The Plowman

In years past I have not given much thought to Veterans Day. I graduated from high school only a few months after the Vietnam-era draft was deactivated. I never served. My dad was too young for the Korean conflict, and too old for Vietnam. None of my grandfathers served in the military either. My father-in-law was in the Air Force, serving in the SAC all over the world, but I didn’t know about that until after my wife and I were married. I never had a reference point, you see; no concrete example of someone close who served and sacrificed. Until now. My son just last month returned from Afghanistan, and just two weeks ago returned to Oklahoma, a citizen. He has come back thinner, more sober, more focused, more a man. He has not said much about his time in Afghanistan. One time he told me over the phone from Afghanistan “Let me put it this way; I’ve had opportunity to fire my weapon.” That’s all he said. On another occasion, just last week, he noticed the desk-top photo on my laptop. He had given me a 512K thumb drive and there was one photo still on it. He even told me so. It was a rugged yet beautiful picture of a high-altitude valley somewhere near the Afghan-Pakistan border. You could see a small rock-built village in the background; almost around the bend. When he saw it he said “What are you doing with that on your desk-top? Take that off of there. That’s a bad place.” So I replaced it with a dusky sunset landscape of some place near Jalalabad. I think that is how he wants to remember it, as a sunset, a closed chapter in his past.

This Veteran’s Day has been different for me. I have a greater sense of what sacrifice means. Now I know personally that people’s lives are put on hold, changed forever, and yes, ended prematurely, for the sake of freedom. Moms and dads wait anxiously for good news, scanning the news, pouring over the maps, praying. You can think what you want about this “war”. It matters not to me what you think. This is not a political blog, and I am not going to debate that issue here; If you know a veteran, thank him for the sacrifice. If you don’t know a veteran, get to know one, and then thank him. Thank him for your freedom of speech. Thank him for your freedom to associate freely, to bear arms, to vote. Thank him for your freedom to worship, or not worship as you see fit. Then thank God for courageous young men.

Thank you, Isaac.
We love you, Dad and Mom

And he didn’t even know he was doing it. That is how the great and influential are. And even when he is sick, he is still amazingly good. For the second day, Phil Johnson is talking about his iPod. To understand the significance of all of this, read my post from yesterday.

On another note, In this same post Phil said “How did Protestants ever get from Bach to the insipid stuff we call “worship choruses” today?”. To that I say “The very truth. Preach it, brother.” I hope he spends some time in the very near future on that very subject. I was listening to R. C. this week and last, in which he was giving a 10-part lecture on the Reformation sola‘s. Yesterday was part one of Soli Deo Gloria, and reading Phil’s comments about the greatness of Bach’s contatas reminded me of the stories I’ve heard that Bach would write SDG at the top of all of his manuscripts as a witness to the Author of all of his talents.

btw: The top photo was not taken while I was driving. The one below, on the other hand. . . (The tach is on the left, and the speedometer is on the right. sdg)

Topic: Podcast Roundup

Man, I just now had to add this beginning paragraph after writing all you see below it. I just now took a break to see what the The PyroManiac was talking about, and, lo and behold, he was talking about podcasting, the very topic I was working on! He had just bought an iPod! He was talking about Piper’s biographical sketches that I mention in the paragraph below! I know that this looks like I’m just copying his lead, and even though his post was from yesterday, I didn’t read it until early this morning. Let me explain further. I work nights, driving an 18-wheeler for a company who’s slogan is “What can [a certain color] do for you?”, and just before I leave for work every night, I “tab” up the browser on my laptop and read the blogs on my down time and breaks throughout the night. The only problem with last night (early this morning) was that I listened to the third Athanasius piece first and got the idea for this post (or at least the part below), and I never got around to reading my blogs, until just a moment ago. Well, Phil, if you read this, I hope you enjoy your iPod. I certainly do mine. Oh, and since you’ve got one now, go subscribe to my podcast (see my shameless plug below, which WAS there before I realized all this).

This sure has been an exciting week as regards portable audio. I discovered several new podcasts this week, and boy, have they been doozies! My tried-and-true workhorses have been quite remarkable also. Now, before I get to the dirt on Piper, let me just say, if you are commuting any distance at all and still listening to your car stereo, then there is something seriously wrong with you. There is a ton of free audio out there just a mouse click away. If you don’t already have an mp3 player then save up your nickels and get one. The podcast, which is to audio what an rss feed is to blogging, makes it perfectly effortless. Hey, Phil Johnson, I even found a podcast that features the sermons of Spurgeon. The guy that produces it lives somewhere in Texas, and he does a great job, even if he doesn’t sound quite British enough. At least he doesn’t sound like Adrian Rogers. Now on to Piper.

I discovered that John Piper’s relatively new radio program is now available via podcast. I started listening late last week. This week, and part of last week, the episodes have centered around Christian biography, starting with three sessions on the life of John Owen, and finishing up yesterday a three parter on the life of Athanasius. Yesterday is where John let slip with the deification-of-believers thing. Now before you load up the firewood for the bar-b-que at Bethlehem, he was only quoting a statement by Athanasius. “The son was made man that we might be made god.” I have to add, though, Piper came to Athanasius’ defense with this statement:

“So quickly we write off a person, because they say something with categories we don’t use. . .What is he saying!. . . . Then you find 2 Peter 1:4 that says that you may become partakers of the divine nature. Anybody want to call Peter a heretic?”

Well, that is just a taste of what you will find in these podcasts by Piper. He does go on to explain everything satisfactorily, but it is a good read, er, listen. Don’t start with yesterday’s episode. Go back and manually get all six of them, three on Owen and three on Athanasius. You will be glad you did.

If there are any of you out there who have enjoyed the dry serrated whit of St. Anne’s Public House, they have just recently made podcasting possible at their site. Yes, I know, Doug Wilson is over there alot, but remember the quote I just cited from Piper. Okay?!

GraceLife, where Phil Johnson’s lecture on Calvinism was posted last week, is now a podcast as well, though there is still only that one lecture available. I’m sure more will come soon. Careful, this link is a subscription link to the podcast, not an actual link to GraceLife’s web site, so it is a copy-and-paste link only.

Dr. Mohler’s radio show continues to be one of my favorites. The audio pretty much covers the content of Dr. Mohler’s blog, but the audio version often includes noted guests as well. Yesterday Dr. Mohler commented on the burning of Paris, and had as his guest Victor Davis Hansen. As usual, Dr. Mohler gave excellent analysis from a Christian perspective.

And I must make a shameless plug for my own podcast, Bulldogs and Piggies. Three sermons each and every week, whether you like it or not. Sunday mornings we just began 2 Timothy. In the evening worship, we are wrapping up a two-plus-year journey through the Psalms. Last evening (Wednesdays), after a delicious meal, we listened together to the sixth in a series on what it means to be Baptist, by studying the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. You may ask “Why is it called Bulldogs and Piggies?” Go to the website, download a few messages, and find out for yourself.

Editor’s preface: This post is actually a comment of response to a post on another blog site. To get the full context of the exchange, you need to go over there also. This whole block of text is a link to that site.

Thank you, brother, for the invitation to respond to your recent posts in this way. I especially appreciate the spirit in which it was given.

You admit in more than one place that you are clearly swimming upstream. By your own admission, no one, or virtually no one has held the view that Jesus’ words on the cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” were not (I think you used these words) a statement of doubt and defeat, but rather “a praise song of faith in God in the midst of suffering.” Do you realize in this position you also are implying that none of all those who hold the contrary position ever saw the danger you expressed, of people denying the penal substitution of Christ’s death on the cross? Using the analogy of Scripture, one would immediately point someone with such a conclusion to those more plain passages such as Galatians 3:13, 2 Corinthians 5:21, or Romans 3:21-26. These plain passages would clearly eliminate any false assumptions made concerning the meaning of our Lord’s statement in Matthew 27:46.

You base your exegetical argument almost entirely on the “context” of Psalm 22, which is the source text of Jesus’ statement. I see two problems with this:

1) Jesus doesn’t quote the whole psalm, just the first phrase. If He wanted to express the thought you claim why didn’t he either quote the whole psalm, or pick the latter phrases of obvious praise and victory you claim he meant, or even pick the opening thought of another psalm like Psalm 73, that expresses a more positive thought?

2) Your interpretation of “context” violates the Literal principle of interpreting Scripture, namely, that Scripture is to be treated as literature. Even though it is God’s word, inspired, infallible, inerrant, etc.; poetry is still poetry, and historical narrative is still historical narrative, and each and all types of literature within Scripture is to be handled accordingly. There is nothing magical about the Bible; nouns, verbs, and prepositions still function like they do in the secular world. Psalm 22, like many of the early psalms, is an expression of the psalmist’s “journey” to find God’s goodness. Often times such psalms begin with honest questions: “Where are you?”, “Why am I suffering?”, “What purpose does this have in my life?”, “How long must I suffer?” One exception to the rule is Psalm 73, where the psalmist begins with the conclusion of God’s goodness, and then moves on to the “journey” of how he came to that conclusion.

So the bigger “context” is that this is poetry, not a doctrinal statement. Jesus uses only the first statement, because that is where He is just at that moment. As I have said before, sure, Jesus knew that he must suffer and die, and be raised the third day. He told His disciples as much. That does not prove that He knew the depth of the abyss that He was being plunged into at that moment. As I have also stated elsewhere, this does not have to be a declaration of doubt and defeat, it is, at the very least, a statement of surprise. Jesus did not know everything. Expressed this Himself. To deny this is to deny a critical aspect of His human nature.

Concerning “context”, you are eager to press the issue about the “context” of the whole of Psalm 22, which Jesus does not quote, while ignoring the “context” of the passage of the narrative and events surrounding Jesus’ words on the cross. First of all, there were other words spoken by Jesus on the cross. Most notably, our Lord’s last words were “It is finished.”, meaning “It is accomplished.” Now there is a statement that signifies the beginning of victory.

There is also the “context” of the narrative surrounding Jesus’ words. What about “there was darkness over the land”, or “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice”, or “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.”? What about the observations of the people hearing Jesus speak. It doesn’t appear that anyone is aware that Jesus is quoting Psalm 22. The only record is of some bystanders thinking He is calling for Elijah. Matthew is especially good to point out elsewhere that scripture is being fulfilled or quoted. He says nothing about that here, nor makes note of any one saying anything noteworthy about this statement from our Lord on the cross. This “context” clearly points to a different conclusion than you come to.

Last of all, in your argument you set up a straw man by 1) equivocating the phrase “turn His back”, and by 2) creating a cartoon of the opposing position.

1) You are defining a phrase literally that is clearly a figure of speech known as an anthropomorphism: using human qualities to describe an activity or character trait of God (There’s theLiteral principle at work again.). When someone says “God turned His back on His Son.” we all know this is not referring to the inclination of God’s gaze, but rather the disposition of His favor. It is expressing something indescribable concerning something relating to the way the Father is dealing with the Son. As I have said somewhere before, Hell will be every bit as much the ever present wrathful gaze of God, as it will be the chilling absence of any of His goodness. Who knows the relationship that existed at that moment in time between God the Father, and the two natures of God the Son. Did the divine nature, as well as the human nature of God the Son enter into the reception of the wrath of God the Father? I think so, but how, I don’t know. One thing I know, that wrath wasn’t somehow Koom-Ba-Ya.

2) I don’t know any serious conservative evangelical who believes that God turned His back on His Son in some ultimate sense, or that the persons of the Trinity were somehow divided. That is unthinkable. Combined with the point just above, you have created a straw man that is easy to knock down, because it doesn’t exist.

In conclusion, I find it a stretch to accept your argument, or even see the need for the position you have formulated, principally on the basis of your misuse of the whole idea of “context.” I don’t see the need simply because I can think of no one who holds the errors you erroneously claim a classical position leads to. I certainly don’t believe the classical position leads to a denial of penal substitution.

Herein lies a guide to the metaphors used as sidebar headers in this blog. I don’t want to insult anyone’s intellegence, but if you haven’t guessed the theme, it is Agriculture of the Bible. The opening scripture reference of Amos 9:13 has to do with future blessings for God’s chosen people. The study notes from the Geneva Bible on this passage explain that this passage is “Signifying, that there will be great abundance of all things, so that when one type of fruit is ripe, another would follow, and every one in order.” In other words, the plowman will have to wait on the reapers to break ground for the next season, because the harvest is so abundant. Some believe that this is a picture of the physical future blessings of the nation of Israel. I believe what we see here is a beautiful picture of the bountiful blessings to be found among the “Israel” of God here and now, but especially later, in the new heavens and the new earth. Enough of that; now on to the meaning of the headers:

The Threshing Floor: His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. Luke 3:17. The threshing floor is where the laborious task of separating the wheat from the chaff takes place. It is a sweaty, dirty place of hard labor, where a difficult yet needful and rewarding task is acomplished. The items under this heading are all study aids and are dedicated to the high school Sunday school class that my wife and I teach at Trinity Baptist Church, Tulsa. If they happen to be helpful to you, feel free to use them, with our blessings and joy.

New Wine: And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. Luke 5:37,38. This is easy enough. Here is where the newest posts will be found. There is no statement inplied here concerning alcohol, although I could make one if you like.

The Storehouse: Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! Luke 12:24. This is where all of the previous month’s posts are stored, otherwise known as Archives.

Apples of Gold: A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Proverbs 25:11. These are just some of the best Christian blogs that I have found. Believe me, there are many more good ones, these are just the ones that I frequent. You will find that some are funny, some are serious, and all of them will make you think.

Waterless Clouds: These are blemishes on your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, looking after themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; Jude 12. Every farmer needs rain, in its proper season, and there is nothing more discouraging and damaging than for clouds to well up on the horizon, only to pass with a flurry of wind but no rain. There are many out there on the internet who are nothing but waterless clouds, or wind bags. I don’t list many of these, because they are a waste of time. Any time I stumble across one, I will post it here. Right now I have only one posted, one that is most harmful. If you believe in sovereign grace, you will see why.

Locusts and Wild Honey: Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. Mark 1:6. Okay, who ate locusts and wild honey? John, right? And what was he? A Baptist, right. Okay, just kidding. This header is dedicated to Baptists and Baptist history.

Incline Your Ears: Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! Psalms 78:1. To incline your ears means to orient the opening of your ears towards the speaker. This is something that humans cannot physically do without turning their whole head in the process, and that, only one ear at a time. This is an idiom, who knows how old, that comes right off of the farm. Horses and cattle have the ability to physically rotate their ears forward or backward in the direction of sound without moving their head. Even your little pooch can do this, though not quite as dramatically. The links found under this heading are audio links, downloadable, and podcastable.

Pruning Hooks: He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Isaiah 2:4. This header lists various resources, such as Bibles, commentaries, Baptist confessions of faith, links to disaster relief, etc.

I hope that this blog is helpful. If you have comments, please feel free to post them, or email me directly. In it all, may God be glorified and magnified.

This post was last updated on January 3, 2006.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. (http://www.gnpcb.org/page/esv.copyright)