Can the death of an icon be a good measure of our faith?

I’ve not written here for quite a while. So long in fact that it is likely that those who follow me on their RSS feed will probably be the only ones who might read this. But today’s events have stirred up a few sentiments that I must express in writing somewhere. So welcome back from your quarantine, blog of mine!

I opened up facebook this morning, and saw a flood of statuses concerning Michael Jackson, and some to Farrah Fawcett as well. To be honest, I have no clue who Farrah Fawcett is. So much so that I had to wiki her, wondering whether I might have seen her before. The answer was still no. I suppose I’m either too young or too culture unsavvy. But we all know who Michael Jackson is.

How should Christians ought to respond to the death of a cultural icon like Michael Jackson? I think this is  a bold statement to make, but I think our response is a good measure of our faith. To be clear, I use faith here in the sense of our tangible belief in the Trinitarian God of Christianity and the living relationship that belief in Jesus brings about. Now this might have confused the issue somewhat, so a simpler way to put it might be to say how well we know God and treasure him, and so become like him as we behold him.

There are 3 general ways one can respond. I didn’t really have to be too creative on this point. All I had to do was go through all the live messenger and facebook statuses.

1. Nonchalance

We might express a casual lack of concern, simply because these people meant nothing to us. I think this response is only half right. It may be true that these people meant nothing to us, but because their death receives so much publicity, it ought to remind us that death afflicts everyone, and there are those who will die today who have not heard of Jesus. This should stir in us compassion for the lost people we currently know and spur us to much agonising prayer over the salvation of their souls, pleading for God to bring about his regenerating work through the Spirit in their hearts that they might have eyes to see the beauty of Jesus and place their trust in him.

2. Delight

Personally, I think this is a rather disgusting response. For Christians to say that the world is a better place without people like these reflects an attitude of self-righteousness, not unlike the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector told in the gospel of Luke. It is true that they did sinful things. We associate cultural icons with all manner of sinful behaviour, especially sexual immorality and wanton extravagance, and it is right to frown on such sinful behaviour. In fact, it is right to detest such behaviour. But we ought to detest such behaviour because they are abhorrent to God, so much so that to satisfy his standard of justice, he had to send Jesus to die in our place for our sins – and this includes us as well, because we are equally sinful in the sight of God – that we might receive forgiveness through his blood. The condemnation of sin in the Bible is accompanied by the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so our condemnation of sin ought to be accompanied by the gospel of Jesus, whose redeeming power ought to be daily applied to our lives in godly training and sin killing.

3. Sadness

Most Christians will respond in this manner. Culture makers like Michael Jackson are bound to leave an indelible mark somewhere in our lives and so their death also signals the death of something in our lives. As humans, I think we do not create our identity but draw it from people and things, past and present. And so when any influence on our lives passes out of this world, a hole is left in our identity that we mourn over. We say our condolences, maybe a simple rest in peace, or express our shock or sadness. There is a subgroup, who might just utter these platitudes because they feel that is the appropriate thing to say, but I would throw them into the category of nonchalance. (More worryingly, it is increasingly popular for people to mourn inappropriately over the death of celebrities for no perceivable rational reason, as we saw with Diana, and more recently with Big Brother participant Jade Goody. I might explore this at some point in the future.)

I think this response falls short of the grief God expects us to have. We are to be sad, not because we have lost someone that meant something to our lives, but because someone like Michael Jackson is headed to hell, having never been reconciled with God through Jesus, insofar as we know. We grief over those who have not had the opportunity to treasure the supremacy of Christ in their lives. All the more because this person meant something to us, we ought to make every effort to preach the gospel to those we love who have not heard or placed their trust in Jesus. There is added urgency, increased compassion and a stoked passion for the supremacy of God to be made known in the mercy he offers all through Jesus.

Can the death of an icon be a good measure of our faith? Yes. Because they are icons, their sins and death are public affairs. And so their stir to the forefront of our lives thoughts and feelings we would otherwise leave unheeded. These are problems that afflict us all. All have sinned. And all will die. But as Christians, we know that the sting of death is sin. People are afraid to die, because they refuse or cannot acknowledge the glory of God. To many of us, death seems like leaving behind all that is good in the world for something unknown. For people who do not belief in the afterlife, death seems like non-existence, away from all the goodness this life has had to offer. And to those aware of the reality of hell, in whatever form, where our sins are condemned, death seems like an awful prospect. But God has sent Jesus. He has defeated the devil who held the power of death. The accusations of Satan do not hold because we have an advocate, Jesus, who will vouch for our righteousness on the Day of Judgment. There is no sting. More so, we have been reconciled into the family of God. It is a glorious hereafter, in which each chapter is better than the one before. Christians must learn to immerse themselves more and more in the reality of heaven by knowing God better and treasuring his many perfections.

Our response to the death of a cultural icon is a good measure of how well we know God, and how much we treasure him. The more we know and treasure him, the more compassion we will feel towards those who are lost. We feel compassion because they do not yet know the joys he offers those in fellowship with him. Undergirding that compassion is the fact that God is not known! And where he is not known, he will only be glorified by his justice and wrath, and not infinitely more by his love and mercy. If we responded with delight, we must learn to humble ourselves and see that we were once children of wrath, saved only by grace. If we respond with nonchalance, we must be reminded that death afflicts us all, and that God has deigned us to be instruments for proclamation of the gospel of Jesus and fulfill this urgent calling. If we respond with sadness, we must cultivate this into grief. Grief for the lost. Grief that God is not known. Grief that does not incapacitate us but propels us to make the most of every opportunity to proclaim the gospel of Jesus.

Having found out about the death of Michael Jackson, I was somewhat shocked. But I felt little sadness at the fact that he had not known Jesus. And this nonchalance struck me to the very core of my being. Why is my capacity for compassion so small? It is because I have yet to plumb the depths of the glory of God. Every fibre of my being does not scream of the greatness of the Saviour. The ignorance of God does not pain me. I do not know him or treasure him enough yet. In this way the death of MJ is a good measure of my faith. It calls me to repent of my sinful disregard for God and my selfish living and lack of love for the lost and make every effort to know and treasure God better. But even now I am thankful that God is gracious and has not left me to wallow deeper and deeper in my sin but offers forgiveness and calls me to action for the sake of his name.

Also, check out this related post on Between Two Worlds: http://theologica.blogspot.com/2009/06/michael-jackson-1958-2009.html

Gospel exhaustion

So you’ve heard it all before. Celebrated a bunch of Good Fridays and Easter Sundays. Sang The Wonderful Cross a million times. Maybe even read all 4 gospels 100 times over, and the rest of the New Testament 50 times over. Surely it’s time to move on to more ’spiritually mature’ topics. Let’s try to understand Jewish culture so we can understand the OT a little more. Let’s try to figure out what current events are referred to in Revelation. Let’s talk about doctrines of the Trinity and election and spiritual gifts and the will of God. Surely the gospel is only for evangelism or worth repeating for new believers.

This sort of thinking permeates the church today. I’m no exemption. I’ve experienced before what might be called ‘gospel exhaustion’ and in truth, often still do. If you wonder whether you suffer the same thing, ask yourself several of the following questions. Do you see the gospel as the central theme of the whole Bible? Do you get all excited when your pastor preaches the gospel as if you’re hearing it all over again for the first time? Is the gospel central to all your prayers? Do you think that the gospel is essential to both the mature Christian and the unbeliever? Do you see the whole of the Christian life as one shaped by the gospel? Does your heart warm and your mind race when you read the gospel? Are you saddened by believers who get so caught up in the so called ‘deeper doctrines’ of the Christian faith that they see the gospel as inconsequential? Does the gospel inform the way you live life and relate with other people? Do you find it difficult to keep from proclaiming the gospel to friends? 

If you answer no to any of them, and these questions are certainly not exhaustive, then I would diagnose you as suffering from gospel exhaustion.

Let me get something clear from the outset. By gospel I mean the good news that Jesus, the Son of God, died for us so that we might live, was raised to life as proof of this, ascended to the Father’s right hand in heaven, and will come again to bring judgment against the wicked and restoration for his people.

Most of the time we see the gospel as the doorway into the kingdom of God. We see it as the gate of salvation and nothing more. What I wish to do over the next few posts is to show that the gospel is not only the gate of salvation, but the road of salvation and the song of the saved. We must dispel this gospel exhaustion that intrudes into the heart of every Christian, learn to see life through the lens of the gospel and see it as the eternal source of our joy. 

We must learn to say from the depths of our soul the words of John Newton:

“I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great Saviour!”

The vantage point of redemptive history

It’s a funny thing to have your birthday on Easter Sunday. Birthdays are a celebration of yet another year of life. Easter Sunday is a celebration of the giver of life being raised to life from the dead, and in so doing gives life to all who believe in him. It’s all too easy to miss the connection. The reason we can celebrate yet another year of life on earth is because the Son of God has been raised to life.

We do not live like people who dread the end of life. We do not live like people who ignore the reality of death. We do not live like people toiling to leave a mark on the world. We live like people who know that Christ is risen, death is defeated, and all that is wrong with the world will be made right. Because Christ has been raised, we too shall be raised. Because Christ has defeated death, we too are conquerors over death.

As a result, there is radical orientation of the way we ought to live. We do not fear death, because death cannot separate us from the true life we have, that is life in God through Christ.  We do not ignore death, but acknowledge the grief it brings and take it as a reminder that our hope is not in this world, but in the world to come. We do not toil in vain, but work heartily for the Lord, knowing that our reward is the inheritance we shall receive in heaven as sons of God, co-heirs of Christ.

And we celebrate birthdays, rejoicing over the life we have on this earth, but always setting our sights on the life that is to come. A life more rich and joyous, so much so that each present moment surpasses the glory of the past moments. The days of death and sorrow will be forgotten, as we are caught up in the neverending celebration of life. This is no ordinary life, but life in the Son, purchased by his blood. This is why the central song of the celebration of life is of the lamb who was slain. Easter is the vantage point of redemptive history, from which we can look upon a blood-stained cross and an empty tomb, and thus look forward to this glorious life that is to come, which we now see in the resurrected Christ, and which will soon be ours.

Suspended intimacy

John 8:29
And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.

Just how forsaken was Jesus?
In my previous post I wrote on how Jesus was forsaken by the Father in his last hours. I came across the verse above in my Bible reading today, and it struck me rather forcefully how truly forsaken Jesus was such that at the cross he would cry “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani” – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

He who sent me is with me. The Father was with Jesus throughout his ministry. He has not left me alone. The incarnation did not diminish the intimacy between Father and Son. More so, it increased it, for the incarnation pleased the Father. Jesus’ life on earth, as the second Adam, pleased the Father.

But note the connection. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.

The Father was with the Son because everything the Son did, the Father was pleased with. Everything we do, the Father is not pleased with, because as sinners, we do not honour him as God or give thanks to him. 

At the cross, the Son pleased the Father, possibly more than he had at anytime, if it is ever possible to compare infinite pleasure with greater infinite pleasure, in an ultimate demonstration of obedience, by laying down his life according to the Father’s will. But in this crowning moment of obedience, his Father left him completely alone. He had to. The Father had to pour out his wrath on the sin of the world, which was laid on his Son. The Son pleased the Father, yet experienced the complete opposite. Just how forsaken was Jesus? To the extent that the foundation of the intimacy between Father and Son had to be suspended for those final hours. 

This is the price he had to pay on behalf of all our sin. In order that we might please the Father, the Son was forsaken in our place. So we can now say, “The Father has not left me alone, for the Son always do the things that are pleasing to the Father.” 

I say suspended, because the Son now sits enthroned at the Father’s right hand, in all the glory and splendour he had before the foundation of the world. The Father did not leave him alone forever, for he was pleased with him, and raised him from the dead and exalted him to the highest place. To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!

Hallelujah, what a Saviour!

Matthew 3:16-17
And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” 

Matthew 17:5-6
He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.    

The Intimacy between Father and Son
From eternity past to eternity future, the Father’s love for the Son, Jesus Christ, is uniquely intimate. The Son is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18). The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he is doing (John 5:20). He is pleased to honour his Son above all else. He commands the disciples to listen to his Son. We must try to comprehend what we can of the intimacy between the Son and the Father. Only then can we begin to grasp the depth of the love of the Father and Son for sinners like us.

The Sorrowful Son
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.  Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” (Matthew 26:36-38)

Jesus began to be sorrowful and troubled. There is a level of sorrow at Gethsemane that surpasses anything Jesus had felt. He was sorrowful, even to death. Luke’s account states that Jesus prayed till his sweat became tinged with blood. We must labour to comprehend how troubled the soul of the Son of God was.

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. (v.39-44)

Jesus was troubled by the cup placed in front of him. He prayed thrice that the Father would remove the cup. The thought of having to drink it troubled him greatly. We must ask, what is the cup Jesus refers to?

This is none other than the cup of the Father’s wrath. The Son of God must drink it all. For God to be just and the justifier of those who believe, His wrath must be spent. It is difficult to begin to fathom the offense of our sin to a holy God. The most precious Being in all of creation, who Himself is uncreated and the Creator of all that exists, has been wronged. He has been dishonoured, ignored, even vilified, by his creation. His anger burns hotter than all the stars in the universe. It must be spent. The Son of God willingly drank it all up. 

The Forsaken Son
I wish to quote an excerpt from Mahaney’s book, Living the Cross-Centered Life. It captures the essence of the depth of the love of God for sinners like us in a way I can’t.

Jesus entered the garden ‘to be with the Father for an interlude before his betrayal, but found Hell rather than Heaven open before him.’ Knowing the hour for His death is fast approaching, Jesus has come here in need as never before of His Father’s comfort and strength. instead, hell – utter separation from God – is thrust in His face.

We hear Him cry out: Father – is there an alternative? Is there any way to avoid this? If there’s a way this cup could pass from Me, would you please provide that to Me?

Silence. We can see it in His face – Jesus receives no answer to this desperate entreaty.

A second time He pleads for an alternative to that horror of abandonment by His Father. If such an alternative existed, the Father would most surely provide it. But the obedient Son’s plea to His loving Father is met with silence. Why?

Listen to this verse again for the very first time: For God so loved the world…that He is silent to His Son’s agonising appeal.

This is what bearing our sin means to Him – utter distress of soul as He confronts total abandonment and absolute wrath from His father on the cross, a distress and an abandonment and a rejection we cannot begin to grasp.

In this, our Saviour’s darkest hour…do you recognise His love for you?

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is,“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46)

In the forsaken cries of the Son, there is infinite mystery. The infinitely intimate and inseparable bond of love between Father and Son, is seemingly broken. The cry ought to chill us to our very bones. For at this hour, the wrath of God towards sinners is poured upon the Son He loves and delights in over everything and everyone else. In this moment, the Father says to us, “I loved you so much that I offered up my only Son as a lamb for you.” In this moment, as the Son cries out for the Father’s comforting presence and only finds His wrath, he looks at us and says, “I drain this cup for you – for you who have lived in defiance of me, who have hated Me, who have opposed Me. I drink it all…for you.” (Mahaney)

What then should we say to all this?
If we gaze upon the cross of Jesus and can’t help but see his love for sinners, we cannot help but say three things. As we see the sorrowful Son facing up to the price he must pay for the sins of the world, it compels us to repentance, to turn away from our old sinful way of life. As we see the Son of God forsaken in our place, we see a King worthy of our allegiance and are drawn to  follow him. And as we see the Son of God on the cross looking down at us and saying, “I drink it all for you,” our hearts dissolve in thankfulness and our eyes melt with tears as we cry “Hallelujah, what a Saviour!”

Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
“Full atonement!” can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Unbelief is a moral issue

Here’s something rather interesting I came across while reading Total Church.

How do we employ rational apologetics in our evangelism today? By rational apologetics, I mean intellectually reasoning out defences for the Christian faith, against questions such as:

• Why is there suffering in the world?
• Can a loving God send people to Hell?
• Surely the Bible is a fictional book, especially when it comes to supernatural things like miracles.
• How reliable is the Bible?

I think many of us fall into two extremes in regard to the use of apologetics in evangelism. One extreme is that we treat apologetics as a sufficient tool to bring people to the point of belief in Jesus. This is based on the premise that most people are ignorant, and that intellectual reasoning can convince a person to place their faith in Jesus. The other extreme is that we dismiss apologetics as a tool in evangelism, either because we think it should be left to the experts or ’smarter’ Christians, or because we believe that there is no room for intellect in the Christian faith.

The authors offer good insight as to how we ought to employ rational apologetics. Succintly put, the problem of unbelief is not an intellectual issue, but rather a moral issue. As Paul puts it, “men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18). There is a place for rational apologetics. Peter exhorts Christians everywhere to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks them to give the reason for the hope that they have” (1 Peter 3:15). There is a manner in which we ought to use rational apologetics. “But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience.” This is because the Christian faith is a reasonable faith.

Nevertheless it is faith – it requires us to believe in the invisible God, who reveals Himself as He pleases. And He has fully revealed Himself in the person of Jesus, who fully revealed Himself on the cross. But the cross is “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles”; however “to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, it is the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:23-24). Rational apologetics can help us establish reason, but faith is a gift of God. It is a gift that comes when God opens our blind eyes and deaf ears, and removes our hostility towards Him, so that we can see and hear and savour the truth and beauty of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, don’t expect to convince an unbeliever to come to Christ by mere reasoning alone. It needs more than that. It needs the miracle of new birth. But skillfully wielded, rational apologetics can reveal that unbelief is not a matter of reason. It can expose the rebellious hearts of unbelievers. If unbelievers come face to face with their naked hostility towards God, perhaps God might give them eyes to see it for what it truly is. 

Additional note: The authors go on to suggest that we ought to employ relational apologetics as unbelief is a relational issue. There is merit in their argument, and I wholly agree with Francis Schaeffer’s view that the church is the ultimate apologetic, in that our relationship with one another is the criterion which the world uses to judge the truth of our message. As the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words. Nevertheless, we needs words to give proper context to the actions. So let us not make the opposite error of living without thinking  even as we strive to avoid thinking without living.

Intro: Looking at the cross

How important is the gospel to you? What do you think and feel and do when you hear that God became the God-man Jesus, was tempted as we were, suffered many things, died a horrible death on a cross, yet lived a life of perfect obedience, thus sufficiently paying the full price of our sin – death, was raised three days later as proof that He paid the price in full, ascended into heaven where He sits enthroned above all things, having decisively defeated the power of sin,  and even now calls people into His kingdom by His Spirit, who also comforts, teaches, guides and sanctifies the church?

I perenially struggle with this question. I do not struggle because I do not know what the answer to it ought to be. The answer is that the gospel is of first importance. Jesus ought to be at the center of all that we do – this is what it means to declare Him Lord. The good news that we have a Saviour who died in our place, a Lord who commands our alleigance, a Mediator who reconciles us to the glorious Father, a Friend and Brother who identifies with our sufferings and temptations, a Shepherd who will lead us home, and a Head over the church ought to inform all matters of faith and conduct. Rather, I struggle because I realise how far short I fall of this sort of thinking and feeling and living.

What is the gospel? The way I would phrase it is that we can enter into the fellowship of the Godhood if we entrust ourselves to Jesus. To entrust ourselves to Jesus means to place our lives in His hands. When He died, we died. We were crucified with Him to the world, and the world to us. When He rose again, so did we into the newness of life. He died our death. And our lives are found in Him. We are mysteriously and gloriously united to the Son. We are in the Kingdom of the Son, having entered by the blood He shed on our behalf. The gate to the kingdom is simply, “Repent, and believe the good news!” Our repentance identifies us with the Son in His death on the cross. And our faith identifies us with the Son in His glorious, resurrected life, who is at the right hand of the Father, where there are pleasures forevermore. We enter into the fellowship of the Triune God when we entrust ourselves to Jesus.

This is something that should never grow old. We ought to never tire of it. Yet the world, the flesh and the devil can cool these flames. They will not extinguish them, but they can cool them. Then, when the gospel grows cold and wearisome, we must look afresh at the sinfulness of our sin and the righteousness of Jesus. We must return time and time again to the cross of Christ where our sin and His righteousness are laid bare for all the world to see.

This is what I hope to do over the next 3 weeks in the lead up to Easter. I wish to look at the cross of Christ. It is important that our hearts and minds burn with the flames of the gospel if we are to live holy lives. I hope to stoke these flames up by working through several sections of the Bible.

Attention EP, Kristian Stanfill

This is one sweet album! It’s a rare combination of the two things that matter most – well crafted lyrics and musical hooks that grab you from the outset. The only letdown is that this is the EP. I can’t wait till April to hear the album in its entirety.

Why do you read your Bible?

This is an important question we should ask ourselves regularly.

At one level, I read the Bible because God has won my love and I want to know Him better.

Yet at another level, I read the Bible because it’s what I ought to do as a Christian. It’s a duty issue, or merely a habit.

And on some level, I read the Bible because I want to increase my knowledge of God – not that I’ll know God better, but so that I’ll be the smart go-to guy on theological matters. It really becomes a matter of one’s identity and pride.

If that wasn’t enough, I sometimes read the Bible because I want to be more spiritual than other Christians. It becomes a sort of competition, where you try to score more points than everyone else. If you have more points, then you are more respected.

This even supposes that I get round to reading my Bible. 

It really disgusts me when I look at myself this closely. Why do I really read the Bible? I wished I read it for the very first reason only. I don’t want to read it for selfish reasons. I want to read it for God-glorifying reasons. It’s just so hard to keep our motives pure.

If God judged our motives, we would be left an utter wreck. Thank God that it’s not up to me to earn favour with Him. No, I have an advocate, Jesus Christ, who died for my sins once and for all, who bore the judgment of God and became my righteousness, and reconciled me to a holy and loving God. I am justified and adopted into His family, because of what Jesus has done. Not because of what I have done. Nor because of what I will ever do.

If I can keep my eyes fixed on Jesus long enough, especially on the work He finished at the cross, then I believe I can finally read my Bible for God-glorifying reasons.

Watchman of the soul

The mind is the watchman of the soul. When we are born again, and we find our alleigance lies with Jesus, we are commanded to renew our minds with the truth of God’s Word. There is no other word under heaven that is infallible and inerrant, nor any other word that gives and sustains true spiritual life.  Informed by the life-giving truth of God’s Word, the mind learns to watch out for the enemies of God, that is the world, the flesh and the devil. It guards the soul from being dragged away and enticed by our sinful desires. It exposes these sinful desires as deceitful enemies that wish us no good. It sounds the alarm when it recognises the enemy is nigh. 

But the watchman needs to know who the enemy is. For the enemy is cunning, and disguises itself as a friend. Only the light of the truth of God’s Word can penetrate the dark disguise of our cunning foe. Therefore, the watchman must study. He must learn to recognise the telltale characteristics that give the enemy away. He must be familiar with the lies the enemy uses. More so, he needs to be acquainted with God, that he’ll be able to better distinguish friend from foe. The two stand in stark contrast to the other, and as black is made blacker by the whiteness of white, sin is all the more exposed in the light of holiness.

The watchman must also be ever vigilant. The enemy knows no rest, and is constantly plotting the downfall of the soul. The enemy is a clever strategist, and he watches us constantly, waiting to attack us in our moment of weakness. His malice is unrestrained, and he will not hesitate to unleash his fury on our soul when he sees the opportunity.  Therefore, we need to watch and pray, that we may not fall into temptation. 

And rest assured that should the watchman fail, and he certainly will, the security of our soul is vouched for by the One who bought it with His precious blood. He owns it, and He will not surrender it. Nor can He be forced to surrender it, for He is greater than the enemy – He has defeated the enemy!