Jeff Ling

Psalm 131 is one of the most meaningful of all the Psalms to me.

John Calvin

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore.
(Psalm 131 ESV)

The picture here is a lovely and comforting one. David acknowledges the absolute brain cramp that can accompany trying to understand the Sovereign God of Heaven and Earth. Even that phrase, the Sovereign God of Heaven and Earth, sounds the alarm:  mere mortals need not tread here! And well it should. He is beyond understanding. To quote Spurgeon: “As well might a gnat seek to drink in the ocean, as a finite creature to comprehend the Eternal God. A God whom we could understand would be no God. If we could grasp Him, He could not be infinite. If we could understand Him, He could not be divine.”

And yet….

We are told by our Lord Jesus, “and this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) The Apostle Paul urges us to , “ to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:10 )   Seek me and you will find me, declares the Lord (Jer.29:13) and yet  ”it is the glory of God to conceal things…” (Prov. 25:2)

The Puritan writer Thomas Manton says it well:

“We know God but as men born blind know the fire: they know that there is such a thing as fire, for they feel it warm them, but what it is they know not.  So, that there is a God we know, but what He is we know little, and indeed we can never search Him out to perfection; a finite creature can never fully comprehend that which is infinite.”

We are to seek to know the unknowable. That should promote a bit of humility.

In his wonderful book Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC, Frederick Buechner writes the following about theology:

“Theology is the study of God and his ways. For all we know, dung beetles may study man and his ways and call it humanology. If so, we would probably be more touched and amused than irritated. One hopes that God feels likewise.”

One of the criticisms leveled at those in the Reformed camp is that there tends to be a scholastic arrogance that oozes from their pores. A little over the top but not far from the mark. Eliot Grudem, a pastor at Mars Hill in Seattle, wrote an article called “Elect or Elite? Why Arrogance Has No Place in Reformed Theology” in which he addressed this issue. In the article he quoted J.I. Packer from his introduction to John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ:

“To Calvinism there is really only one point to be made in the field of soteriology: the point that God saves sinners.”

That includes me. And you. There is no room for boasting and even if tempted to do so we should boast in nothing but the cross of Christ! (Gal. 6:14)  Christian men of scholarship should be oozing nothing but humility.

In reading Calvin’s Institutes (Kindle Edition) I was encouraged by a part of his discourse on the subject of “election” in which he cautions us to remember our limits.

“The subject of predestination, which in itself is attended with considerable difficulty is rendered very perplexed and hence perilous by human curiosity, which cannot be restrained from wandering into forbidden paths and climbing to the clouds determined if it can that none of the secret things of God shall remain unexplored. For it is not right that man should with impunity pry into things which the Lord has been pleased to conceal within himself, and scan that sublime eternal wisdom which it is his pleasure that we should not apprehend but adore, that therein also his perfections may appear.” (1)

He continues:

“… the moment we go beyond the bounds of the word we are out of the course, in darkness, and must every now and then stumble, go astray, and fall. Let it, therefore, be our first principle that to desire any other knowledge of predestination than that which is expounded by the word of God, is no less infatuated than to walk where there is no path, or to seek light in darkness. Let us not be ashamed to be ignorant in a matter in which ignorance is learning. Rather let us willingly abstain from the search after knowledge, to which it is both foolish as well as perilous, and even fatal to aspire. If an unrestrained imagination urges us, our proper course is to oppose it with these words, “It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory,” (Prov. 25:27).

These are words worth heeding. They are words that admit the limitations of finite men in the face of an infinite God. They are words that call for the sure boundaries of revealed scripture and boundaries upon the curiosity driven by pride in knowledge.
Now Calvin insists that we do not keep from people what can be known about the subject and, indeed,  to do so would be to deprive the saints. Yet, his call for humility is unmistakable. Wisely he states:

“Let us, I say, allow the Christian to unlock his mind and ears to all the words of God which are addressed to him, provided he do it with this moderation – viz. that whenever the Lord shuts his sacred mouth, he also desist from inquiry. The best rule of sobriety is, not only in learning to follow wherever God leads, but also when he makes an end of teaching, to cease also from wishing to be wise.”

John Chrysostom said that a comprehended God is no God at all. The Sovereign God of Heaven and Earth is, without question, incomprehensible. Even so, He has chosen to reveal Himself to us in nature, in scripture and in the face of Jesus Christ. May we press on to know Him. May we with humility seek  to know His character and understand His ways and may we extend much grace to our fellow travelers who seek the same, knowing that it is a wonder that we understand anything at all.

(1) All quotes from : Calvin, John; Beveridge, Henry (2011-01-26). Institutes Of The Christian Religion (pp. 607-609). Kindle Edition.

If you listen to audio books at all, then don’t miss this month’s freebie at Christian Audio. They are offering the classic J.I. Packer book “Knowing God” for free. Get it. Listen to it and then listen again! Listen with your Bible open. You will gain more from Packer’s study than I can possibly say.  http://christianaudio.com/free/

“In the New Testament, grace means God’s love in action toward people who merited the opposite of love. Grace means God moving heaven and earth to save sinners who could not lift a finger to save themselves. Grace means God sending his only Son to the cross to descend into hell so that we guilty ones might be reconciled to God and received into heaven.”
? J.I. Packer, Knowing God

So, at long last I am reading through Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion.” Reading through is probably less than accurate. It’s assigned work for a course I’m taking and won’t cover every chapter. Even so, I do want to interact with what I read and reflect on what I’m hearing through its pages.

The Institutes is made up of four books, each with a multitude of chapters. The first book is called “Of the Knowledge of God the Creator.”  God is first revealed as a creator (prior to revelation as redeemer) and man is the creation in relationship with which he most clearly reveals His character.  For Calvin, no true understanding of man can be arrived at without first contemplating “the face of God.” It is only in light of His glory that we understand the realities of our own humanity.

The difficulty we face is the corruption of our humanity by sin and so we settle for far less than the true knowledge of God. That we have “fallen short of the glory of God” (Rm. 3:23) is a statement that is short in words, but an abyss in reality. Our nature is to look to ourselves as the standard of what is good, wise and honorable but in doing so we hold to a completely false idea.

“For, since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself.” (IOTCR p. 5 Kindle Edition)

Calvin insists that we must look to God first in order to obtain any clear understanding of ourselves.  He uses our eyesight as an  illustration to show that when we think our eyesight is accurate and dependable, one look at the sun shows us that our eyes are insufficient for dealing with such brilliance: “…when we look up to the sun, and gaze at it unveiled, the sight which did excellently well for the earth is instantly so dazzled and confounded by the refulgence, as to oblige us to confess that our acuteness in discerning terrestrial objects is mere dimness when applied to the sun.” (IOTCR p. 5 Kindle Edition).

No less is our vision dimmed in relationship to our Creator. Our appetite is ruined. Our joy has no true object. We honor shadows that we insist are reality.  Here is Calvin at length:

“So long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods. But should we once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and reflect what kind of Being he is, and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness, and wisdom, and virtue, to which, as a standard, we are bound to be conformed, what formerly delighted us by its false show of righteousness will become polluted with the greatest iniquity; what strangely imposed upon us under the name of wisdom will disgust by its extreme folly; and what presented the appearance of virtuous energy will be condemned as the most miserable impotence. So far are those qualities in us, which seem most perfect, from corresponding to the divine purity.” (IOTCR p. 5 Kindle Edition)

In our day, when the gospel of self-esteem in the preferred religion of the world and much of the church, thoughts such as these find a small audience. Yet, without this understanding  we will always be “learning (yet) never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” (2 Tim 3:7) I remember being chided in the past for using the song “At the Cross” in worship. How horrid that we, the children of God, would use a word like “worm” to describe ourselves! But when it comes to gazing at the “The Sun of righteousness.” (Mal. 4:2), what language should you use?  Can anything but the deepest humility help us to even begin the contemplation of His glory?

“And what can man do, man who is but rottenness and a worm, when even the Cherubim themselves must veil their faces in very terror?” (IOTCR p. 5 Kindle Edition)

I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Of First Importance, and today’s quote was from U.K. church leader Terry Virgo.

“The Israelites at the time of the exodus knew they had escaped the night of God’s judgement through trusting in the blood of the Passover lambs on their doorposts.

Notice that the blood was to be placed on the outside of their houses. The blood was for God to see, not for their benefit. The blood was not to make them feel good or feel safe. The blood was not for their feelings at all. The blood was to satisfy God. It was for his eyes alone. God said, ‘When I see the blood I will pass over you’ (Exodus 12:13).

We have peace, not because we feel good, but because God is satisfied with the blood. Only he can evaluate the worth of the lamb. Because he is satisfied, we have peace.”

— Terry Virgo God’s Lavish Grace (Oxford, UK: Monarch Books, 2003), 4

This was remarkably similar to Watchman Nee’s words in The Normal Christian Life, a book that profoundly affected me in my early years as a believer. In the opening chapter of that book, Watchman Nee stresses that we must be ever cautious not to value the blood of Christ according to our sense of it’s “worth.” It’s simply not possible.

Nee gives center stage to the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament and the idea that the High Priest did his work away from the eyes of the people. The point is clear. The blood was not for them, it was for God. He then references the Passover in the same way Virgo does:

” ‘When I see the blood, I will pass over you’. Here we have another illustration of the fact that the blood was not meant to be presented to man but to God, for the blood was put on the lintel and on the door-posts, where those feasting inside the house would not see it.” (Location 252)

Nee speaks in the first chapter of three aspects of the blood’s work. First, it answers and satisfies God’s righteous requirement, secondly, it answers man’s conscience and thirdly, it answers the accuser of the brethren. Nee tackles all of this with a profound simplicity that lets the revelation of the blood’s real power soar in our hearts. For Nee, the fundamental key to understanding the efficacy of the blood of Christ is to acknowledge the value that God places on it. This is not arrived at by subjective experience but by faith. One of my highlighted, underlined and marked up passages from the Normal Christian Life reads:

Watchman Nee

“Now the whole trouble with us is that we are trying to sense it; we are trying to feel its value and to estimate subjectively what the Blood is for us. We cannot do it; it does not work that way. The Blood is first for God to see. We then have to accept God’s valuation of it. In doing so we shall find our valuation. If instead we try to come to a valuation by way of our feelings we get nothing; we remain in darkness. No, it is a matter of faith in God’s Word. We have to believe that the Blood is precious to God because He says it is so (1 Peter 1:18, 19). If God can accept the Blood as a payment for our sins and as the price of our redemption, then we can rest assured that the debt has been paid. If God is satisfied with the Blood, then the Blood must be acceptable. Our valuation of it is only according to His valuation–neither more nor less. It cannot, of course, be more, but it must not be less. Let us remember that He is holy and He is righteous, and that a holy and righteous God has the right to say that the Blood is acceptable in His eyes and has fully satisfied Him.” (Location 277)

This gave rise to a question that has lived with me for the last 38 years: If the blood satisfies God, how can it not satisfy me? What level of my own personal holiness and justice could require something greater than what God requires? How insulting to the Spirit of Grace!

“It is God’s holiness, God’s righteousness, which demands that a sinless life should be given for man. There is life in the Blood, and that Blood has to be poured out for me, for my sins. God is the One who requires it to be so. God is the One who demands that the Blood be presented, in order to satisfy His own righteousness, and it is He who says: ‘When I see the blood, I will pass over you.’ The Blood of Christ wholly satisfies God.” (Location 259)

What confidence this brings to us! God’s demand is met. His holiness is satisfied. There is no wrath left for those who are in Christ. I’ll add three more passages here. Nee says it so well. Read and be encouraged.

“As soon as we find our conscience is uneasy our faith leaks away and immediately we find we cannot face God. In order therefore to keep going on with God we must know the up-to-date value of the Blood. God keeps short accounts, and we are made nigh by the Blood every day, every hour and every minute. It never loses its efficacy as our ground of access if we will but lay hold upon it.” (Location 327)

The Normal Christian Life

“What, after all, is your basis of approach to God? Do you come to Him on the uncertain ground of your feeling, the feeling that you may have achieved something for God today? Or is your approach based on something far more secure, namely, the fact that the Blood has been shed, and that God looks on that Blood and is satisfied? Of course, were it conceivably possible for the Blood to suffer any change, the basis of your approach to God might be less trustworthy. But the Blood has never changed and never will. Your approach to God is therefore always in boldness; and that boldness is yours through the Blood and never through your personal attainment. Whatever be your measure of attainment today or yesterday or the day before, as soon as you make a conscious move into the Most Holy Place, immediately you have to take your stand upon the safe and only ground of the shed Blood. Whether you have had a good day or a bad day, whether you have consciously sinned or not, your basis of approach is always the same–the Blood of Christ. That is the ground upon which you may enter, and there is no other” (Location 361)

“We may be weak, but looking at our weakness will never make us strong. No trying to feel bad and doing penance will help us to be even a little holier. There is no help there, so let us be bold in our approach because of the Blood: Lord, I do not know fully what the value of the Blood is, but I know that the Blood has satisfied Thee; so the Blood is enough for me, and it is my only plea. I see now that whether I have really progressed, whether I have really attained to something or not, is not the point. Whenever I come before Thee, it is always on the ground of the precious Blood. Then our conscience is really clear before God. No conscience could ever be clear apart from the Blood. It is the Blood that gives us boldness.” (Location 397)

“If people believe in God at all today, the overwhelming majority hold that this God – however he, she, or it may be understood – is a loving being. But that is what makes the task of the Christian witness so daunting. For this widely disseminated belief in the love of God is set with increasing frequency in some matrix other than biblical theology. The result is that when informed Christians talk about the love of God, they mean something very different from what is meant in the surrounding culture.

I do not think that what the Bible says about the love of God can long survive at the forefront of our thinking if it is abstracted from the sovereignty of God, the holiness of God, the wrath of God, the providence of God, or the personhood of God – to mention only a few nonnegotiable elements of basic Christianity. The result, of course, is that the love of God in our culture has been purged of anything the culture finds uncomfortable. The love of God has been sanitized, democratized, and above all sentimentalized.

If the love of God is exclusively portrayed as an inviting, yearning, sinner-seeking, rather lovesick passion, we may strengthen the hands of Arminians, semi-Pelagians, Pelagians, and those more interested in God’s inner emotional life than in his justice and glory, but the cost will be massive.”

D. A. Carson, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God (Wheaton: Crossway, 2000), 9-11, 22