Book Review: The Redeemed Man (edited by Beeke/Phillips/Smalley)

 

This was the second book that we received this week, not so much because it fit the theme as because it contains chapters and by three of our speakers and two of the other attendees.

The book on the whole is excellent, and the first thing I would put into the hands of someone who wishes to learn about true manliness. 

Like all anthology style books, there's a great diversity in the quality of the contributions. So I have organized my review not according to the sequential order of the book but by grouping the contributions according to their level of helpfulness. 

This first grouping are what I would call superlative contributions. Any one of them would have made the book worthwhile. The fact that there are eight of them ought to strongly commend the book to you. For the sake of brevity, the less helpful a contribution, the more I will say about why. So do not let that mislead you into thinking that my view of the book is negative at all. So I will say nothing more about these contributions than for you to take up and read: 

• The Redeemed Man Knowing His God (Conrad Mbewe)
• The Redeemed Man Growing in Grace (Sinclair Ferguson) 
• The Redeemed Man Honoring His Parents (Terry Johnson)
• The Redeemed Man Loving His Wife (Joel Beeke) 
• The Redeemed Man Witnessing to Unbelievers (David Strain)
• The Redeemed Man Viewing Work Rightly (Richard Phillips) 
• The Redeemed Man Persevering in His Faith (Geoff Thomas)
• The Redeemed Man Preparing for His Death (Ian Hamilton)

This next grouping are good contributions. They handle their subject well and are useful for understanding and application. To speak analogously to the descriptions of  David's mighty men, "they are of the thirty but did not attain to the three":

• The Redeemed Man Repenting and Believing (Beeke and Smalley)
• The Redeemed Man Committed to God's Word (Paul Smalley)
• The Redeemed Man Leading His Family (Jason Helopoulos)
• The Redeemed Man Growing in Family Worship (Joel Beeke)
• The Redeemed Man Serving in His Church (Kevin De Young). This would have been in the superlative category, but in my opinion, it is missing some important detail in application. Also, the section on magnanimity doesn't naturally belong to this subject, even though I think it is an important contribution on the idea of ambition (which was not well defined in other chapters, so that approving of it without defining it was potentially harmful without this contribution).
• The Redeemed Man Sustaining His Health (Joseph Pipa). My only note would be that, in the section on medical care, to heed his caution that non-traditional types of care would be supplemental only, and guided by the counsel and evaluation of your M.D. Good internal medicine doctors are hard to find. But they are increasingly holistic, and availing yourself of their understanding that covers from biochemistry, to microbiology, to all of the interconnecting systems of the body, may well spare you for much that passes itself off as wisdom but lacks genuine biological knowledge and is often based in dangerously pseudobiblical philosophy and spirituality. 

The next grouping our contributions that I consider to be weak. Not necessarily bad, but either lacking something significant, or not worthwhile on the whole. 

• The Redeemed Man Discipling His Children (Rick Phillips). Just not specific or detailed enough. 
• The Redeemed Man Cultivating Friendships (Michael Haykin). Misses a wealth of biblical material that could have more strongly grounded the chapter and more richly supplied application. 
• The Redeemed Man Laboring at His Work (Daniel Doriani). Covers the same ground as the chapter that immediately precedes it, but not as well. Also commends ambition without carefully defining it, which would have been more dangerous without the chapter that immediately follows this one. 
• The Redeemed Man Enjoying His Recreations (Gerard Hemmings). Doesn't at all cover a biblical theology of mornings and evenings, which is one of the most essential components of understanding and employing recreation in our lives, particularly in our finding God Himself to be recreational in the truest sense of that word. A man who lays hold of this will find himself much recreated in the ordinary course of life. 

This final grouping is what I would call "mixed." These chapters would have been good, or even superlative, except for one or more significant defects. 

• The Redeemed Man Living in Singleness (Curt Daniel). Very helpful for sympathizing with the lonely, and includes good counsel for what to do with that loneliness. Comes close to a good doctrine of singleness, and employing that condition unto God's glory, but uses the unfortunate language of the gift of singleness. To his credit, he even defines it as something that may be temporary, which comes close to the truth: if you are single, then you presently have the gift of singleness, meaning that you are to employ it for the glory of God in the service of His church. However, women under 60, and all men, should be seeking to marry, as implied by Genesis 2 and 1Timothy 5 and really the whole of the biblical witness about marriage. Misuses the eunuch text in Matthew 19, whose context is choosing celibacy rather than adulterous remarriage. Does not do enough to emphasize that the epidemic of singleness is due to the rise of many different forms of sinfulness, together with poor theology of marriage in the churches. For dealing with this subject well, it would be helpful to say something about how contemporarily romanticized notions of attraction and compatibility artificially and harmfully narrow the proportion of potential matches among the godly.
• The Redeemed Man Governing as a Citizen (David Innes). Much to be commended, but missing an important emphasis upon Christ's reign already upon the earth, even from His seat on the throne of heaven. The chapter ends up too dependent upon the hypothetical reign of the first Adam, if he had kept the Covenant of Works. The chapter does a good job of arguing that only a Christian properly governs himself, and that for the governing of others, a Christian is best suited, which ought to motivate him to do so out of love for his neighbor. But after reasoning that a redeemed man should, the chapter is too light on details of how a redeemed man could. 
• The Redeemed Man Entering Retirement (Derek Thomas). Asserts that retirement is inevitable, then acknowledges that it is unbiblical. Much more helpful when giving counsel to retirees, which counsel consists largely of advising them not to be retired. On the whole, a helpful exhortation to serve God as well as possible for as long as possible. Might have been helpful to present Ecclesiastes 12 not as the arrival of retirement, but the beginning of the intrusion of death into the life of the redeemed man. After reading this chapter, my thought was that if I was counseling, someone who is coming into a season of no longer being able to do what had been his primary vocation for decades, I would probably recommend following chapter 13 all over again (The Redeemed Man Viewing Work Rightly).

Again, please remember that I was trying to keep this brief, so I did not review each chapter. If the first two categories I had received full reviews, the vast majority of that much larger article would have been effusively positive. 

This is an excellent book on manhood, and I recommend it for every man and for every church officer, to whom the Lord has entrusted the leadership of other men.

Book Review: "You Will Be My Witnesses" by Brian DeVriea

 

We were given a copy of this book at an annual ministerial fellowship that the Lord has blessed me to attend for the last 27 years. This year's theme is the local church's participation in global mission. 

The book does some things well.  

It is well-organized, especially in the format of each of the chapters, identifying and enumerating the main ideas in such a way as to make the book easy to read and assimilate.

It focuses upon theology proper, christology, and pneumatology from the whole of Scripture—particularly as these shape the visible church's role in God's ongoing work in the world. And it does a good job with both of these things.

The book traces its biblical theology from the whole of scripture and properly identifies and employs many of the most relevant specific texts to show this theology.

It does justice to the fact that the mission belongs to God and is accomplished by His activity and power. Too many other works on the subject fail to properly acknowledge, and yield to, the necessarily supernatural essence of what we pray and hope will occur as we bear witness.

Among its many emphases, the book has a much-needed emphasis upon how the church's witness (its part in God's mission) consists most of all on just being the church, as He has designed and called it to be. The greatest need, therefore, is reformation. Sanctification. Revival. 

I don't envy the task of trying to tackle such a large subject. But there are some things that the book does not do well. These are largely in the areas of what it does not address.

Considering the need for revival, in order to Bear biblical witness, the book does some good work in describing what the fruit of revival looks like. But it is a little lacking in describing what that revival is, and more lacking in describing how it happens. We cannot have congregational reformation without household reformation, and we cannot have household reformation without personal reformation. The biggest defect in the church's witness is men whose selves and lives are not beacons of union and communion with Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, unto communion with God. 

Another lack is in failing to distinguish the role of the Christian from the role of the congregation. This is especially glaring in a few of the items that he repeatedly identified as the "church's witness," particularly: "gospel global partnerships, [...] compassion ministries, biblical counseling, cultural engagement." Several items that Scripture handles entirely with reference to individuals with their neighbors, are listed in a way that fails to correct the confused state of the church in which the congregation attempts to function as a citizen or neighbor, which it is not.

One more weakness that bears mentioning is that the book at times has an ax to grind with what it considers a failure to contextualize, sometimes described as a confusion of the Gospel with the exporting of Western European culture. This familiar trope is unhelpful, because it fails to recognize that much of what is now known as Western European culture is not the original culture of Western Europe but the consequence of gospel transformation. Exhortations to contextualization need to be strongly tempered by the fact that culture is an aggregate of individuals and personalities, and the biblical response to it is always some form of correction, most of all. Adaptation is not an exercise in figuring out how the culture should shape gospel expression, but rather identifying unnecessary corrections that the gospel must bring to that culture.

In my view, the most glaring weakness is the absence of a thorough doctrine of ordination and a thorough ecclesiology. Faith comes by hearing, and particularly by hearing those who are sent. Since the mission is God's (while the witness is ours), and God Himself ordains and sends particular preachers particularly, a biblical implementation of witness demands a functional submission to a thorough doctrine of biblical ordination. And Scripture describes a mission of God in which He is not just saving but planting churches, not just planting churches but planting presbyteries. This may be intentional, since thinking and writing in this way significantly narrows the proportion of the visible Church that would welcome the book as things currently stand. But how can these deficiencies in the church be corrected, if in order to get a wider reading audience, they become deficiencies in the book?

Finally: do not let these weaknesses dissuade you from reading the book. First of all, it is an easy read. Secondly, it is a worthwhile read—it does as good a job of a biblical theology of the witness that the church bears to Christ as any book that I am aware of.

True Children

 Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”
Luke 18:15–17 

Jesus gives a two-fold rationale command to bring the children to Him: 

First, children are members of the kingdom already. "Of such is the kingdom" means that the kingdom is comprised of such as these children.

Second, everyone in the kingdom of God must receive it as a little child. This applies to children and adults, both. Those who have the first birth must have the second in order to see the kingdom (cf. Jn3:3–8). So, "kingdom" is being used with reference to the visible church in v16, and the invisible/elect/eternal church in v17.

One of the reasons that Jesus insists that children are members of His church, and be brought to Him in all of the privileges of that membership (i.e. the means of grace!), is so that they can learn to receive the kingdom as little children. And one of the reasons that Jesus brings adults into the visible church is so that they can learn to receive the kingdom as little children.

So, dear reader, how have you received the kingdom as a little child? Or, haven't you? God grant unto us all to be true children.

The Longsuffering God of Great Compassion

 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.”

Luke 18:6–8

Luke 18:7 implies that, because of His electing love, it is an exercise of divine longsuffering for Him to delay in answering or avenging His people. What a great comfort the greatness of His love should be to those elect. And what a severe warning to those who oppress them.

The Kingdom of God Is Within You

 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

Luke 17:20–21

Over the last twenty years, I've often heard the coming of the kingdom in terms of politics and economic—even by those who should have had the Shorter Catechism vocabulary of "Kingdom of Grace" and "Kingdom of Glory" (WSC102). Jesus teaches that the kingdom does not come with observation—and further explains that it cannot be seen because it is within believers. 

Larger Catechism 191 adds "kingdom of His power," referring to His sovereign rule in heaven already, in its thorough, helpful description of what it is: In the second petition (which is, Thy kingdom come), acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray, that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fullness of the Gentiles brought in; the church furnished with all gospel officers and ordinances, purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate; that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed, and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted: that Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of His second coming, and our reigning with him forever: and that He would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of His power in all the world, as may best conduce to these ends.

One Reason We Need Increased Faith

 “And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
Luke 17:4–5

Forgiving is hard. But the Lord can give us the faith necessary to do it.

Who's Your Master?

 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.

Luke 16:13–14

We serve many things, but just one master. It is possible to think that we are serving God, but if He is not Master, then eventually push comes to shove. The Pharisees definitely thought that they were serving God. 

You can have office in the church, be meticulous about your doctrine and behavior, be thought of by others as a very holy man and a spiritual leader—and still, God's omniscient assessment of you may be "lover of money." How grievous that would be, dear reader!

Come, Rejoice with Me

 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, "Rejoice with me..."
Luke 15:6

And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, "Rejoice with me"
Luke 15:9

It was right that we should make merry and be glad
Luke 15:32

When I was growing up, it was called, "the parable of the prodigal son." From some who understood it a little better, I learned to call it, "the parable of the older brother." But, ultimately, I think it is "the parable of the rejoicing Father." It is an invitation to "come and rejoice with Me," when He saves tax collectors and sinners (cf. Lk 15:1)

Severe Providence and Sovereign Grace

And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 

Luke 15:13–14

Here is something I don't remember noticing before in the parable of the prodigal son: the severe famine. In the context of the story, a severe famine comes upon the land, in part, to bring this son to an end of himself. How happy this son would be, on account of this famine! Let us be patient under severe providence; it may be an engine that is driven by sovereign grace.

When the Lord Takes Us through Situations That We Can't See Our Way Out of

Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD.” And they did so.
Exodus 14:1–4

So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD. Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”
Exodus 14:9–12

The Lord takes His people into situations that they cannot see a way out of, so that He will get glory by delivering us and defeating His enemies. So, dear saint, it we find ourselves in situations that we cannot see our way out of, let us trust Him Who works all things according to the counsel of His saving will (cf. Eph 1:11).

Grace That Makes Us Hope in Grace

Would He contend with me in His great power?
No! But He would take note of me.
There the upright could reason with Him,
And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.
Job 23:6–7

It is amazing that, even at this point in his ordeal, Job continues to hope in grace. This continuing hope in grace is itself a work of God's grace.

Yes. It IS a Pleasure to the Almighty When We Are Righteous

Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?
Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless?
Job 22:3

Eliphaz is in error because he has no concept of God's grace. This puts him in a category with the devil. It is true that we cannot profit God at all, but one of the wonders of the gospel is that when we are righteous, it is by His grace. It is by His own righteousness. And He is genuinely delighted with our righteousness, because He Himself is our righteousness. Read the Song of Songs, and other passages like Zeph 3:17. It is one of the glories of the gospel that the Lord does genuinely delight in His people. While the friends say many true things about right and wrong, and blessing and curse, their view of God is abbreviated, their view of blessing is abbreviated, and their view of grace is abbreviated.

When Not to Talk

Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer,
Because of the turmoil within me.
Job 20:2

These are very poor reasons to open our mouths. If we are full of anxiety and inner turmoil, it is not the time for opening our mouths but keeping them shut.

The Desire to Justify Ourselves

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Luke 10:29

The desire to justify oneself, and therefore to vindicate one's actions, blinds one to his utter need of Christ. Let us be watchful against every wish to justify ourselves.

He Always Lives to Intercede for Us

Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem
Luke 9:51

It is interesting to note that for which the time had come: "for Him to be received up." Yes, it must come by way of His crucifixion and resurrection. And these are the things that are proclaimed about His work for us to believe (cf. 1Cor 15:3–4). But, the Lord has a more ongoing focus here: His ascension and enthronement, the eternal ministry of His priestly intercession.

How the Wicked Accomplish Their "Wonders"

But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the LORD had said.
Exodus 7:11–13

I used to wonder if the wise men/sorcerers/magicians of Egypt's "enchantments" were demonic or a deception of some kind, but I was missing the point. It comes under the providence of God for the purpose of hardening Pharaoh's heart. He was fulfilling His Word. Whatever wicked demons or men do, it comes under the sovereignty of God, for fulfilling His purposes, according to His Word. They, and we, mustn't be impressed with any of their apparent accomplishments. Hardening is what they deserve, and it is a frightful judgment upon them.

Humility Prerequisite to Helping

If indeed you exalt yourselves against me,
And plead my disgrace against me,
Know then that God has upended me,
And has surrounded me with His net.
Job 19:5–6

Pride debilitates us as helpers, because it invests us in feeling superior to those we are helping. Rather than firstly, finding ourselves before the face of God, then secondly, helping them before the face of God by the grace of God... we are hindered from the necessary humility before God's face, because we are too busy being exalted, in our own eyes, in comparison to those whom we are "helping."

Genuinely Liberated Christians

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
1Corinthians 6:12

Here are two, simple considerations to temper our expression of Christian liberty.

The abuser of Christian liberty has a refrain: "All things are lawful for me!" 

But the genuinely liberated Christian is more concerned with what is beneficial: what glorifies God in Christ, and what does good to his brother and neighbor and self. 

And the genuinely liberated Christian is more concerned with what master He is serving: am I here serving the flesh or the Spirit, my lusts or my Lord?

Come Together to Hear

However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.
Luke 5:15

It was a few days ago that I left myself a memo to jot something down about this text. But, now it is the Lord's Day, and it is all the more appropriate: would that we would come together to Christ, first and foremost to hear Him. 

Yes, let us draw near to be healed by Him of our infirmities. By this He is glorified. This He loves to do for us. But, let the first and great reason that we gather to Him be... He Himself. That we might hear the words of His mouth, because they are His words and His mouth... because it is He. 

There is much of which we need healing. But, let us give Him the prerogative in our meeting with Him: Lord, speak, for Your servants are listening.

"Nevertheless, at Your Word, I will."

But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”
Luke 5:5

It was precisely in the area of Simon's expertise that the Lord humbled him (and blessed him, at the same time). Whatever we think we are experts at, let us remember that our knowledge is infinitesimal, by comparison to Christ's. He not only knew where every fish was, and would be, in that lake; but, He knew what He would be doing in His extraordinary providence. Peter knew none of those things. So it is with all of our apparent and purported knowledge.

So, let us learn from Peter this excellent way of life: "Nevertheless, at Your Word, I will."

Are You Forgiven?

Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.
Luke 7:47

There is a subtle, but enormous, problem for Simon the Pharisee in these words of Jesus to him. And that is that he has more than a little to forgive. If "little" has been forgiven him, then that is to say that nothing has been forgiven him at all.

Dear reader, we have much of which to be forgiven. We should love much. We should be full of affection to Christ. Our service should pour out to Him, even just onto His feet (the least admired or pleasant service), if that is what is available to us. Because the warmth of our hearts should pour out to Him Who has forgiven us so very much, and Who has endured so very much for that forgiveness.

We can also take caution from Simon's conduct. Here, he had holy conference with Jesus Christ. But his heart was so engaged in despising and judging the woman, and even in judging of Christ on her account, that he had no inclinations of admiration or affection toward Christ at the time. This says something to how we might conduct ourselves in the public worship, where we have holy conference with Jesus Christ, and with God in Jesus Christ. If we have so little warmth of affection for Him that it is easily snuffed out by our thoughts of others, we ought to be alarmed that we love so little.

For, if we are forgiven little, then that is to say that we are not forgiven at all.

What Counsel Do You Keep in Your Heart?

"Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God."
1Co 4:5

For many, it ought to be quite a frightful thing that the Lord will reveal the counsel that they kept in their hearts. You may be careful about how you keep your tongue. But, how do you maintain the counsel that you keep in your own heart? Would you be mortified for others to hear it out in the open? Then you had better mortify your sin, and even in your secret thoughts, keep only godly counsel in your heart.

The God Who Uses the Less Obvious Ones

"the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David"
Luke 3:31

Through Solomon (cf. Mt 1:6), came Joseph the husband of Mary (cf. Mt 1:16). The roundabout way of Luk 3:23 implies that this genealogy is actually through Mary, perhaps out of a desire to show forth Jesus as the seed of the woman. Luke also traces all the way back to Adam, indeed God.

So, in Luk 3:31, we learn that both genetically (Luk 3), and legally (Mat 1), Jesus is a son of David. This brings my thoughts to Nathan in Luk 3:31. Until this point, this Nathan is almost a footnote in 2Sam 5:14, 1Chr 3:5, 1Chr 14:4. He is the full brother of Solomon, born of Bathsheba. That's as much as we know.

It was a reminder to me of how significantly the Lord may use the less obvious child, or the less obvious saint. We ought to bless the wisdom of His inscrutable providence, as we pour ourselves into even those children and saints of whom, it seems to our nearly-blind eyes, little can be expected to come. Indeed, it is often His pleasure to use the weak and unlikely (cf. 1Co 1:26–29).

Fearing the Incorrect Thing

Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil”
Gen 50:19–20a

I often think of Gen 50:20, regarding the intentions of men and the superintending of God. But it was helpful to me to meditate upon the first part of v19 today: "Do not be afraid [of me]." The "of me" is implied, especially because of the rest of the sentence. "For, am I in the place of God?" 

It was silly, and out of proportion, for the brothers were afraid of what Joseph might do to them. Joseph was not in a place to do to them according to what they actually deserved. But how often, when thinking about our situations, or even about our sins, are we more concerned about men than we are about God? We're often fearing the wrong ones (cf. Mt 10:28). 

God's Providence to Gospel Hypocrites in the Church

"As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a righteous Judge, for former sins, does blind and harden, from them He not only withholds His grace whereby they might have been enlightened in their understandings, and wrought upon in their hearts; but sometimes also withdraws the gifts which they had, and exposes them to such objects as their corruption makes occasion of sin; and, withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan, whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves, even under those means which God uses for the softening of others."

WCF 5.6—a fearful truth for those who outwardly profess faith, but inwardly obtain no spiritual profit in the means of grace, even while those around them are drawing near to God, enjoying His glory, and being edified. 

The Angel Who Has Redeemed Me from All Evil

And he blessed Joseph, and said:
“God, before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
The God Who has fed me all my life long to this day,
The Angel Who has redeemed me from all evil,
Bless the lads;
Let my name be named upon them,
And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;
And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
Genesis 48:15–16

When Jacob describes his God at the end of his life, he refers specifically to the "Angel" (messenger/Ambassador) Who has redeemed him from all evil. The messenger/ambassador. This is the One Whom he identifies as:

the One before Whom Abraham and Isaac walked,
the One Who fed him all his life long to that day,
the One Who had redeemed him from all evil,
and the One Who would bless Ephraim and Manasseh and their offspring

Very briefly, it is evident that Jacob had at least knowledge of the Father and of the Son. And there is no reason to believe that he wasn't trinitarian. But, more than that, it is further evident that he knew the Son, in the several Christophanies of his life, to be the One in Whom the triune God had most revealed Himself to him.

Gentle reader, let us be at least as Trinitarian, with at least the Christology, of Jacob, knowing:

Jesus as the One before Whom we walk
Jesus as the One Who feeds us every day
Jesus as the One Who redeems us from all evil
Jesus as the One Who blesses us and our children

 

Which Promise Is to You and to Your Children?

Then the LORD your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Deut 30:5–6

In v5, the Lord says that He will prosper and multiply His people more, after the exile, than He had before the exile. But, historically, we did not see this until the grafting in of those elect from among the nations. 

It is helpful for our understanding of God's dealing with covenant children, in the administration under Moses, that His promises to them were not only visible/externally covenantal, but internal and spiritual: "YHWH your God will circumcise the heart of your offspring, to love YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul."

And it is helpful for our understanding of God's dealing with covenant children, under Christ, is that this "and the heart of your descendants" aspect of the promise has a focus especially on the time in which the visible church would be prospered and multiplied "more than your fathers."

When it included children, under Moses, it was the covenant of grace.

And under Christ, the covenant of grace still includes children!

When the apostle says, "For the promise is to you and your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call," (Ac 2:39), he is saying exactly what Deut 30:5–6 says.

Spirit-baptism includes this circumcision of the heart. It corresponds to water baptism, just as the Lord's gracious work of heart-circumcision corresponded to the covenant sign that He had commanded upon covenant children.

Deut 30:5–6 was solving the problem of a people who could not circumcise their own hearts, as commanded in Deut 10:16. And, on the day of Pentecost, there was this wonderful proclamation that Jesus provides, by His Spirit, the repentance that the baptism of John could only announce to us that we need it. Christian baptism announces that Jesus actually gives it.

This hope He gives us for ourself. This hope He gives us for our children.

How God Treats His Enemies

How many are my iniquities and sins?
Make me know my transgression and my sin.
Why do You hide Your face,
And regard me as Your enemy?
Job 13:23–24

Almost certainly, v15 is more well-known, from this chapter, than v23–24. But, here we have important insight into "how God treats His friends" (to borrow from the title of an excellent little commentary on Job by Bob Fyall). 

When God makes you to know your iniquities, sins, and transgressions, He is treating you as friends. (And Hebrews 12 would remind us that it is when He afflicts us for them, in service of bringing us to repentance, that He treats us as sons!)

But, when God allows you to feel justified in your own eyes—when He permits you to continue in blindness to particular sins—that He is treating you as an enemy.

Job was distressed that he was being treated according to unmediated justice, rather than according to grace in the Mediator. He had confessed what he knew of, and repented of it, but still affliction was coming. He was learning more about how God treats His friends. But he was worried that he was being treated as an enemy: that the Lord was permitting him to be hardened in his sins by blindness to them.

So I wonder, gentle reader, if this is one of your and my great desires of the Lord: that He would not hide His face from us as an enemy, but that, as a Friend and Father, He would make us know our transgression and sin.

Values-Reorienting Promises

So He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.”
Genesis 46:3–4

v4 is very interesting, in that the bit about Joseph closing his eyes makes it plain that the promise to "bring you up again" is still personal and particular to Jacob himself. However, Jacob would only return as a corpse, as he will remain until the resurrection. The Lord is faithful, so He surely kept His promise. But, is it such a promise-keeping as we would find faithful and true? For it only to happen to us after our death? If not, then the problem is that we are so worldly and short-sighted as to "insist upon our good things in this life" (cf. Luk 16:25). But God's promises are not just for better, fuller, more enduring things. They are also for teaching us to prioritize and value those better, fuller, more enduring things.

The Deceitfulness of Riches

The tents of robbers prosper,
And those who provoke God are secure—
In what God provides by His hand.
Job 12:6

Job's friends are in the midst of saying that he must have some secret, unconfessed sin, and if he would just confess it and repent of it, his affliction would be eliminated.

But, here, Job makes an important observation: it is dangerous to assess one's spiritual condition by his prosperity and security in this world. God, in His common grace, often gives prosperity and security to those who truly love neither their neighbor, nor the Lord.

But this is a pitfall into which we may easily fall: feeling like things are well with us spiritually, so long as they seem well to us temporally. But just because things are well with me temporally does not mean that I am justified in my treatment of men, nor that I am not provoking God. 

So, riches may deceitfully promise blessing in this world, but they perpetrate a more subtle and dangerous deception: they may deceive us that we are spiritually well, when we are currently provoking God.