New Thoughts (10/15/11-10/17/11)
I see that I have gathered four topics on which I shall be commenting, and as I consider those topics, I also see that they all touch on aspects of a single shared theme: that of knowledge and perception. In another sense, there is something in the way of an exploration of that distinction between eido and ginosko, as I described in the preceding study. Matthew writes that nobody knows (eido) the timing of Christ’s return. He also writes that those who watched Noah building the ark and then taking to it did not understand (ginosko) what it meant for them until it was too late. There’s knowing, and then there’s knowing. They knew Noah was doing what he was doing, and they had doubtless heard him explain why he was doing it. He was, the author of Hebrews tells us, a preacher of righteousness. They knew. They saw. They had access to the evidence, but they did not process that evidence so as to arrive at a well-reasoned conclusion.
But, I get ahead of myself, as it seems I so often do. Let me rewind to my first topic.
There is an interesting bit of juxtaposition that occurs in Luke’s account. In verse 25, at the start of this passage, Jesus relates to us that He will be rejected by this generation. That term which is translated as ‘rejected’ rises out of the assayer’s role. What role is that? They were set the task of determining whether a given coin was legitimate, whether its supposed weight was truly there and, more critically, whether its materials were pure or adulterated by common ore. Think of the distinction between an object of pure gold and an object that is but gold plated. The two differ greatly in their value.
The term gets expanded to take in the idea of one’s fitness for office. It is interesting, in this light, to set the picture of our present political phase over against what we just saw Jesus going through in the temple. It’s the debate process. What’s the point of that? Is it just to see men speechify? Is it to play a game of gotcha, looking for every misstep and misstatement a candidate might make? After a fashion, yes. But, the real goal is to get the measure of the candidate as best we can, to try and discern the real mettle of the man or woman, to get beneath the advertiser’s veneer. We are taking their measure, presumably. When the day of election comes, we are on the one hand declaring this candidate fit for the office and on the other hand, declaring that candidate unfit. Granted, that’s a rather idealized view. Too often we are doing no more than a comparative judgment, that this one is less unfit than that.
The point is that this is the idea Luke is putting across. This generation, having examined Jesus, the Son of Man, the Son of God to their satisfaction, will deem Him unfit, unsuitable to rule over them. That’s what was happening there in the courts of the temple. The representatives of ‘this generation’ had come out to debate the Man of God. They lost that debate horribly. It’s clear from the accounts that they were totally outgunned. Yet, in their judgment they held themselves to be the winners and this upstart, this Jesus, to be the loser. He’s no Messiah. He’s a danger to society!
Today, we have much the same game being played by society at large. They may cloak it in the guise of criticizing Christianity as a religion or specific purported representatives of the faith in particular. But, the reality is that it is Christ Himself that they feel a need to discredit. How necessary it is to the psyche of the unbeliever to fully and utterly discredit the Son of God. If He is not invalidated then they are left no option but to count themselves enemies of the Almighty! So, they test and the try, and they rig those tests, tip the scales, to ensure that they win – at least in their own view.
Now, look to verse 30 of Luke’s account. He writes of the day that ‘the Son of Man is revealed’. Here, we deal with a variation on the term for apocalypse, for truly, the two are of the same purpose. It is a revealing, an unveiling of what had previously been kept from view. When we think of apocalypse, given the terrors that tend to be part of what is revealed, we have a rather stark and fearful view of the matter. Indeed, what Jesus has been discussing here is all quite apocalyptic in nature, every bit as stark and disconcerting as the Revelation John later received.
So, what is it that is revealed when the Son is revealed? What is revealed is the incontrovertible Truth: that He is wholly and absolutely fit for the office of Messiah, of King over all creation. What is revealed is that the assessment of those assayers, in rejecting Him as unfit for office did not arrive at the truth. Indeed, it arrived exactly opposing the truth. In judging Him unfit for office, what these judges had truly done was proven themselves unfit as judges.
Catch, then, the contrast of these two verses. Let me borrow first from Wuest and then from Weymouth to emphasize that contrast. “After having been put to the test for the purpose of approving Him should He meet the specifications prescribed, to be rejected by this generation because He does not meet its requirements” (Lk 17:25). “Exactly so will it be on the day that the veil is lifted from the Son of Man” (Lk 17:30). He is revealed how? He is revealed as legitimate, approved by a far more important Assayer than any man of this world. They thought to put Him out of office, but He, at His coming, will be most firmly and fully in office, and it is they who shall be put out – permanently.
I already touched briefly on the matter of knowing and really knowing that applies in this passage. While the two terms are both present in Matthew’s account, they are not really being used in a directly related fashion. The eido instance pertains to the fact that none know the schedule. The ginosko instance applies to those who died in the flood not realizing what was happening until it was too late. The NASB translates this latter case as ‘they did not understand’ in verse 39. The NCV gives it a bit more force, saying, “They knew nothing about what was happening until the flood came and destroyed them. It will be the same when the Son of Man comes.” That rather overstates the case, though.
Clearly those who lived anywhere around Noah knew something of what he was doing and why he was doing it. They at least would have had his explanation. He was a preacher of righteousness, after all. It’s hardly likely that he kept his mouth shut when folks asked him what the idea was, building this large craft in the midst of an arid land. No, they had information. They chose not to accept or believe it. Likewise, the precursors that Jesus has been listing out for His return are not events that go unnoticed. They are not things hidden from sight. Recall that He had spoken of people fainting and failing just from the anticipation of what was coming. Perception is there. The senses have data to present to the central processing facilities. But, those facilities do not process their way to Truth. They will see it coming, but they will refuse to accept the implications of why it’s coming. This is the distinction that must be held in mind, looking at these examples Jesus gives us.
It’s a two-fold message, perhaps three-fold. Both for Noah and for Lot, there was plenty of reason to be expecting God to take action, if men would but open their eyes to their own actions. There was certainly warning given. In Noah’s case, there were the many years required to actually prepare the ark, as well as the final week spent stocking it. This was not going to be missed. In Lot’s situation, there were members of every strata of that city’s population present to harass him and demand the angels be given to them for their pleasure. These would have been witness to the blinding of those trying to break down Lot’s door, if not blinded themselves (Ge 19:11). Something beyond their ken had come among them and they could not but notice. They could only refuse to consider the implications. Further, they would no doubt have noticed Lot and his family being hurried out of town by these two foreigners the next day. Surely, one at least among them might have put two and two together? Here were beings powerful enough to blind men from a distance and those they protected were now being rushed from the city. What might they do without there being a need for restraint in their actions? But, those who witnessed that departure chose to more or less ignore it.
These are two pieces of the message: The judged, were they to judge themselves, would see the justice in what was to befall them. The judged will also see judgment coming, but will fail to grasp the import of its approach. The third aspect lies in mention of Noah and Lot themselves. Those not being judged will be warned and removed from the scene of judgment, forcibly if necessary. Think about Lot, who was hesitant to let go the world, even with the likes of these two angels telling him he must. They did not abandon him to his foolishness. They grabbed him and led him out, ‘because the Lord had compassion on him’ (Ge 19:16). Even when his stubbornness insisted on a deviation from God’s plan, expressing doubt in God’s perfect wisdom, still they accommodated him and kept him from the harm to come on Sodom.
Take that point forward to what Jesus is talking about. It’s of a piece with some of the other things He has been saying, the assurance that they will not need to worry about missing His call when He comes. If two angels could walk quietly into the city to rescue Lot, when they come with trumpet call to gather the elect from every corner of the earth and even from beyond the veil of death, you can be sure it won’t escape your notice. Indeed, I think we could take comfort from Lot’s example and recognize that, even if we’re still a bit too attached to our own pursuits, He will see to it that we not only get the message, but also that we heed it.
For those who remain, the issue is not that no warning was given, but that they disbelieve the warnings. They pretend everything is fine. It seems a standard condition of human nature that we can pretend everything is fine until absolutely forced to confront the aftermath of being proven wrong. We trust in what seems to us to be permanent, but as we have seen in earlier parts of this message, what we think permanent is not permanent at all. If mountains have no permanence, and the stars have no permanence, what is left for us to cling to?
All around us we see it (and I know I talked a bit about this in the preceding study). We are confronted by these misguided folks with their demonstrations. Why are they demonstrating? Do they have valid grievances? Not really. Not for the most part. They have simply been trusting in the permanence of a life of relative ease. Confronted with the rather harsher reality, they are left disillusioned and disgruntled and thoroughly unequipped to deal with the necessities of life. What? We can’t have everything just given to us? But, isn’t that what great nations do? Isn’t that the ideal? Everybody gets everything and nobody pays. Of course, that’s not the way, but it’s been their coddled experience, and now that the coddling arms are drawing back, shock and dismay set in.
But, this is only one example. We have plenty more. There is, for example, that sense of patriotism that supposes that the greatness of this nation must always persist, that God is somehow bound to us such that He cannot, dare not, strike us down. We are the last great hope of mankind, after all! How could He do without us? Well, we’re hardly the first nation to think that way, and we’ll doubtless not be the last to discover the folly of thinking ourselves so permanent.
Or, we can look to the halls of science. Over and over again we see theories and knowledge overthrown by new information. But, knowledge is surely permanent! Gravity can’t change. Time can’t change. Why, just look at how thoroughly we’ve advanced our ability to calculate and understand the motions of the planets and stars. Just by a bit of wobble in an observation across the void of space and we can recognize that there must be a planet around that star. To some degree we can even characterize that planet. Surely, if we can observe these things that traveled over millennia to reach our eyes, then what has been observed has some permanence. Surely the math that we have used to interpret it is permanent.
But, what Jesus has been informing us is that these things are not permanent. The heavens and the earth will come to an end. That is determined. That is stated as absolute fact. That is maybe the one fact of physical reality that we can count on: It won’t last forever. In its place is one thing. There is one thing provided us that remains solid and steadfast: The Word of God.
How well this ties with the section of Romans I’ll be teaching on this morning! Romans 8 contains some marvelous teaching on the absolute certainty of our salvation and the absolute sovereignty of God. It goes hand in hand with what Jesus has been saying here. We whom God has called His own are assured. He will see to it that we are pulled out before judgment falls. There is no condemnation for us – consequences and disciplinary actions, yes, but no condemnation. Our debt has been paid and our inheritance made certain. We have the Word of God, and we have the Word of God indwelling. We will not only see the signs but understand them because we have the Holy Spirit of God speaking to our spirit, informing our thinking, interpreting the data reported by our senses.
Listen to the way the Living Bible handles Luke 17:26. “The world will be [as indifferent to the things of God] as the people were in Noah's day.” That cannot describe one indwelt by God Himself! When the Message says, “That's how it will be — sudden, total” (Lk 17:30), it’s only half right. It will be like those overnight sensations we may hear about. Oh, their rise to public attention is swift, yet the preparations were long. That instant sensation was years in the making. It’s only sudden to those who haven’t been paying attention. For those who have been aware all along, it’s been a long time coming.
When I was organizing my collected notes for this study, I marked this section ‘Evidence versus Perception’. That’s what we’re dealing with. In what Jesus depicts of Jerusalem’s fall and of His return (two very distinct events), the evidence will be there. In the examples of Noah and Lot, the evidence was there, both of just cause and of the imminence of justice served. Evidence was there for all to see, but not all perceived the evidence. They saw it. They just didn’t perceive it. They will see the dots, but they won’t connect them. Those whom God has called His own, however, need fear no such thing. We have, after all, God Himself abiding in our temple, counseling us as to the course of life and the events of our day.
That said, there is a boundary to be observed. This is something I’ll deal with more fully in the next study, but we have mention of it already as Matthew relates the conversation. Nobody knows the timing. Not even the Son Incarnate knows the timing. No angel will be coming to you with the details in advance. Only the Father has this particularly knowledge, and He chooses to reserve it to Himself. He is not inclined to share it, and who will force Him?
Indeed, as we will see in the next passage, Jesus amplifies this point. Be ready, He says, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you don’t think He will (Mt 24:44). We could push this just a little bit and say that whatever hour you think He is coming, you are wrong. Whatever any man may tell you, he is wrong. Let me just throw a cautionary note here. One might be inclined to start discounting specific times because some false prophet or another has identified those times as being it. But, that just throws us right back into this verse! If we decide those are clearly times He won’t be returning, we thereby make them prime candidates for His return. The point is not to try and find times we can discard from our concerns, but to cease being concerned about the timing altogether. Stop it! Just stop it! Live like it’s in the next second. Always live like it’s in the next second. That’s the message.
Once again in Matthew 25:13, we hear Jesus repeat the point. “Remain alert.” Why? Quite simply, “Because you don’t know the timing.” You have every reason to be prepared, to live by the old Scout motto. You don’t know the timing, and you never will. Those who try and insist that the modern day prophets will surely be told before it comes are fooling themselves. Wrong! Stop trying to figure out the schedule and focus on being ready whenever He may return. Listen to what He said as His departing words to His disciples. “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority” (Ac 1:7 NASB). What God opts to reveal is for you to know. What He determines to keep as His own private counsel is not. Prying where He has explicitly told you He shall not give answer has got to border on sinfulness, if it does not cross that line. In short, where God has already indicated He will not speak, we are at best banging our heads against an unyielding wall to keep asking Him anyway. This applies most thoroughly to matters of the end times schedule. I dare say it applies in many other areas as well.
The Apostles understood this. Think about what Paul was dealing with in the Thessalonican church. Somebody had come teaching that the end had already come and gone. Perhaps they had the message from this talk on Mount Olivet, and conflated Jerusalem’s fall – the immediate fulfillment – with the ultimate fulfillment. But, to do so, they had to have completely skipped the disclaimers Jesus so clearly affixed: You will not know the timing, but you surely will not miss it. That’s at the crux of all He is saying here. Don’t worry. Don’t worry about trying to figure out when you’re supposed to be ready. You’re always supposed to be ready. Don’t worry that you might miss the boat because you were distracted for that one critical moment. No! Your heritage is secured. Your adoption is already recorded in the legal papers of heaven. You will be brought home. Yet, when this message came to the Thessalonicans, they swallowed it. So, Paul writes to remind them of Truth. “You don’t need anybody writing to you about the times. You know full well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1Th 5:1-2).
You know full well! The KJV says speaks of it as knowing perfectly. You know with exactness, without any misconception whatsoever, that He will come at the unexpected moment. You don’t need anybody writing to you about the times. OK, so it’s unclear whether he intends to talk of himself writing on the subject, or anybody whatsoever. Well, I would note that he’s already writing on the subject, so my inclination is to apply this to the ‘anybody’ case. You don’t need this.
How much energy is spent on books regarding this very thing right up to today? How much time is spent reading such books, thinking maybe this guy or that has the right interpretation of current events? I recall not so very long ago reading through a book that insisted that Yassir Arafat was the antichrist. Well, that seems to have been proven wrong. I don’t know. Maybe he’ll be back, but it sure isn’t looking likely. You don’t need this! Oh, it’s natural, I suppose, that such lines of thought capture our imagination. But it’s wrong nonetheless. It’s just wrong. Stop it! That’s the message Paul had for his charges, and it’s the very same message he has for us. Knock it off! You’re being distracted from the proper kingdom focus. When God has already made it abundantly clear that you do not and will not know the timing, why are you still playing this game of checking the schedule? That’s not your proper activity. Your proper activity is to be about the Father’s business, to be prepared and active on His assignment. If you will but stay on task, you have no need to worry about schedules. Just do what you know you should and He will see to your retrieval at the proper time. Reserve to God the knowledge He has reserved to Himself and get on with what you know to do.
Finally, I shall comment on that closing remark from Luke’s coverage: “Remember Lot’s wife” (Lk 17:32). And we do remember Lot’s wife. Her story is proverbial. Indeed, her looking back is the one thing we know about her life. She looked back, and looking back, she became a pillar of salt. What is the significance of this? Why was there this prohibition on looking back as they fled anyway? One part of the issue can be seen in Lot’s dealings with the angels. Here God had been so merciful as to arrange Lot’s removal from this city under judgment – and not just Lot, but his family with him – and Lot’s attachment to this worldly place was strong enough that he was hesitant. Even knowing that destruction was in the wind, he wasn’t ready to go.
It’s interesting that Table Talk should be discussing Paul’s dilemma regarding whether it was better to depart to Christ or remain to serve (Php 1:21-24) this morning. In Paul, either avenue retained a committed focus on the kingdom of God. In Lot, not so much. Lot faced the same dilemma, whether to depart to God or to remain. What his mind really on serving God should he remain? We cannot really say. Maybe there were godly motivations holding him. Maybe his thinking was that if he remained, God would delay judgment and some of those in the city might yet be saved. Maybe he was just comfortable and hated the idea of change. His further bartering as he and his family made their way across the plains suggests a less pious motivation. Oh! We’ll never make it to the mountains, good sirs. Can’t we just hole up in this town over here?
Let’s be clear on something: Lot was not unaware of whence these instructions were coming. He knew God was directing. And yet, he was convinced that God’s plans would fail if left unaltered by his superior wisdom. Sound familiar? Aren’t we forever playing this same game of trying to improve on God’s plans? Aren’t we every bit as doubtful when it comes to pursuing God’s course as He has relayed it to us? Oh, that will never work, Lord. Look, there’s this flaw in Your blueprints. We can improve the odds if You’ll just take my advice. Hopefully, we are not quite so consciously promoting our superiority to the Supreme Being when we do this, but the end result remains the same. We still want to be god and have God as our servant. But, it doesn’t work that way.
So, the angels had to push or pull Lot and his family out of the worldly setting they had acclimatized themselves to. Even with certain judgment coming post haste, they needed that forceful removal to get themselves out of harm’s way. Lot, as we learn, managed to cajole God into changing course according to Lot’s wisdom. We should learn from that. We should learn that God may very well allow us our way if we are so determined to improve on His plans. We should also learn that there are consequences.
Listen, to insist on changing God’s plans requires that we doubt His wisdom. It requires that we see Him as less than perfect, less than all knowing. Apparently, Lot figured He hadn’t taken Lot’s weakness into account. In reality, God knew Lot wasn’t taking His strength into account. But, fine. Do things your way… As has been said, there can be no more fearsome words to hear than when God accedes to our rebellious and doubting will.
But, I am more curious as to what it was that caused Lot’s wife to look back. She had doubtless hear the instructions. I feel rather certain that she had heard them directly, not passed on by her husband. She could hear the validation of their warnings playing out behind her. Clearly, these messengers had spoken truly. The noise and the heat would be palpable. But, still she looked back. Was she that curious? I think it was something more than curiosity. It think it was a certain misplaced compassion, a sorrow for those under judgment.
Reading that statement, I cannot but note that it sounds particularly callous. How can sorrow for our fellow man, compassion, be wrong? Well, I will tell you. Indeed, it’s a topic I seem to touch no often enough. The moment our compassion is directed in a way that marks out God’s activities as wrong, we’ve got a problem. The moment we sorrow to see God’s will done, we’ve got a problem. What was happening in Sodom and Gomorrah in that moment was God’s will. They had had ample opportunity to repent. They had had the example of godly men in their midst. They had had the nearby tribe of Abraham to stand as lodestone for their moral compass. They had had angelic rebuke. And yet, they were steadfast in pursuing their sinful ways. Opportunity for repentance had come to an end in their case. The full measure of their sins had accrued and only judgment remained. God had decided, and there could be no gainsaying His judgment. There is no court of appeals. There is no pardon coming from the governor.
I arrive back at the case of Aaron when God removed the evil of his sons’ corruption of temple worship. Thou shalt not mourn. Why? Because God is glorified. Because God’s will is done, and this ought be your highest good, your deepest desire. If God’s will is being done, He is being glorified and if He is being glorified, His children must surely rejoice. No, you are not asked to go dance on their graves, nor even permitted to, I think. But, neither are you to walk about in sack-cloth and ashes on account of those whose opportunity for repentance has passed.
It does sound callous, but the fact is that when our time comes and that trumpet call goes forth, there will be many amongst our acquaintances, maybe even amongst family, who are not going with us. There will be those whom we have known and loved but who have not known and loved Christ. There will doubtless be many we have thought to be fellow believers who will be revealed as false. There’s going to be a lot of folks left to judgment that we would have preferred were not. There’s going to be cause and enough for heartache if that’s where our attention is.
Let me turn your attention for just a moment to what the author of Hebrews notes regarding Noah: By faith he heeded God’s warnings about what was coming. He reverently prepared the ark per God’s instructions. And, by doing so, his household was saved. But, by doing so, the world was condemned. He became heir of that righteousness according to faith (Heb 11:7). But, notice that dark point: By his obedience, the world was condemned. Whoa! I can’t imagine he really wanted to hear that. I can’t imagine that such a thing sat lightly on his soul. To be sure, he and his family could hardly have been unaware of the wailing despair outside the ark as the waters rose. To be sure, there had been pleas aplenty that those in the boat might rescue those outside. But, it could not be. Do you note that God closed the door of the ark once Noah and company were aboard. It’s not just because there was no handle on the ramp that they might close it themselves. It was so that the heartbreaking strength of their compassion might not cause them to open that door to those under judgment.
Think, too, of that parable Jesus relays of Lazarus and the poor man (Lk 16:19-31). Notice what Abraham says of the arrangements in the after life. “Between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able” (Lk 19:26). God knows our compassion, because He it is who creates that compassion in us. It is, after all, the visible overflow of His love for us. But, even His love must know a boundary. Even His love is not allowed to swamp and corrupt His righteousness and His justice. Mercy is a wonderful thing, but mercy that perverts justice is no mercy at all. Compassion that prefers unrighteousness is no compassion.
It is a hard message to hear. It will be harder yet in that day. But, there is a great chasm fixed for exactly that reason. God is not displeased by our compassion. How could He be, whose compassion is so great? He does, however, know our weaknesses. He alone is able to hold compassion and wrath, love and vengeance, mercy and justice in their fullness and in their full balance. We just don’t have it in us to be quite so like Him in this regard. And so, He places safeguards upon our actions. He hedges us about not only so that the enemies we face cannot reach us, but also so that we cannot aid and abet our enemies in the name of love.
When judgment is made, when the offer of repentance has once for all time been withdrawn, we who are the heirs of heaven cannot, must not, find cause to revile our Lord and King because of His judgments. Our eyes cannot be upon those who would not hear Him, but must be all upon Him whom we have heard. I cannot doubt that there will be many things to break our hearts in that moment. And yet, there will be Jesus. Yet, there will be such a healing as we have never imagined, nor even imagined we would need. When our All in all stands and beckons, we must leave all behind. The words of this passage may seem focused on worldly goods, but be sure it also includes worldly acquaintances in its sweep.
Lord, may I come to take this in proper proportion. May I be of sufficient compassion to feel the heartbreak, and yet be of sufficient strength to leave all behind in the joy of finding You. You had said that those who love spouse or parent or child more than You are unfit to be Yours. Yes, but I see now that You were not speaking so much about the course of this present life as about that final day when the choices of each man and woman are revealed and their measure taken. Steel my heart, Lord God, for You have surely stolen it. You have loved me, and I can only love You the more each moment. Yet, I see this heartbreak that lies surely upon the horizon. Let me never grow so callous and uncaring as to pay that sorrow no mind, but let me never allow that sorrow to outweigh my love for You, and my joy in finding Your kingdom complete. And, my Jesus, if I am in any way misunderstanding the implications, I pray Thee inform me of my error, lest I stray. Holy Spirit, my Counsel, my Guide, correct any error in what I am writing here if error there be, for I would not be misled, lest I be found misleading others. Thy will, Lord. Thy will and Thy truth.
