Prayer

A Message of Hope in the Aftermath of the Storm

/ davidsschrock

Last year, when the storms ripped through Joplin, I felt helpless to do anything, so I prayed and wrote.  This year, when the storms came a little closer, our church was able to help and will continue to help our neighbors. Today, in the face of destruction, it was a great sight to see many local churches, Southern Seminary students, and others pitching in to help.

Keep Henryville, Indiana in prayer.  Pray for Toby Jenkins and his church (First Baptist Henryville), for their ministry to the community, for the gospel to go forward, and for many whose lives have been broken to be put back together by the only power that gives life–the resurrecting message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In light of the storms that passed through Henryville, Indiana yesterday — a town located just thirty miles south of Seymour — I thought a re-post of my article reflecting on the tornadoes in Joplin last year would be appropriate: “The Words of Christ and Midwest Storms.” 

The Words of Christ and Midwest Storms

When the winds raged and the waves threatened, the disciples awoke Jesus with fear in their hearts. Jesus arose, stood on the storm-tossed boat and spoke three simple words, “Peace!  Be still!” The winds ceased and the storm ended faster than it came (Mark 4:39).

In that moment, the terrified fishermen were more frightened by the man in their presence with the power to subdue nature than they were of drowning under the heavy waves. God’s Son in human form had just displayed his divine power, and that with a word.  On that lakeside journey, Jesus stopped the storm with a sentence. On May 22, 2011 in Joplin, Missouri and again on March 2, 2012 in Henryville, Indiana, he didn’t.

For the disciples, Jesus stopped the storm and it led to a question of his identity: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (4:41). For the survivors in Joplin, the question is different. For them and for anyone staggering from a recent world-halting tragedy, the question is closer to that of the Psalmist, “How long oh Lord? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Ps 13:1). Because Jesus word did not stop the storm before it hit last week, there is now the need for Jesus word to come speak “Peace. Be Still.”

With such a need in mind, let me suggest four words from God’s Word that I pray may bring a biblical perspective to those bruised and broken by the storm, and to those ministering to them.

An Unspoken, Tear-Filled Word
In the face of raw tragedy, we have at least one example where words were not spoken. When Jesus came to Mary and Martha at the death of Lazarus, he came to some of his closest friends. Jesus loved Lazarus, and yet the Bible actually suggests that when Jesus learned of his illness, he intentionally waited so that Lazarus might die (John 11:5-6). When Jesus arrived, Martha came to meet him, saying, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (11:21)—surely a similar sentiment arises from Joplin.

Yet, Jesus response to Martha and Mary did not express detached stoicism or impatience with broken people. To the contrary, he grieved with these sisters, with perfect understanding. When Jesus encountered the death of Lazarus, he wept (John 11:35). While he knew that his own death and resurrection would one day restore this man to eternal life, tears were the most appropriate response. For those left speechless by the horrorific damage—personal and material—Jesus sees. Jesus knows. Jesus understands.

A Word of Resurrection Life
Jesus weeping is not hopeless, but hopeful. In the face of death, Jesus does not chain himself to the grave. He, instead, points people to the resurrection. John 11:23-26 records the dialogue that Jesus had with Martha, where he spoke of Lazarus’ impending resurrection: “Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

Staring into the eyes of someone whose heart was overwhelmed with unspeakable loss, Jesus spoke the only words that can defeat the sting of death. He promised life from the grave. In fact, Jesus intention of permitting Lazarus death was to show the world that he had the power to raise the dead. While calming the storm with a word demonstrated great power; reconstituting life and raising the dead revealed more.

So it will be at the end of the age. All those who have died in Christ will be raised in Christ (Rom 6:3-4). Jesus’ own resurrection confirms that he is the first-fruit of those who will be raised to life. While this does not immediately remove the pain and anguish of death, it does not allow death to have the last word. Instead, Jesus can say: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:54-55).

A Word of Sadness and Sober Judgment
Of course, there were other victims of the storm who did not know the Lord. For them and for those who knew them, Jesus words to Martha will not comfort. Instead for them, and this word is perhaps the most bitter of all, the Lord’s judgment is swift. While trusting in themselves and in their future plans, their life was immediately extinguished (Luke 12:20). Jonathan Edwards’s captured this dreadful reality in his sermon ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” when he expounded Deuteronomy 32:35, “Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’

For some in the storm who had rejected the gospel, this was their appointed day of judgment. While this does not necessarily bring sentimental comfort, it brings repose in the fact that the “stormy winds fulfill[ed] his word” (Ps 148:8). Thus, in the particular providence of God, the same wind that brought some into eternal rest brought others into eternal torment. Indeed, all things work according to his sovereign will.

At the same time, it must not be forgotten that the death of the unconverted simultaneously grieves God, just as it does man. Ezekiel 18 records that the Lord “[has] no pleasure in the death of anyone” even the wicked (v. 23, 31).  In this complex but complementary way, the God who delights in the judgment of evil-doers is yet grieved by their deaths.

A Word of Repentance to the Rest
This leads to the most pressing word that Jesus has for us who read this today.  In Luke 13, when some of Jesus followers bring up the subject of human tragedy, Jesus response is surprisingly harsh. Responding to the slaughter of some from Galilee, Jesus brings up the death of eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them. He says, “Do you think that [these dead] were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (v. 4-5).

Jesus rebukes anyone who says that the tragedy in Jerusalem or Joplin happened because they deserved it more than me.  Jesus tells us who live to see these deaths as a divine lesson: Death is the judgment of God that is coming upon all men.  It is appointed for all men to die because all men have sinned against God.  While some die “peacefully” in their sleep, others die under twisted rubble.  The typological lesson from Joplin and every other cataclysmic tragedy is that there is coming a day when all men will be caught up in the whirlwind, and unless they have turned from sin and to Christ, they will face a greater danger than an F-5 tornado.

Knowing When to Speak and When Not To
Today, Jesus of Nazareth cannot be found walking the shores of Galilee.  He is enthroned in heaven, where he governs his church and intercedes for his saints.  Consequently, it is not Jesus who speaks an audible word today; it is his church.  You and I who comprise the body of Christ are his hands, his feet, and his mouthpieces.  Thus, it is not enough to speculate what Jesus would say.  By the leading of his Spirit, we must speak.

In our immediate context, one week removed from the tragedy in Joplin, Jesus’ words in Luke 13, do not yet seem appropriate.  In cases of tragedy, timing matters.  Jesus knew this.  When he arrived at Lazarus’ grave, he wept and then offered gospel hope.  Yet, when he was confronted with a wrongful understanding of theodicy, he proffered a more robust theological answer.  In the first case he knew to stress mercy; in the second to teach about God’s judgment.

Pastors and parishioners need to understand both of these responses and when to employ them.  As Ecclesiastes teaches, there is a time for everything—a time to cry and a time to catechize; a time to speak and a time to refrain from speaking.

Indeed, for those facing this tragedy firsthand, sorrow and prayers of silence are appropriate.  Words get in the way of feelings that are best expressed with groans and cries.  Yet, there will come a day when words need to fill the gap, and when they do, the only comforting Word will come from the one who said, “Peace.  Be still.”

Until that Resurrection Day, we all groan and wait with anguish.  Tragedies like the one in Joplin serve to remind us that the world still quakes under the curse of God.  It awakens us from our comfortable slumber.  And it calls each of us to repent of our sluggishness and sin and to prepare to meet our God, because none of us know when the master will return or when the whirlwind will strike.

May God be pleased to comfort the people of Joplin in the wake of this tragedy, and may those who know the Lord know how and when to speak words of comfort and hope into the lives of those suffering in the storm.

Operation World Wednesday: Europe

/ davidsschrock

I have heard it said that the movement of Christianity from Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth has been like a ring of fire.  As the gospel moved west to Rome and Continental Europe, new fires blazed as missionaries like Patrick, reformations in Germany, Great Britain, and the Netherlands, and revivals led by the likes of Wesley, Whitefield, Edwards, and others produced abundant fruit.  Today, however, Europe is a shadow of what it once was.  Forms of Christianity remain, and renewal movements in places like Great Britain continue, but on the whole, it seems that the glory has gone out.

Hence, we need to pray for Europe.  With more than 700 million people, there are only around 18 million evangelicals.  Protestant make up less than ten percent of the population,while Catholic and Orthodox comprise  over fifty-five percent of the population.  In recent years, the greatest rate of growth have come in the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, and Muslim contexts.  While the fires of reformation and revival have smoldered, the Spirit has not left the earth.  There are still many pastors, missionaries, and evangelists who are doing good work, and we need to pray for God to light the fires again.

Here is a little more on the history and current situation in Europe:

After the Muslim invasions of the 8th Century, Christianity was suppressed or wiped out in the lands of the Middle East where the early Church first took root. Fore nearly 1,000 years, Europe was the last bastion of Christendom.  The encircling Muslim lands–and Turkey’s occupation of southeast Europe–effectively prevented any missionary outreach to Africa and Asia [hence, the 10-40 window today].  The emergence of Europe as a colonial power in the the 15th Century and the theological impetus of the Reformation in the 16th Century provided the platform for the Church to become a force for world evangelization.  The last 250 years have been years of worldwide advance for the gospel, but, conversely, decline in Europe.  However, in many countries that have seen secularism and anti-religious social policies have their sway, and upswing of spirituality is also occurring (Operation World, p. 74-75).

Today, there are other sociological factors at work.

Massive cultural shifts are occurring right across the continent as Europe finally reaps the harvest sown from the Enlightenment through WWI up to today.  Christianity was effectively replaced by humanists philosophies and nationalism.  Europe can be regarded not only as postmodern, but also post-rational and certainly post-Christian.  [America should take note, because our culture is following suit].  It is not accident that the regions of the world where relativism, individualism, and existentialism reign supreme are also spiritually the bleakest.  This has several debilitating effects.

  1. Cynicism is not apparently the ‘ism’ of choice, as the younger generation increasingly disengages from traditionalism civic responsibilities, such as politics and community service, and fells alienated from older generations. The elevation of the individual and instant gratification spur on hedonistic, nihilistic lifestyles that often end in dysfunction, emptiness, loneliness, and despair.
  2. Moral uncertainty.  With transcendent authority undermined (and the authority of the Bible dismissed long ago), right and wrong are determined by consensual bureaucracy or individual inclination, leading to a morass of relativism.
  3. Societal disintregation.  Traditional values regarding the family, childbirth, marriage, sexuality, sanctity of life and community are being dismantled not just culturally, but also legally.  These have severe repercussions in the areas of demographic decline, future economic burdens and psychological and social health.  As traditional foundations of healthy societies are deconstructed in Europe, some suggest the term ‘sociocide,’ self-aware civilizational suicide, as an adequate description (p. 77).

There is great need in Europe.  May we pray this week for this continent, that God would send the light.  That those who labor in the darkness would be encouraged by the gospel, and that those who embrace the darkness would have an increasing dissatisfaction with sin, such that they begin turning from the systems of the world, to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

For more information on Europe, see Operation World’s website or pick up a copy of Operation World.

That the nations might glory in the only glorious One, dss

 

The Goodness of God in What He Does

/ davidsschrock / 2 Comments

In Exodus 33:18, Moses makes one of the most audacious requests in all the Bible.  After Israel is nearly destroyed and replaced by a people coming from Moses’ offsprings, Moses asks the God of the Passover and the Red Sea to show him his glory.  Amazingly, God responds in the affirmative.

In Exodus 33:19-34:7, God reveals his glory through the revelation of his goodness and his glory.  Today, we will look at the goodness of what God does; tomorrow, we will consider the greatness of God’s name.

Notice three ways that God’s goodness is revealed in Exodus 33.

God Who Listens and Speaks (33:19).  The first thing to notice in the character of God is that he hears Moses prayer.  He listens and he speaks.  He doesn’t ignore Moses prayers, but he answers with specificity.  God’s goodness is seen in this reply.

However, notice what God listens to.  He is not simply responding to a request for personal help, or a plea for personal safety, comfort, or assistance.  He hears and answers prayers most powerfully, when the suppliant is coming with a heart that longs first and foremost to make Christ famous.  This is not to say that supplications for “my needs” are not legitimate, but they should be secondary to the greater design of prayer for God’s kingdom and glory.

God loves to answer prayers that glorify his name and that satisfy his saints in him.  Just consider the “Lord’s Prayer.” In Matthew 6, Jesus is asked how they should pray, and in “The Lord’s Prayer,” he doesn’t begin with small, physical, prayers that orbit around people; he begins with audacious prayers that ask God to do what only he can do.  Thus, Jesus’ prayer, like Moses prayer, calls us to ask God to show off his glory on earth as it is in heaven.  The very first command is one that essentially pleas that God who sanctify or glorify his name!  When Jesus tells us to pray for the coming of the kingdom, this is a request for God’s glory to come in tangible form to the earth–now and forever.

All in all, Moses’ prayer, Jesus’ prayer, and our prayer can be lifted with confidence because God’s goodness hears and answers.  Yet, the heart of prayer is one that focuses on God and his glory, as seen in his goodness, more than simply asking God to do good things for us.

Returning to the model of our Lord’s prayer, the requests for daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil all come after we have oriented ourselves towards God.  Prayer that is Christian puts the goals, desires, and demands of God above our own.  The safety, security, health, and help we request should desired as they fulfill his plans and purposes.  Goodness is putting God at the center, and God-centered prayers are the ones God delights to answer.

The God who Protects and Provides (33:20-23).  Next, in verse 20, YHWH tells Moses that he cannot see his face, because he would die, but in the same breath, he makes way for Moses to experience God’s glory.  Verse 21-23, God puts Moses in the cleft of the rock, covers him to protect him, and then shows him the train of his glory.  Amazingly, verse 23 uses three body parts to describe God: Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.

The body-language is metaphorical–because God does not have a body—but it emphasizes the personal closeness that Moses felt as God spoke to him.  Still, the point of this passage is not for us to replicate the experience of seeing God on a mountain, but to receive the Word given to Moses at that time.  The God of Sinai is the same yesterday, today, and forever; but the way he has revealed himself is not always the same.  In Exodus 33-34, we see God’s goodness in the way he reveals himself and protects Moses from an over exposure.  Today, we have a greater revelation and a greater protection in our mediator, Jesus Christ.  What God does in type with Moses, he does in actuality with Jesus.  In Jesus, we see the glory of the Lord, we hear God’s ultimate word, and we have safe passage into the very presence of God.  We are not sequestered into a rocky cleft; we are able to stand upon the temple mount and abide with God.

In this way, the goodness experience by Moses, though more cinematically-captivating, is less than the goodness we now have in the fullness of God’s plans in redemptive history.  Such goodness beckons us to forsake sin and press on towards him!

The God who Gives His Law (34:1-4). Finally, since the tablets were broken, a new set of tablets was needed.  Thus, in Exodus 34, Moses is appointed to cut two new stone tablets just like before.  This is the first element of God’s revealed law in Exodus 34, but this is not it.  Quickly following this charge to rewrite the law, YHWH tells Moses to come into his presence once again (v. 2), and to set a perimeter around the mountain to preserve its holiness and to protect the people (v. 3).  Still, God’s law-giving is seen most clearly in the reissue of the covenant laws laid out in the rest of the chapter (vv. 10-35).

These commands which resonate with the earlier instructions in Exodus 19-24, show the consistency of God’s character, and the fact that he never lowers the standard of his law.  Instead, he will provide means of grace to allow sinners to dwell in the midst of God’s holiness.  Such legal constancy is a revelation of his goodness, for God’s goodness is not just seen in meekness, mirth, and mild treatment of terrorists.  His goodness also executes law-breakers.

Can you imagine the alternative?  What would a world be like in which moral order was erased?  Or a world where God’s expectations were unknown?  God’s laws are demanding and absolute, and this is good.  In them, God’s wisdom, justice, and love are displayed, and thus the world observes who God is.  Which leads to a final consideration: When we come to passage like Exodus 33-34, do we listen to what God is saying?  Or do we interpret it in light of our pre-conceived ideas about goodness, justice, and love?

God Is The Standard of His Own Goodness 

Too often Christians and non-Christians test God according to their own standards of goodness.  This is problematic.  God is his own standard.  He defines and delimits goodness.  Thus what he reveals of his goodness at Sinai and in later installments of inspired revelation must shape and reshape our notions of goodness.  In fact, before delighting in his goodness, we probably need to be offended by it!

Offended because, we as fallen creatures are naturally opposed to the God of Scripture and the God of Sinai.  What we see at Sinai is that YHWH’s goodness is not mutually exclusive with retributive judgment, is not contradictory with legal demands, and is not simply a universal benevolence towards all people.  God’s goodness is distinct, covenantal, particular, and gracious.  God’s goodness is given to some and not to others (Exod 33:19).  This is how God presents himself!  It is offensive to human pride, but glorious to those who have died in Christ.

Failure to understand God’s goodness as he himself presents it will inevitably result in skewed views of God and ultimately Arminian and/or Universalist impressions of how God should act in the world.  Right now I am reading a book by such theologian–Roger Olson–whose views relabel and redefine God’s goodness in countless doctrinal categories.  As an upcoming book review will show, he and others like him, wrestle little with texts and rest their views upon philosophical inventions of the mind, rather than God’s revealed Word.

Considering Exodus 33-34 makes us take a different path.  One that rebukes us mightily for having lethargic views of God’s goodness, but one that opens new vistas of God’s glory.  In meditating on Exodus 33:18-34:7 you will find that the God of glory is the God of goodness, and that his goodness is not submitting to any philosophical law of the greater good.  God is goodness in justice and mercy, and by his grace, he is revealing that goodness to all who have eyes to see.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Learning to Pray With Moses (Exodus 33:12-15)

/ davidsschrock / 3 Comments

Perhaps one of the greatest ways to learn how to pray is to listen to great pray-ers.  This can and should be done in the interpersonal context of a local church, but not only there.  Scripture is another excellent place to learn how to prayer.  There, in the inspired pages, we find eminent saints who walked with God, and who held conversation with God in formal and informal settings.  Their prayers give us precious models of how we should pray.

One such example is Moses in the book of Exodus, especially chapters 32-34.  Today we will consider four aspects of his prayer for YHWH’s presence in Exodus 32:12-15.

To set the context, Moses has just been informed that God would send Israel to Canaan with the promise of safe passage, with the Lord’s angel going before them, but without YHWH in their midst (Exodus 33:1-3).  Israel was overwhelmed with grief by this news (33:4-6).  God’s dwelling in their midst was what made them distinct, and now because of their stiff-necked sin, God was pulling back.  This separation is confirmed in 33:7-11, when Moses describes the kind of distant access Israel would be subjected to, now that the tabernacle plans had been destroyed (Exod 32:19).

With the prospect of losing God’s presence fully in view, Moses throws himself before the Lord and pleads for God’s presence.  Far more than the obligatory petition, he musters all the promises God has made in the past, to recruit God to rejoin their caravan. He pleads for God’s presence, and he shows us how we ought to pray in the process.  Notice four things.

(1) He prays for God’s presence.  Moses sees the immediate need and he boldly prays for its relief–namely the return of God’s presence. Better than a prayer for safety, traveling mercies, or physical needs, Moses prays for God–nothing more, nothing less–just God.  If God is going to do anything good in our lives, it is going to be underwritten by this sort of prayer–an insatiable desire for more of God.  This is the heart behind Moses prayer, a passion that was later picked up in places like Psalm 27:8-9, “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek.’  Hide not your face from me.  Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help.  Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!”

Interestingly in Psalm 27, the Psalmist longs to see God’s face, the very thing Moses sought (Exod 33:18), but was explicitly forbidden from seeing (v. 20).  Today, we can see God’s face in the person and work of Christ in a way that Moses and David never could.  Therefore, with David we must seek God’s face in passionate prayer, prayer for God’s presence.

(2) He prays according to God’s promises.  Before he petitions, Moses reminds God of the “favor” God has already given him, and then prays based on this stated promise.  This is a model for powerful prayer. He prays from God’s grace unto God’s grace.  He requests favor, not based on his merits or his own spiritual ideas, but upon God’s earlier favor.  Thus, his prayer is according to God’s will, not his own.

So it is for us who pray in Jesus name.  We are not coming to the Father to prove our worth and to plead for assistance based on our commitments.  Rather, we pray  for favor based on God’s love for the Son.  Because of Christ’s high priestly session, we can pray boldly.  All the promises of God are “Yes” and “Amen.”  Therefore, we can pray those promises back to God in all are hours of need, and know that the Father will answer them with the rich supply that Christ procured at Calvary (cf. Rom 8:32).

(3) The goal of his prayer is knowledge.  Verse 13, Moses prays that God would show his acts to Moses so that I may know you.  Moses prayer rebukes anyone who has ever said about God or his word, “Yeah, I know that…”   Such a response reveals a heart that is self-reliant and blind to the need for more of Christ.  Unwillingness to learn about God is a personal invitation to shipwrecking your professed faith.  But praying to know God more is evidence of a heart that has God’s law written on it.

Consider Moses.  Numbers 12 describes him as a man unlike any other.  God spoke to him face to face.  If anyone knew God, it was Moses.  Yet, his prayer reveals a desire to know God more.  His model of prayer shows us that those who truly know God, long to know more of God.  Indeed, prayer that is Christian always presses to know God more and calls God to reveal himself more fully to those for whom we pray.

This model is constantly seen in Paul. In his letters, the great apostle is regularly praying for his beloved disciples to know God more (cf. Eph 1:15-22; Col 1:9-10). Ever wonder what to pray for others who you don’t know well, or members of your church whom you don’t regularly visit?  Pray that they would grow in the wisdom and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

(4) Favor comes through knowledge of the Lord.  The key to receiving God’s favor and blessing is knowledge of God.  Notice the progression in Exodus 33:13: “If I have found favor in your sight” shows the way Moses prays from grace unto grace.  “Please show me now your ways,” marks the heart of the petition.  He desires to see and know God’s ways, “that I may know you.”  The “that” signifies a purpose statement of knowing God, but that purpose statement is followed by another, deeper purpose statement, namely “in order to find favor in your sight.”

In some ways, the knowledge of God is merely instrumental to finding favor.  Now, don’t misunderstand, there is nothing mere about knowing God, but surely a base, unattached knowledge of God is not the goal.  The goal of knowing God is to receive favor, to experience him personally, to have his presence.

This is what Moses prayed for, and verses 14-15 confirm, that God heard his prayer, and answered him in the affirmative.  God graciously returned to the stiff-necked people of Israel.  In the short term, Moses prayer effectively saved Israel, but in time his sin and Israel’s sin would again distance themselves from God.  Praise God, a better mediator and a better pray-er came to stand in the gap for us.

Accordingly, when we find ourselves distant from God, may we turn to him to find grace and favor in are our of need.  As we come to know him, to pursue his presence, and to petition based on his word, we will find our hearts satisfied with his very presence, the indwelling Spirit who fills us and moves to pray without ceasing.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Prayer as a Theological Problem

/ davidsschrock

Moses Prayer: A Problem in the Making

Moses’ prayer not only provides a powerful example of intercession; it also presents a major theological problem: Does Prayer Really Change Things?

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the text makes Moses look like the good guy—the one who is emotionally stable–while God himself, looks like the bad guy.  To our twenty-first century sensitivities the impassible God looks bi-polar. Yet, such a reading misses the point and misunderstands God. Nevertheless, Exodus 32-34 is a hard one for understanding God’s relationship to the world. How should we understand Moses’ prayer and its effect?  Does he really change God’s mind? Let me make a couple observations.

  1. God is Moses’ maker.  He gives him life, breath, and everything else. As Moses learned in Exodus 4:11, God makes man mute or able to speak.  Voicing his prayer depends on God.
  2. YHWH sends Moses to be Israel’s mediator.  Thus, if Moses is advocating for Israel, it is because he is fulfilling God’s will for him. In other words, God’s pronouncement of judgment is matched by his provision of a mediator.
  3. Moses prayer is based on God’s previous promises.  Moses is only doing what God has previously revealed, commanded or promised. He is not opposing God; he is obeying God. His prayer flows from God (and his Word) back to God.

Letting the Whole Counsel of Scripture Speak

These observations are a start, but they don’t get us all away around the track.  We need a more full understanding of how God can both answer prayer and initiate prayer.  Fortunately, the doctrines of salvation and the Trinity give help.

First, Prayers do not shake the heavens, unless God has first saved us.Only those prayers offered by Christians who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ are acceptable to God.  Only those who know God and are known by him can offer effective prayer—can pray according to the will of God. Thus, prayer depends on God, and his saving initiative. This is true for the believer today, and for Moses who was a man called by God and given the Holy Spirit (cf. Num 11:16ff).

Second, prayer that is powerful and effective is Trinitarian.  The Father receives our prayers through the Son.  In Exodus, this is foreshadowed, where Moses himself is a type of Christ, interceding for his people.  In this way, Moses, who is human and not divine, is thrust into an office that is intended for the God-Man Jesus Christ. So, our prayers are powerful as they are lifted to the Father, through the Son.  But what of the Spirit?  Looking for help in all the Scripture, we find that we must pray “in the Spirit.”  We find this stated twice in the New Testament (Eph 6:18; Jude 20) and explained in Romans 8:25-26.  So lets read:

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

If we listen to what Paul is saying, the Spirit is the one who directs and empowers our prayer. Indeed, we cannot pray apart from the Spirit.  Prayer that is pleasing to God is initiated and guided by the Holy Spirit, which means that prayer mysteriously puts the believer somewhere between the Spirit and the Son on the way to the Father.  We do not become part of the Trinity, but when we pray we are participating in a spiritual dance of sorts with the Triune God. Therefore, true prayer is necessarily Trinitarian, and thus all the prayers of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Mormons, and New Age Spiritist are worthless.  The Living God rejects them all.

Back to Exodus

So what should we say? Does Moses change God’s mind?  Yes and No.

Yes, Moses prayer changes things.  Verse 12, Moses asks God to “relent” and verse 14 confirms that God “relented.”  I fully believe that if Moses had not prayed, God would not have relented and Israel would have been wiped out.  Moses prayer was instrumental.  But did it change God?

No, Moses doesn’t change God or what God was going to do.  On the surface, it looks like God got mad, Moses stepped in the middle, and saved Israel by changing God’s mind.  But that is a very man-centered view. It makes God little better than a moody old man.

Still better: Moses prayer, while it is genuine, real, and passionate, is also Scripted.  The sovereign God who answers his prayer, also gives him his prayer.  That is to say that God sent Moses to intercede for Israel.  God circumcised Moses heart and gave him a passion for his people.  And then in this moment, Moses responded to the circumstance by pleading God’s mercy.

Maybe you are saying, “I still don’t understand.  How can Moses prayer be free and effective, and Scripted?” Let me take one more stab at it, again recruiting the analogy of other Scriptures.

  1. His prayer is not based on his own inventive reasoning.  Everything he says is based on God’s previous promises.  In this way, the Script is the Scripture.  God’s word, written on his heart.
  2. As we read the testimony of Romans 8, we learn that when we pray, God helps us, and gives us the words.  This is true in the OT and the NT.  So, he is praying by the Spirit.  Confirmation of this is seen in Numbers 11, when it says Moses is filled with the Spirit.
  3. Further testimony in the Bible says clearly that God knows the words that we will speak long before they cross our lips (Ps 139:4).  But even more amazing is that Scripture doesn’t say that God just knows our speech, he gives it to us.  Proverbs 16:1, “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.”
  4. Going one step further, since the mouth speaks what is in the heart (Matt 12:34), God must also be in charge of what is in the heart; which is confirmed in Proverbs 21:1, when Solomon records, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD, he turns it wherever he will.”

In the end, some may say, this is too deep, too mysterious.  And I agree that it is mysterious.  But I disagree that it is too deep.  God made you to go deep with him (Prov 25:2), and the reason why so many Christians are bored in church and flirt with pornography, gambling, and materialism is because they have never gone deep with God.  Here is the truth, as we go deep with God, the sovereign Lord who made us and redeemed us will fills us with joy eternal, and he will give us power to say no to ungodliness.  Moreover, he will enervate our prayer with life like we have never before experienced.  Moses prayer is a theological problem, but it is one worth thinking about deeply because it reveals so much of God.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Arguing With God: Prayer That Is Based On God’s Promises

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Exodus 32:1-10 sets the context for Moses’ intercessory prayer in verses 11-14.  Israel’s rebellion invokes the wrath of God, and now YHWH’s appointed mediator, Moses, steps into the gap between God’s holy wrath and Israel’s rightful destruction.   He “implores” God for mercy. But what is striking is the way he does it.

He does not plead leniency based on Israel’s ignorance, or relative goodness.  He doesn’t minimize the sin.  He doesn’t offer some kind of obnoxious statement like: “Deep down they are good people.”  That kind of speech has no place in the mouth a Bible-believing Christian.  Israel is not good.  Like the rest of humanity (Rom 1:20-32), they are covenant-breaking, rebellious idolaters.  They deserve death, and so do we.

So what does Moses say?  How could he possibly gain the hearing of God, when his law has been violated and his wrath is smoldering?  The text records that Moses pleads for mercy based on God’s character and covenant faithfulness.  In his prayer, he teaches us how we should pray and intercede before God’s throne. Notice three things:

Moses argues for God to finish his work of redemption (v. 11).  Whereas God distances himself from his people in verse 9, Moses (in a manner of speaking) reminds the Lord that Israel is “his people” and that no matter what they have done the Sovereign Lord is the one who “brought [them] out of Egypt with great power and with a might hand.”  Failure to finish the task would imply that he couldn’t rule these obstinate people or worse, he wouldn’t lead this people.

Moses appeals to the reputation of God in the world (v. 12).  Then, Moses appeals to God’s desire to be known among the nations. Nearly a dozen times, Moses records in Exodus that God’s purpose in saving Israel was to make known to the nations his name and renown. In truth, the world exists as a stage for God’s glory to be displayed.  Moses, knowing this, tells God to relent, to change his mind so that his reputation would not be ruined.

Moses asks God to remember his covenant (v. 13).  As we have seen previously in Exodus, God’s love for Israel is based on his previous election of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God had made lavish promises to these patriarchs, and Moses is simply appealing to YHWH: Do what you said you would do.  You promised offspring, so give life, not death; You promised land, so bring them into the land; you promised your blessing; so don’t curse Israel.

In these verses, we find a key to effectual prayer.  It is what George Mueller, the great man of answered prayer, called “Holy Argumentation.”  Modeling his prayers after Moses and the other great men of prayer in the Bible, Mueller described the way we must approach God,

[Like Moses] We are to argue our case with God, not indeed to convince Him, but to convince ourselves. In proving to Him that, by His own word and oath and character, He has bound Himself to interpose, we demonstrate to our own faith that He has given us the right to ask and claim, and that He will answer our plea because He cannot deny Himself.

But of course such praying requires spade-work in the Scriptures.  His biographer, A.T. Pierson, tells us of how Mueller read the Bible: As he opened God’s word, he was looking for “promises, authorized declarations of God concerning Himself, names and titles He had chosen to express and reveal His true nature and will, injunctions and invitations which gave to the believer a right to pray and boldness in supplication.”  He was a man on a mission, to see God, and to pray according to his own revelation.  Mueller did not pray according to his feelings or according to what he wanted; he prayed according to God’s revealed will.  The result was legendary, because he had learned to pray from Moses himself.

May we learn to pray with such Scriptural confidence, arguing from God’s Word for God’s Word to be effective in the world.  Our hope is not in his leniency, but in his steadfast love.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss


Sermon Notes: The Sweet-Smelling Aroma of Prayer (NT)

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Not only does the New Testament develop general themes of Christ’s fulfillment of the tabernacle.  It also picks up more specific details, like that of the golden altar of incense.  Yesterday, we considered the law and the prophets on this theme.  Today, we venture into the New Testament.

4. Christ’s offering is fragrant and acceptable to God.  We see this in at least two places in the New Testament.

Ephesians 5:2.  Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  In Exodus, “fragrant” always described the incense.  Here, we have evidence of Christ’s offering on the golden altar and the sacrifice on the bronze altar.

Hebrews 5:7.  In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

5. The Gospel: We have a God who hears us.  In Christ, our prayers get behind the veil. In the nostrils of God our prayers are a fragrant offering because they have the scent of his son.  This is seen most convincingly in Revelation.

Rev 5:8. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

 Rev 8:3-4. Another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, w the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.

In both of these texts, the prayers of the saints, are received in the presence of God, because they emit the fragrance of Christ’s sacrifice, as they are always lifted in the name and power and intercession of Jesus Christ.  This then leads to our application.

6. Christian Application: Pray. Pray confidently (Heb 4:16). Pray often (1 Thess 5:17). Pray in Christ’s name.  More specifically, let me list three points of application.

We do not come before God in our own name.  On our own, our works are an aroma of death and dung before God.  But in Christ, our prayers are a pleasing scent to God.  He delights for you and I to come and speak with him, because he “smells” his Son on us.  Thus in Christ, Proverbs 15:8 applies to us.

Proverbs 15:8. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.

Now, you and I are not upright.  The law condemns our sin and unrighteousness.  But with Christ as our altar of incense, his righteousness covers us, and our unrighteous prayers are covered by his blood.  So that, they are pleasing to the Father!

The prayers that the enter heaven are prayers that are effective.  The good news of prayers by New Covenant believers is that they are not only empowered and directed by the Spirit, but they are guaranteed to have effect as we pray according to God’s will.

By extension, this means that God does not listen to the prayers of unbelievers. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”  That is the perpetual state for those who don’t know Christ.

Because Christ is our fragrant offering to God, when we come in his name before the Father, we will never be turned away.  This is a great word that calls us to pray with greater intensity.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Sermon Notes: The Sweet-Smelling Aroma of Prayer (OT)

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TEST CASE # 2 :: The Altar of Incense (Exodus 30:1-10; 34-38)

For the last two days, we have looked at Exodus 29 and the consecration of the priesthood, today we will move to a section of the tabernacle furniture that is a little more obscure: The Altar of Incense.  How should we understand this instrument in the law, in the prophets, in relationship to Christ, in the way it points to the gospel, and in our own lives?  To answer such a question we must begin in the OT and work our way to the NT.

Again, following the five-fold model (Law, Prophets 1 &2, Christ, Gospel, Christian Application) presented here, our aim today is to better understand the “good news” of the altar of incense and how the Old Testament prepares us for Christ’s fulfillment of this golden altar.

1. God commands Moses to build an altar of incense.  In brief, notice three things in verses 1-10—(1) the construction (v. 1-5); (2) the location (v. 6); (3) the function (v. 7-10).

Construction. Like everything else inside the holy place, the altar of incense was made of acacia wood, and covered with gold (v. 1, 3).  It was to be about 18 inches across and 18 inches in depth, and it stood 3 feet tall (v. 2).  Like the altar in the courtyard, it had horns on all four-sides.  And like everything else in the holy place, it was made to be portable.  Thus, it had rings of gold so that poles could be used to carry it.  These two were made of acacia wood and covered in gold (v. 5).

Location.  Also important is the location.  In verse 6, Moses records, “And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is avoe the testimony, where I will meet with you.”  The location is important because it was the last piece of furniture the priest would pass before entering behind the veil; likewise, when the priests offered incense they were coming near to God.  Leviticus 16:18 describes the location in these terms: “Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it.”

So on the Day of Atonement, the priest applied the blood to the altar of incense after applying blood the mercy seat, and significantly the altar of incense sat in front of the veil.

Function.  Verses 7-10 explain the function of the altar. Verse 7 says Aaron would burn incense on it.  Morning and evening, fresh incense would rise for this little golden altar.

What was this incense?  Verses 34-38 supply the answer:

The LORD said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you. And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the LORD. Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.”

 Clearly, there was God-ordained way to make the incense for the altar.  We cannot reproduce it because we do not quite know what the substance are, or what the proportion were.  But it was clear “You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it” (v. 9).  Moreover, it was only to be used for incense and not a burnt offering, a grain offering, or a drink offering (v. 9b).  And finally, like all the other elements of the tabernacle, it needed to be cleansed by the blood of the yearly sin offering (v. 10).

What does it symbolize?  Location hints at its purpose, as does the imagery of the smoke rising to God.  In fact, while some scholars have said that the incense served the purpose of covering the odor of the priests and their work; it is better to see that the smoke did not simply remain in the Holy Place.  It went behind the veil.  While Israel’s high priest could not enter behind the veil, but once a year.  The incense was constantly wafting into the presence of God.

And it is no wonder that altar of incense became synonymous with prayer in Old Testament and the New Testament.

Psalm 141:1-2 makes this clear: “A Psalm of David. O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!

Luke 1:8-11 is also helpful.  While this passage is in the New Testament, it must be remembered that it is still an Old Covenant age: Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

So clearly, there is a connection between the altar of incense and prayer.  But there is also a connection between this altar and the bronze altar that stands outside the holy place.  Philip Ryken helps us relate the two:

[B]y calling it an altar, God was making a connection between what happened on the great bronze altar out in the courtyard and what happened on the little golden altar inside the tabernacle.  Both altars were square, and both had horns rising up on their corners.  So there was something similar about their shape.  Also, they were both used at the same time of day.  Remember that the priests offered incense at dawn and at dusk.  Something else important was happening at the same time, both morning and evening: Priests were out in the courtyard offering a sacrificial lamb.  These daily religious rituals were synchronized.  Thus there was a close connection between the two altars, in both their design and their function… The connection between the two altars served as a daily reminder that the life of prayer depends on having a sacrifice for sin.  What secures a place for us before the throne of God’s grace is the atoning blood that was shed for our sins.  This is why God hears our prayers (Exodus:Saved for God’s Glory, 927).

Now for the question: How did Israel do at keeping this law?

2A. Nadab and Abihu, sons mentioned in Exodus, burn unauthorized fire in Leviticus 10, and are struck dead because of their willful—and perhaps drunken—disobedience.

Leviticus 10:1-3. Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD has said, ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.'” And Aaron held his peace.

2B. Uzziah, King of Judah, overcome with pride attempts to offer incense on the altar without prayer and without a priest.  The result?

2 Chron 26:16-21. But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the LORD who were men of valor, and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the LORD God.” Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the LORD, by the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the LORD had struck him. And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the LORD. And Jotham his son was over the king’s household, governing the people of the land.

In addition to these historical (and prophetic) accounts, if you look at Ezekiel 8, you will find the prophet touring the temple and seeing false worship in all corridors, thus contaminating any sort of prayer life or altar of incense. The question is: Are there any hopeful prophesies for a better altar of incense?

3. Malachi, in the midst of God’s judgment, looks to a day when incense will rise before God from all over the earth—perhaps indicating a day when the temple is larger than a mountain in Jerusalem.

Malachi 1:11. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incese will be offered to my name, and a pure offering.  For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.

What about in the New Testament?  Do we have evidence that Christ fulfills this? We do, and we will check it out tomorrow.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss


Top Ten Books of 2009 (D.V.) :: A Call for Prayer

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Lord willing (Deo volente), the next year or two will have a host of books that will benefit and uplift Christ’s church.  Many of these books are from SBTS professors, others from some of the choicest biblical theologians today.  Below is a list of ten books that, Lord willing, will be appearing soon:

1. The Cradle, The Cross, and The Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament by Andreas Kostenberger.

2. Adopted for Life by Russell Moore.

3. The Center of Biblical Theology by Jim Hamilton. 

4. History of Southern Seminary by Southern Professor Greg Wills.

5. Doctrine of the Church book in the Crossway series by Gregg Allison.

6. Doctrine of Christ book in the Crossway series by Stephen Wellum.

7. Commentary on 2 Corinthians in the Pillar series by Mark Seifrid.

8. Hebrews commentary in the Pillar series by P.T. O’Brien. 

9. Colossians commentary in the BECNT series by G.K. Beale. 

10. Commentary on Galatians by Tom Schreiner.

As we look forward to these resources, may we be faithful to pray for the men who writes these labor-intensive tomes.  Studying under, working with, learning from, and worshiping alongside the professors at Southern, I have grown in my thankfulness for their ministries and more aware of the need to pray for them.  (See Pray for a Professor).  They sacrifice much and labor strenuously to provide us with such excellent scholarship. 

May we thank the Lord for the gifts he gives to his church in these men (cf. Eph. 4:11ff; Gal. 6:6:6ff), and let us pray for them.  May the Lord support his servants of the Word and give them wisdom, biblical clarity, and Christ-honoring fidelity as they write the books we will read.  May Christ receive all the glory as these books edify the church.

Sola Deo Gloria, dss

Hollywood and the Holy Word: Substance, Supplication, and the President-Elect

/ davidsschrock

What if Barack Obama were white?  Would he have been elected by such a large margin?  I’m uncertain.  It’s interesting that this election was decided as much, if not more, by the color of Obama’s skin than the content of his character.  From the polling data broadcast tonight, it seems many voted for Barack Obama for the sole reason that it is time to elect an African-American president. I don’t disagree. I rejoice in that our country has a black president. But if that is only qualifier for office, it mutes the political, ideological, moral, and even theological issues at stake.

(Interestingly, if people voted only on the superficiality of skin color, it is the converse of MLK Jr’s famous speech, which advocated human appraisal based on the content of our character and not the color of our skin.  With that said, let me say Obama’s election is a milestone inconceivable 100 years ago and unforeseen even within recent decades.  Thus, today’s election stands as a victory for civil rights. For that we give God praise).

Nevertheless, in opposition to those who laud Obama with Messianic ascriptions, I am concerned about the substance of his character and what he stands for in his personal morality and in his political agenda(s).  He is smooth talker, an ear tickler, and a heart warmer, but is he a man of righteous character, integrity, and political justice?  Time will tell.  Every tree bears fruit.

But time has already begun to tell, and much observable fruit has already fallen.  So that in electing Obama as the 44th president, the American people have willfully elected the most pro-abortion, pro-homosexual (and thus anti-family) president in the history of the United States.  Barack’s unwillingness to defend the unborn and his positive affirmation of homosexuality do not just invite the Lord’s wrath they extend it (cf. Rom. 1).  The judgment of God has already been at work in our nation, as more than 40 million children’s lives have been snuffed out since 1973; likewise, the increase in homosexuality is a demarcation of a people that has lost its moral compass and has embraced a pernicious kind of lifestyle.  Abortion and sodomy do not only solicit solicit, they are in themselves part of God’s judgment.  Consequently, unless Obama’s stance on these issues changes radically, I fear that his rule will only further a culture of death and sacrifice decency and life on the altar of autonomous liberty and freedom of expression.  This is not true freedom (cf. John 8:31-32; Gal. 5:1).

His culpability is not isolated, however.  Since the American people hold in our collective grip the sword of government to defend the innocent and to promote justice, we as a nation will give an account to God for our disregard of His standards of justice and law, written on the hearts of men (cf. Rom 2:14-15).  Therefore, America as a whole, is responsible for the election of public officials who use the God-ordained sword of he state to shed the blood of those they are responsible to protect (cf. Rom. 13:1ff).  Sadly, based on previous statements and voting records, our president-elect will move ahead to deny life to the unborn and will promote legislation to obscure God’s design for marriage–hence implicitly distorting the gospel of Jesus Christ (cf. Ephesians 5:32).

As I reflect on the events of today, I am more convinced than ever that the American people are deceived by what they see and by what is put before their eyes (cf. 2 cor. 4:4).  The polls today reflected what I would call the “Hollywood Effect.”  Because Barack Obama looked presidential, the American people type-cast him for the role.  In this, the voters acted less like a responsible republic and more like a studio casting agency.  Obama’s speech, his demeanor, his poise, and his looks won him the part.  Compared to the track-record of John McCain, Barack’s political history lacks substance, but his crowd-pleasing performances captured his critics glances and overcame his diminutive experience.  In a world of special effects, scripted speeches, cyberspace, flash photography, and sound bites, our next President is a Hollywood star.

So, substance? Doubtful. Time will tell.  But, screenplay?  Absolutely.  The audience at home has voted.

While I am concerned with the next President of the United States, I will pray for him.  1 Timothy 2:1-4 tells me that God wants me to pray for rulers, that they might come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.  I have been convicted by this.  My own lack of prayer for political legislation and political leaders has become increasingly evident as election day arrived.  I have, myself, too often lacked substance in my life–looking spiritual but failing to lift holy hands and prayer.  Yet, in response to recent events, that must change.  I do not want to be a Hollywood Christian, one who could be typecast for the part; I want to be a genuine believer shaped by the Holy Word.

As we close this day and begin a new season in the life of our country, may Christians redouble their prayers for the new president.  May we pray for his salvation and that God would change his mind about abortion, marriage, and other issues of justice.  May we cry to the Lord for mercy, because Americans as a nation are the ones who turns the sword on its own children, who glories in the shame of same-sex unions, and rejoices in both as autonomous freedoms and cultural rites of passage.  May we, the people of God, cry to God for mercy so long as these Christ-rejecting evils persist, and may we pray that our next President not add to the horror but wield the sword well.

Sola Deo Gloria, ds