Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

When we say God is awesome, we usually think of the power, might, intellect and wisdom behind the creation.  For example, did you know that there are stars out there as much bigger than the sun as the sun is bigger than the Earth?  And yet all the information needed to grow a complete person -- from hair color to height to intelligence to some personality traits -- are encoded on molecules so small that they can't be seen without powerful microscopes.  From the intricate ways that ecosystems work to the hugeness of our galaxy (which is only one of many), we see the true greatness of the God who could just speak these things into existence. 

And yet this creative power/genius might be one of the smaller attributes of our great God.  Search the English Standard Version for "steadfast love". 193 verses use that phrase throughout the Bible and most if not all of them refer to God's love for his people--his steadfast, or patient, love for his continually failing people. Think about that for a second:  He creates mankind, gives us all blessings and watches as they are thrown away through the overreaching of man.  He watches as his creations begin to deny his existence, as they give the worship owed to him to other creatures or to made up fancies.  He watches as his creations revile him, purposefully rebel against him and purposefully cover themselves in filth.  And He still loved us.  He was still willing to sacrifice his son to save us even after watching even the most blessed of his creation (Israelites) choose sin rather than him.  It’s not just that we were enemies to God.  We were his own creatures, created specifically to serve him, who chose to turn away and become enemies. And he still loved us.

Imagine that a robotics engineer built a small robot to do basic housework. Instead of cleaning the house, the robot overrode its programming and purposefully dirtied the house.  Whenever the engineer tried to correct the problem, the robot actively tried to injure the engineer.  How would most people respond to that?  We'd turn off the robot and junk the whole thing, right?  But God didn't react that way when his creations turned against him.  God is a God of love, whose steadfast love endures forever.  His ability to love is as much beyond us as his ability to create is beyond us.

Our God is an Awesome God.

Lucas Ward
pleonast.com/users/iamyourfather

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Today’s post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

STOP THAT RIGHT NOW! OR ELSE! Or, in the words of Jesus, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

Seems to me that we have blunted the meaning of, “REPENT!” with all sorts of rationalizations: “That is just the way I am,” “I am doing the best I can and one’s best is all that God requires,” “Overall, I am walking in the light, I just have this one problem.”

Repent means change. It does not mean doing the thing less often. A thief does not repent by only holding up 1 store a month instead of 1 a day. Overall, our approach denies the “power of godliness” to change one completely.

We have substituted the power of a magic partaking of the Lord’s Supper for repentance. We seem to believe that if we really think really hard about Jesus’ sacrifice while we partake, and pray hard and feel real, real sorry for our failings (lets not use that 3 letter “S” word), then we will be OK. But, then we did that last week, and the week before and…. And we continue in the same sinful habits, maybe less often, “I’m getting better!”

Sounds a lot like 2 Cor 7 doesn’t it, where Paul contrasts it with the godly sorrow that works repentance and calls it a sorrow of the world that leads to death.

One may slip and fall after he repents, may even do so more than once. But, repentance means one stops the wrong behavior. God gives us the power to do so, the power of Christ in us, the hope of Glory. Too often we keep one foot in the pleasures and proclaim, “I am making progress.”

JUST SAY NO. STOP!

OR PERISH.

Keith Ward

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Today’s post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.
 
           I often hear people pray, “Forgive us our sins because we know we sin everyday.” This bothers me a lot, not because I believe they sin everyday, but because I believe that they believe they sin everyday. That kind of perpetual guilt and depression leads to dismay and causes one to wonder why he should even bother to try. I should know, because I used to believe that I sinned everyday, multiple times daily. It wasn’t that I was evil; it was a misunderstanding of what sin and temptation are, and the boundary between them.
            We all know that being tempted isn’t the same as sinning. Temptation isn’t sin. This is evident because Heb. 4:16 states that Our Lord was tempted just like we are, but he didn’t sin. So there must be a difference between the two. James 1:14-15 is a step by step breakdown of temptation and sin and how the first becomes the latter, and so is the best place to start any discussion of what it means to sin.
            Each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.
            So temptation is a product of our own lusts. In the original Greek, there is no difference made between the English concepts of good “desires” and evil “lusts.” The translators tried to fit the English concepts by using the contextual meaning of the original inspired writers. Technically, it would be correct to translate Our Lord’s speech as he instituted the Lord’s Supper as, “I earnestly lusted to eat this with you” or Paul’s admonition as “Flee youthful desires.” Desires/lusts are not wrong in and of themselves. All the desires/lusts we have are creations of God and all have good, God-given means of expression. It is only when we allow sin to debase our desires/lusts and pervert their expressions that they become sinful.
            So, notice that in verse 14 there is no mention of sin. All that is spoken of is temptation, which James has defined as the desire/lust to do something one knows is wrong. Therefore that desire/lust, in and of itself, is not sin. Let’s make this as clear as possible. James, as the inspired writer of God’s Word, gives us this definition of temptation: the desire to do something one knows to be wrong. Then turn to Heb. 4:16 where the inspired writer of God’s Word says that our perfect Lord and Savior was tempted just like we are, but without sin. This means that on occasion Our Lord must have desired/lusted to do things that he knew to be wrong, but he exercised self control and overcame. He remained perfect. Being tempted to do something isn’t wrong. Wanting to do it, having desires/lusts, isn’t wrong.
            So where does sin come in? Vs 15. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. Sin enters the picture when lust conceives. Conceive is a verb; it implies action of some kind. So sin happens when one decides to take that desire and do something with it. The desire isn’t wrong, only the action.
            Wait! How do we square this with Matt. 5: 28 where Our Lord says, “I say unto you that every one that looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.” It sure seem like he is saying that the sin is in the lust/desire, not the action. This is where understanding the original audience can help a great deal in understanding the point being made. Our Lord was speaking to a people who made a great show of righteousness while not caring at all about their inner man. They would speak of purity and fantasize about every woman who walked by. They would condemn murderers while holding grudges and slandering enemies. Our Lord was trying to get them to understand that great importance should be placed on who they were inside: that the heart matters. That is why he says in vs 22 that being angry with a brother is sin, though we read elsewhere that it is possible to be angry without sin. In verse 28 the lesson is that the intention is as good as the deed. Look at the verse again. Why did this hypothetical man look at the woman? “Everyone who looks on a woman TO lust after her in his heart. . .” The reason he looked was to lust, to fantasize perversely about her. The sin here is not being attracted to members of the opposite sex; it is the decision to actively fantasize or to pursue a tryst with that person. If being attracted to members of the opposite sex were a sin, then all you married people sinned the whole time you were courting your spouses! (Either that or you were courting someone you found physically repulsive.) Sin does not occur until we allow that healthy desire to conceive something perverse, whether it be the actual deed or just the fantasy. Being attracted is not the sin. Wanting to get to “know” the person is not the sin. Carrying that beyond the basic impulse into involved fantasy is a sin, as would be the attempt to actually carry out the fantasy, whether or not the other person said yes. Being angry with a brother is not a sin. Fantasizing about how you would love to knock him down a peg is a sin, as would be the attempt. So would be slander or malicious gossip. Wanting something you can’t afford is not a sin. The decision to steal it is, even if you back off when you notice the store management watching.
            Once I came to understand how James 1 and Matt 5 interacted, and understood that desires/lusts are not sinful in and of themselves, my faith was greatly strengthened. I actually came to have a Hope instead of a Dread. I began to understand that His yoke really is light, not the horrible burden I had thought it to be. My days became much more joyful. With the proper understanding of the difference between temptation and sin, that being tempted is not sin, I am happy to say that I DON’T sin everyday, and that the periods between sins are continuing to grow as my strength in God increases. I hope this discussion helps someone else as much as the years of meditation eventually helped me.

Lucas Ward

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            Had anyone ever the right to shout, “At last! He got his,” it was David at the death of Saul.  It would seem appropriate for David to dance a jig on Saul’s grave and remove his name from the inscriptions and history books.  Instead, David mourned and fasted the rest of the day and then raised a heartfelt lament for Saul and Jonathan. Jonathan was his friend, but Saul had personally tried to kill him at least twice.  Further he had repeatedly led the armies of Israel after David when those armies were desperately needed to fight the Philistines.  

            To call Saul a brother in error does disservice to the concept of brother on every level except the most remote biological one which cannot be denied.  Saul offered the sacrifice against the commandments of God.  Saul refused to obey God to destroy the Amalekites.  Saul with brute force refused to yield to God’s right to remove him from the kingship.  Saul neglected all the duties of a King to pursue God’s anointed.  When God refused to answer him, he went to a necromancer to summon up the ghost of Samuel in brazen defiance of God.  Surely, here is a man who has yielded every right to treatment as a brother (2Sam 1, 1Sam 15, 28).

            In his first official act as king, David questioned the Amalekite who had completed Saul’s failed suicide attempt, “How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”  Then, he ordered him executed.   Jehovah’s anointed--REALLY? After all that Saul had done?

            How quickly we cut off a brother in error, declare him to be out of fellowship.  Do we forget that God chose this one and anointed him as His child?  

            David played and sang for Saul to comfort him in the torments that resulted from his sin.  Did we do aught for our brother who has sinned?  David could have rejoiced, “At last! At last, God has given me what He promised and removed this rebellious sinner.”  How many laments and prayers did we offer for the one who erred?  

            David tried again and again to comfort Saul and had to dodge spears for his thanks.  What did we risk for the erring before we wrote him off?

             Some so-called “defenders of the faith” seem to have the mindset to seek erring brethren simply to attack and destroy before they might harm the body of Christ.  Is that the admonition from this thing written aforetime for our learning? (Rom 15:4).

Keith Ward

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Today I have asked my husband Keith to tell you how he does a textual study.  This is primarily useful in the New Testament epistles, and a bit more complicated, but still doable for the average Christian if you set aside the time, grab plenty of paper and pencil, and put your mind to it.  --dw

            It is possible to read a passage of scripture over and over until it is nearly memorized and still not understand it—I have done that. God reasons with us through his Word and expects us to use analytical thinking to understand Him, and He did mean us to understand Him.  You don’t bother to communicate with someone you don’t want to understand you.

            A paragraph is one unit of thought in written language and a group of paragraphs make up a segment that communicates a larger thought. The ASV (available online) has the best paragraphing. Often, modern translations chop some paragraphs into smaller pieces to make them more like sound bites and thus chop up God’s chain of reasoning. Also, verse and chapter numbers interfere with reading; if possible, use a Bible computer program to remove them and print out the text you wish to study so you will be able to read it as any other book you study. I was amazed how much that improved my comprehension.

            To analyze a paragraph, first read it a few times quickly. Jot down the one thought it brings to your mind. Now, read it more slowly and write down the major phrases using the Bible words. Leave out non-essential words, condensing the phrase as much as possible and still have the sense. I know we are taught that no word from God is non-essential, but we are not saying that; we are studying and making our own notes to be able to better understand the message from God. Using this method Eph 1:17 becomes, “[praying] that God give you a spirit of wisdom & revelation in knowledge.”

            It helps to take a blank sheet and write these phrases out.  Don’t even try to keep your paper neat at this early stage. You will be doing a lot of crossing out, circling and inserting.  We will often wish to stack some words that are parallels, such as wisdom and revelation are in the verse above. Or, we may list some to show their relationships as in Rom 8:18-27 where there are 3 who groan: creation, ourselves and the spirit.  We will not be doing an outline so much as we are creating a graphic. Once we have written all the phrases from a given paragraph, we may scratch some out and scribble them in other places to show a relationship or to create a list, but we keep them in Bible sequence. Then, we may draw lines from one phrase to another and write in some of our own words to clarify a relationship; colored pencils work well for this. All this will take several more readings of the paragraph.

            At the end of this process we have a graphic that shows the relationship of each phrase to the main thought of the paragraph. That main thought should be in Bible words. Do not be surprised if it is not the same as the one you jotted down at the beginning.  That is the excitement of discovery.

            At first, this process will be tedious and slow. The rewards are many: You will understand more than you thought possible; you will have one or more charts available on your graphic that you can use to teach someone else; these charts can be used to create PowerPoint presentations.

            Now do the next paragraph, and the next, and the next. Use a separate page for each paragraph and only one side of the page. Now, review them and see which paragraphs cluster together to make one point. For example, the paragraphs of Rom 1:18 to 3:20 all fit together to show that all men are in sin and need the gospel. A conclusion stated forcefully in 3:9 and 3:23.

            Another example:  The paragraphs from 1 Cor 8:1 to 1 Cor ll:1 seem to have no cohesiveness as Paul moves from eating meats to pay of the preacher to the Israelites in the wilderness to the Lord’s Supper & back to eating meats. Many have accused Paul of going off on tangents but that usually means they do not understand his purpose. That whole section concerns the need to give oneself up to benefit others. He proves his rights to be paid in order to say that he did not use his right that he might not hinder others, threatens those who do not give themselves up with the punishment of the Israelites, and then ends by saying we should all imitate him just as he imitates Christ, the supreme example of giving up oneself for others. So certainly, the one who is mature can eat meat without worshipping an idol, but he should give up that right if its exercise could cause a brother to stumble.

            At this point you are probably thoroughly confused.  It would help if I were there with you and could lead you through one paragraph personally, but I am not.  So you will need to attack this article in a similar way you might your chosen text.  Read it again and again.  Try to follow the instructions one at the time as you read your passage.  Eventually you will understand, and practice will improve your ability to do these things.  Such study is a delight in itself as we discover God’s truths and see new light. But that is a small thing in comparison to the joy we can have in showing them to others.

Keith Ward

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Today’s post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

Jehoshaphat was a good king and not just a run of the mill good king, but perhaps the best king in Judah after David, excepting only Hezekiah and Josiah. Jehoshaphat's father had started purging Judah of idolatry and other wickedness and Jehoshaphat finished the job. He didn't just re-institute the proper worship of God and call on all Judah to follow Him, Jehoshaphat also sent out missionaries with copies of the Law all through Judah and had the Law read to all the people so that everyone would know of their responsibilities towards God.

Several times in his life he was out of his depth and cast all his hopes upon God and trusted Him to take care of things. His faith was astounding, his zeal for the Law was great, and his commitment to following God was almost unparalleled among post-Davidic Judean kings.

Yet for some reason this paragon of righteousness decided to make peace with Ahab the king of Israel. A more wicked king than Ahab would be hard to find. (Manasseh perhaps?) In fact, 1 Kings 21:25-26 says: "But there was none like unto Ahab, who did sell himself to do that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Jehovah cast out before the children of Israel."

As was the case with most treaties back then, the one between Jehoshaphat and Ahab involved a marriage between the royal families. Jehoshaphat married his son Joram to Ahab's daughter, Athaliah.  Joram had to have been very young, in fact not much older than 14 at the time of this marriage. The consequences of Jehoshaphat's decision to bind himself to the wicked Ahab were nothing short of disastrous, though he himself didn't live to see it. 2 Kings 8:16-11:3 and 2 Chron. 21-22 detail what happens:

1) Joram, being influenced by his wicked wife, becomes an idolater and rebuilds the idols and high places his father had torn down and led the people back away from God and into idolatry.
2) Joram murders all his brothers, who Elijah calls more righteous than he, to eliminate competition for the throne.
3) As punishment, all but one of Joram's sons are killed by marauding Arabians and Philistines and Joram is stricken with one of the most revolting diseases described in the Bible. He dies.
4) His youngest, and only remaining son, Ahaziah becomes king and is counseled by his wicked mother. He, too, is wicked and joins with Ahab's son Joram (confused yet?) to fight the Syrians. When Joram (Ahaziah's uncle, by the way) is injured, Ahaziah goes to check on him just as Jehu begins his God-ordered cleansing of Israel. He is caught in the rebellion and is killed along with Joram.
5) Other Judean royal kinsmen traveling to Israel to succor the injured king Joram are also caught by Jehu and executed as partisans.
6) Finally, Athaliah kills all of Ahaziah's children (except one who was hidden from her) and usurps the throne. She murdered her own grandchildren in a power grab!

Look what has happened to the house of David! For three consecutive generations every royal son save one was killed! Add to that 42 extra men who were royal kinsmen not of the direct line killed by Jehu and you have a serious pruning of the descendants of David. All that murder and death, all that idolatry, all that work by Jehoshaphat undone because he tried to make friends with an wicked man.

This made me think of 2 Cor. 6:14: "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness?" Paul continues like this for several verses before quoting Isaiah 52:11: "Come you out from among them and be you separate says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing and I will receive you." Who have I yoked myself to that might have the same type of impact on me that Ahab had on Jehoshaphat?

We need to be careful who our friends are. We need to be careful who we "hang" with. They WILL have an impact on our spirituality. They WILL bring temptations our way.

Now, of course, Paul also said in 1 Cor. 5 that we aren't to withdraw from the world completely. Jesus told the Pharisees that as the spiritual doctor, he needed to be among the sinners who needed his help. However, if you read the Gospels, you will notice that while Jesus ate with publicans and prostitutes, those were isolated evenings on an occasional basis. He spent far more time with his apostles and other disciples. Much of that time he was alone with them. So, while Jesus spent time with the wicked in an effort to teach and save them, the people he yoked himself to were his apostles. That is the example we need to follow as we try to save our neighbors and acquaintances in the world. Shine your light among them, but prefer spending time with your brethren.

We need to be very, very careful who we join ourselves to, who we yoke ourselves to, or the consequences that befell Jehoshaphat's family might befall ours.

Lucas Ward

(For hints, help, and instructions on using this blog, click on the FAQ/Tutorial page on the left sidebar)

            When I was a child, everyone used the King James Version. The preacher quoted numerous verses in his sermons and woe to him if he skipped a word or got one wrong—there would be a line waiting to tell him about his mistake.

            I think it is wonderful that we now have and use more translations than the old KJV. They shed light on the meanings of many passages and because they are easier to read, allow one to connect thoughts more readily throughout a lengthy passage.

            Yet I respect the old-timer’s insistence on getting it exactly right. I fear we have lost that, and this is a grave danger. God communicated to men in words, “These words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart” (Deut 6:6).  Just as no man can know the thoughts of another except through his words, men cannot know God except by the words He speaks.  This is so important that Jesus himself said that, “Not one jot or tittle” would pass away until all God’s word was fulfilled (these are equivalent to the dotting of an “i” or the crossing of a “t”.)

            If the words are changed, if the translators are careless or are concerned about supporting their own beliefs, we lose the WORD that God sent to save us, the words that tell us about Jesus. Our parents were right to insist on accuracy!  God sent Peter to Cornelius to tell him “WORDS whereby [he] would be saved” (Acts 11:14). Peter writes that “Ye should remember the WORDS which were spoken” (2 Pet 3:2). We need to adopt the attitude of concern for exactness with every word of God that our parents and grandparents had, while embracing the benefits of having many translations.

            How careful should we be?? When he rebuked the Sadducees who did not believe in a resurrection, Jesus based his argument on the tense of a verb (Mt22:31--33). He quoted Ex 3:6 where God told Moses, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” These three had been dead and buried hundreds of years at the time of Moses yet God spoke of them in the present tense. Now that is being precise, and is the only proof Jesus ever gave that there is a resurrection.

            “The pen is mightier than the sword” -- words have started wars, led to freedom, to discoveries and great deeds. But all these pale in comparison to the power of God’s word.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, Rom 1:16. 

For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart, Heb 4:12.

Keith Ward

 

Today’s post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

Jehoshaphat was a good king and not just a run of the mill good king, but perhaps the best king in Judah after David, excepting only Hezekiah and Josiah. Jehoshaphat's father had started purging Judah of idolatry and other wickedness and Jehoshaphat finished the job. He didn't just re-institute the proper worship of God and call on all Judah to follow Him, Jehoshaphat also sent out missionaries with copies of the Law all through Judah and had the Law read to all the people so that everyone would know of their responsibilities towards God. 

Several times in his life he was out of his depth and cast all his hopes upon God and trusted Him to take care of things. His faith was astounding, his zeal for the Law was great, and his commitment to following God was almost unparalleled among post-Davidic Judean kings. 

Yet for some reason this paragon of righteousness decided to make peace with Ahab the king of Israel. A more wicked king than Ahab would be hard to find. (Manasseh perhaps?) In fact, 1 Kings 21:25-26 says: "But there was none like unto Ahab, who did sell himself to do that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Jehovah cast out before the children of Israel." 

As was the case with most treaties back then, the one between Jehoshaphat and Ahab involved a marriage between the royal families. Jehoshaphat married his son Joram to Ahab's daughter, Athaliah.  Joram had to have been very young, in fact not much older than 14 at the time of this marriage. The consequences of Jehoshaphat's decision to bind himself to the wicked Ahab were nothing short of disastrous, though he himself didn't live to see it. 2 Kings 8:16-11:3 and 2 Chron. 21-22 detail what happens:

1) Joram, being influenced by his wicked wife, becomes an idolater and rebuilds the idols and high places his father had torn down and led the people back away from God and into idolatry.
2) Joram murders all his brothers, who Elijah calls more righteous than he, to eliminate competition for the throne. 
3) As punishment, all but one of Joram's sons are killed by marauding Arabians and Philistines and Joram is stricken with one of the most revolting diseases described in the Bible. He dies.
4) His youngest, and only remaining son, Ahaziah becomes king and is counseled by his wicked mother. He, too, is wicked and joins with Ahab's son Joram (confused yet?) to fight the Syrians. When Joram (Ahaziah's uncle, by the way) is injured, Ahaziah goes to check on him just as Jehu begins his God-ordered cleansing of Israel. He is caught in the rebellion and is killed along with Joram. 
5) Other Judean royal kinsmen traveling to Israel to succor the injured king Joram are also caught by Jehu and executed as partisans. 
6) Finally, Athaliah kills all of Ahaziah's children (except one who was hidden from her) and usurps the throne. She murdered her own grandchildren in a power grab! 

Look what has happened to the house of David! For three consecutive generations every royal son save one was killed! Add to that 42 extra men who were royal kinsmen not of the direct line killed by Jehu and you have a serious pruning of the descendants of David. All that murder and death, all that idolatry, all that work by Jehoshaphat undone because he tried to make friends with an wicked man. 

This made me think of 2 Cor. 6:14: "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness?" Paul continues like this for several verses before quoting Isaiah 52:11: "Come you out from among them and be you separate says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing and I will receive you." Who have I yoked myself to that might have the same type of impact on me that Ahab had on Jehoshaphat? 

We need to be careful who our friends are. We need to be careful who we "hang" with. They WILL have an impact on our spirituality. They WILL bring temptations our way. 

Now, of course, Paul also said in 1 Cor. 5 that we aren't to withdraw from the world completely. Jesus told the Pharisees that as the spiritual doctor, he needed to be among the sinners who needed his help. However, if you read the Gospels, you will notice that while Jesus ate with publicans and prostitutes, those were isolated evenings on an occasional basis. He spent far more time with his apostles and other disciples. Much of that time he was alone with them. So, while Jesus spent time with the wicked in an effort to teach and save them, the people he yoked himself to were his apostles. That is the example we need to follow as we try to save our neighbors and acquaintances in the world. Shine your light among them, but prefer spending time with your brethren. 

We need to be very, very careful who we join ourselves to, who we yoke ourselves to, or the consequences that befell Jehoshaphat's family might befall ours. 

Lucas Ward

(Today’s post is by guest writer Keith Ward, written to our son following his wedding)

            As I listened to Thaxter Dickey perform your wedding, thoughts came together that have been forming over years of study. Someone recently asked, “Why male and female: God could have done reproduction some other way. Is there a significance?” Maybe this is part of the answer that has been revealed.

            God said, “Let us make man in our image...and he created man [mankind, not male] in his own image...male and female created he them.”  (Gen 1:26-27). I have often used this passage to establish that from the beginning God is spoken of as the plurality we find revealed as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the N.T. Also, it is clear that since both male and female are in his image, all that is good about the feminine nature and motherhood is as much a part of God’s character as the best of masculinity and fatherhood.

            These are old thoughts, often shared and heard. But as I considered the union being formed before us all, I connected another old truth; the word for “one” in the phrase “and they shall be one flesh” is the same as in “Jehovah thy God is one” (Gen 2:23; Deut 6:4) revealing a purpose of marriage I had previously not discerned. First, let’s digress to note that “one flesh” does not refer primarily to sexual union since we can’t go around that way all the time. A husband and wife are “one flesh” all the time, it is a state of being that exists so long as they live. For this reason, the divorce decrees of men cannot undo the union forged by God (Mt 19:9). A husband and wife are one all the time, all day, every day, just as God is one. Three are one in the Godhood; two are one in a marriage. God intended that a marriage approximate as much as possible the unity found between Father, Son and Spirit. Men comprehend the unity of the Godhood by participating in and observing the unity of a good marriage.

            Such a marriage will be filled with love, as God loved the Son, and submission, as Jesus obeyed the Father, and help and nurture, as the Spirit comforted, completed and revealed.

            Considering marriage as a window to the unity of the Godhood makes divorce the more unthinkable. Since sexual union is not merely for reproduction or physical release, but is designed to teach us unity as one loving being, sexual sins become more abominable whether they occur before or after the vows. “Know ye not that he that is joined to a harlot is one body, for the twain, saith he, shall become one flesh” (1Cor 6:16). In other words, How can you degrade this that represents the beautiful unity of the Godhood by casually uniting with others than your spouse? How can you do this to your marriage (whether the wedding has taken place yet in time or not)?? It would be the same as though the Father, the Son, or the Spirit formed an outside relationship with an idol...UNSPEAKABLE!! And, the discords that plague all marriages are seen as the blots on the purity of “one” that they really are. How can we argue angrily, go our own way, seek the dominion, nag, play control games with sex, lay down the law, resent, etc. ad nauseum, when we understand this purpose of marriage?? Is this the way of Christ and the church (Eph 5:22-23)??

            We sing, “O To Be Like Thee” and the way we can come closest is to make our marriages all He wants them to be. God’s purpose from before the fall was that marriage lead man to an understanding of Him that the relationship between man and God could grow and mature. Even in a sin-sick world we can press toward that goal. Truly, “this mystery is great” and we will never comprehend it short of heaven. Yet, the more love and unity of heart, soul, and mind we develop in our marriages, the more we will be fitted to “see him as he is.”

Keith Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

I recently taught a Bible class that in turn taught me something very important.    
My view of the David and Bathsheba story, the class in question, is that it is a cautionary tale against hubris and that it shows that even forgiven, sins can have many earthly consequences. I always try to keep in mind that these are real people with real motivations and emotions. People who live in a different culture than mine, with a different viewpoint that sometimes makes it hard for me to understand, but people. Thinking along those lines about David, I find it hard to believe this was an isolated incident where his passions got out of control. If seeing a beautiful, naked young woman aroused him, then he had many--many!!--legitimate ways to deal with that. His wives and concubines that we know of number in the high teens. He was also cold blooded enough about the whole incident to make sure that Bathsheba was clean according to the law. It seems that if she wasn't clean, David would have waited for her. So this wasn't one moment of passion, but the culmination of years of legitimately having his way.

He was king, and as such was accorded certain privileges. He wanted security for his people, the earthly nation of God, and he went out and took it at the edge of the sword. He wanted a new capital city, and took it.  I wonder if he wasn't arrogant about being David, King of the Hebrews, scourge of the land of Canaan. Then he saw a woman he wanted, and took her, despite the fact that she was the wife of another. So, the story can be taken as a warning against hubris.

Then chapter 12 (2 Samuel) lists the consequences of David's acts, records David's repentance, and declares God's forgiveness of David's sins. Yet though forgiven, David had to face the multiple consequences the rest of his life. That teaches us that our sins, too, can have major, long lasting consequences, regardless of God's forgiveness. This gives us extra incentive to remain pure before God.  None of us want to face anything like the last 20 years of David's life. So that was my view of the point of the David and Bathsheba story.

Then a woman I respect said she agreed with most of what I thought, especially about the consequences of sin, but denied that it was the major point of the story. She sees the major point as being the wonderful grace of God and his extraordinary forgiveness. To her it is a story showing that, no matter how far one falls from God, he will accept you back if you show "a broken and contrite heart." (Psalm 51). David made some major mistakes, and was far from God at the end of chapter 11, but with the strong rebuke of Nathan he came to himself and returned to Jehovah, acknowledging his sin and repenting. God forgave him, he remained king, and spent most of the rest of his life preparing for the temple and the national worship of Jehovah. This paints the picture of God's redeeming grace. 

My father made the point in my class that you can see from David's writing in the 51st Psalm the surprising depth of his spiritual understanding. Almost every sin had a specific sacrifice that had to be performed for the forgiveness of that sin under the old Law, but adultery was punished by death. So was murder. There was no sacrifice for the forgiveness of these sins. God had forgiven David. So there had to be more to forgiveness than just animal sacrifices. This incident forced David to understand something spiritually that many of us still fail at today. There is nothing we can do to win forgiveness. It is the gift of God. What he requires is the "broken and contrite heart." I don't know that this is the major point of this incident to Dad, but it is something he saw that I didn't. Sometimes our biggest failures cause us to grow in the biggest ways.

It is interesting to me that three people looked at the same incident recorded in scripture and learned three different lessons from it. All of the lessons are valid and supported by the scriptures. We each came at the same material from different starting points of personal experience, personal Bible knowledge and different points of spiritual growth. While we may good-naturedly argue about which is the "main" point, I doubt that there would be much disagreement between us that all of these points are valid and can help others to grow. 

Wow, someone can read the same passage I did and come to a different conclusion than I did and it not be wrong? I wonder what other issues of greater import this might be true of?  Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to condemn my brethren.  Maybe I should try to view them through love instead of the narrow lens of immediate judgment.

Lucas Ward