Reformation Eschatology: Living in Light of Christ's Return - Prof. Ligon Duncan

This sermon was preached by Prof. Ligon Duncan during the commemoration of Reformation 500 at the Reformed Millenium Center Indonesia (RMCI), in Jakarta.

I have been asked to speak on the subject of Eschatology, which means the study of the last things. Specifically, I have been asked to speak on Reformation Eschatology: Living in Light of Christ’s Return. This is a very important theme in the Bible, and in the teachings of the great Protestant Reformers.

When I studied in the seminary, I had to take a course called “Eschatology and Ethics.” I wondered why those two subjects in one course. They didn’t sound like they went together. But I came to understand that the Bible teaches that we are to live the Christian life in light of the end.

John Calvin understood this. In his Geneva Catechism (1545), for instance, he wrote this: “How does Jesus resurrection benefit us?” Answer: "Threefold. For by it righteousness was acquired for us; it is also a sure pledge to us of our immortality; and even now by virtue of it we are raised to newness of life, that by living purely and holily we may obey the will of God."

“Does the fact that Jesus is to come again to judge the world bring any consolation to the believer?” Yes! For we are certain that He will appear only for our salvation because the Judge is our Advocate to defend us!”

What does “I believe in the resurrection of the body and everlasting life” teach us? It shows us that our happiness is not situated on earth. This serves two purposes. First, we learn to pass through this world as though it were a foreign country, treating lightly all earthly things and declining to set our hearts on them. Secondly, we are not to lose courage, no matter how much we fail to perceive the fruit of the grace which the LORD has created for us in Christ Jesus, but wait patiently for the time of revelation.”

You see, Calvin understood that the Bible’s teaching on the future, the Bible’s teaching on the end times, is meant to help believers live their lives now.

Let me take you to three passages: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Romans 8:16-25.

In these passages we learn at least three things:

1. Truth is for Life. Biblical Teaching is for Christian living. We are to live in light of the Truth of God’s Word.
2. The truth of God’s Word about the future is meant to help us live the Christian life now.
3. The future glory that believers will experience is meant to help us cope with present suffering.

1. Truth is for Life. Biblical Teaching is for Christian living. We are to live in light of the Truth of God’s Word.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-2, 8-12

Paul proclaimed the Gospel & taught them how to live.

"For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain."

"But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict."
"So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us."
"For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God."
"You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers."
"For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory."

"walk in a manner worthy of God

Who calls you

Into His own kingdom and glory."

Ephesians 4:1

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called."

Colossians 1:10

"So as 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."

1 Thessalonians 2:12

"We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory."

Philippians 1:27

"Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ."

2 Thessalonians 1:5

"This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering."

2 Thessalonians 1:11

"To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power."

When Paul calls them to walk in a manner worthy of God, he means for us to honor God in all that we are and do, in our relationships and activities. Live in a way that is consistent with who God is, with His calling, with His Gospel, with His kingdom.
Truth is for life shows you how to live the Christian lifend that theology is in fact, practical..

Live life in light of truth. The truth of who God is, His calling of you and His Gospel.

The Almost Christian

Matthew Mead regarding Felix and Agrippa (Acts 25-26)

“An almost Christian is one that has much light and knowledge, but no grace; he may know something of himself and of sin, of its being a violation of the law of God, and of the bad consequences of it, but has not true repentance for it; he may know much of Christ in a speculative way, concerning his person and offices, as the devils themselves do, and of the good things which come by him, as peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation; but has no application of these things to himself; he may have a large notional knowledge of the doctrines of the Gospel, but has no experience of the power, sweetness, and comfort of them in his own soul; all his knowledge is unsanctified, and without practice: he is one that has a taste of divine things, but has not the truth of them; he may taste of the heavenly gift, of the good word of God, and of the powers of the world to come; yet it is but a taste, a superficial one, which he has; he does not savour and relish these things, nor is he nourished by them: he has a great deal of faith in the historical way, and sometimes a bold confidence and assurance of everlasting happiness; but has not faith of the right kind, which is spiritual and special, which is the faith of God’s elect, the gift of God, and the operation of his Spirit; by which the soul beholds the glory, fulness, and suitableness of Christ, under a sense of need, and goes forth to him, renouncing everything of self, and lays hold upon him, and trusts in him for salvation; and which works by love to Christ and his people, and has with it the fruits of righteousness: he may express a great deal of flashy affectation to the word, and the ministers of it, for a while, but has nothing solid and substantial in him; he may partake of the Holy Ghost, of his gifts largely, but not of special and internal grace; and indeed he can only be an almost Christian, that becomes one merely through the persuasion of men: it is one part of the Gospel ministry to persuade men, but this of itself is ineffectual; a real Christian is made so by the power of divine grace. Agrippa was only persuaded, and but almost persuaded by the apostle to be a Christian, but not by the Lord, nor altogether, who persuades Japheth to dwell in the tents of Shem"

Nikolai Bodarevsky, The Apostle Paul Explains the Law before King Agrippa, 1875. Sotheby’s

In The Almost Christian Discovered by Puritan Matthew Mead, he exhorts the reader to “examine yourselves, [to see] whether [you] be in the faith,” to “make your calling and election sure.” He talks about the dangers of being an almost Christian and gives several illustrations from Scripture. Please allow me to give you a couple of examples from the book:

- A man may hate sin, and yet be but almost a Christian.

-A man may have great hopes of heaven, great hopes of being saved, and yet be but almost a Christian.

Following are a few lessons we can learn from almost Christians Felix and Agrippa in the same style as Mead. May we heed their warnings.

-A man may be acquainted with Christ, and yet be but almost a Christian.

-A man may desire to hear the Word preached, and yet be but almost a Christian.

-A man may tremble with conviction under the preaching of the Word, and yet be but almost a Christian.

-A man may be familiar with, and even an expert on, the things of God, and yet be but almost a Christian.

-A man may believe the prophets,  and yet be but almost a Christian.

-A man may be almost persuaded to be a Christian, and yet be but almost a Christian.

All of these demonstrate how close a person may be to being a Christian without actually being one, and the danger of being in such a state. It’s dangerous because it’s deceptive; and it can be hard to reach a person in such a state and awaken them out of it. Both Festus and Agrippa were deceived. This fact that one can come so close to being a Christian and yet be so far from actually being one, should give each of us pause and cause to examine ourselves. “Take heed that ye be not deceived.”

John Gill

Christ: The Source of Life, Died and Resurrected

Reformed Evangelical Church Indonesia / Gereja Reformed Injili Indonesia

Event: SPIK (Seminar Pembinaan Iman Kristen)
Topic: Christ: The Source of Life, Died and Resurrected / Kristus: Penghulu Hidup, Mati dan Bangkit
Speaker: Rev. Billy Kristanto

Good morning, brothers and sisters, I will use the help of slide presentation to help us follow this session. Let us enter into prayer:

LORD, we give thanks, for in You we gain the true meaning of our life, we can live our days, even we could tread our days since we were born, for You were too born in this world. As we grow to be more mature, we also witness You growing. In this world, we learn as You also learn. We learn to obey God as You are also learning to obey the Father. When we see that one day we are going to die, we see that You have also died on the cross for us. Thank you, LORD, for Your presence in all aspects of our lives, that we may believe, consoled, and understand what it means to be in union with You. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.

The church father, Irenaeus, said that Jesus went through all stages of human life when He came into this world. This is an interesting view because when comparing this to the Reformed or Protestant soteriology, we emphasize the aspect of substitution. I do not mean to compare here, but to enrich our understanding. But in such concept, in the Christology as taught by Irenaeus, what is discussed here is not merely on death, lived side by side with us ever since Christ’s birth. We are born, Jesus was born, we grow and so is Jesus, et cetera. Until at one point, we die as human and Jesus too died on the cross. There is not a single aspect in our life which God is not present. There is none. You may say, “I think there is. I got married and Jesus is not married. Jesus does not understand the difficulties of marriage.” People say this about marriage: Those who are in the outside wish to enter, but those who are in the inside wish to escape. We then claim that Jesus does not understand the difficulties of marriage. But according to the Scripture, Jesus was married. Jesus was written as the Groom and we are His brides. And Jesus’ wives, who are the congregation, are more obnoxious and problematic than any wives on earth there is. So Jesus understands the difficulties of marriage.

And lastly, we experience death and Jesus did too. Woe are they who in death are not accompanied by God. What are they comforted with? Pastor Stephen Tong once preached about a father and his son who are both atheists. When the father was about to face death, he was shaken as he fears the possibility of atheism is wrong. The son then reminded his father, “Dad, we have long believed in atheism. We have to be strong in our faith and hold on to atheism.” Then the father said, “Holding on to what? What is there to hold on to? There is only nothingness and emptiness, we cannot hold on to anything.” Not only did he not have anything to hold on to, but nobody was holding him. In our lives, there are times when we cannot hold on to God, yet we are still thankful that God is still holding us. But woe are they who do not know God in their lives. There is no God in their birth, there is no God in their growth, there is no God in their adulthood, there is no God in their marriage, and later, in their death, God is not present too. So, Christ’s death accompanies man’s life, as so in His birth, growth, obedience and so on. All these accompany our lives. I do not use the term accompany in an easy manner, I do not mean merely as an accompaniment. I am speaking of a spiritual union with God. Not only a mere accompaniment but a communion with the Living God. We could actually reverse this: Christ died accompanying our death, but even in our death, we could understand Christ’s death even more. Do you understand this reversal movement? We die because of our sins, Jesus died accompanying us. But it is in our death we could accompany Jesus in terms of gaining a better understanding of Him.

Points of Tension - Dr. Ravi Zacharias

This sermon was preached by Dr. Ravi Zacharias during the commemoration of Reformation 500 at the Reformed Millenium Center Indonesia (RMCI), in Jakarta.

Hezekiah brought upon a great reformation in his era. And we must continue to reform every era, every age.
"History is like a drunken man swinging from one world to another, knocking himself senseless. Swinging to extremes" (Martin Luther).
One of my colleagues said that "the current president isn't the problem, but the problem creates a person such as this president".
Sansel Taylor Collridge said "If a man can learn from history, we could learn a lot. But passion and party have blinded us".

If we could briefly define history, we could say that it is a story of enumerable biography. Individuals come to the scene and go and they have left us a trail. We could learn two things from the men before us: their strength and their mistakes.

Manasseh (2 Kings 21:1-16) and Josiah (2 Kings 22:1-2) are examples of a pendulum that swings from one extreme to the other, although they only differ by a generation.
Manasseh was a terrible king, yet he reigned for 2,5 generations. He laid a rebellion against his father's reformation. He put down what his father put up. His father, Hezekiah had his problems too, but he pleads to God in his prayer.

Moses gave out 613 laws that replace 1 law of prohibition in the garden of Eden, do not eat from the tree.
This 1 law of prohibition has its own temptation: Be God, who knows everything.
Although the law was: Do not play God. Do not determine what is right or wrong.
David gave out 15 laws to replace this 1 law. Isaiah 11, Micah 3 (that are justice, mercy, and humility), and Jesus 2.
Jesus could have easily said 1, but he said 2. On these 2 commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-39).  These 2 commandments touch on both the vertical and horizontal aspects. Because of the first law, the second law has a foundation and reason. Because God has created me, I have no reason to violate Him.

In the book of Mark, a man came up to Jesus and ask about tax paying to Rome.

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then He said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away (Matthew 22:15-22)".

The man hoped Jesus would say, "No, you do not have to pay tax to Rome". But if He did, we could be both rebellious and be righteous at the same time. Jesus asked, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then He said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”
If the man had a follow-up question, he would ask, "What then belongs to God?" and Jesus would answer, "Whose image is drawn on you?"

Post Truth Society & the Place of Faith & Reason - Dr. Ravi Zacharias

This sermon was preached by Dr. Ravi Zacharias during the commemoration of Reformation 500 at the Reformed Millenium Center Indonesia (RMCI), in Jakarta.

Have you heard the folk story of the bandit Jose’ Rivera, who became notorious in several little towns in Texas for robbing their banks and businesses? Finally the townsfolk, weary of the constant plundering, hired a ranger to track down Jose’ Rivera in his hideout in Mexico and retrieve the money. The ranger at last arrived at a desolate, ramshackle cantina. At the counter he saw a young man enjoying his brew. At one of the tables, hands over his ample stomach, hat over his eyes, snored another patron. With much gusto, the ranger approached the young man at the bar and announced that he was on a mission to bring back Jose’ Rivera, dead or alive. “Can you help me find him?” he asked. The young man smiled, pointed to the other patron, and said, “That is Jose’ Rivera.”

The ranger shifted his southern girth and ambled over to the sleeping bandit, tapping him on the shoulder, “Are you Jose’ Rivera? he asked. The man mumbled, “No speak English.” The ranger beckoned to the young man to help him communicate his mission.

The ensuing conversation was tedious. First the ranger spoke in English and the young man translated it into Spanish. Jose’ Rivera responded in Spanish, and young man repeated the answer in English for the ranger.

Finally, the ranger warned Jose’ Rivera that he had two choices; the first was to let him know where all the loot he had stolen was hidden, in which case he could walk away a free man. The second choice was that if he would not reveal where the money was stashed, he would be shot dead instantly. The young man translated the ultimatum.

Jose’ Rivera pulled himself together and said to the young man, “Tell him to go out of the bar, turn to the right, go about a mile, and he will see a well. Near the well he will see a very tall tree. Beside the trunk of that tree is a large concrete slab. He will need help in removing it. Under the slab is a pit in the ground. If he carefully uncovers it he will find all the jewelry and most of the money I have taken.”

The young man turned to the ranger, opened his mouth...swallowed...paused—and then said, “Jose’ Rivera says...Jose’ Rivera says...’Go ahead and shoot!’”

The question is, do you want to interpret something according to your convinience?
Do you really want to know the truth?

In John 18:33, Pilate asked Jesus, "Are You the king of Jews?", Jesus replied, "Is that a question from your heart, or did someone tell you that?" Why did Jesus answer the question with another question? The only reason why someone would do this is either to determine the direction of the conversation or to expose / humiliate the questioner.

George MacDonald said, "to give truth to him who loves it not is to only give him more multiplied reasons for misinterpretation".
And Winston Churchill once said that "the most valuable thing in the world was the truth. So valuable, that it needs to be constantly protected by a bodyguard of lies".

Yet, we are currently living in a post-truth era, when satan continues to proclaim that there is no absolute truth. Now, which science tells the scientist to tell the truth? To tell the truth is not a scientific imperative, but an ethical, philosophical, and spiritual imperative.

When you are a victim of a lie, you will value the coherence of statements. An example would be saying no to the others when you say yes to one thing. The Hollywood culture does not follow this rule: the show and entertainment are for the camera, but if all that begin to dictate our minds, it becomes a philosophy and a harassment.

Proverbs and Pride - Vik. Jethro Rachmadi

The book of Proverbs is not a book that gives us a list of wise actions that we need to follow. The book shows us how a wise man ought to behave. For example, a wise man is a man who is willing to be taught, not to teach. For wisdom is not a problem of talent and of the shallow matters. We have always discussed the characters of a wise man, for the wise would automatically behave in wisdom. In the modern times, we have this strange belief that in order to be a new someone, we need to have the knowledge of how-to: “If I you want me to be wise, then tell me how to be one!” Therefore, reading the book of Proverbs often frustrates us. But we need to think the other way: to be a new someone, we need to be aware and confess our inability to do it. Then, our frustrations become understandable.

Wisdom in the light of our eyes means that we need to know the how-tos. Whereas, wisdom is not something you can bring about by following steps. If we refuse to let go of this concept, and insist on our private wisdom (that is in fact now the true wisdom after all), then we will never be able to move on. According to the Proverbs 26:12, those who consider themselves wise, are fools. Today, we will discuss one of the aspects of wisdom, humility (our admission that we do not know how to be wise). In squeezing for the answer to the how-tos, you have considered yourself wise, because you consider yourself knowing that the way to be wise is to know the how-to. In admitting that you know not how to be wise, you are wise.

PROVERBS 11:12 : Pride is an Act of Comparison

The word belittle here, in the Hebrew language, this word does not only mean belittle, but also contempt and derision. Pride is not our happiness due to an event that occurred to us, but is our happiness that we own something that others do not.

CS Lewis in Mere Christianity compares between lust and pride. Both vices could cause a man to sleep with a woman. But lust still longs for the woman, where pride is to show the woman how attractive he is. In this case, the woman is not even the source of his enjoyment.

Pride and arrogance are shallow matters. In Indonesia, pride could also be translated as self-cost (we value ourselves to compare ourselves with others). This is not to be confused with self-value, for value is independent and there is no comparison in value. But there is always comparison in cost. Pride focuses on self-cost. Therefore, a man with low self-esteem often compares himself with others. Do we lose our good confidence because of our ugly appearance, or because we are uglier than others? Our dissatisfaction towards our salary is usually due to us comparing our salary with others of the same position. We do not seek a higher salary, but we waste our time so we do not become the least, and not to be a better employee.

The Building of the Tower of Babel by Hendrik van Cleve III

PROVERBS 15:25 : Taking Over God’s Place

The book of Proverbs uses the word proud. Proud is translated into many words in the book of Proverbs. In Proverbs 15:25, the word used is ge’eh, which sounds like ga’ah. Ga’ah means exalted, which is only used in the context of God, such as in Exodus 15:1 (highly exalted). In contrast, ge’eh means to be prideful and is used in the context of men. This is both ironic and cynical. We love to use the terminologies often used for the context of God to describe humans: “Oh! He surely is a God of Knowledge!”

Secondly, the essence of pride is our desire to be like God. Pride in the spiritual aspect rejects the LORD as the LORD. But because we are incapable to be Godly, we continually seek for something: a matter or a person to be the basis of our own created fragile ego.

In John Calvin’s sensus divinitatis (sense of divinity), Calvin suggests that “there exists in the human mind and indeed by instinct, some sense of Deity [sensus divinitatis], we hold to be beyond dispute, since God himself, to prevent any man from pretending ignorance, has endued all men with some idea of his Godhead”. What then is the essence of the sense of divinity in the lives of men? Does this mean when we see a beautiful scenery, we will confess that there must be a God who creates nature? That is correct. But in Rome 1:18-19, Paul also discussed sensus divinitatis in the context of the rejection of God and the suppression of the Truth by the people. Perhaps, those who suppress the Truth does not acknowledge the existence of God, but they surely acknowledge the LORD through their pride. Arthur Miller, a Jewish-American playwright made a play about an atheistic lawyer. This lawyer claims that life is merely a court after another, where we ever strive to prove a case before the judge. When we were young, we must prove to our friends that we are more superior in intelligence; in our youth, that we are more attractive; in the adult life, that we are good husbands and parents, and how wise we are. And the judge said that he would become greatly depressed when he peeks the lawyer’s chair and no one is there. Why then must we constantly prove ourselves in our lives? To whom do we prove ourselves?
Sensus divinitatis is certainly present in this case. St. Augustine also suggested that "there is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” Everybody lives the life of judgment and achievement, causing us to constantly look for others more inferior than us. People such as these are considered fools according to the Scripture (Rome 1:18-19).

Proverbs and its Richness - Vik. Jethro Rachmadi

Continuing our exposition on the book of Proverbs, we are going to dissect Proverbs chapter 2.

In the Bible, sentence structure is an important matter, such as the acrostic structure. Acrostic means that each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, such as in Psalm 119, where each section begins with a Hebrew alphabet, starting from alef (א‎) to taf (ת). Except, acrostic structure does not have to follow this definition, it could also mean the presence of a particular structure. An example would be ICHTHYS (ΙΧΘΥΣ), a Greek acrostic for Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.

ICHTHYS

Below is the acrosticism used in Proverbs 2:

There are 22 verses and 22 alphabets in the Hebrew language.

Verses 1-11 start with the alphabet alef (א)
Verses 12-22 start with the alphabet lamed (ל‎).

We will dissect Proverbs 2 in several sections:

PART I

a) Verses 1-4 alef

b) Verses 5-8 alef

c) Verses 9-11 alef

PART II

a) Verses 12-15 lamed

b) Verses 16-19 lamed

c) Verses 20-22 lamed

Theological and Ethical Educations

First of all, note that alef is the first alphabet and lamed is the twelfth alphabet in the Hebrew alphabet and that on the twelfth verse, the chapter begins its lamed acrostic structure.
Verse 1-11 also speak about the development of wisdom and character. In which, verse 1-4 are terms and conditions (if) and verse 5-8 are the consequences of fulfilling these terms and conditions (then you will). The consequences of valuing wisdom according to Proverbs 2 are theological and ethical educations.
Next, verses 12-22 speak of the defense, about what the meaning of wisdom development is and how wisdom could protect us. In which, verses 12-15 speak about the deliverance from the wicked men and verse 16-19 from wicked women. Finally, verses 20-22 speak about the ability of the righteous to live in the land and the wicked vice versa. In Proverbs, wisdom brings life and the folly leads to death.

So why use alef and lamed accordingly in this fashion? In the past, literature acts as an educational aid in order to engage and ease children in understanding and memorizing texts. This resembles the way we use music to understand and memorize a material. So then, what does this structure bring us?
Let us first see what we gain when we pursue wisdom. According to the book of Proverbs, theological and ethical educations are inseparable.

In Bruce Waltke's reflection, in the 20^th century, the theology of liberalism began to rise which emphasizes moral education and diminishes supernaturalism. The reason behind this is that science and technology were becoming more advanced. So how do they introduce Christianity in such a way that people do not mock and belittle it? The answer is by emphasizing ethical and moral educations in Christianity as well! But then, they lack theological education, because they believe theological education is irrelevant to science. Waltke suggests that people in the past and at present lack this theological education. He refers to this as the shadow generation. A shadow is the byproduct of light, it cannot make its own shadow (another shadow). Alike, this generation cannot inherit its ethics to the future generations.

The revolution in the western period currently is the sexual revolution, which affects the westerns to this day. And this too affects music (giving birth to The Beetles Era) and economy (CEO was paid lower than staff). Hence, it is not merely a sexual revolution, as it leads also a moral revolution. All these occur due to the sole emphasis on ethical education and the neglect of theological education. Therefore, although the current generation emphasizes ethical education, they cannot possibly pass it down to the next generation.

The phrases if and then you will in verses 1-8 tell us that theological and ethical educations are inseparable. Therefore, we ought not to become a person who focuses merely on theology, but also on ethics (practicality). These two aspects must be present in balance, otherwise, the sexual revolution will repeat once again.

The School of Athens by the Italian Renaissance artist, Raphael

Analyses:

VERSES 2:1-4 : Treasuring the Word of God

These verses, as we have mentioned earlier, list down the terms and conditions to obtain the rewards in the proceeding verses. The phrarse, "if you receive My words", in verse 1 does not mean that we take away His words but passively receive Him. And this has a negative connotation in the book of Psalm. I Corinthians 2:14 says that "the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned". In other words, if you do not possess the Spirit of God, you cannot possibly receive anything from Him. But this does not mean that there are no good works needed at all in Christianity. Proverbs 2:1 says that we must also "treasure up [His] commandments with [us]". Being passive here means being obedient to and treasuring up the LORD's commandments. Treasuring up could also mean remembering. This is because, in the Hebrew tradition, memorization is the basic in learning the word of God. Perhaps for us, learning is a matter of understanding, but not in their case. And this too explains the acrostic structure in the Bible. The word treasuring up in Hebrew means to store up, as in storing up a treasure chest. Let us be reminded for a moment about the story of the nativity when the wise men followed the star to find Jesus. The did not merely follow the star and find Jesus, didn't they? Herod had to first assemble the chief priests and scribes of the people to inquire where the Christ was to be born. Then, the wise men and Herod finally figured out the prophecy, "And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel". The wise men did not only depend on the star to find Jesus, but also consult with the Word of God. Meanwhile, the chief priests and scribes of the people knew about (and have memorized) the prophecy since birth, yet they have never get up to find Jesus. The wise men were able to find Jesus merely from reading a verse from the Bible, yet the chief priests and scribes refuse to walk 4 kilometers to find Jesus who is talked about in the whole Bible. I do  not mention this so that we need only to learn one verse, the point of all of these is to treasure the Word of God. In the language of Jonathan Edwards, we might also claim that they lack religious affection in their treasuring of the Word of God. Once again, it all starts with the LORD's initiative, but there is also a need for us to respond.