Judgment

I was walking home from campus today and I saw a semi-circle of students surrounding one of those campus-preacher men. This man wasn't really that crazy. He was really trying and being respectful, although rambling was definitely happening. What do college students say to such a man? They go for the jugular. They pry straight into the divine majesty and ask, "Why does God damn so many? How can that be love? What about babies? What about people who have never heard God's Word?" It was a tragic scene. They laughed at him. They thought they were doing what was right and good and that they were defending love and freedom. But the whole time they were saying that they were without sin. They were deceiving themselves.
The thought of hell scares the living daylights out of me. What Christian in this culture hasn't despaired of finding an answer to these mocking questions? What Christian's heart doesn't break that their hearts are so closed to hearing about God's love? How wide and deep and unconditional it is? I had to write about it. This is the last week of the Church year. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly! Somebody find me a tune, bitte, bitte.  

Someone found me one.  "Kommt Her Zu Mir" or "O Little Flock".  Thank you!  I would wish myself cursed if the poor sinners who deny God's judgment would recognize it and repent.

How sudden will that Day appear,
When all the world is rapt in fear,
And mockers stand in silence;
As Noah preached and was ignored,
So all who laugh at Jesus' word
Will tremble at His sentence.

What right do we as creatures have
To tell our Savior how to save?
He died and He is risen.
And though like sheep we go astray
The Word is near us, now, today,
To break us out of prison.

Whoever dares to question God
Walks on the broad and bitter road
That calls the good the evil.
He does not see the depth of sin,
He does not see that deep within
He listens to the devil.

They call it cruel that God could damn,
I call it love that Christ the Lamb
Was damned for our transgression;
I call it grace that God would call
One sinner from his guilty fall
And give to him salvation.

They call it foolish that a God
Would take on flesh and shed his blood,
Yet many will have perished;
I only know my God's desire,
Who poured on Christ His judgment's fire,
To save a world He cherished.

I only know Christ's love still burns
For those who hate him - still He yearns
To call them now to Heaven,
To break their hearts, expose their sin,
But then to pour His blessing in
And tell them they're forgiven.

Christ, turn our minds from mockery,
From doubts and false security,
But help us trust and fear you;
Until the Judgment Day appears
When we are stripped of doubts and fears
And rise up to revere you.

What Do I Know of Holy II

This post is a response to Jenny from Addison Roads, who gave a very thought-provoking explanation to the meaning of their song “What do I know of Holy.” You can find her statement here. You can find what she was responding to here. Sorry for the confusion. It is delightful to be able to converse about the meaning of poetry. I was only reading today some words of Luther, "next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. She is a mistress and governess of those human emotions...which as masters govern men or more often overwhelm them...For whether you wish to comfort the sad, to terrify the happy, to encourage the despairing, to humble the proud, to calm the passionate, or to appease those full of hate...what more effective means could you find than music?" Then lets talk about it!

Dear Jenny,

Thank you for you taking an interest in my questions and for your thoughtful responses; I now understand more fully where you were coming from when you wrote your song. You wrote, “the words themselves are not empty, but the person receiving the words is.” I am very glad that this is your intention. I’ve sometimes heard people say that Church was meaningless to them until they had an awe-inspiring experience; but either they don’t mean to say this or they don’t understand. If the Word of God was spoken there then it had meaning; only their hearts were hardened and they weren’t listening. And often, since my youth, I’ve looked back at my life and seen how I’ve denied my Lord in word and deed and questioned whether all that I said about God was true, but then I am rebuked by Jesus, who says “the words I speak to you are spirit and they are life,” and “all flesh is like grass...but the Word of our God will stand forever.” I can’t say that God’s Words are empty even if I don’t mean them. This is an important point for me, because it means that even if I have played the hypocrite I can return to the foundation on which my faith rests, which I was taught as a little boy:

I know my faith is founded / on Jesus Christ, my God and Lord,
And this my faith confessing / unmoved I stand upon His Word,
Man’s reason cannot fathom / the truth of God profound,
Who trusts her subtle wisdom / relies on shifting ground,
God’s Word is all-sufficient / it makes divinely sure
And trusting in its wisdom / my faith shall rest secure.

I’m also glad that you see your song as a confession. I’m only curious, I’ve always thought a confession contains a didactic element to it. Do you see it the same way?

Is God’s holiness terrifying? I think it is. Isaiah was terrified. “I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips.” God is set apart from anything unclean and anything sinful. He is completely above anything that has any taint of sin, any idle word, any shred of shame. He is holy. But can this knowledge brings us closer to God? A God who has nothing to do with sin won’t be near sinners. It would seem that realizing how wretchedly sinful and weak we are compared to the only holy One who rules all things and shows his power in terrible and frightening ways - it would seem that this realization brings me down to my knees too, like it did Isaiah. But this is the God who hides himself in a cloud of holiness. If we try to look at God in his sovereignty or try to view his glory apart from Him who is strong to save, we will find ourselves definitely awed, but eventually despairing.

So your song sparked this question in me: when we view God’s holiness what should we do? I think we should do what Job did when God told him his holiness, what Isaiah did when God showed him his holiness, what Peter did when he saw Jesus’ divine power - we should repent. We should despair of ourselves and say, “what do I know of holy?” because my deeds certainly point to utter ignorance in the matter; “what do I know of holy?” because my thoughts have strayed constantly to things unholy. But the truth that is true no matter how many trite worship songs cheapen it, no matter how many people take advantage of it and use it as a cloak for vice, no matter how many people laugh at it because it doesn’t bring the results that Joel Osteen claims he can give you, this truth is that when we were separate from a holy and righteous God, He sent His holy Son to be born of a virgin for our sakes, to take on our mortal flesh and blood and to be holy among sinners. From the hairs on his head to his toenails He was holy. And He took all of our uncleanness, Isaiah’s and mine, and all of our complacency toward His Word, and every thought, word and deed of unholiness and hatred and He carried it and was punished for it in my place and Isaiah’s and Job’s and yours. And just as God made His Son to be our sin on the cross, so He makes us to be His righteousness, that is He counts us holy for Jesus’ sake, just as He counted His Son to be the only sinner who ever lived, since all sin was placed on him.

I know I don’t know that hidden God who is so much more holy than I can fathom, but I do know Jesus. I know who He is. He told me. He comes from the bosom of the Father - from the center of His being - and He tells me that we do know God, that when we trust in Him, we are not merely on the shore of His ocean, but sitting in Heavenly places with Him right now (Eph. 1) If I ever forget this, God shows me His law which demands that I be holy as He is and I look at my behavior and see my need again for a Savior. And this has been happening my entire life. Tradition is only as deadly as our apathy is. Everything we do will become ritual and we will only know in part here on earth; we need daily repentance and faith in the Holy One of Israel, who moves us every day to sing a new song, for He has done marvelous things, His right hand and His holy arm have gotten him the victory.
Sincerely in Him,
Mark

A Debt to Poe

Edgar Allen Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an excellent experimenter with meter. His "To Helen" of 1831 is an excellent example of his skill at gently deviating from simple iambic meter and producing a flow of diction that is rarely found in English Literature. Yesterday I tried my hand at imitating this meter with a poem in honor of the Latin poet Statius (who accompanies Dante and Virgil for some of their tour), but today, I am thinking about my baptism and I thought I would give a hand toward it this way. I plan on learning this meter more thoroughly and probably revising the poem below. I would appreciate any encouragement or criticism, so please don't hesitate to comment! If anybody could tell me how to indent separate lines, I would be grateful. Thanks!

Jesus, thy Gospel is to me
Like that great ark of yesteryear
Which torrents raise above the sea,
Which keeps the faithful without fear
Till the dry lands appear.

A Flow of Red now frightens faith,
Thy holiest word, thy promised pow’rs,
Thy staff has struck proud Pharaoh's wrath
With the judgment that was ours,
With a life-bestowing death.

Look, in those weaker waters’ stream
How victim-like I see thee stand,
All righteousness within thy hand:
My baptism! Lead me with the Lamb
To Holy Land.

Response to "What Do I Know of Holy"

You can find the very moving song by Addison Road here on youtube with the lyrics. This song is very moving, but shows a very bad understanding of God's solution to our predicament. "I learned to talk about / How you were might to save / but those were only empty words on a page, / Then I caught a glimpse at what You might be / the slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees" What do I know of You? I know a lot. I know what you revealed to me on those pages that my flesh calls empty, but I know are the very pow'r of God to make me wise for salvation in Christ Jesus. When we catch a glimpse of the hidden God, how holy He is and terrible, how He is a consuming fire and He seems to show fury toward sin indiscriminately, do we marvel at this feeling and dwell there and celebrate it with a song, or do we ask God to lead us away from speculation and point us to the only Holy one Jesus Christ, who makes us holy? This hymn is dedicated to Addison Road. God grant that you might never doubt those words on the pages of Holy Scripture. You know of holy in them.

I know that Jesus Christ is holy,
A sinner though I was and am,
I look to Him and trust Him solely,
He is the holy spotless lamb
Once sacrificed for all my sin,
To bring me back to God again.

I find in Scripture’s stories written,
How after we had gone astray,
And done what justly was forbidden,
And turned to our own selfish way,
That God’s own Son came down to earth
In lowly, humble, holy birth.

And by His holy incarnation,
And by His holy suffering,
I claim my freedom and salvation
From all this sinful life my bring,
Unholy here, I still possess
Christ’s holy robe of righteousness.

If I am mortal, small and dying,
Yet Christ is all in all to me,
He counts my tears and soothes my sighing,
And though His face I cannot see,
I hear His Word of truth proclaim
That I am free from guilt and shame.

And now I sit in Heaven’s places,
My flesh will die with all my doubts
And all that shames and that disgraces
Will flee from joyous songs and shouts,
When Christ from death will raise my flesh,
A perfect body, pure and fresh.

Then will I see and not another
With these my eyes the one true God
And run to meet my Lord and Brother,
And praise Him as is right and good,
Since He is faithful to His Word,
Sing Holy, Holy, Holy Lord!

A Hymn I Have Not Heard

There is a hymn that I have not yet heard,

Whose lyrics I will learn some better day,

When all my sins and death is purged away,

When with my very eyes I see my Lord;

The seed of Abraham will form a choir,

While Moses, Hannah, David, Miriam, 

Around the throne of God and of the Lamb,

While Simeon and Mary sing with pow'r.

But here I sit and sing my blessed Bach,

My Martin, Thomas, Philip, Paul and Paul,

So many hymns, I can't recall them all,

But I know well what song I really lack:

That this is over - all this shame and sin,

That Christ my Lord at last has come again.

For Severin: Lord Jesus Christ, the Sinner's Friend

This hymn is written for my brother Paul's son, Severin. God grant that he might always know the sinner's Friend.

Tune: Herr Jesus Christ, du Hast Bereit't (Lord Jesus Christ, You Have Prepared/Bestowed), but please sing it faster!

1.

Lord Jesus Christ, the sinner’s friend,

See how my conscience cowers;

See how much I on You depend,

How weak are all my powers;

How daily I succumb to sin,

See how much doubt I waver in,

Come, Jesus, come, have mercy!

2.

And though my mind here cannot see

How my poor pray’rs could sway You,

And though I stand in poverty

And nothing have to pay You,

You make me look outside of me,

Where there is righteousness for free

In Your own life and suffering.

3.

All that our God demands of us

You, Son of God, fulfilled it;

You carried all unrighteousness

Because Your Father willed it;

God put on You our sin and shame,

God puts on us Your holy name:

Glory to You, O Jesus!

4.

What heart can handle all this love?

My heart for joy is singing,

Sinners below and saints above

Their grateful thanks are bringing;

Remember this, dear Christian soul,

You life is under Christ’s control,

His death has made you holy.

5.

Christ, when we lack true charity,

Send forth Your Holy Spirit,

He is our hope’s security,

He clothes us with Your merit,

He gives us faith to trust in You,

He moves in us the will to do

What serves and helps our neighbor.

6.

Then let us leave all doubt behind

In daily true repentance.

For in Your wounds we always find

What cleanses well our conscience;

And in Your words we find the way

Which never lets us go astray,

But lead at last to Heaven.

For Nadia

Nadia Christi was born to my brother's wife today. Thank God. What a wonderful gift from God! Her name means "hope of Christ."

Based on Psalm 144

Praise God, my brother, He it is who trains
Your hands for war, your mind to learn the art
Of wielding well the sword. The devil’s gains
Are lost when once God’s Word tears him apart.

Lord, what is man, that you regard him so?
But like a breath, he dissipates to dust,
But from the lies that men call knowledge flow
Their end - and it will surely come; it must.

A newer song we sing. Christ has been raised.
Nor grave nor dust could hold His flesh and blood;
For this we live our lives - Let God be praised!
We bring our sons and daughters to our God.

John, let your daughter be a cornerstone
Cut to uphold your house in Christ alone.