Isaiah 2:4 in action

One of the greatest prophecies in Scripture is found in Isaiah 2 which prophesies a time in the last days (i.e. the period we're in) when


He (God) will judge between the nations 
   and will settle disputes for many peoples. 
They will beat their swords into plowshares 
   and their spears into pruning hooks. 
Nation will not take up sword against nation, 
   nor will they train for war anymore.


And today I came across the British artist Al Jarrow who uses military items to construct religious buildings in miniature (like the image above). Could Isaiah's vision be already being fulfilled so soon?

Quote of the week

The canonical text of the Lord's teaching is a translation, and not what originally came from the Lord's mouth. This means that God approves of translations. We ought not to accept therefore the idea that "something is always lost in translation." Sometimes, sure. But there are also many times when something is gained in translation.


Via: Ancient Roman Toddlers

Full-bodied Anglicanism

Last night here in rural Staffordshire, we had our own impressive display of fireworks... actually the fireworks display was away in town, down in the valley below and clearly visible from our heightened patch. Folk came from all over, parked their people carriers on the side of the road and watched the dazzling display for free. I'm sure the same will happen today and tomorrow as people flock to this part of the county turning the side of the road into a car park-cum-viewing platform. The 5th of November is a well-championed date in the UK's national psyche and one that gets the crowds out and about celebrating. One of the key ways in which the 5th of November was celebrated in the past, was by a service commissioned and promoted by the Church of England. The service was entitled the “Form of Prayer with Thanksgiving, to be used yearly upon the Fifth Day of November for the happy Deliverance of the King, and the Three Estates of the Realm, from the most Traiterous and Bloudy intended Massacre by Gun-Powder”. Sadly this service has been dropped from the Book of Common Prayer in recent centuries. 

Now admittedly, one reason why this service was abandoned was because of its politically incorrect overtones and somewhat forthright language. However, consider the prayer below which introduced the service and wasted no time in exalting the True God and rebuking false religion

ALMIGHTY God, who hast in all ages shewed thy power and mercy in the miraculous and gracious deliverance of thy Church, and in the protection of righteous and religious Kings and States, professing thy holy and eternal truth, from the wicked conspiracies and malicious practices of all the enemies thereof;

We yield thee our unfeigned thanks and praise for the wonderful and mighty deliverance of our late gracious Sovereign King James, the Queen, the Prince, and all the Royal Branches, with the Nobility, Clergy, and Commons of England, then assembled in Parliament, by Popish treachery appointed as sheep to the slaughter, in a most barbarous, and savage manner, beyond the examples of former ages.

From this unnatural conspiracy, not our merit, but thy mercy; not our foresight, but thy providence, delivered us: And therefore, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us; but unto thy Name be ascribed all honour and glory in all Churches of the saints, from generation to generation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Now I'm almost certain that most of our Anglican clergy would suffer a tiny bit of indigestion at saying such a prayer (not least the Archbishop of Canterbury who hosted the Bishop of Rome recently!) but isn't it refreshing to see the utter confidence in God's sovereignty that our forebears displayed? The prayer highlights Guido "guy" Fawkes' capture was not down to our merit, but rather by God's mercy and thus we are led to declare that it is to Him and Him alone, that all glory and honour is due, both now and ever more, AMEN.

Quote of the week

The intellectual life of our age is characterized by a squishy goulash of subtleties all the way to the bottom of the pot, a farrago of pomothot, and the purveyors of this pomothot are often quite clever -- they don't hate labels because they can't follow arguments. They hate labels because they can follow them, and those arguments get in the way of their lusts. Remember that the devil is a dialectician.


Via Lusts and Labels

Image of the week

The Iron Lady was right

As you may have gathered from my previous post, questions about our post-resurrection existence have been on my mind recently. In that post, I offered a Trinitarian solution to the question of whether everlasting punishment in Hell is fair or not. In a sense, the solution I offered there, focused on who God is.

I've been doing a bit more reading and I think, I can see another good reason related to our fallen state why everlasting punishment is just. If we as fallen beings need outside help to move from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light how much more will we need it then? Or putting differently, if the grace of God is the only hope for salvation now what hope then for those who spurning Christ have been banished to the fiery lake? If an individual clings to their sin right to the moment of death what remedy will suddenly cure them from such folly in the world to come?

It's instructive at this point to consider the rich man described in Luke 16 who post-death is shown to be in hell. Have you ever stopped to reflect on the kind  of assistance he asks for? This is what we read him saying

'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

Notice that all he wants is respite from his agony. He doesn't ask for help in turning to the Saviour.

I suppose all I'm saying is that continuing in sin now and dying in that state of sin offers no hope for someone suddenly turning to God in repentance in the afterlife, even if that were possible. In fact Scripture makes clear that the wicked are those who post-death continue rebelling against God even in the face of severe judgement. Thus for example we read in Revelation 16:9

They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.

It seems to me therefore that everlasting punishment of the unrighteous in hell, is 'fair' in that the God's ongoing punishment in hell is not limited to just those sins committed whilst on earth, but will also be an expression of the on-going antipathy of the unrighteous towards God and their continuing sin. I wonder as well whether the phrase ‘gnashing of the teeth’ – a frequent expression of Jesus to describe the reprobate is an image of people grinding their teeth in rage or in helpless anger at God?

Put very simply the damned in hell persist in their sinning and therefore continue (in perpetuity) to incur God's wrath. The Apostle Paul was right all along: 

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Or to paraphrase the great Margaret Thatcher the people are not for turning

From love comes wrath

Many people decry the duration of hell. Even among Evangelicals I've heard the question asked as to whether it is fair that God inflicts everlasting punishment on people who have committed offences in this short and troublous life? One helpful way to resolve this apparent predicament is by embracing the Trinity. The mutual glorification within the Trinity, alerts us to the zeal with which each member of the Godhead guards each other's honour. For example we read in the St John's Gospel that the Father intends it 'that all may honour the Son' (John 5:23). The Son in turns honours the Father (John 13:31) and the Spirit glorifies the Son (John 16:14). It is also interesting to note that the stern warning against committing the unforgiveable sin: blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, provides us with a glimpse of the high honour that Son regards the Spirit. Set against this backdrop, the everlasting punishment of the wicked becomes more an expression of intra-Trinitarian love rather than an unjust expression of God's wrath. As Ralph A. Smith indicates in his excellent book on the Trinity (Trinity and Reality) God's wrath is an expression of a pure yet outraged love: 'it is the love of the Father for the Son that He will not allow His Son's name to be tarnished.' It is from such love that wrath flows.