at His second coming to earth; until then, people everywhere are called to receive Him as their Savior in order to obtain a place in that glorious world to come. It is okay to be involved in politics, but the church needs to stay focused on spiritual causes. If you choose to give money to a political cause, make sure that the bulk of your giving is still going to the church, which is where it will really make a difference.

I know many Christians who are fearful of the political future of America. Is there a big economic collapse coming in America, as the doomsayers perennially forecast? Neither party wants to hurt the economy; the economy will probably grow no matter which party is in power, though in different ways and at different rates. The prospect of religious persecution of evangelical Christians is much more real, though it is still unclear exactly how and when this will unfold. Should the rising tide of anti-Christian sentiment scare us? Not if we see our duty as simply being faithful to God, which is something we can do in tough times as well as in good times. (By the way, most American Christians that I know who are very worried about the direction of their country, and who are praying fervently for political change, seem to feel “locked in” to life in America. But if pressure on Christians in America becomes too great, there is nothing in the Bible that says Christians cannot move to another country for their own safety. It would probably actually be good for the spread of the gospel if more American Christians moved overseas [cf. Acts 8:1-4; 11:19].)

The Bible teaches that God is sovereign over rulers and nations; in fact, this is the theme of the book of Daniel (2:21; 3:29; 4:32; 5:21; 6:26; 7:27). So if people who are opposed to God, and who are opposed to biblical principles, win Tuesday’s elections, does that mean God has lost control? Should it shake your faith? By no means. In fact, God will not impose direct political control over the earth until Jesus Christ returns to set up His kingdom. The Bible reveals that the end of the present age is marked by a great rebellion against God, in which the world will continually grow worse until it finally unites in worship of a man known as the antichrist (cf. 2 Thess 2:1-12). The antichrist will lead the world to the ultimate expression of evil, such that God will finally have to intervene and put an end to the kingdoms of this world. Since this is how the Bible reveals the age will end, it should not surprise us when leaders and cultures in the world grow ever more anti-Christian. When things go from bad to worse to worse yet, it is because God’s sovereign plan is unfolding to bring the powers of this world to an end. Our job is to be separate and faithful. By doing so, we obtain a share in the spoils of victory when Christ returns to conquer the world.

Come, Lord Jesus! (Rev 22:20)

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A biblical perspective on the World Series

27 Monday Oct 2014

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Game 6 of the World Series is tomorrow, and millions of Americans will be watching. Nearly everyone in America (or, at least, nearly every male) spends a significant amount of time watching sports of some kind year-round, whether it is baseball or one of the seemingly endless variety of other athletic competitions that are televised today. But did you know that the early church was opposed to sports? (Read Tertullian’s On the Games/De Spectaculis, for example.) Sports were also rejected by observant Jews before the time of Christ’s first advent, in part because training in sports and participation in the games was one of the major emphases of Antiochus IV’s attempt to Hellenize the Jewish people.

What does the Bible have to say about sports? First, the Bible is clear that God is not impressed by athletic ability, but only by godly character. Psalm 147:10-11 says, He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His lovingkindness. When the prophet Samuel was initially very impressed by the physical appearance of David’s oldest brother Eliab, and assumed that Eliab should be anointed king on this basis, God told Samuel, Do not look at his appearance, or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For [the LORD sees] not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (1 Sam 16:7).

I have a very hard time believing that God is impressed by how hard a pitcher can throw a baseball, or by how far a batter can hit it.

The apostle Paul once participated in an athletic competition, though not by choice: he evidently was thrown into a ring with wild beasts at the Ephesus amphitheater and was forced to fight them in a life-or-death match as a public spectacle, as a punishment for preaching the gospel (1 Cor 15:32; cf. 2 Cor 1:8-11). But in describing this event in 1 Cor 15:32, Paul says that if he fought with wild beasts “after the manner of men” it would have been of no profit for him. That is, had Paul fought with the motive of the gladiators—worldly fame and fortune, or a love of sport—it would not have been of ultimate value for him, because the world’s glory is passing away. However, Paul fought with wild beasts with the motive of serving the risen Christ, which has an eternal reward. He was fighting by compulsion, not by choice, and he glorified God by demonstrating that God could deliver a man who was in his fifties and not trained as a gladiator from the mouth of the lion (cf. 2 Tim 4:17). The inspired view of sports which Paul gives in 1 Cor 15:32 is that if sports are played for any of the usual motives for which sports are played—to win fame, glory, money, and so forth—they are unprofitable for the players. They are, in a word, worthless.

Even non-competitive bodily exercise, which clearly has health benefits, is said by Paul to be merely of “a little” profit in comparison to the more important exercise of one’s faith unto godliness, since godliness has value both for the present life and for the life to come in eternity (1 Tim 4:7-8).

In the grand scheme of things, it is stupid to be awed by someone’s ability to whack a golf ball or to toss a basketball. It is stupid for coaches, fans, and players to treat the games they play with great seriousness and passion, as if they are a very significant thing. Sports competitions accomplish nothing of any value, since they are worthless insofar as eternity is concerned, and they cannot even be considered productive work vis-à-vis the present world. (Yes, everyone needs a break from work, but do we “need” professional sports?) In fact, sports glorify man, rather than God, and they set up a conflict between rival players and fans for no good reason. Even from the standpoint of fitness, sports create frequent injuries and long-term wear and tear as players push their bodies to the limit and do things that the body was not designed to do. It is better to follow a simpler exercise regimen, and to do so only to maintain one’s health for service to God.

Whether the subject is sports or something else, the things we really care about should be the things that really matter.

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Why isn’t Islam in Bible prophecy?

24 Friday Oct 2014

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I grew up in a strong Bible-teaching church that emphasized Bible prophecy, and I have been a student of Bible prophecy all of my life. Given the amount of time that I have spent studying biblical prophecy, I find it curious that I cannot find a reference to the Islamic religion anywhere in the Bible. Currently, and for some time in the recent past, Islam has been a focal point of the world’s attention, due to the rise of militant Islamists who are responsible for a disproportionate number of terrorist attacks, civil strife, and wars in the world. Muslims also currently dominate the Middle East, and the Middle East is the focal point of biblical prophecy. But the Bible presents Israel as living in complete physical peace with its neighbors around the time of the antichrist’s rise to power (Ezek 38:11-12)—something which is not possible so long as radical Islam is present in the region.

So what will happen to Islam? In the absence of any clear biblical statement, it is hard to say with certainty. Maybe all the radical Muslims will become moderates. But it seems to me that Islam is in the process of collapsing, or of self-destroying. Recent events have shown that committed Muslims have a tendency to radicalize, which means waging jihad (war) against the infidels. (Christians are engaged in a spiritual battle, not in a battle against “flesh and blood” [Eph 6:12]; but many Muslims see their religion as indeed a “flesh and blood” struggle for survival and expansion.) The “infidels” include not only people from other religions, but also those from rival sects of Islam. In fact, the radicals tend to fracture into different groups which declare all others to be infidels, including other radical Islamists. More Muslims (and new converts to Islam) continue to radicalize, since the radicals have been able to argue convincingly that the Islamic religion does in fact teach the philosophy they espouse.

Western leaders portray the radicals as not representative of “true Islam.” They essentially want Muslims to hold values that are very close to those held by the Western secular majority, and to make Islam little more than a cultural identity with some belief in a higher power. However, their efforts to promote so-called “moderate Islam” are failing, since the claims about Islam made by Western leaders merely represent what they want Islam to be for political reasons. Claims about “true Islam” can really only be made by presenting a detailed analysis of the theological underpinnings of the Islamic religion, and Western leaders have failed to present such theological argumentation. Modern Muslims who want to become more religious tend to radicalize, and to turn violently against the West.

I believe there is a massive collapse coming in Islam, due largely to disillusionment when the goals and aims of the Islamists are totally frustrated. If the Islamist forces are crushed on the battlefield all over the world, and if Israel wins some sort of total victory, this would create a crisis of belief in the Islamic world. The Islamists themselves are creating disillusionment among many Muslims who are repulsed by what they are doing. Perhaps the West (and China) will even launch a concerted campaign to stamp out Islam someday, possibly as part of a broader campaign against conservative monotheistic religions.

What religious system will replace Islam in the Muslim countries of the world? I pray that the church will make a great effort to reach Muslims with the gospel as they are driven to search for truth and answers.

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What if God offered to give you any (good) thing?

17 Friday Oct 2014

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For today’s post, I want to share a devotional/exegetical reflection from 1 Kings 3.

In 1 Kings 3, we encounter a young and prosperous Israelite king named Solomon, who loves the Lord. He goes to the great high place at Gibeah, and offers a thousand burnt offerings before the Lord. The Lord appears to him in a dream at night, and says, “Ask what I should give you.” What an offer! Most of us are familiar with Solomon’s answer: Solomon asks for, literally, a “hearing heart”—a Hebrew idiom for wisdom. First Kings 3:10 says the Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this thing, and Solomon was granted his request.

For a long time I assumed that Solomon had given the right answer, and that if God were to make me the offer that He made to Solomon, I should ask for wisdom. Over the years, however, I slowly began to question this. Solomon gave a good answer, to be sure, but was it the best answer? And if it was not the best answer, then what is the best answer? I think I finally have it.

Solomon’s request pleased the Lord, because he had asked for an excellent, selfless thing—a thing which would enable him to serve the people of the Lord more effectively. His prayer for wisdom is rightly memorialized in Scripture as a great expression of a heart devoted to God. But wisdom is not the only virtue in the world, and surely there are other good things which Solomon could have asked for, which also would have pleased the Lord. As the story of Solomon’s life unfolds in the pages of Scripture, it becomes clear that he did not in fact ask for the best possible thing, though he did ask for a good thing and is not to be faulted for it. Solomon’s wisdom did not prevent him from turning away from the Lord in his later years. This shows that Solomon would, in the end, have been better served by a request for a perfect heart, than by a request for a hearing heart. If the Lord were to make me the offer which he made to Solomon, my prayer would be an adaptation of Jeremiah 31:33-34—”O Lord my God, put your law in my inward parts, and write it upon my heart, that I may know you perfectly and serve you perfectly all of my days.”

That this is the best thing that could be asked for is confirmed by Jesus’ identification of the two greatest commandments of the Law as the commands to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:35-40; Mark 12:28-31). These are the things which have real and ultimate significance, more than the cares of this life—and more, in the final analysis, than even wisdom itself, though wisdom cannot be separated completely from sanctification. Even wise old Solomon himself affirmed the paramount importance of fearing God and keeping his commandments as the conclusion of his great investigation of human life, in Ecclesiastes 12:13. Wisdom is very important, useful, and necessary, but nothing is more important than sanctification.

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