Nick Roark's Blog, page 6

“What a friend we have in Jesus!” by Joel Beeke

“Christ’s sonship preceded His mission and is the foundation of it. He lived in a relationship of love with His “Father” even “before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).

The Bible not only calls Jesus the Son of God, but also names Him God (Hebrew El or Elohim, Greek theos). Isaiah prophesied that the child to be born to us would be “the mighty God” (Isa. 9:6), a title of the Lord God, Jehovah (10:20–21; cf. Jer. 32:18).

The psalmist addresses Christ as “God” when attributing to Him an eternal dominion (Ps. 45:6), which the New Testament cites to prove Christ is superior to the angels (Heb. 1:7–9). John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

Thomas reverently addressed the risen Christ as “My LORD and my God” (20:28). There are other Scripture passages that, when analyzed in the Greek text, also appear to use “God” for Christ.

The New Testament often calls Christ the Lord. Sometimes “Lord” (kyrios) may mean “master” or “sir” (Matt. 10:24; 13:27). However, Christ is “the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8), the “Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14; 19:16), and the “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36).

These are titles of deity. The centurion of Capernaum addressed Christ as “Lord” when the soldier said he was not worthy for Christ to enter his house, but Jesus could heal his sick servant merely by speaking the word (Luke 7:6–7).

Christ was already Lord at His birth, was still Lord on the cross, and was manifestly Lord on the third day after that, when it was proclaimed, “The Lord is risen indeed” (2:11; 23:42; 24:34).

“Lord” is the term used to translate the divine name Jehovah (YHWH) from the Old Testament. When the New Testament quotes Old Testament statements about Jehovah and applies them to Jesus as “Lord,” it is clear that God’s Word is calling Jesus “Jehovah.”

Other names attributed to Christ also reveal His deity. He is Immanuel (Isa. 7:14), which means “God with us” (Matt. 1:23). Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) said, “Believer, he is God with thee, to protect thee; thou art not alone.”

Especially, Spurgeon said, Christ is God with us “by the influence of the Holy Spirit” to illuminate, convict, convert, and comfort us. He is called The LORD Our Righteousness (Jer. 23:6), a name that combines the divine name (YHWH) with the promise of a Davidic king who would reign in justice and righteousness (v. 5).

Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I am [egō eimi]” (John 8:58). The striking use of the present tense for Christ’s existence in the distant past identifies him as I Am, the One who revealed himself to Moses, saying, “I AM THAT I AM” (egō eimi ho ōn, Ex. 3:14 LXX), the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (v. 15).

Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last (Rev. 22:13; cf. 1:17; 2:8), the titles of the Almighty (1:8), the only God (Isa. 44:6).

By claiming the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet, Christ asserted Himself to be the Creator who made all things, the One whom all things will ultimately glorify, and the Lord who calls into existence every generation in between in an orderly manner (41:4).

It is a tremendous comfort to know that Jesus is our Lord and our God, Immanuel, the Alpha and Omega. In Him perfect majesty and meekness meet for our benefit. Godefridus Udemans (c. 1581–1649) said, “If we believe in Christ as Lord, He is also our friend and brother (John 15:15; 20:17).”

What a friend we have in Jesus!

The experiential knowledge of the Lord’s names ignites saving faith in our hearts. Psalm 9:10 says, “They that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.”

Psalm 91:14 says, “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.” Therefore, use Christ’s names like windows in which you can see the face of your Savior, so to speak.

Trust Him to be what He says He is and love Him supremely for the sake of His name.”

–Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 2: Man and Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020), 2: 751–753.

“What sweetness is there in God?” by Thomas Watson

“Did God make this glorious world? Did He make every thing good? Was there in the creature so much beauty and sweetness?

Oh! Then what sweetness is there in God?

The cause is always more noble than the effect. Think with yourselves, is there so much excellency in house and lands—then how much more is there in God, that made these!

Is there beauty in a rose? What beauty then is there in Christ, the rose of Sharon!

Doth oil make the face shine? Ps. 104:15. How will the light of God’s countenance make it shine!

Doth wine cheer the heart? O what virtue is there in the true vine! How doth the blood of this grape cheer the heart!

Is the fruit of the garden sweet? how delicious are the fruits of the Spirit!

Is a gold mine so precious; how precious is he who founded this mine! What is Christ, in whom are hid all treasures? Col. 2:3.

We should ascend from the creature to the Creator. If there be any comfort here below, how much more is there in God, who made all these things!

How unreasonable is it, that we should delight in the world, and not much more in him that made it?

How should our hearts be set on God, and how should we long to be with God, who hath infinitely more sweetness in him, than any creature!

Did God create the world? Let us wisely observe those works of creation.

God hath given us not only the book of the scriptures to read in, but the book of the creation.

Look up to the heavens, they shew much of God’s glory,—the sun gilds the world with its bright beams,—behold the stars, their regular motion in their orbs, their magnitude, their light, their influence.

We may see God’s glory blazing in the sun, twinkling in the stars. Look into the sea, and see the wonders of God in the deep, Ps. 107:24.

Look into the air, there the birds make melody, and sing forth the praises of their Creator.

Look into the earth, there we may wonder at the nature of minerals,—the power of the loadstone,—the virtue of herbs; see the earth decked as a bride with flowers; all these are the glorious effects of God’s power.

God hath wrought the creation as with curious needle-work, that we may observe His wisdom and goodness, and give him the praise due to Him, Ps. 104:24., “O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all.'””

–Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity Contained in Sermons Upon the Westminster Assembly’s Catechism (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1692/1970), 117.

“Moral splendor” by David F. Wells

“The Church itself is going to have to become more authentic morally, for the greatness of the Gospel is now seen to have become quite trivial and inconsequential in its life.

If the Gospel means so little to the Church, if it changes so little, why then should unbelievers believe it?

It is one thing to understand what Christ’s deliverance means; it is quite another to see this worked out in life with depth and reality, to see its moral splendor.

It is one thing to know the Gospel; it is quite another to see it lived. That is when its truth catches fire in the imagination.

That is what makes the Gospel so attractive. The evangelical Church today, with some exceptions, is not very inspiring in this regard.

It is not being heroic. It is exhibiting too little of the moral splendor that Christ calls it to exhibit.

Much of it, instead, is replete with tricks, gadgets, gimmicks, and marketing ploys as it shamelessly adapts itself to our emptied-out, blinded, postmodern world.

It is supporting a massive commercial enterprise of Christian products, it is filling the airways and stuffing postal boxes, and it is always begging for money to fuel one entrepreneurial scheme after another, but it is not morally resplendent.

It is mostly empty of real moral vision, and without a recovery of that vision its faith will soon disintegrate. There is too little about it that bespeaks the holiness of God.

And without the vision for and reality of this holiness, the Gospel becomes trivialized, life loses its depth, God becomes transformed into a product to be sold, faith into a recreational activity to be done, and the Church into a club for the like-minded.”

-David Wells, Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover Its Moral Vision (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998), 180.

“Your Today is eternity” by Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354-430)

“Our years will be complete only when there are none left.

But Your years are a single day, and this day of Yours is not a daily recurrence, but a simple ‘Today,’ because your Today does not give way to tomorrow, nor follow yesterday.

Your Today is eternity.”

–Saint Augustine, The Confessions, Part I, ed. John E. Rotelle, trans. Maria Boulding, Second Edition, vol. 1, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2012), 1: 295.

“O Eternity!” by Thomas Watson

“O ETERNITY! ETERNITY! Who can fathom it?

Mariners have their plummets to measure the depths of the sea.

But what line or plummet shall we use to fathom the depth of eternity?

O think of eternity!

Brethren, we are every day travelling to eternity.

And whether we wake or sleep, we are going our journey.

Some of us are upon the borders of eternity.

O study the shortness of life and length of eternity!”

–Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity Contained in Sermons Upon the Westminster Assembly’s Catechism (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1692/1970), 63, 65.

“The diamond in the ring” by Thomas Watson

“Here is the comfort: God is eternal, and He hath appointed eternal recompenses for the saints,—in heaven are fresh delights, sweetness without surfeit, and that which is the crown and zenith of heaven’s happiness, is, it is ‘eternal,’ 1 John 2:25.

Were there but the least suspicion that this glory must cease, it would much eclipse, yea embitter it; but it is eternal. What angel can span eternity? 2 Cor. 4:17, “An eternal weight of glory.”

The saints shall bathe themselves in the rivers of divine pleasure; and these rivers can never be dried up, Ps. 16:11, “At thy right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

This is the Elah, the highest strain in the apostle’s rhetoric, 1 Thess. 4:17, “Ever with the Lord.”

There is peace without trouble,—ease without pain,—glory without end,—“ever with the Lord.”

Let this comfort the saints in all their troubles; their sufferings are but short, but their reward is eternal.

Eternity makes heaven to be heaven: ’tis the diamond in the ring.

O blessed day that shall have no night! The sunlight of glory shall rise upon the soul, and never set!

O blessed spring, that shall have no autumn, or fall of the leaf!

The Roman emperors have three crowns set upon their heads, the first of iron, the second of silver, the third of gold: so the Lord sets three crowns on his children,—grace,—comfort,—and glory.

And this crown is eternal, 1 Pet. 5:4, “Ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”

The wicked have a never-dying worm, and the godly a never-fading crown.

O how should this be a spur to virtue! How willing should we be to work for God!

Though we had nothing here, God hath time enough to reward his people; the crown of eternity shall be set upon their head.”

–Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity Contained in Sermons Upon the Westminster Assembly’s Catechism (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1692/1970), 63-64.

“Time hath no place in eternity” by John Owen

“Let us a little also fix our minds towards some of the glorious, essential, incommunicable properties of God’s nature distinctly.

Consider His eternity. This Moses proposeth, to bring the souls of believers to submission, trust, and waiting: Ps. 90:1, “From everlasting to everlasting thou art God;”—“One that hath his being and subsistence not in a duration of time, but in eternity itself.”

So doth Habakkuk 1:12, “Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One?” and hence he draws his conclusion against making haste in any condition, and for tarrying and waiting for God.

The like consideration is managed by David also, Ps. 102:27.

How inconceivable is this glorious divine property unto the thoughts and minds of men! How weak are the ways and terms whereby they go about to express it!

One says it is a “perpetual duration.” He that says most, only signifies what he knows of what it is not.

We are of yesterday, change every moment, and are leaving our station tomorrow.

God is still the same, was so before the world was,—from eternity.

And now I cannot think what I have said, but only have intimated what I adore.

The whole duration of the world, from the beginning unto the end, takes up no space in this eternity of God: for how longsoever it hath continued or may yet continue, it will all amount but to so many thousand years, so long a time.

And time hath no place in eternity.”

–John Owen, “A Practical Exposition of Psalm 130,” The Works of John Owen, Volume 6 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1684/2000), 6: 622.

“What He is not” by Stephen Charnock

“Though we cannot comprehend God as He is, we must be careful not to fancy Him to be what He is not.”

–Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, ed. Mark Jones, Updated and Unabridged, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022), 1: 293.

“His duration is as endless as His essence is boundless” by Stephen Charnock

“Eternity is a negative attribute and is a denying of God any measures of time, as immensity is a denying of him any bounds of place.

As immensity is the diffusion of his essence, so eternity is the duration of his essence, and when we say God is eternal, we exclude from him all possibility of beginning and ending, all flux and change.

As the essence of God cannot be bounded by any place, so it is not to be limited by any time. As it is his immensity to be everywhere, so it is his eternity to be always.

As created things are said to be somewhere in regard of place, and to be present, past, or future in regard of time, so the Creator in regard of place is everywhere, in regard of time, is semper [“always”].

His duration is as endless as his essence is boundless: he always was and always will be, and will no more have an end than he had a beginning; and this is an excellency belonging to the supreme being.

As his essence comprehends all beings and exceeds them, and his immensity surmounts all places, so his eternity comprehends all times, all durations, and infinitely excels them.”

–Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, ed. Mark Jones, Updated and Unabridged, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022), 1: 418-419.

“All that He is is eternal” by Herman Bavinck

“As living, thinking beings in time, we stand before the mystery of eternal uncreated being and marvel.

On the one hand, it is certain that God is the Eternal One: in Him there is neither past or future, neither becoming or change.

All that He is is eternal: His thought, His will, His decree.

Eternal in Him is the idea of the world that He thinks and utters in the Son; eternal in Him is also the decision to create the world; eternal in Him is the will that created the world in time; eternal is also the act of creating as an act of God, an action both internal and immanent.

For God did not become Creator, so that first for a long time He did not create and then afterward He did create.

Rather, He is the eternal Creator, and as Creator He was the Eternal One, and as the Eternal One He created. The creation therefore brought about no change in God; it did not emanate from Him and is no part of His being.

He is unchangeably the same eternal God…

The world is subject to time, that is, to change. It is constantly becoming, in contrast with God, who is an eternal and unchangeable being.

Now these two, God and the world, eternity and time, are related in such a way that the world is sustained in all its parts by God’s omnipresent power, and time in all its moments is pervaded by the eternal being of our God.

Eternity and time are not two lines, the shorter of which for a time runs parallel to the infinitely extended one; the truth is that eternity is the immutable center that sends out its rays to the entire circumference of time.

To the limited eye of the creature it successively unfolds its infinite content in the breadth of space and the length of time, so that creature might understand something of the unsearchable greatness of God.

But for all that, eternity and time remain distinct. All we wish to confess is that God’s eternal willing can and does, without ceasing to be eternal, produce effects in time, just as His eternal thought can have temporal objects as its content.

The power of God’s will, which is eternally one, caused things to come into being that did not exist before, yet without bringing about any change in Him.

God eternally wills things that will only take place after centuries or took place centuries before. And the moment it takes place there is change in things but not in Him.”

–Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation, Vol. 2 (Ed. John Bolt, and Trans. John Vriend; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004), 2: 429-430.