Abraham the Evangelist

I was preparing for my faith family's bible study and I came across a couple of interesting insights about Abraham in a commentary on Genesis. The first point involved Genesis 12:4-5

So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, (Genesis 12:4-5 ESV)[bolding mine]

When I first read the passage about "people that they had acquired," I thought Moses meant slaves. However Allen P. Ross in his commentary pointed out translating that phrase as "slaves" would probably be incorrect. Ross wrote the following observation about Genesis 12:5.

Tucked away in this verse, easily overlooked, is the expression "and the people [nepes] whom they had acquired [`asa] in Haran." This expression probably does not refer to the acquisition of slaves, for the Hebrew word nepes would not likely be used for that. And it certainly does not refer to their children, because Sarai was barren until Isaac's birth (21:1-7). Cassuto argues that this expression probably refers to proselytes (ibid., p.310). If he is correct, then the narrative implies that, already in Haran, Abram had been sharing his faith in the Lord. (p. 265, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis , Allen P. Ross)

I thought, "Cool, Abraham shared his faith in the friendly environs of Haran with his family around him." However, another observation in the commentary gave me an insight into Abraham's boldness. I read next in Genesis 12:7-9:

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb. (Genesis 12:7-9 ESV)

Abraham's responded to God's further revelation about the land going to his descendants was worship and calling upon the name of the Lord. In Ross's commentary the verb "called upon" can mean more than just prayer.

The response to God's confirming appearance was worship. The idea of sacrifice, presumed here with the building of an altar, continues the ancient form of expressing gratitude and devotion. But at the second mention of his building an altar to worship the Lord is the report that he "made proclamation of the Lord by name..." The expression, first used in Genesis 4:26 refers to the public proclamation of faith in the Lord. The expression is used in the Bible for prayer or for praise, but in Mosaic material it seems to be broader (although a public proclamation of the faith could include prayer and praise) Martin Luther translated it "preached" (predigte), a good rendering in this context.(p. 267, ibid)

So in summary, Abraham built an altar and preached about the one true God in the country of the pantheistic and antagonistic Canaanites. Abraham was bold in his faith even at this early stage. He messed up a few times, but Abram displayed a rare quality of faith that is praised in Hebrews 11.

The Holy Spirit's Role in Creation

The following quote by Michael Reeves is on the role of the Holy Spirit in creation. I never thought about the connection between the Holy Spirit's ministry and beauty before.

So, some Scriptures speak of creation as the work of the Father (it is conceived in his love); others speak of creation as the work of the Son (he brings about his Father’s will); but still others speak of it as the work of the Spirit. “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath [or Spirit] of his mouth” (Ps 33:6). How? What is the Spirit’s role? We have already seen that the Spirit empowers the Word, but he does even more: while the Son establishes and upholds all things (Heb 1:3), the Spirit perfects or completes the work of creation. Job 26:13 puts it delightfully: "By his breath [or Spirit] the skies became fair. In other words, the Spirit garnishes and beautifies the heavens and the earth. Our first vision of the Spirit, hovering dovelike in Genesis 1, captures something essential. It is that, like a mothering dove settling on her eggs, the Spirit vivifies, bringing what has been created to life. And so, while the Nicene Creed speaks of the Father as "Maker of heaven and earth," it speaks of the Spirit as the Lord and giver of life.

Life is something that God has always had, and in creation is it something he now shares with us. By his Spirit he breathes out life on us. And not just in the beginning: that is always the Spirit's work, to bring life. In the book of Job, Elihu says, "The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gave me life" (Job 33:4). Ongoingly in his creation, the Spirit vitalizes and refreshes. He delights to make his creation--and his creatures--fruitful. Isaiah writes of the time when "the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest" (Is 32:15). The psalmist sings: "When you send your Spirit, they [the creatures] are created, and you renew the face of the earth" (Ps 104:30). Small wonder, then, that creativity, the ability to craft, adorn and make beautiful, is a gift of the Spirit:

Then the Lord said to Moses, "See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts--to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship." ((Ex 31:1-5).

The Spirit makes his creation alive with beauty. (Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith by Michael Reeves)

The Rainbow in Genesis

I am reading a chapter in Sacred Bond about the Noahic covenant. The Noahic covenant is a covenant of common grace. God's makes promises to all men and all flesh. The rainbow is the sign God gives us that he remembers those promises. The authors spent some time on rainbows what it symbolizes to the ancient world and what it should symbolize to us today.

So what does the rainbow symbolize? There are two scholarly interpretations of the rainbow, both of which are worthy of mention. First, the Hebrew word for rainbow can mean either rainbow or bow, as in bow and arrow. God calls it "my bow" in verse 13. In ancient iconography, victorious kings and gods are pictured coming back from war with their bows in a horizontal position (like a rainbow). Going into battle, the king/god has the bow vertical in hand, ready to shoot; but after battle it is horizontal, symbolizing the peace after war. The rainbow, then, could be symbolic of God's war bow that hangs in the sky, symbolic of peace. God will not destroy the world again; he is no longer hostile.

Second, the ancients understood the sky or firmament as a dome-shaped barrier that held back the waters above, as in Genesis 1:6-7. Hence, when God judged the world in the flood, he opened the windows of heaven, releasing the waters above (7:11). In fact, the Hebrew word for flood refers more specifically to these celestial waters. Thus, God's promise is that he will never wipe out all flesh by the waters of the flood. The rainbow then visually represents the dome-shaped firmament as shut. The rainbow appears when it rains to show that the celestial waters will not be released.

The symbolic value of the rainbow could be either of these, or perhaps both. Either way, the effect of the symbol is clear. The rainbow reminds us that the floods will never come again. The beautiful arch points to God's promise that he will never judge the world by the waters of the flood. The firmament is shut; there is peace after the storm. (pp. 76-77, Sacred Bond: Covenant Theology Explored by Michael G. Brown and Zach Keele)

The Importance of Genesis 1-3

I'm trying to understand covenant theology. I'm reading Sacred Bond: Covenant Theology Explored by Michael G. Brown and Zach Keele. So far it is the best introduction I have seen written in this century on Covenant Theology. The book has a nice quote about the necessity of the Christian to understand the first three chapters of Genesis.

The apostolic preaching of the gospel is the bridge that brings us to God as Savior: it is paved and clearly marked. But the pillars on this bridge, which are rooted deep into the riverbed below, belong to Genesis 1-3. The streaming water may hide the pillars from our eyes at times; yet without the Genesis pillars, the gospel viaduct would begin crumbling beneath our feet, hurling us headfirst into the water.

Genesis 1-3 forms the essential foundation for the gospel, especially because it reveals the covenant of works. The doctrine of the covenant of works teaches us more about the perfect work of Christ and, in so doing, bolsters up our assurance salvation.(p. 42)

I'm not sure what the water(sin?) is in the metaphor and the metaphor seems strained, but the quote does stress that understanding Genesis 1-3 is key in understanding the full extent of the gospel.

Holiness and the The Flood

In his commentary on p. 198 of Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the exposition of Genesis, Allen P. Ross quotes Marcus Dods on why God chose to blot out completely life upon the earth in the Genesis flood.

This event [The Flood] then gives us some measure by which we can know how much God will do to maintain holiness upon the earth. In this catastrophe every one who strives after godliness may find encouragement, seeing in it the Divine earnestness of God for good and against evil. There is only one other event in history that so conspicuously shows that holiness among men is the object for which God will sacrifice everything else. There is no need now of any further demonstration of God's purpose in this world and His zeal for carrying it out.... The Flood has not been forgotten by almost any people under heaven, but its moral result is nil. But he whose memory is haunted by a dying Redeemer, by the thought of One Whose love found its most appropriate and practical result in dying for him, is prevented from much sin, and finds in that love the spring of eternal hope. [Book of Genesis, pp. 66-67.

We must not think Noah escaped this judgment because of his righteousness. Noah received grace "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD."(Genesis 6:8 ESV). Allen comments earlier in his commentary about Genesis 6:8.

A close study of the word for grace will support that it signifies unmerited favor. If the word is given its proper meaning, it means that the recipients of grace actually deserved the judgment too. The discussion of Noah's righteousness comes in the next section. Here, Noah received sovereign grace and escaped the catastrophe. No one escapes divine judgment apart from grace.(Ross, p. 185)

John Quincy Adams's Life Purpose

I read a biography of John Quincy Adams. The man was groomed to be president by his parents almost from birth. JQA was intelligent and charming. His parents realized his uniqueness and pushed him to serve his country with every fiber of his being. This drive was passed down to his descendants and it was intentional. I am not sure what is the best way to encourage public service, but John Adams and his descendants for several generations served their country with all their ability and strength. Here is a couple quotes about passing down a legacy of public service to future generations.

Author of the renowned autobiography The Education of Henry Adams, Henry Adams passed summers with his grandparents at Quincy until he was twelve years old and would remember throughout his life "the effect of the back of the Presidents's [John Quincy Adams] head as he sat in his pew on Sundays."

It was unusual for boy to sit behind a President grandfather and to read over his head the tablet in memory of a President great-grandfather who had pledged "his life, his forture, and his sacred honor" to secure the independence of his country and so forth... The Irish gardener once said, "you'll be thinkin' you'll be President too."

p. 286 John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger

This is a quote by JQA to his children.

You must have one great purpose of existence...to make your talents and your knowledge most beneficial to your country and most useful to mankind. -- JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, "TO MY CHILDREN"

as quoted in p.313, John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger.

And Enoch walked with God...

The following quote by Dods is about the genealogy in Genesis 5. Each generation follows a depressing pattern: "Thus all the days of "x" lived were "y" years and he died." The author of Genesis emphasizes through this pattern that even in the godly descendants of Seth, the Adamic curse is fulfilled and each one dies. However, there is one break in the pattern, one glimmer of hope, in Genesis 5:24, "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." Marcus Dods reflects on Enoch's walk with God.

Only once is the monotony broken; but this in so striking a manner as to rescue us from the idea that the historian is mechanically copying a barren list of names. For in the seventh generation, contemporaneous with the culmination of Cain's line in the family of Lamech, we come upon the simple, but anything but mechanical statement: "Enoch walked with God and he was not; for God took him." The phrase is full of meaning. Enoch walked with God because he was His friend and liked His company, because he was going in the same direction as God, and had no desire for anything but what lay in God's path. We walk with God when He is in all our thoughts; not because we consciously think of Him at all times, but because He is naturally suggested to us by all we think of; as when any person or plan or idea has become important to us, no matter what we think of, our thought is always found recurring to this favorite object, so with the godly man everything has a connection with God and must be ruled by that connection. When some change in his circumstances is thought of, he has first of all to determine how the proposed change will affect his connection with God--will his conscience be equally clear, will he be able to live on the same friendly term with God and so forth. When he falls into sin he cannot rest till he has resumed his place at God's side and walks again with Him. This is the general nature of walking with God; it is a persistent endeavour to hold all our life open to God's inspection and in conformity to His will; a readiness to give up what we find does cause any misunderstanding between us and God; a feeling of loneliness if we have not some satisfaction in our efforts at holding fellowship with God, a cold and desolate feeling when we are conscious of doing something that displeases Him. This walking with God necessarily tells on the whole life and character. As you instinctively avoid subjects which you know will jar upon the feeling of your friend, as you naturally endeavour to suit yourself to your company, so when the consciousness of God's presence begins to have some weight with you, you are found instinctively endeavouring to please Him, repressing the thought you know He disapproves, and endeavouring to educate such dispositions as reflect His own nature.

It is easy then to understand how we may practically walk with God--it is to open to Him all our purposes and hopes, to seek his judgment on our scheme of life and idea of happiness--it is to be on thoroughly friendly terms with God... Things were not made easy to Enoch. In evil days, with much to mislead him, with everything to oppose him, he had by faith and diligent seeking, as the Epistle to the Hebrews says, to cleave to the path on which God walked, often left in darkness, often thrown off the track, often listening but unable to hear the footfall of God or to hear his own name called upon, receiving no sign, but still diligently seeking the God he knew would lead him only to good. [Book of Genesis, pp. 51-53]

As quoted by Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis, pp. 175-176.

Cain's Legacy and Christ's Cure

Allen P. Ross, on page 162 in his commentary Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis, explains Genesis chapter 4:1-16 by quoting Gerhard von Rad concerning Genesis 4:10. Gerhard von Rad points that Cain's rebellion continues to this day.

At the beginning of Passiontide it is fitting to say a word about the extent of the damage done by man. Man approaching the cross is a brother-murderer from the very beginning. The interpreter may also properly sketch out the lines of cultural history--the division of humanity into various states of life, the existence of two altars. And Cain continues to travel the road he has taken--founding cities and the musical arts, developing the art of forging so that the sword comes to be regarded as an approved implement--and the song of Lamech madly celebrates the native force and the boundlessness of revenge (Gen. 4:17-24).

But the sermon should center on verse 10; as far as human understanding is concerned, inconceivable and inexpiable is the accusing cry of the blood of our brother Abel, a cry that ascends to God day and night. This should be the starting point for the dispelling of manifold and familiar misunderstandings: Abel's blood, even the best and dearest, never brings salvation in the presence of God; instead it increases the burden of the curse. But Christ's blood "speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel" (Heb. 12:24). Thus the Bible speaks of two kinds of blood and their voices before God: one of these is millionfold, and its message is accusation, while the other is the blood of the One, and it brings healing. [Biblical Interpretations in Preaching, p. 22]

Grace Covers the Sinners' shame

Allen P. Ross, on p. 149 in his commentary Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis, quotes Marcus Dods about why God chose to cover Adam and Eve with animal skins.

It is also to be remarked that the clothing which God provided was in itself different from what man had thought of. Adam took leaves from an inanimate, unfeeling tree; God deprived an animal of life, that the shame of His creature might be relieved. This was the last thing Adam would have thought of doing. To us life is cheap and death familiar, but Adam recognized death as the punishment of sin. Death was to early man a sign of God's anger. And he had to learn that sin could be covered not by a bunch of leaves snatched from a bush as he passed by and that would grow again next year, but only by pain and blood. Sin cannot be atoned for by any mechanical action nor without expenditure of feeling. Suffering must ever follow wrongdoing. From the first sin to the last, the track of the sinner is marked with blood. Once we have sinned we cannot regain permanent peace of conscience save through pain, and this not only pain of our own. The first hint of this was given as soon as conscience was aroused in man. It was made apparent that sin was a real and deep evil, and that by no easy and cheap process could the sinner be restored. The same lesson has been written on millions of consciences since. Men have found that their sin reaches beyond their own life and person, that it inflicts injury and involves disturbance and distress, that it changes utterly our relation to life and to God, and that we cannot rise above its consequences save by the intervention of God Himself, by an intervention which tells us of the sorrow He suffers on our account. For the chief point that it is God who relieves man's shame.[The Book of Genesis , pp. 25-26]

Jonathan Edwards on the Saints in Heaven

Here is another great quote on heaven by Jonathan Edwards.

Every saint is as a flower in the garden of God, and holy love is the fragrancy and sweet odor which they all send forth, and with which they fill that paradise. Every saint there is as a note in concert of music which sweetly harmonizes with every other note, and all together employed wholly in praising God and the Lamb; and so all helping one another to their utmost to express their love of the whole society to the glorious Father and Head of it, and to pour back love into the fountain of love, whence they are supplied and filled with love and glory. And thus they will live and thus they will reign in love, and in that godlike joy which is the blessed fruit of it, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath ever entered into the heart of any in this world to conceive (cf. 1 Cor. 2:90). And thus they will live and reign forever and ever. (p. 296, Charity and its Fruits)

John Frame on the biblical world view

I am reading John Frame's The Doctrine God. The book is written in this century, so it is a rare read for me. It has won awards and comes highly recommended so I have high expectations. On page 25, I have already found a good quote about the biblical world view.

Thus we learn something very important about the biblical worldview. In Scripture, the personal is greater than the impersonal. The impersonal things and forces in this world are created and directed by a personal God. According to naturalistic thought, all persons in the world are the product of impersonal forces, and they can best be understood by reducing them to impersonal bits of matter and energy, or by making them aspects of an impersonal oneness. In these views, persons are reducible to the impersonal. But in the biblical view, the impersonal reduces to the personal. Matter, energy, motion, time, and space are under the rule of a personal Lord. All the wonderful things that we find in personality--intelligence, compassion, creativity, love, justice--are not ephemeral data, doomed to be snuffed out in cosmic calamity; rather, they are aspects of what is most permanent, most ultimate. They are what the universe is really all about.

Edwards on the Citizens of Heaven

This is just a short snippet of Jonathan Edwards's description of heaven in his sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, named Heaven is a World of Love

That God who so fully manifests himself there [heaven]is perfect with an absolute and infinite perfection. That Son of God who is the brightness of his Father's glory appears there in his glory, without that veil of outward meanness in which he appeared in this world, as a root out of dry ground destitute of an outward glory. There the Holy Spirit shall be poured forth with perfect sweetness, as a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal(Revelation 22 at the beginning); a river whose waters are without any manner of pollution. And every member of that glorious society shall be without blemish of sin or imprudence or any kind of failure. The whole church shall then be presented to Christ as a bride clothed in fine linen, clean and white, without spot or wrinkle. "Christ ... loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:25-27). In that world, wherever the inhabitants turn their eyes they shall see nothing but beauty and glory. In the most stately cities on earth, however magnificent the buildings are, yet the streets are filthy and defiled, being made to be trodden under foot. But the street of his heavenly city is represented as being as pure gold, like unto transparent glass (Rev. 21:21). That it should be like pure gold only does not sufficiently represent the purity of them; but they are also like the transparent glass or crystal. (pp. 282-283, Charity and Its Fruits)

Genesis 2:7 -- We are God's art work.

Allen P. Ross in his commentary on Genesis expands on the word "formed" in Genesis 2:7.

The Lord God’s creative act is here portrayed with the word yāşar, “formed.” The term signifies that this act creation was by design, an idea demonstrated by the use of a related noun later in the book: “Every intent [yēşer] of the thoughts of his heart was evil” (6:5). The idea of intent or design in forming the man can also be illustrated by the participial use of this verb, which means “potter” (yôşer; Jeremiah 18:2-4). Besides stressing that humankind is a work of art according to the design of the Creator, the passage also explains that humankind is earthly. The whole act is clarified by the notice that the Lord God used dust from the ground to form man. The paronomasia in the line underscores this fact: “The Lord God formed the man [hā’ādām] from the dust of the ground [hā’ādāmâ].” “Man” [ādām] in this section thus refers to the first human, but then also to humankind. Since the first man came from the ground, he and all human beings are inseparably bound to it (see Job 4:19; 10:9, Isa. 29:16) Moreover, the allusion to this passage after the fall retains the proper perspective: “dust you are” (Gen. 3:19). (Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis, p. 122.)

Wayne Grudem on What We Will do in Heaven

Dr. Grudem comments on why we have resurrected bodies in heaven. He asserts that we will continue to work in heaven. Music, art and technology will exist in heaven. We will have stuff that we enjoy doing in heaven because it will glorify God. This is from his Systematic Theology

While we may have some uncertainty about the understanding of certain details, it does not seem inconsistent with this picture to say that we will eat and drink in the new heavens and new earth, and carry on other physical activities as well. Music certainly is prominent in the descriptions of heaven in Revelation, and we might imagine that both musical and artistic activities would be done to the glory of God. Perhaps people will work at the whole range of investigation and development of the creation by technological, creative, and inventive means, thus exhibiting the full extent of their excellent creation in the image of God. Moreover, since God is infinite and we can never exhaust his greatness (Ps. 145:3), and since we are finite creatures who will never equal God’s knowledge or be omniscient, we may expect that for all eternity we will be able to go on learning more about God and about his relationship to his creation. In this way we will continue the process of learning that was begun in this life, in which a life “fully pleasing to him” is one that includes continually “increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10). (Systematic Theology, p. 1162).

Jonathan Edwards on Spiritual Warfare

This portion of a Jonathan Edwards's sermon is taken from the book Charity and Its Fruits

There are many things which do greatly oppose the grace which is in the heart of a Christian. This holy principle has innumerable enemies, as it were, constantly watching and warring against it. The Christian is encompassed around with enemies on every side. Being a pilgrim and a stranger in the earth he is, as it were, in an enemy's country. There are thousands of devils that are bitter enemies to the grace which is in the heart of a Christian, and do all in their power against it. And the world is an enemy to it. It abounds with persons and things that make opposition to it. And the Christian not only has many enemies without, but multitudes within his own breast which he carries about with him, and of which he cannot divest himself; many corruptions which have footing in his heart, which are the worst enemies of grace, and are under the greatest advantages of any in their warfare against it. Those enemies are not only many but exceedingly strong and powerful, and bitter in their enmity, implacable, irreconcilable, mortal enemies, seeking nothing but the utter ruin and overthrow of grace. And they are unwearied in their opposition. So that the Christian, while he remains in this world, is represented as being in a state of war; his business is the business of a soldier. Many are the powerful and violent assaults which the enemies of grace make upon it; they are not only constantly besieging it, but sometimes they assault it as a city which they would take by storm. They are always lurking and watching advantages against it, but sometimes they rise up in a dreadful rage against it. Sometimes one enemy, and sometimes another, and sometimes all together with one consent besetting it on every side, covering it like a flood, ready to overwhelm it and as though they would swallow it at once. Sometimes grace in the midst of the violent opposition of its enemies, besetting it with united strength, is like a spark of fire encompassed with swelling billows, or raging waves, which appear as if they would swallow it up and extinguish it in a moment. Or like a jewel of gold in the midst of a furnace of raging heat, enough to consume anything but pure gold, which is of that nature that it will not consume in the fire.

Jonathan Edwards on Grace at Conversion

Jonathan Edwards is preaching in this sermon about how all the spiritual gifts are interrelated.

A convert at the same moment that he is become such is possessed of all holy principles, all gracious dispositions. There is a seed of every kind of holy behavior towards God, and towards men. There are as many graces in a true Christian as there are in Jesus Christ himself; which is what the evangelist John means in John 1:14-16, "And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us....and of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace." And it cannot be otherwise; for they are renewed after Christ's image, as Colossians 3:10, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created them. But that is no true image or picture of another which has some parts wanting. An exact image has part answerable to part; the copy answers the original throughout in all parts, though it may be an obscure image, and not represent any part perfectly, as grace answers to grace. Grace in the soul is a reflection of Christ's glory. It is a reflection of his glory, as the image of a man is reflected from a glass which exhibits part for part (2 Cor. 3:18)

(pp. 245-246, Charity and its Gifts)
Edwards is talking about how the Christian is fully equipped at his conversion with all the spiritual gifts and character to live as a Christian for God. Edwards later on in the sermon compares a Christian conversion to a birth. A healthy baby has all the basic parts of a full grown adult. It just needs to grow and be nourished. Since we have the Holy Spirit within us, God is fully in us. We have all the grace we'll ever need at birth, we just have to grow into it.

Piper quoted Jonathan Edwards on the Beauty of Holiness

The Desiring God National Conference was very good. However, I underestimated the richness of John Piper's quote of Jonathan Edwards on sanctification. Piper did preface the long quotation by talking about how amazing it was, but I needed to read it to get the full effect. Read and drink deeply.

We drink in strange notions of holiness from our childhood, as if it were a melancholy, morose, sour, and unpleasant thing; but there is nothing in it but what is sweet and ravishingly lovely. ‘Tis the highest beauty and amiableness, vastly above all other beauties. ‘Tis a divine beauty, makes the soul heavenly and far purer than anything here on earth. . . . ‘Tis of a sweet, pleasant, charming, lovely, amiable, delightful, serene, calm, and still nature. ‘Tis almost too high a beauty for any creatures to be adorned with; it makes the soul a little, sweet, and delightful image of the blessed Jehovah.
Oh, how may angels stand, with pleased, delighted, and charmed eyes, and look and look, with smiles of pleasure upon their lips, upon that soul that is holy; how may they hover over such a soul, to delight to behold such loveliness! . . . What a sweet calmness, what a calm ecstasy, doth it bring to the soul! How doth it make the soul love itself; how doth it make the pure invisible world love it; yea, how doth God love it and delight in it; how do even the whole creation, the sun, the fields, and trees love a humble holiness; how doth all the world congratulate, embrace, and sing to a sanctified soul! . . .
It makes the soul like a delightful field or garden planted by God . . . where the sun is Jesus Christ; the blessed beams and calm breeze, the Holy Spirit; the sweet and delightful flowers, and the pleasant shrill music of the little birds, are the Christian graces.
Or like the little white flower: pure, unspotted, and undefiled, low and humble, pleasing and harmless; receiving the beams, the pleasant beams of the serene sun, gently moved and a little shaken by a sweet breeze, rejoicing as it were in a calm rapture, diffusing around [a] most delightful fragrancy, standing most peacefully and lovingly in the midst of the other like flowers round about.

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/act-the-miracle-future-grace-the-word-of-the-cross-and-the-purifying-power-of-god-s-promises

Jonathan Edwards on Hope and Holy Practice

Jonathan Edwards preaching on 1 Corinthians 13:6.

It is so also with a true and gracious hope. This also tends to holy practice. A false hope has a tendency which is the reverse. It tends to licentiousness, to encourage men's lusts, and flatter and embolden them in sin. But a true hope not only does not tend to harden men in sin, and make them more careless of their duty, but it tends to stir them up to holiness of life, to quicken them to duty, to make them more careful to avoid sin, and more diligent and strict in serving God. "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:3). A gracious hope has this tendency from the nature of the happiness hoped for. The happiness which a gracious person wishes is that which consists in holiness. But the more a man seeks and the more he hopes for such a happiness, which consists in holiness, the more does it quicken and enliven a disposition to holiness. And it also has this tendency from the respect it has to the Author of the happiness hoped for; it hopes for it from God, as the fruit of his undeserved and infinite mercy; and therefore it stirs up thankfulness, and engages the heart to seek what to render for such a wonderful benefit promised. It has also this tendency by its regard to the means by which it hopes to obtain it. A true hope hopes to obtain happiness in no way but the way of the gospel, which is by a holy Savior and in a way of cleaving to and following him. It has also this tendency by the influence of that which is the immediate source of a gracious hope, which is faith in Jesus Christ; for a true Christian hope is the immediate fruit of faith. But faith tends to practice and works by love, as has been already shown.

Charity and Its Fruits, p. 219

Marilyn and I are attending the Desiring God Conference.

We are having a great time at the conference. The speakers are great. We had a humorous interaction. We sat down during a break to drink coffee at the Conference bookstore. Marilyn said, "Bibles are cheap here. I bought a lighter bible for $6 to carry around."
I replied, "Cool, I did too, an ESV for $5! Can I see your new bible?" Marilyn handed me her new bible. I said, "Oh, I didn't know you wanted an HCBS version."
Marilyn replied, "I thought that was a publisher."
I said encouragingly, "It is both. It is a really good translation. I just talked to the guy at their booth."
Marilyn said, "I wanted an ESV." After few minutes she got up quietly, and walked away without saying anything.
After I finished my coffee, I looked for her and then decided to go into the next session. We agreed where to meet earlier. Marilyn came in a few minutes later. She said smiling, "I got a nice ESV for $8."
I queried, "Did you exchange the HCBS?"
She said, "No. Happy Birthday!" She smiled and handed me the HCBS bible.
I just said cool and eagerly opened my new HCBS bible.

Chesterton on Art, Work and Play.

I like collecting quotes about the theology of work. I came across this quote on a Facebook post from the G. K. Chesterton society. As usual, Chesterton writes profoundly with a unique view point. I extended the Facebook quote. They took out the reference to God for some reason. However, the whole paragraph makes much more sense when one puts God into the picture.

God is that which can make something out of nothing. Man (it may be truly be said) is that which can make something out of anything. In other words, while the joy of God be unlimited creation, the special joy of man is limited creation, the combination of creation with limits. Man's pleasure, therefore, is to possess conditions, but also to be partly possessed by them; to be half-controlled by the flute he plays or by the field he digs. The excitement is to get the utmost out of given conditions; the conditions will stretch, but not indefinitely. A man can write an immortal sonnet on an old envelope, or hack a hero out of a lump of rock. But hacking a sonnet out of a rock would be a laborious business, and making a hero out of an envelope is almost out of the sphere of practical politics. This fruitful strife with limitations, when it concerns some airy entertainment of an educated class, goes by the name of Art. But the mass of men have neither time nor aptitude for the invention of invisible or abstract beauty. For the mass of men the idea of artistic creation can only be expressed by an idea unpopular in present discussions—the idea of property. The average man cannot cut clay into the shape of a man; but he can cut earth into the shape of a garden; and though he arranges it with red geraniums and blue potatoes in alternate straight lines, he is still an artist; because he has chosen. The average man cannot paint the sunset whose colors be admires; but he can paint his own house with what color he chooses, and though he paints it pea green with pink spots, he is still an artist; because that is his choice. Property is merely the art of the democracy. It means that every man should have something that he can shape in his own image, as he is shaped in the image of heaven. But because he is not God, but only a graven image of God, his self-expression must deal with limits; properly with limits that are strict and even small. G.K. Chesterton: The Enemies of Property (What's Wrong with the World).