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Jeremiah 7:31 (ESV)

“And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.”

We see here that the source of the idea of child sacrifice was not the mind of God. From where did it come? It is in the mind of man to sacrifice children, and it seems that it originates in that evil heart. To sacrifice the lives of children is from the mind of man and evil all the way to its source.

There are some who site the key difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament to be God’s dealing with individuals in the New Testament. It is true that God does deal with individuals in the New Testament. However, he also dealt with individuals in the Old Testament.

Peter Adam in his book Hearing God’s Words Exploring biblical spirituality points out that individualism is a product of the Enlightenment. He also notes that it is one of the weaknesses of Evangelical spirituality.

“Individualism was not a product of the Reformation, but of the enlightenment. This individualism has meant that the gospel itself has been distorted into a message for individuals. Only one summary of the gospel in the New Testament comes in the form of Christ’s love for the individual, and that is Galatians 2:20, where Paul writes of ‘the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me’. In every other case it is corporate, as in God’s love for the world (John 3:16), Christ’s love for the church (Eph. 5:25), the gospel for all the Gentiles (Rom. 16:26) the need to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19).

“God’s love for the individual is a consequence of the gospel, not the heart of the gospel. This has big implications for Evangelicalism, which has always prided itself on getting the gospel right! Here it has particular implications for spirituality, for it means that genuine biblical spirituality will reflect and express this corporate gospel. Many traditions of spirituality tend towards individualism: Evangelical spirituality, if it is biblical, will not fall into the same trap. Stanley Grenz tells us that spirituality for a postmodern age will need to be communitarian rather than individualistic, and Christianity that is lived as well as believed (Grenz 1996: 167-169). This is biblical spirituality.”

Here is God’s instruction for dealing with individuals in the Old Testament. “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.” (Deut. 24:16). This is not God dealing with people, but God instruction Israel how to deal with people. God’s dealing with people is not limited by his instruction to Israel regarding the administration of capital punishment. This verse is in the midst of a context of instruction from God regarding how his people are to treat the poor. Verse 14, “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy”. Verse 19, “When you reap your harvest…and forget a sheaf…you shall not go back and get it. It is shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD may bless you in all the work of your hands.”

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [new wine]; old things are passed away; behold, all things become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

Many are still trying to deal with the shame of their disasters that are consequences of sin by either doing or not doing certain things. In a very real sense you are still trying to wash yourself. And you know the washing is failing. You sense that it isn’t enough and never will be enough. The ceremonial stone washing jars are getting closer and closer to empty. You are wondering what will happen when the jars are empty.

Remember the wedding at Cana? Jesus turned water into wine, but first he had the servants draw water from the well to fill the ceremonial stone washing jars. What you need is not another jar of ceremonial washing water. What you need is a well that gives forth life giving, joy filling wine.

Jesus knows this. So after filling the ceremonial stone washing jars full to the brim with water he tells the servants to draw again from the well. This time they take the water to the master of the ceremony. Amazingly it is now a well giving forth the best wine.

Now there is no wine without the blood. Jesus told the woman of Samaria that the water he would give her would become a spring in her welling up onto eternal life. That doesn’t happen unless Jesus completes his obedience and goes to the cross. And he does!

We are still trying to wash our hands to get rid of the dark stain of shame on our fingers because somehow we are still trying to hang onto the lie deep in our hearts – and it is sinful to hang on to it – the lie that the key to joy is for me to take care of myself. The lie that I need to wash and wash and wash and wash and wash to take care of my shame and find joy.

It is a futile exercise. We know, but we struggle to embrace, the biblical truth expressed in the line of the hymn. “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

“Understood apart from the basis of biblical revelation the wedding at Cana is at best sentimental and at worst a party story.”

I think the above is my quote, but I can’t be certain. I found it written on a note card on my desk. Contact me for attribution if you know more.

“My son, fear the LORD and the king, and do not join with those who do otherwise, for disaster will arise suddenly from them, and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?” Proverbs 24:21-22.

Christians are called to exercise wisdom in fearing both God and state. They are called to obey God rather than man following the apostolic example of Peter found in Acts 5:30-32. However, notice that the record shows Peter connecting the civil disobedience to the death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus along with repentance, forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and obedience to God. It is a complete package not to be taken apart in pieces.

“But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

“But wheresoever God works with power for salvation upon the minds of men, there will be some discoveries of a sense of sin, of the danger of the wrath of God, of the all-sufficiency of his Son Jesus, to relieve us under all our spiritual wants and distresses, and a hearty consent of soul to receive him in the various offices of grace, wherein he is se forth in the Holy Scriptures.”

Isaac Watts and John Guyse in the preface to The Great Awakening by Jonathan Edwards

A prayer in response to Psalm 72:1-14

Lord you are the King, the royal Son, and you judge with righteousness both those who in our eyes are great and small, rich and poor, because your people are a multitude from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.

We worship you because you are good. Your holiness is perfect. Your righteousness, power, and love are all in you in a way that we only begin to comprehend. But you have helped us, saved us, rescued us in sending the Son who has made you known.

We confess that we are not righteous. We confess that we have sinned are are in need of your grace and mercy. Deliver us from sin.

Baptism is a picture of the Christian’s union with Christ in His death and His resurrection.

If you are a Christian you have died with Christ, so die to sin. If you are a Christian you have been raised with Christ, and so, you will rise again.

We die because we live in a fallen world. Martha’s physical body died. Martha did not die.

It is Not Death to Die – Author: César Malan (1832);

It is not death to die,
To leave this weary road,
And ‘midst the brotherhood on high
To be at home with God.

It is not death to close
The eye long dimmed by tears,
And wake in glorious repose
To spend eternal years.

It is not death to bear
The wrench that sets us free
From dungeon chain, to breathe the air
Of boundless liberty.

It is not death to fling
Aside this sinful dust,
And rise, on strong, exulting wing,
To live among the just.

Jesus, Thou Prince of life!
Thy chosen cannot die:
Like Thee, they conquer in the strife,
To reign with Thee on high.

Notes from a sermon preached by David Cantine at First Baptist Church of Northumberland December 2021

“Look at the political situation. We stand up in America and we say, “one Nation under God.” We’re not one nation. We are not together. We have Democrats against Republicans, blacks and whites at each other’s throats.”

Tom Skinner in Words of Revolution

“We have spoken of trying and trusting, and the difference between the two. Believe me, it is the difference between heaven and hell. It is not something just to be talked over as a satisfying thought; it is stark reality. ‘Lord, I cannot do it, therefore I will no longer try to do it.’ This is the point most of us fall short of. ‘Lord, I cannot; therefore I will take my hands off; from now on I trust thee for that.’ We refuse to act; we depend on him to do so, and then we enter fully and joyfully in the action he initiates. It is not passivity; it is a most active life, trusting the Lord like that; drawing life from him, taking him to be our very life, letting him live his life in us as we go forth in his Name.”

from The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee pp. 186-187.

I have read enough of Watchman Nee to know that he and I have some significant theological and doctrinal differences. However, the passage above helps me to think more deeply about God’s sovereignty along with human free agency. It is significant that Nee points out that the Christian life is active rather than passive. But that activity is not my efforts to produce. Rather it is walking into what Jesus is doing in the world and in my own life. The Lord is the initiator. He initiates the activity and the Christian walks into it fully trusting in Jesus to provide all that is needed for that activity. I think this is something that people like Hudson Taylor and David Livingston understood very well and deeply.

Lord help me and all my brothers and sisters in Christ to more deeply understand what it means to walk with you. Amen.