Written by T. M. Suffield |
Sunday, March 10, 2024
This congregation that Polycarp is writing to has lost a Pastor who’s fallen away. They are to watch their own lives and doctrine so that they do not go the same way. Don’t be swayed, don’t be dragged, don’t be seduced, or driven off the road. In order to stand firm we need to ‘love the brotherhood.’ Polycarp is quoting 1 Peter 2.17. The brotherhood here is just the church. Our standing firm requires that we are with one another.

This is the next part of my ongoing series exploring the letter written by St Polycarp to the church in Philippi, collaborating with my friend Adsum Try Ravenhill of the Raven’s Writing Desk.
You can read the previous parts at these links: I; II; III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX.
Dear Adsum
Thank you for your last letter, particularly your guidance to ask God for patience in the midst of trials. Though, I must admit, this is a “thanks, I hate it” sort of thank you. Who wants more patience? People who want to be more like Jesus.
I am not a patient man. My wife is much more patient than me, as are many others I know. I think of the dear patience of a close friend whose debilitating illness has not been healed by the Lord and his desire to keep pressing in to follow Jesus anyway. It’s an inspiration to me.
Of course, I don’t think he’ll recognise himself in that sentence, because I don’t think he thinks he’s a patient man.
Today’s passage in Polycarp is:
Stand fast, therefore, in these things, and follow the example of the Lord, being firm and unchangeable in the faith, loving the brotherhood, and being attached to one another, joined together in the truth, exhibiting the meekness of the Lord in your intercourse with one another, and despising no one. When you can do good, defer it not, because “alms delivers from death.” Be all of you subject one to another, having your conduct blameless among the Gentiles,” that you may both receive praise for your good works, and the Lord may not be blasphemed through you. But woe to him by whom the name of the Lord is blasphemed! Teach, therefore, sobriety to all, and manifest it also in your own conduct.
Stand fast! Because of the example of Jesus and of the saints that we’ve already heard we should stand firm. Christians are to be boulders. The sort of obstacle that the wind and waves of life can’t move.
I find myself drawn to rural examples. I’ve lived in cities for my whole adult life, and for all my primary school had a flock of sheep (yes, really) I don’t know much about the countryside. I do recall once driving up a steep track in Wales that a flock of sheep had decided to sit down on at night. Progress was difficult.
Progress is even harder if something larger than your car, like a cow, decides to stop in the middle of the road. You can’t do anything about it except wait. The cow has no interest in the urgency of my journey, they go their own way. Oddly, Christians in this analogy are the cow, not the car.
Read More
Related Posts:

“Woes” are especially prominent in the prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve. As for the New Testament, there are woes in Revelation. But the vast majority of New Testament woes are spoken by Christ in the Gospels, especially Matthew and Luke. Our Lord regularly pronounced woes on the wicked, which highlights that He was in fact a prophet, like the prophets of old.

In the book of Habakkuk, the prophet forthrightly complained to God not once but twice. He first complained about Israel’s wickedness (Habakkuk 1:1-4). And in response, God announced He would send the Chaldeans in judgment (1:5-11). (The Chaldeans are known also as the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which lasted from 626 to 529 BC.)
That is not what Habakkuk was hoping to hear. So he complained for a second time (1:12-17), saying that for God to use wicked people in this way is contrary to His nature. God then gave His second response to Habakkuk (2:2-20).
In this second response, God made clear that He would surely judge the wicked, including Babylon. He is indeed holy, as Habakkuk had rightfully declared in 1:12—“my Holy One” (NASB 1995). By no means would God leave the Chaldeans unpunished. As part of God’s response to Habakkuk, He pronounced five “woes” upon Babylon (Habakkuk 2:6-20). Such pronouncements of judgment are common in the Bible, especially in the prophetic literature.
The Five Woes (Habakkuk 2:6-20)
The first woe upon Babylon is for their theft (Habakkuk 2:6-8). God says that Babylon’s taking land from others is a “loan” (v. 6), and the “creditors” will rise up and take Babylon as “spoil” (vv. 7-8). Babylon was conquering nation after nation, taking their land and possessions. But the creditors will come looking for their money—“Will not your creditors rise up suddenly, And those who collect from you awaken? Indeed, you will become plunder for them” (v. 7). God is saying the creditors will come and “plunder” Babylon. Babylon’s time will come—“Because you have looted many nations, All the remainder of the peoples will loot you — Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town and all its inhabitants” (v. 8).
God pronounces a second woe, this time for their greed (Habakkuk 2:9-11). He says, “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house To put his nest on high, To be delivered from the hand of calamity!” (v. 9). The “house” represents the Babylonian Empire. Though not always clear in the English translations, very similar Hebrew language in v. 9 is used in Proverbs 15:27—“He who profits illicitly troubles his own house, But he who hates bribes will live.” Since God is the sovereign Judge of the earth, He ensures that illicit gain brings trouble on one’s house. The Chaldeans built up their house “by cutting off many peoples,” and they devised “a shameful thing” (v. 10). So God said that “the stone will cry out from the wall, and the rafter will answer it from the framework” (v. 11). That which made up the empire would cry out against Babylon (maybe referring to rebellion).
God announces a third woe for Babylon’s violence (Habakkuk 2:12-14). This woe is on the one “who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with violence” (v. 12), that is, building an empire unjustly. Founding a city was often considered an act of arrogance in Scripture, especially when built by violent men. This is seen with Cain (Genesis 4:17), Nimrod the mighty hunter (Genesis 10:8-12), Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), and Pharoah, who forced Israelite slaves to build cities (Exodus 1:11). Habakkuk 2:13 asks, “Is it not indeed from the LORD of hosts That peoples toil for fire, And nations grow weary for nothing?” The troubles of the nations are “from the LORD.”
This is followed by a verse that may seem out of place within the context here of God’s woes—“For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). Yet while it may seem out of place, it is intentionally placed here at the center of the woes as a reminder that God is working all things to make His glory known among the earth, including His judgment. This is similar to Old Testament language about God’s glory filling the temple (Exodus 40:34-25; 1 Kings 8:11) and almost identical to some other passages (Numbers 14:21; Psalm 72:19).
Yet the closest parallel is Isaiah 11:9—“They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.” The context there is not judgment but the conversion of the nations (Isaiah 11:10-12) and justice throughout the earth (11:4-5, 13-15). God’s judgment and salvation are connected, as God is glorified in both judgment and salvation, and salvation is from judgment.
God announces a fourth woe on those who take advantage of their neighbors, using the imagery of making them drunk (Habakkuk 2:15-17). God says, “Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, Who mix in your venom even to make them drunk So as to look on their nakedness!” (v. 15). The Babylonians treated other nations harshly, which is compared to intoxicating them to humiliate them. In response to this, the Babylonians would suffer the same fate:
You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor. Now you yourself drink and expose your own nakedness. The cup in the LORD’S right hand will come around to you, And utter disgrace will come upon your glory. (Habakkuk 2:16)
Just as Babylon disgraced others, so Babylon would be disgraced. The language of “cup” usually refers to God’s wrath and judgment, meaning the Lord’s wrath would come upon Babylon. As v. 17 says of this judgment, “For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, And the devastation of its beasts by which you terrified them.”
Read More
Related Posts:

God is still omnipotent: there is no one on earth more powerful than him. He is still omnipresent: he is everywhere. He can hear the cries and prayers in Canada, Russia, Ukraine, and everywhere in the world. God is still omniscient: he knows what we need before we even ask him. He is still sovereign: He works all things—even tyranny, invasions, and wars—together for the good of those of us who are called according to his purpose.

Some of the events in our nations and around the world are tempting many of us to become anxious and afraid.
After two years of suffering from COVID, restrictions, and vaccine mandates—because of Justin’s Trudeau’s tyrannical actions over the last couple of weeks, many Canadians are more anxious and afraid than ever before.
Then earlier this week, Russia invaded Ukraine. The last time an invasion like that happened in Europe, it started the Second World War.
Naturally, many of us are anxious this could be the beginning of another world war.
2021 was a difficult year, but 2022 is looking like it could be an even more difficult year. Inflation is higher this year than at any point over the last 30 years. The price for food and gas are getting worse. And there’s no sign our bills will get less expensive.
In Canada, the federal vaccine mandates are still in effect, and there’s no indication they will end anytime soon. Many Canadians hoped the Freedom Convoy would end all the vaccine mandates, but Justin Trudeau’s tyrannical use of the Emergencies Act banned peaceful protests on the mandates and effectively shut down the Freedom Convoy.
Trudeau also froze bank accounts of protestors and people who donated to them, and he instructed police to arrest and detain protestors in Ottawa—including the organizer of the protest, Tamara Lich. She’s been denied bail, and she faces up to 10 years in prison for organizing a peaceful protest that essentially half of Canadians sympathize with.
And significantly worse in Ukraine—millions of people are fleeing from their homes to seek asylum in neighbouring countries like Moldova, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia because of Vladimir Putin’s apparent mission to restore the Soviet Union.
Ukrainian husbands, fathers, and sons have tearfully said their goodbyes to their families as they prepare to fight for their lives, families, and nation. And many vulnerable Ukrainians are forced to hide in train stations and tunnels as the Russian army attempts to take over their country.
In just a matter of weeks and days, the world has changed.
Read More