Written by Ryan M. McGraw |
Monday, August 19, 2024
A worldwide church is a clear indicator that the Seed of the woman has crushed the serpent’s head, which should encourage us to pray and persevere in a world that is hostile to Christ and his gospel. Second, Paul told the church in Rome that “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20). This statement takes Christ’s victory over Satan from the end of Genesis 3:15 and combines it with the separation of the woman’s seed and the serpent’s seed in the middle. Christ gained victory over sin, death, and Satan for his people, and his people share in his victory over Satan. Through sin, Satan was our “father,” and when we sinned we did his will instead of God’s (John 8:44). Friendship with the world, the flesh, and the devil is enmity with God (James 4:4).

The Covenant of Grace
Our friendships say a lot about who we are. For example, the righteous should choose their friends carefully, knowing that the ways of the wicked lead them astray (Prov. 12:26). Friendships can make or break people, shaping who we are and making us better or worse for the experience. We tend to become like our friends, and our friends become like us. The covenant of grace is about making enemies with sin and Satan, and restoring friendship with God and his people, making us ultimately like Christ, who laid down his life for his friends (John 15:13).
Most of the Bible is about the covenant of grace, and the covenant of grace is about Christ (the Son). Westminster Larger Catechism 31 says, “The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.”1 We need a better representative than Adam; we need new hearts, and we need to be like God. Put differently, we need Jesus to be our Savior, the Spirit to dwell in our hearts, and God to be our Father. Genesis 3:15 through Revelation 22 is a single story about how God does this great work. Genesis 3:15 gives us the basic ideas of the covenant of grace, serving as a gateway into the rest of the Bible, making it a key to seeing the breathtaking unity of Scripture. This may be both the most basic and most blessed verse on covenant theology in the Bible. To understand Genesis 3:15, we need to get oriented to who’s who.
The text says,
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
There are three contrasts in this text: the woman and the serpent, the Seed and the serpent, and the Seed and the seed.2 “Offspring” in the ESV and “seed” in my translation mean the same thing here. First, beginning where the problem started, Eve fell into sin by making friendship with the serpent and eating the forbidden fruit. God would put an end to this alliance by putting “enmity” between the serpent and her, breaking her friendship with sin and Satan. “Enmity,” like the word “enemy,” means the opposite of friendship. By sinning, Eve acted in enmity toward God, treating Satan as her friend, but God would break this relationship.
Second, skipping to the end for a moment, the serpent would crush the Seed’s heel, while the Seed would crush the serpent’s head. Translating the idea here can be tricky, but “bruise” is a bit weak. “Crush” ups the stakes a bit more appropriately. The Seed is singular, and he singularly suffers and undoes the curse of sin that the serpent brought on humanity. Since the serpent would crush the Seed’s heel but have his head crushed, the serpent gets the harsher outcome of the encounter. Third, in the middle of the verse the seed is also plural, pitting Satan’s (or the serpent’s) people against the woman’s people. This sets the pattern for the division of nations in Genesis, pitting the seed of the woman against the seed of the serpent. Just as the church is associated with Christ, so the world is associated with Satan. This is where the notorious ten chapters of genealogy in 1 Chronicles becomes relevant. Chronicles, and other places in the Bible, mark off the serpent’s seed from the woman’s seed, which marks the division between the world and the church. Though sacraments come later in the story, they will point to the Son saving the seed, following the outline established in this verse. So how does Genesis 3:15 put the covenant of grace in a nutshell? When God saves sinners, he ends our alliance with sin and Satan, like he did with Eve.
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Written by C. Leonard Allen |
Monday, August 19, 2024
A Christian account of beauty is shaped not primarily by envisioning a return to a paradise lost, but rather anticipating a glory yet to appear—a glory or beauty already seen in Jesus Christ but that is being spread about through the Holy Spirit. The beauty we discern now is a preview, given by the Spirit, of a beauty yet to come in the new heaven and new earth. It is being revealed in the midst of a creation still groaning in anticipation (Rom. 8:20–22). Earth’s most dazzling beauty is thus only a glimpse of the beauty to come.

“The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing—to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from.”
—C. S. Lewis
At age eleven classical music started it all for me. My parents, wanting to divert me from what they viewed as the corrupting rock ‘n’ roll of the sixties, got me a set of LPs introducing the great composers: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, Chopin, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and a few others. I listened to them over and over during my early teenage years. I came to love them, to know them by heart. I got a taste of how beauty works, how it settles down deep in the soul, stirring feelings both noble and aching and giving glimpses into regions unknown.
Maybe this all started the day when my fifth-grade class got to go to the symphony orchestra. We were loaded onto a school bus, given sack lunches, and driven to the civic center and concert hall in Orlando. We joined hundreds of other elementary school children, finding our seats, watching the orchestra warming up on stage amid the buzz of voices. We had been instructed on some things about an orchestra: what it was, the various instruments, the kinds of music it played, the role of the conductor and the concert master. We were to applaud when the conductor entered and when an entire piece (not just a movement) was finished.
The orchestra played a whole Beethoven symphony and Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. My eyes could not move fast enough and my ears were not skilled enough to take it all in, but it was both fascinating and magical, glorious and mesmerizing. Unforgettable. What was this thing I had experienced?
Philosopher Roger Scruton, in Beauty: A Very Short Introduction, wrote: “beauty is an ultimate value—something that we pursue for its own sake, and for the pursuit of which no further reason need be given. Beauty should therefore be compared to truth and goodness, one member of a trio of ultimate values which justify our rational inclinations.”1 This trio—the true, the good, and the beautiful—are traditionally known as the “three transcendentals.” They were called that because they were viewed as the three qualities that God possesses in infinite abundance.
Hans Urs von Balthasar spent much of his career seeking to reclaim beauty as one of the great transcendentals. In a world where sin and error are rife and truth and goodness hotly contested, beauty has a key role. Beauty, he says, can sail under the radar of our arguments over what is true and good and, in the process, smuggle in a ray of the beatific vision. Beauty can pierce the heart, wounding us with the transcendent glory of God. Beauty, he says, “dances as an uncontained splendor around the double constellation of the true and the good and their inseparable relation to one another.”2
Concerned about the neglect of beauty by Christians in our time, writer and poet Dana Gioia spoke of “the necessary relationship between truth and beauty, which is not mere social convention or cultural accident but an essential form of human knowledge—intuitive, holistic, and experiential.” It is a form of human knowing that “awakens, enlarges, and refines our humanity.”3
*  *  *
I grew up in a Christian tradition that highly valued truth and goodness but in which beauty had no intentional place—and certainly not as an “ultimate value” worthy of pursuit for its own sake.
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Parents may attempt to strategize about solutions and action plans based on their limited personal wisdom. If you feel you’re not ready for a small group of other parents, at least consider speaking to a trustworthy church leader who can pray for and with you and offer an outside voice of wisdom. If this is not available, consider speaking to a counselor who is (and this is essential) committed to the authority of Scripture. You need the wisdom of Christ for your ongoing situation. The Gospels, especially, can be a guide and encouragement. Jesus routinely stepped into difficult and messy situations with people. He was often misunderstood, and his motives were questioned. He was continuously challenged by those around him yet mirrored the Father’s truth and love to the hurting and wounded.  

When a 14-year-old daughter adopts a non-binary identity or a 22-year-old son comes out as gay and invites you to his wedding, most parents will say they never envisioned journeying with an LGBTQ+-identified child in their family.
Though more Christian families than ever are struggling through scenarios like these, many don’t have the resources to deal with it; they feel hidden within our churches. I’ve found that most parents don’t talk to their pastors or others, instead trying to handle it on their own. And, unfortunately, not many churches are skilled at offering “permission-giving messages” from up front to inform struggling parents that church leadership cares about their situation and wants to hear from them.  
You Didn’t Sign Up for This
What keeps parents of LGBTQ+-identified kids hidden and silent? It may be that absent voice of help and care from the church. But it can also be a host of other things. Parents struggle with fear (what does this mean for our family?), shame (what did we do wrong?), embarrassment (what if someone finds out?), grief (our dreams for our child are over), anger (how could our child do this to our family?), and pride (what would people think about us as parents if they knew?).
How can we deal with these human—but sometimes crippling—realities that keep us from getting help?
Six Supports for Parents Journeying with LGBTQ+-Identified Kids
1. Tools for the journey
Parents have shared with me that journeying with LGBTQ+-identified kids is like being in a desert with few roadmaps telling them what to do and where to go. The challenges, heartaches, and dilemmas they face seem overwhelming and endless. 
While it’s true that a parent can’t possibly know how to respond to every challenge, it’s possible to have some tools under your belt to face these situations with your child and respond redemptively. 
The free Harvest USA curriculum, Shattered Dreams, New Hope: First Aid for Parents Whose Son or Daughter Has Embraced an LGBTQ+ Identity, is a great place to start. You must be grounded in the Bible to know how to respond and care for your child. Even though you may differ with your child about Scripture and its authority regarding sexuality and gender, God’s Word will be an oasis and a guide for you in this desert.
2. The companionship of others who ‘get it’
Many parents, especially early on, don’t want to bring anyone else into their situation. But when you do, it’s a freeing and comforting step.
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Peace is, first of all, a reconciled relationship with God through Christ, and second, a life lived in continual dependence on God in the power of the Spirit. In the spirit of Paul’s words to the Galatians, we can lead our people in living in an orbit of grace, freedom, and loving service: “You were called to freedom, brothers. … through love serve one another” (5:13).

Our world is full of strife yet desperate for peace. There are volatile international conflicts. There are student protests, political dissensions, and challenges in our churches and families. Is there any way out? “But the fruit of the Spirit is … peace” (Gal. 5:22).
Strife in Galatia
Slightly earlier in the Galatian letter, Paul exhorts, “But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit …” (5:15).
The apostle pens the entire letter in the context of strife and division. He starts out, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” (1:6) and twice calls down a curse on his opponents (1:8, 9).
He even recounts a sharp conflict with Peter, whom he “opposed … to his face, because he stood condemned,” having briefly followed that other gospel (2:11).
Paul, for his part, asserts that he lives “by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” and does not “nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose” (2:20–21).
Any effort at self-justification—any human striving and moral living apart from the enabling grace of God and the power of the Spirit—will miserably fail. Such a misguided disposition can lead only to strife and division.
The fruit of the Spirit, on the other hand, is peace.
Peace Comes Only through the Gospel
As pastors, we have the privilege of extolling the radical and liberating message of the gospel. Without any contribution on our part, Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that God can justify us—declare us righteous—on the basis of what Jesus, the Son of God, did for us.
The answer to all global, local, and internal conflict lies only in the gospel.
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We must run with the utmost self-discipline.
The noble Isthmian or Corinthian games were usually hosted near to Corinth, and those who competed in the games, whether running or wrestling, were not to indulge themselves in gluttony and pleasures, but were to be temperate in all things, bearing all things, in order to win the conqueror’s crown. In those games, the runners and wrestlers accustomed themselves to a most temperate diet, by way of preparation for the race. The winners in those games were crowned with laurel, or ivy, or honoured with some similar reward.
In the same manner, the Apostle wants Christians to be most moderate in how they use the things of this world, and to abstain from anything at all that might stop their progress, or hinder them in their warfare.
All this is in order to obtain an “incorruptible” crown, that is, an eternal one, laid up in heaven for all who strive lawfully, and finish their course. Christian wrestlers expect a more noble crown than that corruptible one, won by those who participate in the such sporting events.
We may follow Paul’s own example in running the Christian race and acting the part of a champion, and smiting his adversary certainly and seriously. Paul says he earnestly “keeps down” the body (v.27), the body of sin, and the old man, and the lusts of the flesh, in order that they would be slain. He kept his body (properly so called), by virtue of spiritual discipline, to be subject to his spirit. We should do the same thing. The Apostle nurtured his body in such a way that in labours, and watchfulness, and fastings, it would hold out in its duty, and not be drawn away by passion from the Spirit., and so that the body of sin (as much as lay in him) would be destroyed.
Paul’s purpose in “keeping down” the body of sin, or the old man, was, “lest, if I should live in a different way than I advise others to live, I should be a castaway, or blotted out as a hypocrite from the number of the saints.” “Therefore you do the same thing that I do,” Paul says, “and to the same end.”
When he speaks of “castaways” here, the Apostle does not contrast it with being elect, but with being approved.

If we know the God who always wins is with us, if we know those who stand against him can’t win, we can share the gospel boldly and speak of the greatness of Jesus faithfully, knowing – hard as some people’s response to us might be – the God who always wins is on our side so we cannot possibly lose.

In Jeremiah 20, the prophet accuses God of deceiving or seducing him into being a prophet against his will. In effect, he accuses God to making him a prophet and it bringing him nothing but hassle.
Landing hard on the idea of winning and losing, Jeremiah explains the bind he is in. If he speaks God’s Word he gets flak from the people. If he doesn’t speak, he has inner torment at not doing what is right as the Holy Spirit, or his conscience, or both burn him up inside. He says, if I speak I’m hurt outwardly and if don’t speak I’m hurt inwardly. I can’t win. But though Jeremiah can’t win, God will win. God wants Jeremiah to speak so Jeremiah will speak. If he stands against God’s plan, Jeremiah knows he cannot win.
But the flipside of that is also true. Although Jeremiah has got to speak because it’s what God wants him to do, if he’s on God’s side then he can’t lose. The persecutors are against God so can’t win. But God is with Jeremiah so he can’t lose.
Jeremiah doesn’t just say I can’t win. Instead, knowing that God always wins, and God is with him, Jeremiah says: we will win. With God against them, Jeremiah’s enemies can’t win.
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Your pastors, especially the main teaching pastor in your church, are charged with proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ in order to bring to light God’s eternal plan of salvation. Preaching the eternal truth of God’s word is not part of his job, it’s the crux of it, and our lives are dependent upon it. Your pastors’ commitment to sound preaching is one of the most important factors in your spiritual growth.

Stop and Consider
When was the last time you thanked God for your pastors? If it’s been awhile, perhaps you underestimate their value. Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”
We tend to be grateful for those who better our lives: doctors who detect illnesses, caregivers who alleviate our sufferings, and emergency personnel who rescue us. Your pastors guard something far more valuable than your physical health. God has entrusted them with the precious task of caring for your soul. This profound mandate belongs to your pastors and only to them.
Consider how they fulfill that mandate.
1. Your Pastors Grow You in Maturity
In Ephesians 4:11–14, Paul tells us that the risen Christ gave his church the gift of shepherd-teachers “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” so that the whole church grows into Christlike maturity. Your pastors are Christ’s gift to his church, given to mature your knowledge of Christ, ensure your stability against false doctrines, and enable your unity with fellow believers to promote the gospel. Your spiritual welfare relies on their guidance. By their teaching and through their example, you become more like Christ. Not only is that a weighty responsibility for them, but it’s an incredible gift for you. Pastors who take that mandate seriously are priceless.
2. Your Pastors Preach God’s Word Faithfully
In Jeremiah 3:15 God promised his people: “And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Faithful pastors are a fulfillment of that promise. Salvation comes through the verbal proclamation of the gospel (1 Cor. 1:21).
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This eternal blessing in the power and authority of God is what, as the answer says, emboldens, us to speak to the Lord in prayer. We can speak with assurance and grace precisely for the reason that God has established all things for His glory and if that is the case then we have no worry or anxiousness as we come before Him in supplication. We come to our Father who art in heaven and we do so through His Son and the encouragement of the Counselor, daily reminding us of all the things He has done for us.

First of all, I want to thank you for bearing with me through this two-year journey through the Larger Catechism. I hope that these lessons have been a blessing for they certainly have been for me. Here on Thursdays moving forward I’ve bandied about several ideas and I’ve come down to a decision that will have us continue to look at the documents adopted by our Scottish forefathers that we call the Westminster Standards, which include not only these catechisms, but the Sum of Saving Knowledge, Directory of Church Government, Directory of Public Worship, and other literature. The more familiar we become with our heritage the more I think we’ll understand why we are Presbyterians, and convinced ones at that.
However, before we get ahead of ourselves let us look at the last WLC question:
Q. 196. What doth the conclusion of the Lord’s prayer teach us?
A. The conclusion of the Lord’s prayer, (which is, For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. ) teaches us to enforce our petitions with arguments, which are to be taken, not from any worthiness in ourselves, or in any other creature, but from God; and with our prayers to join praises, ascribing to God alone eternal sovereignty, omnipotency, and glorious excellency; in regard whereof, as he is able and willing to help us, so we by faith are emboldened to plead with him that he would, and quietly to rely upon him, that he will fulfil our requests. And to testify this our desire and assurance, we say, Amen
I want to deal with an issue that while seemingly odd, is important to rightly grasping why we say the ending of the prayer and why our Catechism includes it. Some of your copies of God’s word (ESV, NASB, NIV, etc…) are based on a Greek manuscript tradition (the Eclectic or Critical Text) which does not have the this ending to the Lord’s Prayer. In my ESV Study Bible the wording is completely absent, relegated to a footnote. At Bethany we have the NKJV in the pews and that is the version of the Bible that I preach and teach from on Lord’s Day mornings and evenings as well as use in Sabbath School and Wednesday Nights. The NKJV and the KJV are translations which come from the Received Text or the Textus Receptus. This devotional is not the place to get into the reasonings and histories as to whether one is right or not (and by my use of the NKJV I kind of give my position away).
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While God’s judgment awaits his people, this judgment is not unto condemnation, but unto vindication in Christ (Deuteronomy 32:36; Psalm 50:4; 135:14; Romans 8:1; Hebrews 10:30). Beloved, we have been justified in Christ by his blood, more so, we shall be saved from the impending wrath of God on sinners (Romans 5:9-10; 1 Corinthians 1:18). However, it is not only the redeemed ones that are longing for redemption, but the whole creation itself is also longing to be renewed.

Niyi Osundare’s famous poem teaches that much wisdom lies in living today in anticipation of tomorrow. To ensure “tomorrow,” Osundare says, “it is meet to live on herbs and grains today.” Unfortunately, health and wealth gospel preachers stand as the “prodigals” portrayed in Osundare’s poem, whose belly is their god. They have led many to falsely believe that the gospel primarily attends to material benefits, rather than the restoration of holy communion with God that endures the various hardships and suffering of this present age. They exhort their people to get as much as they can now, instead of anticipating God’s glorious consummation of all things. 
The Bible teaches that this age is headed towards Jesus Christ’s second coming. But what are we to anticipate when Christ returns? How does it give hope today? In this article, I give a cursory view of three things that the Bible teaches concerning Christ’s return to consummate history. First, Christ will bring retribution against sinners. Second, he’ll redeem his people. Lastly, Christ will renew all things.
1. Christ Brings Retribution on Sinners
In the Apostles’ Creed, we confess that after Jesus Christ rose from the dead “he ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from there he shall come to judge the living and the dead” (see 2 Timothy 4:1). By his substitutionary atonement, Christ dealt with sin and death once for all (Hebrews 9:26b; 1 Peter 3:18). However, he is coming back in the fullness of his glory to judge unrepentant sinners. This judgment is righteous, true, just, impartial, and inscrutable (Psalm 7:11-12; 50:6; 96:10; Isaiah 33:22; Ecclesiastes 3:17; Matthew 25:31; John 5:30; 7:24; 2 Thessalonians 1:5; 2 Timothy 4:8; Revelation 16:7; 19:2).
Many arguments have been made concerning the nature of Christ’s thousand-year reign of judgment and the timing of Christ’s return (Revelation 20). It is, however, beyond doubt that God hates unrepentant sinners. And when Christ returns, they will experience the wrath of God in its fullness (Psalm 5:4-6; 11:4-7). And the clearest form of Christ’s retribution is casting them into the lake of fire (Isaiah 66:15-16; Matthew 25:41; 2 Thessalonians 1:7b-10; Revelation 20:15; 21:8). 
God is “holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3). The unrighteous will not escape God’s fire of fury at Christ’s second coming, for they are storing up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath by their unrepentant lifestyle (Psalm 1:5; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Romans 2:5). Therefore, believers must not envy the ungodly, because their supposed flourishing is short-lived, and Christ’s retribution awaits them at his appearing (Psalm 37; Proverbs 24:1-2, 19-20). But what hope is there on the day of retribution for us sinners who have sought refuge in Christ? Redemption!
2. Christ Will Redeem His People
The doctrine of the consummation can be understood in terms of ‘the already, not yet.’ The ‘already’ points to God’s redemptive work, accomplished in redeeming sinners through the suffering, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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This is not merely a nice poetic statement about God; it is a present reality for all who seek His empowerment in times of need. Over and over again now, for several years, I have prayed, “Lord, I have no strength to do what is needed. But you live in me. Would you be my strength? Fill me with Yourself and flow through me in power, and I will be careful to give You the glory for what You have done.” 

You discover God’s attributes as you need them. You may not comprehend the depth of God’s provision until you find yourself in physical need. His care becomes real to you when you are hurting and desperate for His tender shepherding. These parts of God’s nature become real and precious as you experience them and, once experienced, you never see God quite the same.
His Strength
I’ve been through a few years of physical problems that have taken my strength and stamina. Because of multiple problems, one of which was persistent anemia, I spent many days with little energy … and I had much to do. I couldn’t just quit and sit down when there were important ministry demands.
In these years, I have learned of the inexhaustible supply of God’s strength. He IS my strength; He is all I need whenever I need it. His strength has become one of the things I praise Him for most frequently. I have even, by God’s grace, been able to “glory in my weakness” because of the fresh experiences of God’s power.
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