Everybody wants security. In the eighties, security meant having money. In the nineties, it meant owning a home. On the turn of the century, security meant winning a war on terror. Now, security is about having a political system that secures all our needs – healthcare, education, and even jobs. Political security of this kind is only achieved when governments become the source of some or all of the more valuable goods in society. But can a human system of government achieve that kind of security for its people? Just like every other quest for a human-made source of security, the search is in vain. When one puts all one’s…
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What’s Wrong With Mind-Reading Arguments
Consider Fred. Fred hates cars. But Fred hates cars in 1946. We don’t know why he hates cars and perhaps he might like modern cars. We can speculate all we like, but we can’t say for sure that Fred would like modern cars. We can’t say, “Well, when Fred hated cars in 1946, cars were very different. Fred didn’t even know about modern cars. Therefore, Fred would not hate cars in 2017.” The reason we can’t make the conclusion is because no kind of car was specified as the subject of Fred’s scorn. Indeed, it is highly likely that Fred hated all species of cars not because he hated every…
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Psalm 73: Why No One Will Ever ‘Get Away With It’
From the fall of 1997 to the following summer, I lived in a YMCA in London (the one in the picture). My band and I were given residency in part to help influence other residents. This YMCA was packed full of people struggling with life. My next door neighbor was a drug addict and an anorexic – she could only walk down the hall by leaning against the wall. Many of the residents struggled with mental health issues. One man believed that he was the actor who played Darth Vader in Star Wars. He had forged an entire collection of letters and pictures to prove it! While many we lived…
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What is the Meaning of the Cry of Dereliction?
On the cross, the Messiah cries, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46b). His words are a quotation of David’s prophetic psalm, psalm 22. But what can Jesus possibly mean? How could the Son be forsaken by the Father? How do we explain the Messiah’s question? Surely he of all people knows why he is on the cross. The answer lies in an understanding of Psalm 22. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in the first verse, David gives the Messiah his script. His cry is a forlorn cry of dereliction: My God, my God, why have You forsaken…
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Successful Prophecy: Psalm 22 (A Response to Bob Seidensticker)
Bob Seidensticker argues that Psalm 22 is not a prophetic psalm depicting the suffering of the Messiah. First, Seidensticker argues that the opening phrase, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” could not be the words of the Messiah. Instead, those words are a gnostic application of the psalmist: Does forsaking Jesus sound like part of God’s plan? This doesn’t sound like the cool-headed, in-control Jesus written about in Luke and John… What it sounds like is Gnosticism (not in the Psalm, but when transplanted into the gospels). The Gnostic Gospel of Philip (third century) explains it this way, “‘My God, My God, why, lord, have you forsaken me?’ [Jesus] spoke these words…
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The Tragedy of a Worshipless Life
The tragedy of a lifeless body is only matched by the tragedy of a worshipless life. A worshipless life is a life lived without worshiping the King, the Messiah, Jesus. In the gospels, this tragedy brings the Lord to tears and anguish over his people. In every other encounter with human misery, the Lord stoops in compassion and heals, delivers, and forgives. But his anguish is reserved for those whose lips cannot sing a song of praise to their King. Matthew 21 – 23 records Jesus’ encounter with those who cannot worship their king. Jesus enters his city as the rightful heir to the throne of David. He is praised…
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The Humiliation of the King
When most people get close to people of power and influence, they feel something. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but the best answer I can come up with is that powerful people are compelling because their power promotes our status. The closer we are to them, the higher our status is. This morning we are going to look at Jesus’ teaching on status in the kingdom in Matthew 20:17-34. In this text, Jesus receives two very different requests–one for status and the other for mercy. He teaches his disciples that he has come not to be the powerful status-elevator, but the humiliated servant who lays down his life…
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Atonement: Knowledge of His Wrath
And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.” And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.” In Revelation 16:4-7, John records the proclamation of the angel who affirms the just punishment of those who “poured out the blood of saints and prophets” (v. 6). The angel tells us that the persecutors of God’s people deserve their punishment and that punishment displays the…
