Isaiah the prophet turns us to the sovereignty of God in chapter 40 of his prophecy. In similar circumstances of national disaster, Isaiah prepared God’s people for the imminent national catastrophe of exile by multiplying comforting pictures of God’s sovereignty. Let’s watch as he strengthens the inner world of God’s people with the external world of God’s sovereign power.

Oftentimes, when our external world begins to crack, creak, and crumble, so does our internal world. For many of us Christians, we begin to doubt God’s goodness and His sovereignty. Anxiety, fear, and anger can weaken the confidence of many believers in God, especially their trust in God’s sovereignty. Disturbing questions haunt many of us: “Is God still in control? If He is, does He know what He’s doing?” “Is He as good as He says He is?” Where do we turn to strengthen ourselves and banish such terrifying questions?
God’s Awesome Greatness
Isaiah the prophet turns us to the sovereignty of God in chapter 40 of his prophecy. In similar circumstances of national disaster, Isaiah prepared God’s people for the imminent national catastrophe of exile by multiplying comforting pictures of God’s sovereignty. Let’s watch as he strengthens the inner world of God’s people with the external world of God’s sovereign power.
God’s hand: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?” asks Isaiah in verse 12. It’s one of a series of rhetorical questions that expect the answer, “Our sovereign God.” There are an estimated 332,519,000 cubic miles of water on the planet, yet our sovereign God holds them in the palm of His hand.
God’s ruler: “Who has . . . marked off the heavens with a span?” (v. 12). A large human handspan is about 8–9 inches. That can’t measure much, can it? But God can measure the heavens with just His handspan. The nearest star is four light years away. In other words, it would take four years to get there traveling at 186,000 miles per hour. But God can measure to the farthest star with just His thumb and little finger.
God’s cup: “Who has . . . enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure?” (v. 12). Can you measure how much sand there is on a beach? Of course not. We couldn’t find a container big enough or strong enough. Yet God’s kitchen has a measuring cup that can hold the sand from every beach and every desert in the world.
God’s scales: “Who has . . . weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” (v. 12). Ever tried lifting a large boulder? Yet God can lift the Alps, the Himalayas, the Andes, and the Rockies and not trouble His scales.
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Written by Forrest L. Marion |
Saturday, May 25, 2024
Bishop Barron has produced a short, superb message entitled, “Loss of a Sabbath Consciousness.” In it, he notes the loss since about the 1960s of “a more religious rhythm” to American life, even in secular society – a trend, by the way, to which the National Football League has been a heavy, perhaps the heaviest, contributor. But now, “Sunday seems a lot like any other day.”

On May 11, Kansas City Chiefs’ placekicker Harrison Butker achieved a media splash with his conservative remarks in the commencement address at Benedictine College. The small, conservative Catholic school in Atchison, Kansas, has pursued intentionally a path of higher learning where traditional Catholic teachings are upheld and celebrated. In short, Butker spoke of today’s poor leadership in and out of the Church, and of “degenerate cultural values” – in the media but also, sadly, far beyond. He pointed toward a better way offered by the traditional teachings and values of the Church.
Whether justified or not, Butker’s speech has been controversial. He has been criticized for several statements particularly concerning women, including reference to Taylor Swift, most of which a generation or two ago were simply expressions of accepted norms within Catholic (as well evangelical) circles, if not the culture overall. Discussion of his more controversial remarks is for others to pursue, however.
My point here is narrower. But first, Butker’s address reminds one of another commencement speech, by the famous Russian dissident and author, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who in 1978 spoke at Harvard University. A half-century ago Solzhenitsyn declared: “A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage. . . .”
Whatever one thinks of certain comments he made at Benedictine College, Butker spoke with civic courage. He spoke boldly, clearly, intelligently, and – to many, though not all – winsomely. In 2020s America, that itself is no small accomplishment, especially the courage piece. Bravo for the lesson on civic courage – it’s much needed.
But there is another angle, which went unmentioned at Benedictine, or since then as best I can discern. One of the Super Bowl winning kicker’s statements, affirming “how an ordered, Christ-centered existence is the recipe for success,” is noteworthy.
In his address, Butker mentioned His Excellency Bishop Robert Barron, a friend of Benedictine College and, in 2022, a recipient of an honorary doctorate from the school. The acclaimed author, speaker, and theologian as well as the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, Bishop Barron is described as “one of the Church’s best messengers.” Butker might have done well to consider the connection between ordered, Christ-centeredness and the Sabbath – which is, arguably, among the foremost ordering institutions in the Scripture.
Bishop Barron has produced a short, superb message entitled, “Loss of a Sabbath Consciousness.” In it, he notes the loss since about the 1960s of “a more religious rhythm” to American life, even in secular society – a trend, by the way, to which the National Football League has been a heavy, perhaps the heaviest, contributor. But now, “Sunday seems a lot like any other day.” Barron continues:
From a biblical perspective, the loss of a Sabbath consciousness is nothing short of disastrous. One of the Ten Commandments, one of the most sacred commands in the Old Testament, tells us to keep holy the Sabbath. But more to it, Sabbath observance is a leitmotif that runs right through the Bible, Old Testament and New.
The Bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester (Minnesota) goes on, interweaving the thoughts of Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel to suggest the Sabbath is a day of equality and that although “society puts all sorts of different stratifications on us, who’s up, who’s down. . . . on the Sabbath day . . . we realize that those distinctions really don’t amount to all that much.” Moreover, two successive popes, and John Paul II and Benedict XVI, “. . . placed a great stress on the recovery of this day.” Barron says, “. . . what a tragedy when we contribute ourselves to the secularization of the Sabbath. . . . Moses did not give us the ten suggestions. Keep holy the Sabbath is a commandment.”
Barron’s remarks, by the way, are at this point almost indistinguishable from the views historically of Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians, and Methodists. Nearly two centuries ago one of the foremost organizations of its kind, the Virginia Society for Promoting the Observance of the Christian Sabbath – in which the four (above) mainline Protestant churches were well represented – stated, “So intimately connected is the Sabbath with all that is holy and transforming in the Gospel, that the manner in which it is observed, is a pretty accurate criterion of the state of religion in any community, family, or individual.” Later, the Virginia Society declared, “The truth is, the man, whose example is against the holy observance of the day, not only violates the law of God, by which he is to be judged, but does what he can to rob his neighbor of all the rich blessings which flow from the Sabbath.”[1]
The Sabbath-conscious observer of Benedictine College’s recent commencement might wonder: what were they thinking when they invited a speaker to promote traditional Christian values at their school, but whose very reason for being a public figure is inseparably linked to the Sabbath’s violation on an ongoing basis?
As suggested above, in football terms Harrison Butker’s courageous address was tantamount to, oh, about four field goals. But, more so for Benedictine than for Butker, the decision to invite him was a missed PAT in terms of the Sabbath – which like the typical point-after-touchdown, is barely considered.
Forrest L. Marion is a ruling elder in the First Presbyterian Church (PCA), Crossville, Tennessee.
[1] “Second Annual Report Of the Managers of the Virginia Society, for Promoting the Observance of the Christian Sabbath,” Southern Religious Telegraph, Apr. 13, 1832; “Virginia Society for Promoting the Observance of the Christian Sabbath,” Southern Religious Telegraph, Apr. 11, 1834 (quoted in Forrest L. Marion, “Sabbath Keeping as ‘Social Justice,’” Aquila Report, Sep. 3, 2017).
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I write to you in reference to reports that you are on the cusp of receiving Memorial Presbyterian in St. Louis, Missouri into your fold, along with her leadership, including her senior pastor, Greg Johnson. Before taking such action, I earnestly implore you to ponder the following four points as they reflect upon Dr. Johnson’s fitness for office among you:

[Author’s preface: Much of the material recounted here is sinful and morally-corrosive, and as I do not wish to lead you into sin even in opposing wrong (Lk. 17:1-2), I strongly counsel you to prayerfully consider whether it is advantageous for you to read what follows at all. I emphatically request that women, the young, new believers, and those especially tempted to sexual immorality refrain from reading this; and as for those who do proceed, I urge you, in the spirit of Gal. 6:1, to keep close watch on yourself lest you too be tempted, and to counteract this with a large course of holy exercises, as the reading of scripture, prayer, meditation, and wholesome fellowship.]
Dear Brothers:
I am a member of a congregation in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), and write to you in reference to reports that you are on the cusp of receiving Memorial Presbyterian in St. Louis, Missouri into your fold, along with her leadership, including her senior pastor, Greg Johnson. Before taking such action, I earnestly implore you to ponder the following four points as they reflect upon Dr. Johnson’s fitness for office among you:

One, in an article published at the website Living Out on August 19th, 2021, Johnson subtitled one of his sections “The human propensity to f*** things up,” and elaborated:

As Francis Spufford writes, it’s ‘the human propensity to f*** things up’ that best points to the fact that Christianity still makes profound emotional sense.
Sanitized cursing is still wrong, not least since a repentant curser such as myself (and practically everyone over the age of childhood) can clearly tell what is meant. What is sinful is the opposite of what is holy, and it is the latter that God requires of all his people, but especially those who would shepherd others. Our Lord said that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mt. 12:34), the digital corollary of which is that it is out of the heart that the fingers type.
Actually, writing something is worse, since one can speak from fatigue or momentary emotion, but one who writes what is sinful has the opportunity to ponder whether it is appropriate to publish before doing so—and in this case saw fit to proceed. I would never write such a thing in an email at work, and would fear for my job if I did. And yet it can be used in an article professing to teach Christ’s faith? Such things “ought not to be” (Jas. 3:10).
In fact, there is a further problem with it, for Johnson quotes here what is a formal concept with Spufford, his alternative to the orthodox doctrine of sin. Spufford is an utter heretic whose point in the book quoted is that the faith cannot be known, but still makes “surprising emotional sense.”[1] (See footnote for examples of his heresies.) That is a radically different faith from the historic one taught in Scripture, yet Johnson willfully appealed to Spufford and his teaching, what is no small fault.

Regrettably, Johnson’s unclean language appears elsewhere. In his 2021 book Still Time to Care, he writes the following, but before recounting it, I reiterate my prefatory warning and strongly counsel any readers who have no immediate role in his acceptance to skip it, for it is sorely filthy and does not tend to one’s edification.

Beginning on page 169 he has a section called “Teenage Greek Boys and the Men They Melted,” in which he ‘contextualizes’ pederasty and says things like “what can a woman do when her husband has skin silkier than hers and can snare more men?” (quoting Ovid). On p. 171 he quotes a homoerotic Greek drinking song and comments “my, how those Greek men melted.” The correspondent who brought this to my attention says that Johnson even makes a hypothetical introduction at one point that runs “Hi I’m Greg, I am a Christian and I want to build my life on receiving as much sex as I can from men, with me in the passive role,” though he neglected to mention where and I have much too high a respect for my soul to go looking for it.
Such statements are disgusting and reprehensible, and they openly violate God’s commands in Ephesians 5:3-4:
Sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
Indeed, I’m not sure I should even have published them here; but as you are considering him for office among you, you ought to know the true character of the man, as shown in statements such as this; for “the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil” (Matt. 12:35). Again, he knowingly chose to make such graphic sodomy jokes in the name of arguing for Christian compassion. True compassion never involves such open rebellion against God’s commands, and never clothes itself in filth (1 Cor. 13:6).

Johnson’s church allowed its property be used for the “Transluminate” festival in 2020, which event was a “celebration of transgender, agender, non-binary, genderqueer, and genderfluid artists” and included a play about “a human [who] wants to transform into another species.” Using God’s property to give material aid to the open celebration of debauchery is as brazen a rebellion against him as when the Israelites worshipped idols in the temple. It is not evangelism, outreach, or any form of Christian ministry, but aiding and abetting those sins to which God gives people over as judgment (Rom. 1:18-32). God says it is an abomination when people adopt the dress of the opposite sex (Deut. 22:5)—shall we deem it less evil when they permanently disfigure themselves in attempting to adopt the physique of the opposite sex? Yet that was what “Transluminate” encouraged, and far from calling its participants to repentance without ensnaring their church in sin, Memorial’s leadership gladly gave their property for Transluminate’s use. People who do such things clearly have no fear of God, else they should tremble lest that wrath which he so often poured upon the Israelites (e.g., Eze. 8-9) should come also upon us.
Johnson has not hesitated to casually slander those that disagree with him. Consider this tweet:

Laying aside the severe twisting of Gal. 2 to his own purposes in that, accusing people who disapprove one’s actions of being gospel-denying false teachers, and thereby bringing upon them the fierce condemnation of the New Testament (e.g., “for them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved,” 2 Pet. 2:17) is a grievous slander indeed, worthy rather of Satan, the great accuser of the brethren, than of one claiming to be a grace-bearing emissary of Christ.
Now God says, “Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses” (1 Tim. 5:19). I have given you four lines of evidence, all public, and most drawn from his own words. I’m not aware that he has repented the statements or deeds mentioned above, but even if he has, they are so numerous and of such a severe nature as to disqualify him from office. I therefore earnestly implore you not to accept this man into office among you, nor to accept that church or its other elders which standfast to him and participate in his sins.
Be wise and learn from our experience in the PCA. This man’s late tenure among us was fraught with strife, and he nearly splintered the denomination. Our Lord says to “beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” and that we “will recognize them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:15-16). Singlehandedly embroiling the largest non-apostate Presbyterian denomination in the country in years of strife and nearly splitting it is a rotten fruit, wouldn’t you say? Should you then open the gate to the pasture to such a man, and employ him in the government of the sheep and the evaluation of future shepherds? I am hopeful that God’s grace will enable you to ponder this matter aright, but if you will not listen to my warning here but instead stiffen your necks, imagining that any of the transgressions I have mentioned above is excusable or, worse still, mistaking it for Christian ministry, then I fear for you, that this word draws nigh against you: “it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God” (1 Pet. 4:17).
Tom Hervey is a member of Woodruff Road Presbyterian Church, Five Forks/Simpsonville (Greenville Co.), SC. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not of necessity reflect those of his church or its leadership or other members. He welcomes comments at the email address provided with his name. He is also author of Reflections on the Word: Essays in Protestant Scriptural Contemplation. 

[1] He says at one point that “it is a mistake to suppose that it is assent to the propositions [i.e. “of the Creed”] that makes you a believer. It is the feelings that are primary. I assent to the ideas because I have the feelings; I don’t have the feelings because I have assented to the ideas.” He subsequently says “my belief is made of, built up from, sustained by emotions like that. That’s what makes it real.” He also quotes the Quran approvingly and espouses a sort of agnosticism, saying “I don’t know that any of it is true. (And neither do you, and neither does Professor Dawkins, and neither does anybody. It isn’t the kind of thing you can know. It isn’t a knowable item.)” He disparages the intellect in favor of the emotions, saying “emotions are also our indispensable tool for navigating, for feeling our way through, the much larger domain of stuff that isn’t checkable against the physical universe.” These and further errors (inc. blasphemy and what appears to be pantheism and denials of God’s sovereignty, providence, and miracles) occur in a three page section (pp.19-21) in which he recounts feeling good listening to Mozart in a cafe after he had been up all night arguing with his wife because he committed adultery—hardly the right circumstances under which to formulate theological doctrine. (To say the very least . . .) But Johnson did not hesitate to quote him without qualification.
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