Living in the Times of Judges

Judge Judy sits high on her lofty bench, ruling over the hapless combatants below. Everyone has signed waivers so the stakes are high. She hears, questions, ridicules, speaks her general truisms and renders her decision. Judgment. Final. Post "court" interviews are done and we are done enjoying the micro-drama we've witnessed. 

That is not what a biblical judge was, or is.

The Baltimore riots reminded me of the uprisings in the late 60's across the country. My mid-sized GM town saw more than its share of rioting, vandalism and random shootings in the name of racial equality. Are we again in an era of godless rebellion? 

One generation: 1970 to 2015. And this one more rebellious against God than the earlier one. Sounding familiar.

In the evangelical world we raise individuals who speak plainly to their generation of God's truths and God's way of shalom in the world. Often, they are mocked as a sideshow, but the longterm results of their work lay a foundation of right living and peace in society with an effect much greater than political or financial muscle can force. Great names worth repeating include Jonathon Edwards, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Billy Sunday and Billy Graham. 

A godless, licentious generation would arise and then a voice would sound out doing the impossible: making sense of right living and shalomic peace with God and man. 

This is not new. However the tragedy of the situation is documented in the cycles of the Judges in that Old Testament writing. The only judgement that a biblical judge pronounced was a judgement against sin. They could not order punishment, they could not enforce decrees, they were restricted in what they could say and do. A biblical judge told what was true to people who did not know they were in trouble. They arose to calm fears and restore order but they didn't have the backing of the political, financial or military bigwigs of the age. Biblical judges simply began to apply God's word to the days actions and changes happened. They were the right people for the time.

But the flaw with the Judges was their specificity and adherance to the path God laid out for them. When the politicians came courting a judge would go back to their farm after rebuffing their advance. When money came calling the Judge could not be purchased. When the military called for a Judge's leadership (male or female!) the Judge said "no" and continued to speak and do the will of God.  They would not be turned from their Godpath. 

I believe we are in the between times of the Judges. Billy Graham, singularly focused and undeterred, is a Judge. His message is tightly focused on the Gospel and salvation. His message to politicians, money, and power is the same: "You must be saved". His effect on society has been vast, and I believe he stood in the gap between God's wrath and our country's wayward people. Billy Graham was heard and instantly respected. God had Billy's ear, and Billy did not waste what he heard. 

But now what, or who will arise to speak God's word to this lawless generation? Or will society degenerate again into a godless generation that echoes this fatal observation in the old Book:

"Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshipped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord's commands. Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshipping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. Therefore, the Lord was very angry..."

Judges 2:17-20 NIV

keys

Keys.
Locks.
Inclusion and exclusion.

Contemplate the lowly scrap of metal you call a key.

Seriously, come up with a couple observations yourself before you go forward with reading this bit of drivel.

We use keys for a very specific reason: to prohibit people from entering or using the locked object. Houses, cars, deposit boxes, guns, and lockers are reasons for a lock and key. We do not want those to be opened or accessed by anyone except those who we give the privilege of  owning the key. Those that own the key have all the rights to allow or disallow others access to the locked item.

If one does not make a copy of a key or share the key, then it is assumed that others will have no access at all to the desired object locked.

"Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." Revelation 1:17-18

Jesus holds the keys to death and Hades. Wow, take some time and turn your earlier observations about keys into applications about Jesus owning the keys to death and Hades... Satan doesn't have a copy, death and Hades are wide open, Cerberus is necessary to keep the dead inside, not keep the living out! Hades is the most INCLUSIONARY place ever created, while Heaven is the most exclusionary place ever created. The criteria for entrance to Hades is simple: did you live. The criteria for Heaven is incredibly narrow: is your name in the Lamb's book of life?

This is the last chapter in "The Story - The Bible As One Continuing Story of God And His People" and my review of chapter observations. And how fitting that God would drive the word "keys" into my conscience. As a pastor I was often asked if someone was in Heaven after death. It was most often specific: Aunt Jane, Grandpa, Billy. Now I understand why it was such a frustrating question: I don't have the key to that place. Jesus does have the key. I cannot know fully what is true in a man's soul, his connection to the crucified one, his transformation, his sanctification. I can only be a shepherd to those who choose to identify with the Lamb who was slain according to His Word. I cannot lean on my own interpretations.

Perhaps that is why I lean so heavily on the text of Scripture rather than theology or interpretations. Too much man, too little God. What does the Book say?

"The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into (Heaven). Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life." Rev. 21:27

"But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolators and all liars - they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." Rev. 21:8

At the end of the ages, after the final judgments, when Hades and death are depopulated of the redeemed and Jesus has claimed His own (those whose name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life) then the keys are brought out and Jesus locks the door of Hades shut. This I read. This I believe.

This is a truth that grieves me, for you dear reader. We have only this life to choose the one solution to man's core problem: sin. Once this physical life is over we are not just inanimate matter to dissolve and be reused by the scavengers of life. We are more, and you sense it in your soul. When the final key is used, which side of the gates of Hades will you be on?

tactics

My journey through "The Story" has come to the final two chapters: Paul and the Revelation. What can we learn from these that hasn't been hashed over a million times? 

The chapter highlighting Paul's ministry was remarkable to me for two incidents. Not what Paul said, but what Paul used to effect God's will. Paul illustrated tactics that incorporated earthly wisdom and observation with completing God's will. 

So often I hear that Christians cannot use worldly methods or ideas to advance the Gospel. How can the godly use tainted articles or ideas? But that was not the example of Paul.

In one instance Paul is about to be condemned by the entire Sanhedrin, and he declares that he is on trial because, as a Pharisee, he believes in the resurrection of the dead. (Of course he did, Jesus is alive!) That started a riot as the Sadducees and Pharisees immediately began to bicker and argue about this contentious doctrine. The Roman guards immediately saw the danger and protected Paul from the melee. Divide and conquer, earthly wisdom to further God's cause.

The second instance is the reflection that the Romans carrying Paul to Rome used a ship with Castor and Pollux, the twin gods of the Greek pantheon, on the masthead. They were the "guardians" of the ship. Clearly this was an article dedicated and revered as set apart to this god-pair. It merited a mention in Scripture, the only instance I'm aware exists. This tells us that Paul, and God, are not concerned about the spiritual forces that simply do not exist, and instead Paul reminds his shipmates that it is God who will bring them through the storm, even though They have spent two weeks begging the twins for help. The ship will be destroyed (your gods are doomed) but you will be saved if you stay under the banner of Paul's God.

Amazing, if you consider it, that Paul lived in a most contentious time, immersed in the evil of the day, and used it all for the glory of Jesus Christ. 

The earth is the Lord's, and the glory thereof.