Saturday, October 20, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Atlas Shrugged Fifty Years Later
Atlas Shrugged Fifty Years Later :: Desiring God
John Piper writes about Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. His response is basically exactly mine:
"I admired and cried. I was blown away with powerful statements of what I believed, and angered that she shut herself up in what Jonathan Edwards called the infinite provincialism of atheism. Her brand of hedonism was so close to my Christian Hedonism and yet so far—like a satellite that comes close to the gravitational pull of truth and then flings off into the darkness of outer space."
Ayn Rand is just another among the many atheist philosophers who frustrate me by coming so very close to an understanding of the truth, but in the end never see the glory of Christ.
Still, Ayn Rand played a very important role in my growth and led me directly to the place where I could hear and understand John Piper's claim that we honor God most when we seek Him as our greatest treasure. And Atlas Shrugged will always hold a special place in my library—really, how many other 1,200 page books will I ever read 7 times?
You can find Piper's extended essay on Ayn Rand (which is well worth the read) here.
John Piper writes about Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. His response is basically exactly mine:
"I admired and cried. I was blown away with powerful statements of what I believed, and angered that she shut herself up in what Jonathan Edwards called the infinite provincialism of atheism. Her brand of hedonism was so close to my Christian Hedonism and yet so far—like a satellite that comes close to the gravitational pull of truth and then flings off into the darkness of outer space."
Ayn Rand is just another among the many atheist philosophers who frustrate me by coming so very close to an understanding of the truth, but in the end never see the glory of Christ.
Still, Ayn Rand played a very important role in my growth and led me directly to the place where I could hear and understand John Piper's claim that we honor God most when we seek Him as our greatest treasure. And Atlas Shrugged will always hold a special place in my library—really, how many other 1,200 page books will I ever read 7 times?
You can find Piper's extended essay on Ayn Rand (which is well worth the read) here.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Good bookstore
Just for reference, http://www.monergismbooks.com/ is a great spot to find quality Christian books. And they just redid their visual and added a bunch of features for easier browsing.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
The Ministry of John the Baptist
It's pretty rare for us to hear much about John the Baptist in sermons or books, and I suppose that's not entirely surprising. The narration of his ministry in the Gospels is brief and, as a precursor to Christ, John is quite naturally overshadowed by his cousin. All the same, as I read the Gospel of Luke this morning, in chapter 1, I found myself wondering why I've never paid close attention to him before. His ministry is important enough to be mentioned at the beginning of all four gospels, and Luke especially goes into great detail about his birth.
And the question must be raised here, as everywhere in the Bible: how is it that the inclusion of this testimony, this narrative of the ministry of Jesus' cousin, increases our awareness of the glory of God as seen in the face of Jesus Christ? How does it drive us to be even more satisfied in Him?
That this question is particularly relevant here can be seen in the Benedictus, the prophecy spoken by Zechariah concerning his son (Luke 1:68-79). I want to focus our attention on the final stanza:
And you, my child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to His people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.
(Luke 1:76-79)
Zechariah prophesies that the ministry of John, his son, will be specifically intended to prepare the way for the Lord and to introduce His people to the hope of salvation by the forgiveness of sins. His service will bear testimony to the tender mercy of God, and to His desire to guide His people's feet into the way of peace.
In other words, John the Baptist is given his ministry by God in order to help Israel see and recognize Christ when He comes. He is to prepare them in such a way that when Jesus arrives on the scene, Israel is prepared to understand who He is, and is already longing for such a Savior.
This is why it is surprising to me that I have paid so little attention to John's message and ministry—his ministry is custom-made to prepare us for just that vision of Christ which we so desperately need.
So how does it accomplish this? How does John prepare us to see the glory of God in the face of Christ?
John the Baptist—well, baptized people. This might seem in a way ordinary for us churchy-folk, but it was not ordinary for the time. In the contemporary religious culture, to be baptized in water was a ritual not for Jews, but for Gentiles professing faith in Yahweh, and joining themselves to Israel's God as their God. The symbol of going down into the water and rising with new life was a rejection of their old hopes and lives, confessing that everything they had on their own was worthless, and casting themselves entirely on God's grace to accept them apart from their merit.
But for a Jew to be baptized—this was truly odd! It was in effect to say that descending from Israel was not enough, and to admit that by one's life alone, one was disqualified from the inheritance promised Abraham. It was to cast oneself on the grace of God and long for His redemption.
And so John says to the Pharisees who come to be baptized, "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance!" They came to baptism as if it could be another work undertaken and performed to please God. But to be baptized was to admit that nothing one did was enough. It was to confess that God could as well turn a rock into an heir of Abraham as give the blessing to you.
John's baptism, John's ministry, was the last voice of the law which was our guardian (as Paul calls it in Galatians). It was the last, and clearest, statement that "by the works of the law no one will be saved," the voice crying out to make way and prepare for God's work of salvation. John took the whole of the Law, Writings, and Prophets, and rightly preached that no Jew could come to God except that he repent of his own works and rely on a grace that would soon be coming—a grace that John identified when he declared of Jesus, "Behold, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world!"
This is why John is the greatest of those who came before Christ, the greatest prophet—because his is the clearest voice of the Law's intent, to drive us to grace. The prophets before cried out against Israel's sin, but also called for a return to righteousness and obedience (with echoes of grace, to be sure). John's ministry abandons the hope that Israel can be obedient enough to please God, and instead speaks clearly the words that were implied all along: "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!"
It is also why the least of the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than John—because the message of the Gospel we proclaim is the longed-for fulfillment of John's ministry. It is the hope for which the Jews came to be baptized, the arrival and manifestation of the grace of God on behalf of men. In the Gospel the light of God's glory shines forth, in His wisdom to be both just and the justifier of the ungodly, who throw themselves upon His mercy by His grace.
We see here the glory of Christ magnified as the only hope for all men, Jew or Gentile. John's ministry cast aside any hope that we can bring something of worth to God, by being descended from Abraham or by obeying the Law. It is only the Lamb of God who is worthy to break the seal and inaugurate a new Kingdom, of which we are a part not by our blood or work but by His blood and righteousness, given by faith.
And the question must be raised here, as everywhere in the Bible: how is it that the inclusion of this testimony, this narrative of the ministry of Jesus' cousin, increases our awareness of the glory of God as seen in the face of Jesus Christ? How does it drive us to be even more satisfied in Him?
That this question is particularly relevant here can be seen in the Benedictus, the prophecy spoken by Zechariah concerning his son (Luke 1:68-79). I want to focus our attention on the final stanza:
And you, my child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to His people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.
(Luke 1:76-79)
Zechariah prophesies that the ministry of John, his son, will be specifically intended to prepare the way for the Lord and to introduce His people to the hope of salvation by the forgiveness of sins. His service will bear testimony to the tender mercy of God, and to His desire to guide His people's feet into the way of peace.
In other words, John the Baptist is given his ministry by God in order to help Israel see and recognize Christ when He comes. He is to prepare them in such a way that when Jesus arrives on the scene, Israel is prepared to understand who He is, and is already longing for such a Savior.
This is why it is surprising to me that I have paid so little attention to John's message and ministry—his ministry is custom-made to prepare us for just that vision of Christ which we so desperately need.
So how does it accomplish this? How does John prepare us to see the glory of God in the face of Christ?
John the Baptist—well, baptized people. This might seem in a way ordinary for us churchy-folk, but it was not ordinary for the time. In the contemporary religious culture, to be baptized in water was a ritual not for Jews, but for Gentiles professing faith in Yahweh, and joining themselves to Israel's God as their God. The symbol of going down into the water and rising with new life was a rejection of their old hopes and lives, confessing that everything they had on their own was worthless, and casting themselves entirely on God's grace to accept them apart from their merit.
But for a Jew to be baptized—this was truly odd! It was in effect to say that descending from Israel was not enough, and to admit that by one's life alone, one was disqualified from the inheritance promised Abraham. It was to cast oneself on the grace of God and long for His redemption.
And so John says to the Pharisees who come to be baptized, "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance!" They came to baptism as if it could be another work undertaken and performed to please God. But to be baptized was to admit that nothing one did was enough. It was to confess that God could as well turn a rock into an heir of Abraham as give the blessing to you.
John's baptism, John's ministry, was the last voice of the law which was our guardian (as Paul calls it in Galatians). It was the last, and clearest, statement that "by the works of the law no one will be saved," the voice crying out to make way and prepare for God's work of salvation. John took the whole of the Law, Writings, and Prophets, and rightly preached that no Jew could come to God except that he repent of his own works and rely on a grace that would soon be coming—a grace that John identified when he declared of Jesus, "Behold, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world!"
This is why John is the greatest of those who came before Christ, the greatest prophet—because his is the clearest voice of the Law's intent, to drive us to grace. The prophets before cried out against Israel's sin, but also called for a return to righteousness and obedience (with echoes of grace, to be sure). John's ministry abandons the hope that Israel can be obedient enough to please God, and instead speaks clearly the words that were implied all along: "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!"
It is also why the least of the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than John—because the message of the Gospel we proclaim is the longed-for fulfillment of John's ministry. It is the hope for which the Jews came to be baptized, the arrival and manifestation of the grace of God on behalf of men. In the Gospel the light of God's glory shines forth, in His wisdom to be both just and the justifier of the ungodly, who throw themselves upon His mercy by His grace.
We see here the glory of Christ magnified as the only hope for all men, Jew or Gentile. John's ministry cast aside any hope that we can bring something of worth to God, by being descended from Abraham or by obeying the Law. It is only the Lamb of God who is worthy to break the seal and inaugurate a new Kingdom, of which we are a part not by our blood or work but by His blood and righteousness, given by faith.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
