THE FLIP SIDE OF THE CROSS

Sometimes, when we reflect on Scripture a light flashes on and we understand and see things that we missed before. That happened this week. The light went on and I discovered something about the cross of Christ that I have never heard preached, never read in a book, never learned in seminary and that never entered my mind before. The cross of Christ is two-sided, not one-sided. The cross has a flip side. Let me explain.

THE CROSS AS SALVATION

First, let me take you to 1 Corin. 2:1-5, where Paul says that during his year-and-a-half with the Corinthians (see Acts 18:11), he preached “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” How much could Paul have really said about the crucifixion? How much are you willing to hear about the crucifixion?

When we contemplate the cross, it is almost always from the perspective of saints, as people who know that we were dead in our sin, but Jesus showed us His love by taking our sin and punishment for our sin on Himself on the cross. God’s wrath at our sin was applied to Jesus, and it was excruciating. For the first time in eternity, there was a separation between God the Father and God the Son. As 2 Corin. 5:21 says, “For our sake He (God the Father) made Him (God the Son) to be sin (wow) Who knew no sin (Jesus is perfect), so that in Him (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God.” Thus, Jesus didn’t just take our sin and punishment on Himself, but He enabled us to receive His righteousness. We receive that gift through faith – wholehearted trust in what Jesus accomplished for us.

No surprises yet. This is what we believe when we repent and trust Jesus to be the only means for our salvation and to give us an eternally right relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Now, let’s rethink the cross. Was God sending any other message through Jesus’ suffering on the cross? This is what occurred to me as I reflected on the cross this week.

THE CROSS IS A PICTURE OF THE ETERNAL SUFFERING OF THE GODLESS

The affliction of Jesus on the cross also represents a picture of what every person who dies in their sins will face for all eternity. This is the flip side of the cross. Jesus was separated from God, crying out, “my God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46.) Jesus was terribly afflicted, bearing the marks/stripes of the cat of nine tails whip used by the Romans. The cross was a long-enduring death, often taking days, and even as long as a week. The cross was slow torture, where people longed for a death that was slow to come. In their struggle to breath, as their lungs slowly collapsed, the cursed man on the cross became terribly thirsty, gasping for both air and moisture. The statement of Deuteronomy 21:23 came true – cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. (See Gal. 3:13.)

Jesus took the sin of the world on Himself so that God’s enemies could become His friends through trust in Jesus’ atonement. God did not want anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to knowledge of the truth about their need to repent and trust Jesus. (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9.) Jesus experienced hell on the cross in order to give everyone the opportunity to escape hell. Jesus embodied the curse that we might be freed from the curse. 

Jesus’ suffering and death is a picture of what life will be eternally like in hell for those who reject Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf. For them, the curse of sin is never lifted and separation from God becomes their permanent status. In fact, Jesus describes hell in Luke 16, when He portrays the fate of the unsympathetic rich man, who was separated from God, eternally tortured by flames, and longed for just one drop of water. Jesus lived out that picture briefly on the cross, portraying to a lost world the fate that He was saving them from. That is the flip side of the cross.

In other words, the cross as the means of salvation is also a picture of the eternal punishment of those who reject the cross. The flip side of the salvation offered through the cross of Christ is the eternal punishment of those who reject the cross. Paul says that "the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corin. 1:18.) The image of salvation is at the same time the image of condemnation for those who don’t believe. God has done everything necessary for all people to have salvation, but they have loved evil and rebellion more than the mercy and grace of God’s call for them to repent and trust Jesus. 

Our world is surrounded by the cross – it is prolific in much of the western world, standing as a reminder of both eternal salvation and eternal curse. For example, Paris is one of the most secular cities in the world. Yet, at the same time, it is a city filled with crosses – they populate the skyline. The Louvre, in the heart of Paris, contains a multitude of images of the Gospel story in pictures and statues. The cross is visible everywhere as a reminder of the salvation offered through Jesus and of the condemnation awaiting those who enter eternity without trusting in God’s generous grace and mercy through Jesus. Somehow, people still miss it – they miss both sides of the cross.

Rather than just an image of comfort and peace, the cross is also, on the flip side, an image of eternal judgment and torment. Thus, every cross that we see should be a reminder to us to share the Gospel, to draw people to the cross for salvation so that they are not burdened by the affliction and torment of the of the cross for all eternity. Let us never be ashamed of the cross of Jesus Christ. 
 

THE TRUTH CLAIMS OF GRACE

On June 26, 2015, we witnessed the fascinating contrast of the White House being lit up in rainbow colors to celebrate the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision while President Obama was leading Emanuel AME Church in the singing of Amazing Grace in Charleston, South Carolina. In other words, the same presidency celebrated the triumph of cultural sexual passion while extoling the Amazing Grace revealed in Scripture and proved  to be true in the lives of the saints at Emanuel AME Church. 

"Grace" in its truest sense, and in the sense used in Amazing Grace, is a uniquely Christian term. In fact, the first definition of Grace from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary reads as follows:

1.      a :  unmerited divine assistance given humans for their    regeneration or sanctification
        b :  a virtue coming from God
        c :  a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace

God's grace is so "Amazing," because it takes the most evil, vile, wicked of people and turns them into saints - children of a holy, living God, who bring glory to Him through their lives. The author of Amazing Grace, John Newton, was a slave trader - someone who treated human beings as property - with brutal, murderous contempt - he was a kidnapper, torturer and murderer. In fact, the Bible says that "heartless, ruthless" people like John Newton deserve to die (Rom. 1:30-32). The Bible lists "enslavers" (kidnappers who sell their captives) as people who are under the judgment of God's law (1 Tim. 1:8-10). 

As a heartless, ruthless enslaver of men, women and children, Newton knew that he deserved God's wrath and eternal punishment. In his own words, he was a "wretch" - his identity was in his wretchedness and evil conduct. 

In that wretched identity, Newton first came to understand the Gospel - that God the Father loved him so much that He sent God the Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life, die a wretched sinner's death, and conquer the power of death through the resurrection. God did that in order to offer John Newton the righteousness of God in place of the judgment and condemnation that he deserved for his sin. John Newton confessed his sin, repented of his life of sin, and received the Amazing Grace that God offered. Here, it should be noted that Newton understood and accepted the grace of God with his mind several years before that grace transformed his heart and his lifestyle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Newton 

Newton was forever changed by that Amazing Grace. This former slave trader wrote many hymns, including Amazing Grace, that made their way into the hymnals of African slaves in the United States. The same grace and same hope that saved him was embraced by the very Africans that he enslaved. 

Thus it is that over 200 years after his death, a primarily African American church in Charleston, South Carolina, could not only sing Amazing Grace, but demonstrate that grace toward racist hatred after nine of its members, including its pastor, were gunned down by a racist. Emanuel AME church was built in 1816, nine years after Newton's death, during the height of slavery in the south. Thus, both slave trader and slave could equally celebrate and rejoice in God's Amazing Grace through the Gospel. 

That Gospel is only known through the Bible. The same Bible that describes the Amazing Grace of the Gospel describes the institution of marriage as God's idea and God's plan. God says that the complimentarity, exclusivity and faithfulness of male-female marriage reflects the Gospel - it reflects Jesus' sacrificial, wholehearted commitment to us in order to qualify us to be children of God. This is described in Ephesians 5. 

In Ephesians 5:3-7, Paul repeatedly tells us to avoid sexual immorality and to not allow anyone to deceive you with empty words, because the sexually immoral have no share in the kingdom of God - don't become partners with them. He then goes on in 5:22-33 to describe the parallel between the Gospel message and the husband-wife marriage relationship. In other words, the Amazing Grace of the Gospel is illustrated by God's design for marriage. 

As used in the New Testament, "sexual immorality" always includes the sexual prohibitions of the Hebrew Scriptures - the Old Testament. When the Apostles were trying to understand how the Jewish law applied to Gentile believers, they came to the following Holy Spirit inspired and prayerful conclusion:  that Gospel converts were to "abstain from the things offered to idols, and from sexual immorality, and from [eating] what has been strangled, and from [eating] blood." (Acts 15:19-20, 28-29.) 

Consistent with Rom. 1:26, 1 Cor. 6:9-11 (all of ch. 6), 1 Tim. 1:10, 2 Pet. 2:6-8, and Jude 7, sexual immorality in the New Testament includes all manner of sexual conduct outside of a one-man, one-woman marriage, including homosexual conduct. 

We are all born into sin as a result of the sin of Adam. Sin is essentially in our DNA - it corrupts us from the moment of birth. (See Romans 5:12-21.) Included in that propensity toward sin is all manner of sexual sin. We are all enslaved to it. It becomes our identity and is part of the sin that separates us from God and earns His just wrath. (Rom. 1:18.) 

Thus, for all people of all kinds and all sins, the Gospel is such great news - the most Amazing Grace possible. Paul described himself as the "a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent," the "foremost" of sinners. (1 Tim. 1:13-15 - i.e., worse than the men who practice homosexuality, enslavers and others that he mentions in 1:10.) Yet, when the light of Christ flooded his heart, he understood the Amazing Grace offered him. He understood that: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." (Rom. 8:1-2.) The Good News is so Amazing because the bad news was so bad. 

So it is that Paul can truthfully tell the Corinthian church:

"... the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor. 6:9-11 ESV.)

In other words, the Amazing Grace of the Gospel has the power to transform us from one cultural and sexual identity into another identity. In a June 16, 2011 article in the NY Times, entitled, My Ex-Gay Friend, and written by a homosexual journalist, the story is told of a young man whose identity was fully consumed by his homosexuality - he was a homosexual evangelist/activist. Yet, the Amazing Grace of the Gospel transformed him and his homosexual identity died, to be replaced by a new identity as a saint in Jesus Christ. The author was shocked and dumbfounded by the transformation in his friend. There are many such stories, including the well published story of Rosaria Butterfield. 

This is all consistent with the Amazing Grace of the Gospel. The Bible says that we are in fact a "new creation," so that the old self dies and a new Christ-like self begins to emerge through the work of the Holy Spirit in us:

"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Cor. 5:16-21 ESV.)

Thus, the same Amazing Grace of the Gospel that transformed a racist slave trader who was headed for hell can and does transform the sexually immoral. There cannot be grace of the one kind and not the other. They go hand in hand. Any other gospel is not of the Amazing Grace variety, but has been culturally altered. Paul and Jesus both tell us not to accept any other Gospel. (Gal. 1:6-9; Rev. 22:18-19.) 

Responding Rightly To The 5 Justices Who Have Imposed Their Morality On The Nation

Key ideas:  (1) We should never be surprised if wicked people do wicked things. (2) Darkness continues because the light is not shining bright enough. (3) Only the Gospel has the answers to evil in this world. (4) The church has a holy calling to shine brighter and spread salt and light more boldly despite persecution and attack. (5) We need to pray for and work toward revival like never before.

As an attorney who is educated, trained and experienced in constitutional law issues, it is easy to lapse into a historical and legal critique of the recent 5-4 US Supreme Court decision. As a Christian, it is easy to be angry about decisions that are an affront to biblical values. None of those responses, however, are helpful, because they will not further the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33). So, what is the right response for people who love Jesus and His Word?

1. Our culture has been sliding this direction for years, as it accelerates away from biblical values.

In 1996, the late Justice Robert Bork published the book, Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline. It is ironic that Bork was denied confirmation on the US Supreme Court by the liberals who controlled the US Senate at the time. His ultimate replacement was Anthony Kennedy, the Justice who fulfilled Justice Bork's predictions. Bork's book's title, Slouching Towards Gomorrah, was a twist of a poem by WB Yeats, which described, "slouching towards Bethlehem." Bork contended that our nation has rejected Bethlehem and chosen Gomorrah as its destination. So, given the accelerating slide toward Gomorrah, how should we then live? (See Francis Schaeffer’s book, How Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture, taken from Ezek. 33:1-11, 19.) Blaise Pascal (in the 1600s), CS Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, Charles Colson, Robert Bork and many others have been warning us that we were on this path, but the church has not heeded the warnings.

The US Supreme Court is not so much making law that influences culture as allowing a long trend in culture to influence the law. In other words, the US Supreme Court is not the driving force, but a reflection of forces in culture. The universities in our nation, media, large business enterprises, have been on this present path for decades, influencing culture by attacking Judeo-Christian (i.e., biblical) values at every turn, and undermining faith by promoting values anathema to faith. Television, movies, popular media, etc. are obviously increasing their influence in culture at the expense of the church. All of this reflects the biblical idea that we are in a spiritual conflict between demonic control and influence of culture and a church that is here to call people to a kingdom that is not of this world.

We cannot expect godless[1] people to do good things or things that are in submission to God’s Word. To the contrary, wicked people naturally do wicked things, no matter how well educated or well dressed or influential they are. (See Eph. 2:1-3, 4:17-19.) That is their nature and character apart from the metamorphosis found in Christ. (See Eph. 2:4-10.)  In fact, the better educated and more influential a person in their natural sinful state, the more potential that person has for wicked things. The British Baron, Lord Acton famously observed of the great men of history: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."[2]

The Bible says that there are demonic powers that influence and control cultural. (1 John 5:19; 2 Cor. 4:4; Matt. 4:8-9; John 7:7, 12:31, 14:30, 15:18-19, 16:11, 17:14; Eph. 2:1-3; Col. 1:13-14, 2:8.)[3] Under the influence of lustful sin and satanic power, people “exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” (Rom. 1:24-25.) That led to further “dishonorable passions” that are “contrary to nature.” (Rom. 1:26-27.) Romans 1 goes on to describe a downward and hopeless cycle or wickedness that is inevitable in godless cultures and that even affects those who claim to know God (Rom. 2). The whole world is subject to that slavery to sin and the depravity that ensues. (Rom. 3.) 2 Cor. 4:4 tells us that, “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Col. 2:8 tells that we can be taken “captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” The elemental spirits that take people captive are the “teaching of demons.” (1 Tim. 4:1.)

2. In a world and culture with competing truth claims, how do we know what is true and what we should believe?

Isaiah 66:2 tells us that God looks on and responds to “he who is humble and trembles at my word.” The authority of the Word of God runs throughout Scripture. The Word brought the universe into existence. The Word became flesh. The Word is to be believed (faith), meditated on and followed wholeheartedly. The failure of belief is the failure to believe the Word of God. Jesus told those who “believed him,” that, “if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32.) Thus, for the Christian, we understand what is true by the Word of God and we seek to abide in that truth, knowing that the Word gives us everything that we need for life and godliness in Christ Jesus. (See 2 Pet. 1:3-8.) The Word is God-breathed and gives us instruction for godliness in all of life. (2 Tim. 3:16-17.) We understand God’s truth by understanding the Word.

The alternative is to accept the vacillating and expedient truth claims of culture. If you live in ISIS controlled territory, that means a brutal form of Islam. If you lived in Nazi Germany, that meant complicity in ethnic holocaust. If you live in Sudan, that means that you have a right to brutalize and drive out the people of Nuba and Darfur. If you live in eastern Ukraine, that means that you can kill western leaning citizens with impunity. If you live in Oregon or New Mexico, that means that the state can punitively punish citizens who choose not to compromise their biblical faith. All truth claims that are not anchored in self-evident universal truths turn into forms of tyranny. That has always been true in history and it is true today. Without universal, self-evident truths, there is no basis for condemning the evil of ISIS, Nazis, or the Khmer Rouge. Whatever those in power want becomes what is right and the results are always disaster.

3. Act on the knowledge that only the light from the Good News of Jesus Christ can deliver godless people from their bondage to evil.

There is only one solution to godlessness and wickedness for any of us, and that is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (John 1:12-13; Rom. 1:16-17.) Jesus came to deliver godless people from their captivity/slavery to wickedness – to destroy the pagan power of Satan over people’s lives. (Rom. 6:6-16, 22-23, 8:2, 9; 2 Cor. 10:3-5; 1 John 3:8-10, 5:4-5, 18.) For those who come to faith in Jesus and His Word, they are set free from the power of wickedness and its eternal consequences. There is no longer condemnation for those who have entrusted themselves to Jesus in faith (Rom. 8:1), nothing physical or spiritual can separate them from God’s love for them (Rom. 8:38-39). Such people have been saved to represent Jesus through the church in this dark world. (Eph. 2:10, 3:10, 20-21, 5:27.) The New Testament is primarily instructions to the church on how to live out faith that brings transformation to the world.

The Bible describes the church as salt and light in a dark world. (Dan. 12:3, 10; Rom. Chs. 4-5, 8; Matt. 5:13-16; John 1:9, 3:19-20, 8:12; 2 Cor. 4:6; Phil. 2:15.) Daniel and Paul both portray the light that we shine to stars that shine well against a dark background. If there is darkness, it is because there is not enough light shining!

4. Christ’s church has the power and authority to prevail against the spiritual darkness.

However dark this world has been or that this world becomes, the history of the church encourages us to stay optimistic. The early church had far fewer resources, far more obstacles, faced a far darker world, and had nothing but God Himself to sustain and encourage it. Yet, today, there are over 1 billion people in this world who self-identify as “Christians,” followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church and the Gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” (Matt. 16:18.)

Jesus’ words were spoken against the backdrop of Pan worship (pandemonium – consider the “demon” in the word). Greek mythological ideas that influenced Greek and Roman culture held that Pan emerged from the “Gates of Hades.” The caverns at the mouth of the waters emerging from the base of Mount Hermon at Caesarea Philippi were called, “the Gates of Hades.” Pan (half-man, half-goat) would emerge to engage in sexual intercourse with river nymphs, resulting in fertility on the earth. In order to encourage that fertility, the people would engage in all manner of sexual orgies and sexual expression – all abominations in the sight of God. It was those “Gates of Hades” to which Jesus referred when He said, “I will build my church and the Gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” (See Matt. 16:18.)

5. Realize that there is nothing new under the sun – the essence of cultural pressures to conform to things that enslave is the same as the cultural pressures that have always competed for the loyalty that belongs to God alone.

Idolatry in Scripture almost always includes a sexual component and is always a demonic endeavor. (E.g., Deut. 32:17; 1 Cor. 6:9-20, 10:7-8, 20-22; Jude 7 – note that idolatry is referred to in 1 Cor. 10:20-21 as the worship of demons.) This is part of the reason that the spiritual nature of our battle is emphasized in 2 Cor. 10:3-5 and Ephesians 6:10-20. Colossians 2:8 tells us that we can be taken “captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” Those elemental spirits appeal to what enslaves our souls. Two of the most enslaving addictions are (1) sexual immorality in all its forms and (2) “sorcery” – which is addiction to mind-altering drugs. The word translated, “sorcery,” in the New Testament is pharmakeia, from which we get words like pharmacy, pharmaceutical, etc.

In other words, idolatry consists of the things in this world that grab our hearts and create loyalty that belongs to Christ alone. Paul links “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness” to idolatry in Colossians 3:5.[4] The demonic forces that influence and control culture use those things in our lives to define our identity apart of Jesus Christ. They become filters through which we see the world and they dominate our thinking, emotions and lives – in essence, we become enslaved to that identity until it destroys us physically and spiritually. The culture does not believe that anything can break that identity. The Bible makes it clear that we earn and deserve God’s wrathful judgment/justice. 

6. God enables all people to break from slavery to cultural identities through faith in His Word and His promises.

Against cultural darkness, those who pursue God’s standard of righteousness shine brightly. One of the reasons that “reparative therapy” is condemned by government and culture is that Satan hates testimonies of transformation into a new life that is free of such immorality. Satan and his demons want to trap people into believing that their identity cannot be changed. God’s Word assures us that all of us can become new creations and leave the old life in the past, becoming children of God through Jesus. (1 Cor. 6:9-11; 2 Cor. 5:17; Romans 8; Gal. 5:16-26; Eph. 4:17-5:21; Col. 3.) After telling us that people with idolatrous identities will not have any part in the kingdom of God, 1 Cor. 6:11 says, “such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” In other words, people enslaved to idolatrous identities became “new creations,” and the old ways were buried and the new creation became alive to the things of God, with an identity rooted in Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 5:17.) There are many such stories in today’s church, of people who no longer live in an old identity, but who are completely transformed. While our culture hates such stories, the church should celebrate those stories as confirming the Word of God made real in people through faith.

God’s purpose is to make all things new (Rev. 21:5) and that begins in the lives of those who trust Him. As God’s ambassadors – representatives of His kingdom – we have the privilege of helping captives escape the slavery of culture and turn to the freedom found in Jesus. May more of us pray more and more collectively, asking for mercy and grace for our families, neighbors, communities, states and nation to turn before wrath comes.

7. Don’t allow culture to weaken your resolve to share and live out the Good News.

We should all grieve that the church of the living God has lost so much influence in this nation and that multitudes of young people will become slaves to an identity that God calls an abomination. We must confess our role in that loss of influence.

We should be grieved that the church has failed to influence governing authorities through prayer – we just don’t pray with faith, fervency and frequency, and certainly not collectively, as we should. 1 Tim. 2:2-4. We must confess our role in failing to pray as we should.

We should be grieved that pastors (and I am thinking of the recent example of City Church in S.F., as well as others) are not leading their congregations according to the faithful precepts of Scripture, but are capitulating to cultural (and even family and financial) pressure. We must confess our failures to pray for our church leaders, who are the front of the demonic and cultural attacks.

We should be grieved that the rest of the world to whom we have taken this precious Gospel and Word is looking on and wondering how we could have fallen so far so fast. We should be grieved for immigrants who have come here seeking religious freedom only to find this. We should grieve for the kids in our nation who are influenced by the slavery of lifestyle. Again, we must confess our failures – sins of omission and commission – and lack of faithful, expectant prayer, and repent, turning with renewed urgency to the elementary things to which we are called by God’s Word as people who confess that Word.

 We should try to avoid the wrong kind of grief. Knowing that judgment is coming, I caught myself grieving over the stuff that I am likely to lose. Rather, I should be laying all of that down in recognition that this is not my home and I am called to invest in eternity at great cost.

8. Seek to do what you can do to bring about revival and do not let hand-wringing lead to inaction and despair.

In contemplating how to respond to the natural patriotism of July 4, I was reminded of Jeremiah 29:7 – “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” We are here as exiles and we seek the welfare of our communities, states and nation, but always as aliens, never as permanent residents. We have a higher form of patriotism that supersedes national loyalties.

We can appreciate Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who had the choice to flee his nation, but chose to stay and work to strengthen the church against an evil form of patriotism. The churches in Nazi German primarily succumbed to the cultural pressures of the day. Only a remnant broke away to be the church in defiance of the will of the state. As Paul reminded Timothy, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it….” (2 Timothy 3:12-14, ESV.)

These are the words of Scripture for pastors and the church:

Fight the Good Fight of Faith

"But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen." (1 Timothy 6:11-16 ESV)


Preach the Word

"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." (2 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV)

We are reaping what we as a nation and as the church have sown in our elected leaders. We must come together and confess our sins and our nation’s sins and collectively repent and turn to and surrender and express complete faith in the living God before whom we must give account. See Daniel’s tremendous prayer along these lines in Daniel 9:1-20. Gabriel’s message to Daniel from God was that “you are greatly loved.” Daniel 9:23. We, too, are greatly loved. Gabriel went on to tell Daniel, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words [despite the demonic opposition of the Prince of Persia].” Daniel 10:12-14 As Daniel fought the demonic Prince of Persia through his prayers, we are called to fight through our prayers the spirits and principalities influencing our nation and its leaders. 

Fear the Lord, and Pursue Wisdom

Gabriel’s concluding words to Daniel are also instructive to us:  “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” …. “Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.” Daniel 12:3, 10 We can’t expect the wicked to understand until they come to a knowledge of the truth through our faithful, gracious, persistent, sacrificial witness. 

To paraphrase Edmund Burke, “evil continues to triumph when the church does not do enough to shine with the light of truth.” Our culture is dark and getting darker because the church is weak and getting weaker. There is a word that describes what happens when that reverses: revival. We need revival like never before, before there is nothing left to revive. The darkness always seems overwhelming until the light comes on. When the light is shining, the darkness cannot overcome it.

Please join with me in daily praying for government leaders, for judges, for media, for our schools and universities, that these people and entities would be transformed by the Gospel, that people would grieve over their sin and turn to the only hope that they have in eternity – the atonement offered to them by Jesus Christ.

We don’t know how much time is left for our nation. We have gone through dark days before and through periodic revivals. Perhaps God will respond to our wholehearted pleas and persistence in following Him and bring revival again, so that our leaders seek God’s righteousness with their lives and appoint godly judges who will seek to correct the drift away from God’s grace and mercy before we reach the fate of Gomorrah.

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[1] The terms, “godless” and “wicked,” are used in the sense of what is contrary to the Word and character of God, and what is contrary to His commands to all people.

[2] To the extent that western culture, including the US, has done any good, it is because of the historical influence of Judeo-Christian ideas and people. We are living off that historic residue and the reserves are depleted. There are several books written on this topic.

[3] While sin entered the world and humanity, God remains sovereign over all things. God allows Satan’s activity for a time, but God intervenes when and as He chooses in the affairs of men. Within that overarching sovereignty and spiritual conflict on the earth, mankind remains accountable for his choices and his sin. All of creation is waiting for the “making new” of “all things.” (Many verses, but see Matt. 17:11; Rom. 1:18-2:16, 3:19, 5:12-21, 8:19-23; Eph. 1:22; Col. 1:16-17; Rev. 21:5.)

[4] The worship of sex in its various forms has been going on in the world for millennia. Recent excavations in Israel uncovered idols from 3,000 BC in the form of human-sized phalluses. Part of the reason that Israel was to clean out the people of the land of Canaan was to remove all remnants of that type of idolatry and sexual worship. In How Should We Then Live, Schaeffer documents the history of sexual debauchery that coincided with the decline of kingdoms. There are many other books as well that document that link.

The ADVANCE of the Gospel to the Nations - God's Plan In His Story

In the US and in most of the western world, it seems like the church is in retreat. So, what does Jesus mean when He says, "I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it"? Matthew 16:38. This is my effort to answer that question. It requires looking back to Genesis and then moving forward to Revelation and seeking to understand the advance of the church before Jesus returns.

In Genesis 11, God confused the language of the sinful people so that people of similar speech developed their own nations and the world became divided into ethnic language groups instead of being united. Moses then refers to those other nations, in contrast to Israel, in Deuteronomy 32:

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,

when he divided mankind,

he fixed the borders of the peoples

according to the number of the sons of God.

But the LORD's portion is his people,

Jacob his allotted heritage.

(Deuteronomy 32:8-9 ESV)

Moses' song in Deuteronomy 32 includes some peculiar language. One probable interpretation of verses 8-9 is that the world of Moses' time had nation after nation ruled by "sons of God" - Hebrew language for fallen angels. This is consistent with Daniel 10:13, where we see that the "prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me (the angel Gabriel)." In other words, Persia was dominated by a fallen angel with dominion over that kingdom.

In contrast to the other nations, God chose the people of Israel to be His portion - a people in a land who represented His character and His dominion. He sought to "redeem" a people who would represent Him to a lost, dark world. 

“Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? 

Who is like you, majestic in holiness,

awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

....

“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed;

you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

The peoples have heard; they tremble;

pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.

Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed;

trembling seizes the leaders of Moab;

all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.

Terror and dread fall upon them;

because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone,

till your people, O LORD, pass by,

till the people pass by whom you have purchased.

You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain,

the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode,

the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.

The LORD will reign forever and ever.”

(Exodus 15:11-18 ESV)

"Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

(Exodus 19:5-6 ESV)

The presence of the LORD made the people of God distinct from every other people on the face of the earth. (Exodus 33:14-16.) God's holiness made Him unique in character and distinct from the god's of the nations. (Lev. 19:2, 20:26, 21:6.) God chose these people to become a holy people, consistent with His character. (Deut. 7:6.) 

All of the commandments and rules were intended to direct the people toward His holiness and their need for His redemption and cleansing so that they would become the people who represented Him in a world controlled by demon gods. The foreign gods and idols of the nations are really "demons" and cannot compare to the true God of gods and LORD of lords. (Deut. 32:16-17; Psalm 106:37; 1 Cor. 10:20-21; Rev. 9:20.) 

The history of the Hebrew Scriptures is that the people of Israel did a poor job representing God's holiness. They failed to be a kingdom that accurately represented God's character and call to the world of darkness. 

Jesus entered into that world of darkness. In the world that Jesus entered even the kingdom of Israel was dominated and controlled by foreign powers and foreign gods. He cast demons out of people right and left in a land that was supposed to represent His holiness. The land was polluted by the gods and demons of the nations. 

In that context, Jesus goes to the furthest northern city of Israel - then called Caesarea Philippi. That was the ancient city of Dan. The Hebrew Scriptures frequently describe the north to south geography of Israel as Dan to Beersheba (furthest north city to the furthest south city). Dan was an apostate tribe of Israel, which created its own false religious system early on in Israel's history. (See Judges chapter 18.) 

Dan was blessed with abundant water from the snows of Mount Hermon. It was a rich, fertile area where drought, famine and scarcity were unlikely. The headwaters of the Jordan River were there, flowing from underground caverns at the base of Mt. Hermon. By the time of Jesus, the area had been under the control of Greek and Roman influence for hundreds of years. The Greek god Pan was a fertility god, and the tradition at Caesarea Philippi was that Pan (half-man, half-goat) came from the caverns there along with river nymphs. Pan and the nymphs would have extensive sexual relations there, which would bring fertility to the land. In order to encourage fertility in the land, the people would engage in orgies of sexual activity in that location. The word, "pandemonium," literally refers to the chaos of demonic activity, and it was used to describe the human, animal and demonic sexual activity that occurred at Caesarea Philippi. 

The caverns out of which the water flowed and the demons were thought to emerge was referred to as the "Gates of Hades." Elaborate stone work was erected around the caverns to create visual "gates." Caesarea Philippi was believed by the Jews to be a place of great evil. Some rabbis taught that when the Messiah came, he would destroy that place, because Messiah and the Gates of Hades could not coexist on the earth. 

Caesarea Philippi was far away from any place where Jesus ministered or would have had cause to visit, other than to make the point that He makes to His disciples there. It was in that place, in that context, that Jesus emphatically affirms Who He is and what His purpose is for the church. 

        Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

(Matthew 16:13-20 ESV)

I want to only focus on the words, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell (Hades) shall not prevail against it." Note that gates only serve a defensive purpose, they are not offensive weapons. In Jesus' words, the church is the aggressor and will prevail against the Gates of Hades. 

The headwaters of the Jordan flowing from the Gates of Hell.

Part of the pagan temple where pandemonium would occur.

An artistic recreation of what the site would have looked like at the time of Jesus. 

As Jesus was standing in front of the "Gates of Hades," He is standing in a place that represents the domain of demonic activity in the world. As Deuteronomy 32:8 suggests, that demonic domain has been going on since the advent of sin in the world. That demonic domain has entered the land of promise, the land where both the people and land were called to be holy and to represent the character of God. Jesus' statement that, "I will build my church the gates of Hades will not prevail against it," is a statement that the church that He builds will overwhelm the demonic powers of the world. They will not prevail against His church. Those demonic powers are often represented in cultural spectacles and influence that distorts the character that God intends for His people. Sexual misconduct has always been at the forefront of that attack. 

While there is much more that can be said about Matthew 16, Jesus ends the chapter by calling his disciples to be willing to follow Him by taking up their cross instead of trying to save their lives. When Jesus comes with His angels to make all things right and remove the power of the curse and the demons who thrive under the curse, He will reward those who have followed Him. See Matthew 16:24-28. 

Deuteronomy 32:8 has suggested that the whole world is living in darkness under the curse of sin, and under the control of Satan and his demons. Paul repeatedly makes a similar point. In Ephesians 2:2, he refers to the "prince of the power of the air" as having evil domain over the world. In Ephesians 6:12, Paul says that our battle is not against "flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." In Romans 8:38, Paul refers to those opposed to us as, "angels [and] (spiritual) rulers." In 2 Cor. 10:4, Paul says that, "the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds...." In Revelation 12:7-12, we are given a picture of Satan and his angels being thrown down from their place of power with very little time left before they are eternally punished and removed from affliction the earth and God's people. See also Matt. 25:41 and Rev. 20:10. Satan, his demons and the Gates of Hades will eventually be destroyed and the people of God will reign with Him in a new heaven and new earth free from his evil influence. 

Into this dark, demonic world, Jesus Christ staked himself on a cross. That cross of torture and death became the symbol of the love of God. Jesus' death and resurrection conquered death for all who place their faith in Him in order to be forgiven of sin and granted His righteousness. They have been removed from the power of the darkness of demons and transferred into the kingdom of light. All those who have placed their faith in Him have received the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of their new position in the kingdom of light. All those people of faith become part of the living body of the church, which is called to continue to go into all the world with the great news that Jesus brings all people everywhere the opportunity for freedom from demonic bondage. 

Now, instead of just being in one place (Israel), the kingdom of God - through the church - is going out into the far reaches of the dark and demonic world with the light of the Gospel. The light is expanding and continues to expand to those peoples who remain under the domain of demonic fear and darkness. In other words, "the borders of the peoples" who are controlled by the "sons of God" have been penetrated by the Gospel so that God is creating for Himself a holy people from every language group on the earth. This is especially true today in Asia, South America and Africa, where people are keenly aware of their slavery to demon gods and are grateful that they can be forever free through what Jesus accomplished for them. 

The nations that were created out of the confusion of Babel and darkened by demonic domain, are liberated by the Gospel. The handful of disciples who faced the "Gates of Hades" with Jesus turned into a billion or more people around the world whose primary identification is the cross of Jesus. The cross is their reminder of God's love for them and that they have been redeemed out of darkness in order to be a people against whom the Gates of Hades will not prevail.

I heard armless and legless Nick Vujicic tell a story of encountering a demon-possessed trafficker of girls sold into sexual slavery. He courageously prayed for the demons to leave and for the woman to be spiritually and physically healed. God worked in power. The woman was freed, repented of her egregious sin and the girls were freed. That is a story of spiritual, not physical battle. 

In our culture, it is easy to be discouraged and defensive about this good news. The culture purports to disbelieve in the supernatural anyway. Yet, that same culture is preoccupied with video games, television and movies that depict the supernatural and that entice people with the same promises that demons have been using for millennia. God never intended us to be defensive, but to be aggressive in going after those in darkness in order to see them redeemed and part of the kingdom of light. Genesis 11, Deuteronomy 32 and the Gospel are all working together to accomplish God's purposes of creating a holy people from every nation for His own possession. The Gates of Hades have not stopped that global advance, as the world-wide church continues to grow. Jesus is going to return as conquering King. He will complete the conquest that He began through His church. He is faithful to His promises.