Audio Transcript

Welcome back on this new week as we pick up with our third consecutive apologetics question on the person and work of Christ. It started last week, when we asked, Even if the Christian faith is untrue — if the cross and resurrection didn’t happen — aren’t Christians still happier than non-Christians, in this life? That was APJ 1977, followed by a look at six reasons why Jesus had to leave earth after Easter. Imagine life on earth if Christ were still here with us! Well, he’s not; why not? That was last time, in APJ 1978.

That takes us to today. If the consequences of our sin against a holy God require eternal judgment, why did Christ suffer for no more than 33 years? Shouldn’t his sufferings also be eternal, if that’s what we deserve? Here are two emails: “Pastor John, hello to you. My name is Glenn from San Jose. Thank you for your ministry. As with many people, APJ has been a part of my regular routine, and it has blessed me and allows me to bless others in return. I have a question for you about Jesus that I cannot answer for myself, namely: Why did Jesus not spend eternity in hell, if this was the awesome and holy price to be paid for sin? Does the Bible tell us why?” This is basically the same question from a listener named Floris: “Pastor John, can you explain why Jesus’s payment for our sins was not eternal, as it is for sinners?”

This is an excellent question because it pushes us to take seriously the worth of the death of Jesus, and we need to do that. We don’t ponder too often the greatness of the achievement of Christ in paying the debt for millions upon millions of hell-deserving sinners, like the thief on the cross, who before he was crucified had never done one single work of faith in his life. Or like you and me, who may have known Jesus all our lives, and yet have fallen short so many thousands of times we couldn’t even begin to count them.

“The song of the slaughtered Lamb will be sung forever. It was a staggering achievement on the cross.”

Our worship, and our love for Christ, ought to burn brightly when we contemplate that one man, one God-man, could endure enough in 33 years to provide a sufficient satisfaction in the justice of God for eternal salvation for so many wicked people. This is why we will sing “the song of the Lamb” — the crucified Lamb — forever, not just “the song of the risen King” (Revelation 15:2–4). The song of the slaughtered Lamb will be sung forever and ever. It was a staggering achievement on the cross.

Sin’s Eternal Cost

The question is, How is it possible? Jesus taught us that sinners like us deserve eternal punishment. “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46). So, the punishment for sin is as long as life is long for the saved: forever. Paul said the same thing: “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction” (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

So, the question Glenn is asking is, If Christ bore our punishment, why then does he not have to endure the same punishment — namely, eternal suffering? And make no mistake, those who trust in Christ are saved from eternal punishment because Christ bore our punishment for us.

Colossians 2:14: “The record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands . . . [God] set aside, nailing it to the cross” — that means through the hands of Jesus.
Galatians 3:13: “Christ . . . [became] a curse for us.”
Isaiah 53:5: “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities.”
1 Peter 2:24: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.”
Romans 8:3: “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, [God] condemned [our] sin in the flesh.”
Mark 10:45: “The Son of Man came . . . to give his life as a ransom for many.”
1 Corinthians 6:20: “You were bought with a price.”
Acts 20:28: “[God] obtained [the church] with his own blood.”

Christ achieved this substitution for millions of believers, not by suffering eternally in hell, but by being obedient in suffering unto death, “even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). And the question is, How does he bear eternities of punishment in the space of 33 years of life? How does his suffering suffice to cancel the punishment of millions of people who were bound to eternal punishment?

Christ’s Infinite Dignity

Now, the Bible does not say explicitly how this works. But just as we learned the demerit of sin by looking at God’s appointed penalty for it — namely, eternal punishment — so also we learn the merit, or the worth, of Christ and his suffering by looking at the achievement of it — namely, salvation for millions of hell-deserving sinners. So, the question becomes, What is it about the worth of Jesus and his suffering that makes it sufficient to remove the punishment of millions of sinners?

Let me read you the answer given by Jonathan Edwards and then say a word about it. This comes from a sermon he preached in 1729 entitled “The Sacrifice of Christ Acceptable.” Here’s what he says:

Though Christ’s sufferings were but temporal [that is, not eternal], yet they were equivalent to our eternal sufferings by reason of the infinite dignity of his person. Though it was not infinite suffering, yet it was equivalent to infinite suffering, for it was infinite expense. His blood which he spilled, his life which he laid down, was an infinite price because it was the blood of God, as it is expressly called. Acts 20:28, “The church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” His life was the life of that person that was the eternal Son of God, though it was the life of the human nature. Now, upon this account, the price offered was equivalent to the demerit of the sins of all mankind, [and] his sufferings equivalent to the eternal sufferings of the whole world. (Works of Jonathan Edwards, 14:452)

“We learn the merit, or the worth, of Christ and his suffering by looking at the achievement of it.”

Now, the principle behind that argument is that the greater the worth — or the dignity or the honor — of a person, the more insulting and dishonorable and shameful is the innocent suffering of that person. So, the suffering of the Son of God is a greater evil than the suffering of a sinful human. And since the worth and the honor of the Son of God is an infinite worth and an infinite honor, therefore, his suffering had an infinite worth, more than enough to be the punishment for finite human beings.

Or to say it one more way, when Christ descended from the position of “equality with God” (Philippians 2:6) to the point of forsakenness by God on the cross in agony, that depth of descent was infinitely greater than the descent of any sinful human into the sufferings of hell — indeed, all of them together.

Worship Burning Bright

So, one way of answering the question, “How does Christ’s 33-year-long suffering cover the sins of millions of people who deserve eternal suffering?” is this: Because the infinite worth of his person makes his suffering of infinite worth and sufficient for the covering of all the sins of all his people.

As I said at the beginning, our worship and our love for Christ ought to burn very brightly when we consider that one man, one God-man, could endure enough suffering to cover so many hell-deserving sins.

Today we commemorate the birthday of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, born 130 years ago on January 3, 1892. And today, as the works of so many of his contemporaries are being forgotten or relegated to reading lists for specialized literature courses, Tolkien’s two great masterpieces, The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955), continue to live on — on the page and screen, and in the hearts of millions of readers all over the world.

So why have Tolkien’s works not just survived but actually increased in popularity in the decades since their release? We could point to their intricately woven plots, unforgettable characters, amazing settings, and wonderful descriptions, but none of these elements can adequately explain the passion that Tolkien readers typically display, or their desire to reread these long narratives again and again. For a better answer, we might look below the surface and ask, What makes Middle-earth the kind of world so many readers long for?

‘Fundamentally Religious’

On December 2, 1953, Tolkien typed out a fairly short, five-paragraph letter to his good friend Father Robert Murray, which would go on to become the most cited of all his collected letters. Father Murray had read and commented on parts of The Lord of the Rings and had reported that the work had left him with strong sense of a “positive compatibility with the order of Grace” (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, 171–72).

Tolkien responded that he thought he understood exactly what Murray meant. Then he made his now-famous, often-quoted declaration: “The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision” (172).

The Lord of the Rings is a fundamentally religious work? Despite having the author’s own word, at first glance this may seem a strange claim. The word God is never used in either The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, nor do we find any of the elements we typically associate with religion. The key to understanding Tolkien’s statement to Father Murray hinges on the word fundamentally. Paraphrasing Tolkien, we could say that The Lord of the Rings is in its fundamentals or at its foundations a religious work.

So how should we approach The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to find the Christian elements? One further letter from Tolkien offers a clue.

Tolkien the Christian

In the fall of 1958, three years after The Return of the King was released, the final installment in The Lord of the Rings, an American scholar named Deborah Webster was asked to give a talk on Tolkien. Finding little about the author in print at the time, and there being no Internet, she took out pen and paper and wrote to ask Professor Tolkien if he would be willing to share some information about himself.

On October 25, Tolkien wrote back. He began by lamenting that insignificant details having nothing to do with an artist’s work are often the ones “particularly dear” to researchers, such as the fact that Beethoven swindled his publishers (Letters, 288). With regard to himself, Tolkien pointed out, some facts — such as his preference of Spanish to Italian — had an effect on The Lord of the Rings but did little to explain it.

Tolkien went on to say, however, that a few basic facts, “however drily expressed,” were “really significant.” For instance, the fact that he was born in 1892 and spent his boyhood in a pre-mechanical setting much like the Shire. “Or more important,” he continued, “I am a Christian,” and added, “which can be deduced from my stories.”

“The Christian element in Tolkien’s stories is present but not directly evident; it must be deduced.”

Here the word deduced is key. The Christian element in Tolkien’s stories is present but not directly evident; it must be deduced. In addition, the author tells us it can be determined from the stories themselves. While Tolkien’s letters and essays can shed additional light on the Christian aspect in his fiction, if we look below the surface, we can find it without needing external sources.

Founded on Faith

In an interview, Tolkien told Wheaton professor Clyde Kilby, “I am a Christian and of course what I write will be from that essential viewpoint” (Myth, Allegory, and Gospel, 141). Here, instead of the word fundamentally, Tolkien uses the word essential. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are in their essence Christian works, not on the surface. So while some Tolkien scholars label as Christian the fact (reported in the Appendices) that the Fellowship sets out from Rivendell on December 25 and the fall of Sauron is achieved on March 25 (a traditional date for the crucifixion), these details may seem more superficial than fundamental.

Instead, we might look for Tolkien’s Christian element in the profound sense of purpose that Bilbo, Frodo, and the other members of the Fellowship find in giving themselves to help others. We can also discern it in the objective right and wrong that Tolkien’s protagonists experience, even when facing their most difficult decisions. But perhaps the best illustration of the Christian foundations of Middle-earth can be seen in the divine providence we find there.

In his recent book Providence, John Piper notes that in reference to God, the word providence has come to mean “the act of purposefully providing for, or sustaining and governing, the world” (30). He suggests that another way to express what we mean by God’s providence is say that God “sees to it that things happen in a certain way.” Both ways of speaking about how divine providence works in our world also apply to Middle-earth.

Providence in Middle-Earth

In Gandalf’s final words on the last page of The Hobbit, Tolkien provides a hint of what has been behind all the so-called lucky events in the story. It is some years after Bilbo’s return to Bag End, and one evening Gandalf and Balin arrive for an unexpected visit. On learning that prosperity has come to Lake-town and people are making songs that say the rivers run with gold, Bilbo remarks how the old prophecies are turning out to be true.

“Surely you don’t disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself?” asks Gandalf. Then he adds, “You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit?” (272). In Gandalf’s question, we find the first of several direct suggestions provided by Tolkien that there is far more than just luck or coincidence at work behind the scenes in Middle-earth.

Power Beyond the Ring-Maker

In the second chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien returns to the topic of who or what has been behind Bilbo’s adventures, specifically his finding the Ring. As Gandalf recounts its long history, he comes to Bilbo’s arrival at just the right time and putting his hand on the Ring blindly in the dark. Then Tolkien makes explicit what has previously been implied as Gandalf tells Frodo that the Ring was picked up by Bilbo not by luck or blind chance but because “there was more than one power at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker” (56).

In Middle-earth, as in our world, the workings of providence are typically veiled, making them sometimes discernible only in hindsight. In words that briefly pull back this veil, Gandalf concludes, “Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it” (56). Here Gandalf uses the passive voice without specifying who or what it was that intended these events to take place, thus implying the work of divine providence in a way similar to the person who says, “God had a plan. We were meant to meet that day.”

More Than Mere Chance

Nine chapters later, at the Council at Rivendell, Elrond uses similar words to allude to the hand of providence. He begins by asking those in attendance, “What shall we do with the Ring, the least of rings, the trifle that Sauron fancies?” (242). Then in a reference to the benevolent power at work in Middle-earth, he explains, “That is the purpose for which you are called hither. Called, I say, though I have not called you to me, strangers from distant lands” (242). Here again, Tolkien uses words that readers themselves might use when speaking about providence in their own lives. Sometimes we, too, may believe that we were called by God to do certain task or to be at a certain place.

“In Middle-earth, as in our world, the workings of providence are typically veiled.”

As in our own world, divine providence in Middle-earth typically chooses to work behind the scenes in ways that are not directly visible. Because of this, some characters see not providence but mere chance. Elrond tells the members of the Council, “You have come and are here met, in this very nick of time, by chance as it may seem. Yet it is not so. Believe rather that it is so ordered that we, who sit here, and none others, must now find counsel for the peril of the world” (242). Tolkien’s point is that while the actions of providence have intention and purpose, to some they may appear as sheer coincidence.

Light from an Invisible Lamp

Do you need to be Christian to enjoy Tolkien’s works? Certainly not — as is evident from the millions of readers who have enjoyed Tolkien’s fiction without sharing his faith. In fact, one of the most remarkable aspects about The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is their unique ability to engage and inspire people from all sorts of backgrounds. At the same time, as scholar Joseph Pearce points out, to fully understand Tolkien’s fiction, serious readers “cannot afford to ignore Tolkien’s philosophical and theological beliefs, central as they are to his whole conception of Middle-earth and the struggles within it” (Tolkien, Man and Myth, 100).

Born on January 3, 1892, J.R.R. Tolkien died 81 years later in 1973. Two years before his death, Tolkien received a letter from a fan who wrote, “You create a world in which some sort of faith seems to be everywhere without a visible source, like light from an invisible lamp” (Letters, 413). Tolkien responded by pointing out that if sanctity inhabits an author’s work or as a pervading light illumines it, this sanctity “does not come from him but through him.” Today, all those who have experienced this light that permeates Tolkien’s fiction join in celebrating both his life and his remarkable achievement.

Audio Transcript

#blessed — It’s a social media tag for when someone feels blessed and who has, or is getting, everything they’ve dreamed of getting. It can range from getting a new girlfriend, a new job, or a pay raise, to finding a ten-dollar bill on the sidewalk or getting surprisingly good news. But what does it mean to truly be blessed according to Scripture? Now that’s a different discussion, one initiated by a discerning listener to the podcast named Jordan.

“Pastor John, hello! Of late I have been having discussions with my friends around what it means to be blessed. The term blessed is thrown around in our culture today, and it’s all over our Bibles too. To me, it seems like the way God uses blessed or blessings in the Bible is very different from how it’s used now. I see the term blessed associated with material possessions or family or health. These can all be good things, but I think you could also argue that if these blessings lead us further away from God, they are not truly blessings at all.

“On the other hand, Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ (Matthew 5:3). And he said, ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake’ (Matthew 5:10). And he said, ‘Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account’ (Matthew 5:11). Rarely, if ever, do I see people posting about how blessed they are as ‘poor in spirit’ or ‘persecuted’ like we read about in the Beatitudes. With that in mind, what is a biblical definition of what it means to be truly blessed?”

Jordan puts his finger on the nub of the issue, I think, by referring to the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. And I’m going to circle back and probably end there and affirm what he sees and show why it is such a great answer to his own question.

Showcase of God’s Blessing

But first, let me lay down a principle that has helped me grasp why there is such a preponderance of earthly blessings promised in the Old Testament — like the inheritance of land (Psalm 37:22), deliverance from our enemies (Psalm 41:1), fruitfulness in our families and in our fields (Genesis 17:20; 48:3–4) — while in the New Testament, there are very few earthly blessings promised, but rather afflictions are promised, with the material, physical blessings largely postponed until the resurrection.

Here’s the principle: in God’s wisdom, the Jewish religion of the Old Testament was largely a “come and see” religion. Israel was the showcase of God’s blessings among the nations.

Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. . . . And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her. (1 Kings 10:1, 4–5)

I call that the showcasing of the blessing of God on the people of God in the Old Testament.

Into All the World

There’s nothing like that in the New Testament. In God’s wisdom, the church of Jesus Christ is not an ethnic or geographic or political or national entity. It cuts across all ethnicities, all geographies, all politics, nationalities.

There is no geographic center for Christianity.
There’s no great temple-like edifice in Christianity.
There are no places to do pilgrimages in Christianity.
There are no priests or saints through whom we have to go to God, but only Jesus Christ.

“Put all the billionaires together. They are paupers compared to the lowliest Christian.”

And instead of telling the world to come to us — “Come see how I bless my people”; God never says that — he says, “Go — go to the world. And if it costs you your life, lay it down.” Jesus says very plainly, “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). “Put it at the disposal of me and my mission.” That’s the kind of radical life we’re called to live in the New Testament.

So there’s the principle. And the failure to recognize this distinction between God’s plan for Israel in the Old Testament and God’s plan for the church in the New Testament has caused a lot of people to put way too much emphasis on earthly blessings today.

Eternal Happiness

And I think one of the most illumining texts about how we are blessed as Christians — which we are; I would say we are infinitely blessed — is 1 Corinthians 3:21–23.

Let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Let that sink in. What a verse! I love it. To belong to Christ is to belong to God as our Father and to be heirs of all that God owns — that is, everything. Paul says, “The world is yours. All things are yours.” Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). You cannot be richer than a Christian. Put all the billionaires together. They are paupers — I mean, poverty-stricken paupers — compared to the lowliest Christian.

But notice that in the list of things that belong to us is death. That’s in the list: “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death.” Death is yours. This means that you do not get all your blessings in this life, but that death itself belongs to you as a gift, as a doorway to infinite, eternal, immeasurable blessing. Death becomes your servant because of Christ’s triumph over death. The apostle John heard a voice from heaven saying, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord” (Revelation 14:13). Why is that? Paul answers in Ephesians 1:3: God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing” — every blessing that heaven can conceive for the eternal happiness of God’s people will be ours.

“In God’s wisdom, the church of Jesus Christ is not an ethnic or geographic or political or national entity.”

But Jesus taught us explicitly not to expect them now. For example, in Luke 14:13–14, he said, “When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.” I love Jesus’s logic: “You will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” That’s the orientation of Jesus Christ the king. That’s the New Testament pattern: sacrificial generosity and service now; spectacular blessing later at the resurrection. Or here’s the way James puts it: “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).

First the trial, then the blessing, the crown.

Our Great Reward

Let’s circle back now to Jordan’s reference to the Beatitudes. I think the Beatitudes, taken together, provide a beautiful summary of the blessings promised to the followers of Christ: six immeasurable blessings are sandwiched between the summary promise “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3, 10).

These six blessings summarize what it means to live forever under the kingdom, the heavenly rule of God:

We will see God: “They shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). The pure shall see God.
We will be shown mercy: “They shall receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
We will be part of God’s family: “They shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).
We will experience God’s comfort: “They shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).
We will be co-owners of the whole world: “They shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).
We will be satisfied with personal and universal righteousness: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6).

So in summary, (1) the presence of God seen and enjoyed in the face of Christ, (2) covering us with mercy because of all our sins, (3) calling us his children, (4) comforting us for all pain and loss in this world, (5) bequeathing to us the universe for a familiar homeland, and (6) everything set right in our souls and in the social order of the new world — this is our great reward. This is what it means to be truly blessed.