Ben Zornes

Living and Dying to Show the Preciousness of Christ

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Abraham

Hard Law, Hot Gospel 3b | The Term is Over

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Introduction

I hope you’ve never had the misfortune to have one of those dreams where you feel completely paralyzed. It may not even be that the dream is particularly horrifying. But enduring a dream where your feet won’t move, where your voice can’t shout, where you can’t wake up even though you want to is rather miserable. Waking up from such an oppressive dream is nothing if not relieving. The coming of Christ, according to Paul, was the transition from a dream to waking, from the school year to the summer holiday, from prison to freedom.

NOTE: This recording had audio problems. We’re very, very sorry. Those responsible were sent off to Siberia.

The Text

Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. […] 
Gal 3:15ff

Summary of the Text

Having scolded the Galatians for trying to accomplish by the flesh what the Spirit had begun by the hearing of faith, Paul turns to more thoroughly explain Abraham’s example of faith. Making use of the illustration of a human will or testament, Paul points out the impropriety of annulling or amending such a covenant once it is established (v15). So, God’s heavenly covenant was promised to Abraham and his seed––singular not plural (v16, Cf. Gen.17:7). This covenant with Abraham and with Christ (the Seed) preceded the Law by 430 years, and therefore the latter cannot void or amend the earlier covenant (v17). Rather, the inheritance promised to Abraham was contingent on faith and not the Law (v18). And it is important to note Paul’s emphasis on the imagery of an heir receiving an inheritance.

Paul is not “anti-law”. This is evidenced in him volunteering a crucial question that was likely nagging the Galatians: what was the law for? It was put in place for much the same reason that a farmer puts up chicken wire, to keep the flock from wandering off. God did this by means of angels (Cf. 1:8) which committed the Law into the hands of a mediator; presumably this refers to Moses (v19). Verse 20 poses a challenge to expositors; I take it to mean that while the Law was established by God with His people through Moses, the promise to Abraham was directly from God to Abraham and His seed without the need for a mediator. 

So then, the Law was not meant to keep us away from the promise, but to dam up the floodwaters of sin. It was intended to keep Israel from wandering off from the promise. For, God could have made a law that, if kept, would have resulted in righteousness (v21). Yet, even if such a law had been given, we still would have found out a way to screw it up; thus, God arranged this order of events in order that we might receive by faith all the blessings of the promise which Christ received by His perfect faith (v22). Paul then speaks of faith in what we might call eschatological terms. Before faith came, the Law was in place like a baby gate for keeping a naughty toddler out of trouble (v23a). But this was temporary until the faith should be revealed (v23b). 

The Law was the tutorial, faith in Christ was the diploma (v24). Faith has now come in Christ, and therefore, school is over (v25). Trusting Christ, including all He did on our behalf, brings us into the family of God; your baptism is a sign which signifies that new birth (vv26-27). This means that the old distinctions between Jew (clean) and Gentile (unclean), male (able to receive the sign of circumcision) and female (unable to receive that sign) have past their expiration date, for there is now a new distinction: in Christ and not in Christ (v28). It must be remarked in our gender confused day and age that this isn’t a prooftext for queerness. It is simply an insistence that the covenant sign is no longer received merely by males, but is open to male and female from every nation, tribe, and tongue. Those in Christ are all included in that which was promised to Abraham’s seed, namely inheriting as lawful heirs the new heaven and new earth (v29).

What was the Law For?

When looking at Christian history, it can appear that the Church reels like someone afflicted with vertigo between the poles of legalism and licentiousness. Self-righteous scrupulousness is a real temptation that has ensnared many individual Christians and entire institutions. As I mentioned before, we love to have a righteousness we can point at. But the church has also suffered at times from an impoverished understanding of all that Paul is insisting upon when he is underscoring that we are not under the Law but under grace. Too often this is taken as an Apostolic hall pass to act like a drunken baboon let loose in a grocery store. Both misunderstandings are dangers to the spiritual health of individuals and institutions.

Paul teaches here something which the Reformers later articulated as the three uses of the Law. What we find here in our text is the Scriptural foundation for understanding the first use of the Law. It’s first function is divine border patrol. This is, in part, what Paul has in view here. The Law was intended to keep mankind in general, but Israel in particular from the self-destruction of unbridled sin. Think of this threefold purpose of the Law as a nut; the hard outer shell restrains evil, the bitter inner pith brings the realization of our sinfulness, and the savory fruit in the center is Christ’s righteous fulfillment of the Law. 

On this last point it is worth stating that Christ’s fulfillment of the Law enables us, by trust in Him, to norm society to the general equity contained in the Law, but not as a means of justifying us before God. This is important to emphasize because Paul is certainly not inviting us to throw off rules, authority, or the rule of law as such. Rather, he wants us to grow up. He wants us to be like Christ, by receiving from Christ all that His resurrection ushered in; namely, the new life of His Spirit. The Law has been subsumed in the glory of Christ’s New Life which has invaded the world.

Heirs According to the Promise

Abraham had faith, trusting in God’s promise to bless all nations through the seed promised to him. Paul says that though Abraham believed this promise, and was justified by his faith, faith had not yet been revealed. There was faith all throughout the OT, but not the faith. Paul says we, the Jews, were “locked up” by the law until…until what? Until the faith would be revealed. The faith was revealed by Christ’s perfect faith. 

This means the Galatians weren’t living in the confinement of the Law, but in the liberty of Christ’s New Creation. Everything had changed. This, of course, should make legalistic striving to earn God’s favor a laughable folly. It also makes licentiousness, as the kids says, cringe. But more than anything, it is the ground of your assurance of welcome. This good news certifies that if you’ve come to Christ by faith, if you have been baptized, the abundant, everlasting, and unbroken love He has for His Son is yours. The pleasure He has in Christ, the Father has for you who are in Christ. The inheritance He promised the Seed of Abraham is your inheritance as well:

And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. [Isa 49:6 KJV]

Even unto them [Gentiles] will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. [Isa 56:5 KJV]

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. [Isa 61:10-11 KJV]

Follow Paul’s argument closely, “We, the Jews, were locked up, for a time, that you, the Gentiles, might become true children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.” This is why the sign of circumcision (which governed who were the heirs of Abraham) is no longer needed. This glory is run-on sentence worthy. The promised Seed had come and by His faith He received the promise, and because He received the promise, He can share His inherited promise with all who come to Him by faith. 

And what does this mean? It means that you, you Gentiles, regardless of your circumcision status, are, in fact, Abraham’s seed. Again, singular not plural. Why singular? Because you are baptized into Jesus, and thus we all are one in Him. He alone is the Savior. He alone brought salvation to the whole world. He alone is how you might stand before God. He alone is how salvation is brought to you, personally. By Him alone is this truth made certain to you, that if you believe in Christ then God is your Father.

Charge & Benediction

We could simplify Paul’s entire message to the Galatians as this, “Don’t act as if Christ hasn’t come.” So, put it positively: act like Christ has come. This is what we put our faith in, Christ’s complete work on our behalf, and thus His promise to us of His Spirit. Act like Christ has come when your marriage hits a rough patch. Act like Christ has come when your striving to honor your parents. Act like Christ has come when temptations besets you. For you live in the dawn of the reign of Jesus Christ, who is making all things new.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
Jude 1:24-25

Other Sermons in this series

Shadows of Bethlehem 03 | The Last Laugh

Shadows of Bethlehem 03 | The Last Laugh

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Introduction

The coming of the Christ-child was God’s brilliant wit on full display. How would God overthrow Satan’s kingdom? With a baby. How would God defeat the mighty, fallen cherubim, Lucifer? By planting a human seed. How would God destroy death? By laughing in its face.

The Text

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

Luke 1:46-55

Summary of the Text

At Mary’s coming, her cousin Elisabeth––pregnant with John the Baptist––breaks forth in a blessing upon Mary (Lk. 1:41-45). Elisabeth’s blessing echoes what was said of Father Abraham: He believed and it was credited to him for righteousness. Mary, like Abram & Sarai, was promised a miraculous conception, given a name for the promised son, and she believed.

In response to Elisabeth’s blessing, Mary breaks forth in what we commonly refer to as the Magnificat. Her song is almost verbatim of Hannah’s prayer (1 Sam. 2:1-10). The Lord granted Hannah’s prayer for a child, and conceived the son who would become the great prophet Samuel. Hannah’s prayer is full of exultation that God had caused her to triumph over her rival. This rival (Peninnah, Elkanah’s other wife) had a unique talent for getting under the skin; she frequently threw Hannah’s barrenness in her face.

That same key signature of exultation is present in Mary’s song. The proud are scattered (v51). The vanity of the mighty is thwarted by God’s mighty arm (v51-52). The rich find themselves penniless (v53). Meanwhile, the humble are exalted (v52), the hungry filled (v53), the lowly handmaid is regarded (v48), the servant/son Israel is helped (v54). And all of this flows from God’s remembrance of mercy (v54). But brought into keen focus is the promise which God made to Abraham and to his seed (v55). This song of exultation is grounded in a covenantal promise, which Mary keenly discerns. God would overthrow Israel’s enemies because of an ancient promise.

Rise the Woman’s Conquering Seed

Mary’s closing line takes us back to the ancient stories found in Genesis. While she explicitly mentions Abraham and his seed, God’s promise of a seed was first given in Eden. The promise to Abraham was an expanded revelation of what God said to the serpent at the fall of Adam: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (Gen 3:15).” In the face of man’s rebellion and subjugation to the dragon, God reveals that a seed of the woman would arise to crush the dragon’s head. The rival would be overthrown. The tyranny would end. The accuser of the brethren would be cast down. The Lord echoes this promise to Noah (Gen. 9:9); God hangs His war-bow in the sky as an assurance that He would surely bring this promised seed to pass.

God called Abram out of the idolatrous people of Ur, and promised him Canaan, assuring him that his seed would possess it forever (Gen. 12:7, 13:15-16). Abraham believed this promise, and God reckoned it to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6). But then Sarah’s barrenness persisted. This led to a lapse of faith on their part, and the conception of Ishmael by Sarah’s handmaid Hagar. Hagar becomes a rival for Sarah, and a thorn in her side. Eventually, Abraham pleads with God: “O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him (Gen. 17:18-19).” Abraham requests that the son begotten by fleshly wisdom be accepted by God; this would not do, for God was intending to bring about a child of promise. 

Sarah, memorably, laughs at the news that the Lord would grant her conception (Gen. 18:12-15). But then, as the Lord had promised, she conceives and bears a son, “And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me (Gen. 21:6).” Time and again throughout the OT narrative, we find that God brings about and preserves His promise, often by the most improbable circumstances. In the thick of the moment, it seems as if God’s purpose to bring about a conquering seed has been compromised, and yet over and over He gets the last laugh. Not barrenness (Sarah, Rebekah, Naomi), foreign women (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth), or sin (Saul, Bathsheba, Jehoash, the Exile) could thwart the purpose of God to deliver His people through the promised Seed.

The Singular Seed

The seed promised to Abraham was a big deal, and the Apostles spend a great deal of time commenting on it. Paul in Galatians makes the clearest assertion regarding the inner pith of this promise to Abraham regarding his seed: “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. … Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. … And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal 3:8-9, 16, 29).”

So then Isaac was only a partial fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. The true fulfillment was found in Jesus Christ, born of Mary. Isaac was the type, while Christ was the antetype. God’s mercy was not to be found in simply having Abraham as an ancestor. His mercy would be found in a Seed; singular not plural. This is an instance of Paul exercising a fine-toothed exegesis. This promised seed was not a collective of human effort or lineage. The Seed would engage in mortal combat with the dragon and emerge wounded though victorious. In order to be righteous in God’s sight, you must trust in this Seed. Faith & not your paternity test determines who is Abraham’s heirs. This is how Gentiles might be reckoned as partakers of the blessing God promised to Abraham.

A Jolly Belief

Mary’s prayer of exultation is the prayer of all believers, exulting over the triumph of the seed of the woman over the serpent’s seed. God made good on His promised mercy to mankind, and He did so by bringing to pass His word of promise to Abraham: a seed.

God’s promise of mercy which Mary recalls is to Abraham and to his seed. That Seed of mercy was now gestating in her womb. God’s covenant of mercy is found in Christ alone. There is no mercy outside of Him. The Apostle Peter makes this explicit when he says, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Act 4:12).”

There is divine humor in this promise. It was by design that Isaac’s name means laughter. God was going to do something which no eye had seen, or ear heard, or mind had conceived. The serpent sought to engulf all of mankind, and Christ submits Himself to being bait as it were, tempting the dragon to devour Him. Yet by His resurrection, Christ broke the jaws of death. Christ, the promised Seed, was the true and better Isaac. Satan sought to kill God, but God the Son overthrew death by His death. Christ became the curse, that you might not be accursed. The Word became a speechless baby, in order that His blood might eternally plead for you. And your response to this is to lay hold of this better Isaac by the same faith which Abraham, Hannah, and Mary all demonstrate. Exult, for God has overthrown your rival. For He has crucified your old man, and begotten you, not by perishable seed, but by the imperishable seed of the living and abiding word of God.

All this has profound implications for our modern society. Mary understood that the Christ child which was conceived in her, by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost, was a recreation of mankind. Morning stars & angels attended the Trinity in creation, and all the angelic flutter in the Christmas story make it plain that a new creation was happening. That means Christ was the ultimate iconoclast. As the carol says:

Come, Desire of nations, come!
Fix in us Thy humble home:
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring seed,
Bruise in us the serpent’s head
Adam’s likeness now efface
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Final Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love.

So, not only the tacky shrines to Satan in state capitols, but all monuments to and institutions of mankind’s avarice, lust, envy and pride are soon to be forever and finally overthrown, because Christ was born of Mary. This is also a comfort to you in your own temptations, for Christ came to give all who believe in Him new life.

Mary’s namesake, Miriam, danced as the Egyptian warriors drowned in the Red Sea. This is the jolly faith which God reckons as righteous, because it is faith in His Son: the Word made flesh. The Word that bled. The Word that was put to death. The Word that crowns you with the cleansing waters of your baptism. The Word that is a feast of covenantal bread & wine. The Word that says to all who believe in Him, “Yahweh is Salvation.”

Charge & Benediction

Remember that Your Christmas celebration is an exulting over the overthrow of the kingdom of Man; but faith sees that the way He brings this about is in the unlikeliest of ways, He gave old Abraham and barren Sarah a baby boy which was a type of how He would overshadow Mary to bring about the Incarnation of God the Son, to be the true and final deliverer. Your faith reaches back thousands of years and sees that not one promise of your God has failed.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. Amen. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Seeing the Sand Through the Waters

Seeing the Sand Through the Waters

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When we bring a child to the baptismal font, the symbol of cleansing water is in the forefront of our mind. As it should be. But we’re also to see through this water innumerable grains of sand & stars. This water marks this child as one of God’s people, joining him to the great host of the children of Abraham.

The Lord promised Abraham, the father of all the faithful, that one day his offspring would be so numerous as to rival a sandy beach or a galaxy cluster. This is just one saint, joining the many who have gone before & the billions yet to be brought home. Although this mark of baptism reminds us that God is saving an innumerable multitude, our boast isn’t in the great number of our ranks. Rather, upon our lips is the watchword of the church: glory be to Christ alone.

So welcome covenant child to Jesus Christ…

Sand and Stars

Sand and Stars

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Go to the seashore. Pick up a fistful of sand. Start counting out the grains. 

Go outside tonight. Lift up your eyes. Start counting those sparkling dots of light.

This is what God once told a man without a child to do, and God promised him that one day he’d have as many children as the sand on the shore or the stars in the sky. Abraham believed God’s promise, and God counted him as righteous.

Abraham heard and believed God’s promise to bless the world through His Seed. All of Abraham’s faithful children clung to this promise as well. In the fullness of time, Christ proved Himself to be that promised Seed. Now, people from every nation are welcomed into and counted as Abraham’s children, because we too cling to Christ for ourselves and our children to a thousand generations of God’s lovingkindness.

When we baptize our children, we’re believing God’s promise to Abraham. That is to say, when we baptize our infants in faith, we’re seeing what Abraham saw, and believing what Abraham believed: that God was saving an innumerable host by His sheer grace. So, here is one more grain of sand on the shore of faith in God’s promise. One more star in the constellation of God’s electing grace.

So welcome, covenant child, to Jesus Christ.

The Lifter Of Our Eyes

The Lifter Of Our Eyes

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8 And Abram said unto Lot, “I pray thee, let there be no strife between me and you, or between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brethren (family). 9 Is not the entire land before your face, separate, I pray. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. But if you depart to the right, I will go to the left.” 10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and he saw the entire plain of Jordan, that it was brimming over (before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorra); like a garden the LORD, like the land of Egypt as the going of Zoan. 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of Jordan. And Lot journeyed eastward, and they separated one from the other. 12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt among the cities of the plain, and he encamped by Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners unto the LORD, exceedingly so. 14 Then the LORD said unto Abram after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up, I beseech you, your eyes and see from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward. 15 “For all the land which you see I will give unto you, and to your seed until forever. 16 and I will make your seed like the dust of the earth so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then also could your seed be numbered. 17 Arise, walk throughout the land, unto its length and to its width, for unto you I give it.” 18 So Abram packed up, and he went and he dwelt by the oaks of Mamre which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar unto the LORD.  

Genesis 13:8-14

Abram––along with his nephew Lot––have returned from Egypt and once more settled in Canaan. However, their respective herds run out of elbow room. The shepherds begin to come to blows, and Abram steps in to avoid what might be called a sociological event. He plays the peacemaker, and gives Lot dibs on where to take his herds. Abram promises that wherever Lot goes, he will give him and his flocks a wide berth. Lot selects the fertile, well-watered area near Sodom. So, Abram, true to his word, moves his tent to the plain of Mamre. 

The author is wanting us to see a comparison and contrast between Lot and Abram and the lands which they chose to dwell in. Abram, on the surface, seems to just be a generous haggler… “Makes no difference to me, take your pick, I’ll be fine with whatever.” But I think there is a more striking contrast being presented here. First we should note that if Abram is beginning negotiations here, Lot doesn’t seem too keen to do much negotiating.

The text presents us with a contrast between what Lot saw, versus what God commands Abram to see. Lot “lifting up his eyes” is presented in the Hebrew as the next action of the narrative (וַיִּשָּׂא-לוֹט אֶת-עֵינָיו). Whereas, with Abram, God suddenly appears in this narrative, with an imperative for Abram: “Lift up now thine eyes…”(וַיהוָה אָמַר … שָׂא נָא עֵינֶיךָ ).

Lot lifts his own eyes, and––lo and behold––sees the plain of Jordan, green, and well-irrigated, like a garden of the gods. But the text provides for the reader some fine print on this advertisement for resettling near Sodom: it is going to be destroyed. The next few chapters also shows that Lot seems to be moving closer and closer to Sodom, first he dwells in the plain near the cities (Gen. 13:11), then he is closer (when the 5 kings come in Gen. 14:12), and finally he is dwelling in a house in the city itself (Gen. 19:3). The text also underscores that despite appearances, this is a bad idea for Lot, and provides a moral judgement/description of his new neighbors: “Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners unto the LORD, exceedingly so (v13).” The Hebrew is unambiguously emphatic here.

Although God isn’t mentioned in the first part of the episode, when He enters the stage, it’s as the principle Mover of this entire event. He commands Abram to look and tells him what to see. Abram is to take a 360º survey of the land, and see that it all belongs to him and to his seed. And as if that weren’t enough, the promise of Gen. 12:2-3 is reiterated and expanded to include the promise that his seed would be an innumerable host, like the dust of the earth.

Lot’s section ends with a moral pronouncement of the wickedness of his neighbors. Abram’s section ends with an altar. These two simple descriptive elements of the narrative leave us with a question of what sort of person each man is. Lot is a righteous man (2 Pt. 2:7-8), but not as righteous as he ought to have been. This text provides commentary that his real estate decision was a foolish one, because he is becoming a companion of fools, and is on his way to suffering harm. Lot a man who looks on external conditions. Abram, a man who, by the sheer grace and goodness of God, sees by faith what God wants Him to see. Lot chooses to dwell near the city of wicked men. Abram builds an altar to the Lord.

Matthew Henry’s comments on this passage are well worth heeding, “That which God has to show us is infinitely better and more desirable than any thing that the world has to offer our view. The prospects of an eye of faith are much more rich and beautiful than those of an eye of sense.” Lot looked at a city which was established by wicked men. Abraham “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Heb 11:10).” Which city are you seeking? Which eyes are you using? The eye of human sensibility, or the eyes of faith, which God alone gives?

Ben Zornes