6 Crucial Facts about God’s Word from Revelation 10

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Survey history and you will soon see that the health of the church rises and falls with its convictions about the Bible. When the church knows and believes that the Bible is God’s Word, it grows as strong as Hercules. It becomes a light on the hill, a sheltering tree with wide-spreading branches.  

When the church is confused about the Bible, its light grows dim, its branches wither. It becomes more of a danger than a help.  

In Revelation 8-9 the first six trumpets sounded. The seventh trumpet will not sound until chapter 11. In Revelation 10 we stop and reflect on something vital: the character of God’s spoken and written revelation. 

Revelation 10 reveals to us six facts about God’s word that when known and believed will strengthen and enliven the church:

1. Jesus Christ is the author of God’s Word. 

Revelation 10:1-3 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded.

Basically, angelos means “messenger.” Many debate whether or not this particular messenger is Jesus. I argue that he is, but even if you don’t agree we must all see that he manifests undeniably Christ-like attributes.  

First, he is wrapped and robed in a cloud, just like the LORD in the Old Testament. Jesus said that he would return like that for final judgment, in fulfillment of Daniel 7:13:

“But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Matt. 26:64)

Second, his head is crowned with a rainbow, the sign of the Noahic Covenant of mercy when the LORD pledged never again to destroy the world by flood (Gen. 9:14-16). Revelation has already shown us Jesus—the Lamb who was Slain—on the throne and encircled by the rainbow (4:3).

Third, his face shines like the sun. Revelation 1:16 showed Jesus like this, and on the Mount of Transfiguration Peter, James, and John saw the same: “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matt. 17:2).

Fourth, his feet (podes can refer either to feet or legs) are like fire. Revelation 1:15 showed Jesus with feet “like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace.” His feet are the solid opposite of the feet of clay of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue, which represented ephemeral world empires (Dan. 2:33).

Fifth, he holds a biblaridion, a little scroll or book. (“Bible” comes from biblion, which was in turn derived from the Phoenician city Byblos, well known as the port through which Egyptian papyrus was imported into Palestine.) For now, we note that in Revelation a scroll usually represents God’s decree for history. We will return to this little scroll in a moment.

Sixth, he plants his right foot on the oceans, and his left foot on the land. This is the Creator of heaven and earth, who stands over and transcends his creation. It recalls Jesus striding over the raging waters of the Sea of Galilee like he owned it. Indeed, he created and owns and rules the universe.  

Seventh, he gave “a loud voice, like a lion roaring.” This is the invincible voice of the Lion of Judah, Jesus Christ, who spoke creation into being (Rev. 5:5). 

The author of the little scroll, and all of God’s revelation, whether spoken through his prophets of the Old Testament, or his apostles of the New, is Jesus Christ.

“All Scripture is theopneustos”, said Paul (2 Tim. 3:16); theopneustos means “breathed out by God.” Every word and syllable and letter of the Bible comes out of the mouth of Jesus Christ.

2. God’s Word is Jesus’ powerful voice.

Revelation 10:3-4 [He] called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write...

Here we expand on verses 3-4. Last year the mighty cruise ship MS Queen Elizabeth, 300 metres long and weighing 92,000 tons, docked in Hobart. I happened to be on the wharf at its departure, when it gave a triple blast on its horn. It was like the deep bass rumble of a very large cathedral pipe organ, but quantumly louder, easily the loudest man-made sound I’ve heard, and felt. The blast bounced off Mount Wellington and echoed and resounded around the city for a remarkably long time.

Jesus’ Word is echoed by “seven thunders.”

Again and again the Gospels let us hear the mighty power of Jesus’ voice: 

• Jesus spoke sternly to a demon-possessed man: “‘Be quiet! Come out of him!’ The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek” (Mark 1:25-26).  

• Jesus “rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm” (Mark 4:39).

• Jesus spoke to Lazarus’s corpse, four days dead and decomposing: “‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face” (John 11:43-44).

• When soldiers came to arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemane, “They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons. Jesus… asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’ ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied. ‘I am he.’ … When Jesus said, ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell to the ground” (John 18:3-6). His word brought them to their knees.

Scripture bears all the power of Christ its author. So when it is read and taught in our churches and the Spirit is at work, something extraordinary happens:

But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all,the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. (1 Cor. 14:24-25)

God’s Word is the saving word of Jesus, which breaks hard hearts, opens blind eyes, and brings about the new birth, repentance, and faith in him.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:6)

3.  God’s Word doesn’t tell us everything.

Revelation 10:4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.”

Jesus’ seven letters to the church were dictated, written down, and read out loud in the churches (Rev. 2-3). The effects of the broken seven seals were likewise written down (5-8.) And the effects of the seven trumpet blasts were written down (8-11.) 

The seven thunders were not to be written down.

This is a disturbing reminder that God’s Word does not tell us everything. It certainly tells us enough, as the Westminster Confession of Faith reminds us:

The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men. (WCF 1.6)

God has not told us everything about everything. He has not told us the day and hour of Christ’s return. He does not tell us what is going to appear in the news tomorrow, let alone in a thousand or a million year’s time. 

God knows what is going to happen. His Son has spoken and the thunders have echoed. He is LORD of history and sovereignly decrees and writes history. However,

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deut. 29:29)

He has not told us everything, but we can certainly trust that all history has and will be the outworking of his good and perfect plan.

4. The promises of God’s Word will stand.

Revelation 10:5-7 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heavenand swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay,but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.

Picture this awesome and solemn scene: The messenger, Jesus Christ, astride land and sea, raises his right hand to heaven. We can see that hand reaching right into heaven itself. 

He raises his hand to swear an oath by the Eternal Creator, his Father. This recalls Hebrews 6:13:

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself.

What does Christ swear in Revelation 10? That “the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.” In the New Testament mystērion refers to something hidden that will be revealed. In short, Christ swears that all of God’s good plans and purposes, those previously announced to his prophets but not yet fulfilled and seen, will be unfolded and seen in his good time. 

Not a single promise of God’s Word will fail. Not a single announcement of a future event will remain unaccomplished.

“All flesh is like grass
    and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
    and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.” (1 Pet. 1:24-25)

5. God’s Word is not easy to digest.

Revelation 10:8-10 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.

This recalls Ezekiel’s vision. Ezekiel ate the scroll of God’s Word (Ezek. 3:3), and like baklava, “it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.” It was a hopeful message for the Babylonian exiles, a sweet message! But God also told Ezekiel that many would refuse to listen:

“But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.” (Ezek. 3:7)

This prediction quickly banished the scroll’s sweetness,

The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Lord being strong upon me. (Ezek. 3:14)

Nothing has changed. God’s Word is sweet; it holds out forgiveness, reconciliation, and life. But the bitter fact is, rebellious humanity does not want to know. We harden ourselves against his life-giving Word. Only the Holy Spirit can bring us to receive it with joy.

6. God’s Word speaks to all people.

Revelation 10:11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

For years, aged 16-20, I read a chapter a day from my Mum’s Living Bible. But I knew I wasn’t a Christian. I read the Bible like an interloper, “listening in” to what God was telling those Christians.

How wrong I was.

Jesus is not the God of the Christians. He is Creator and God and LORD of all peoples, everywhere, for all time. When he speaks, he speaks as Sovereign of the universe. Everyone must hear and heed the voice of their Creator and King. 

So the Bible is not the book of the Christians, but the book of humanity. Thus, Jesus commanded that it be proclaimed to “all the world” (Matt. 28:19).

The book of Revelation concerns not just the present and future of Christians, but of the entire human race. So, 

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. (Rev. 1:3)

If churches rise or fall according to their convictions about Scripture, so does the well-being of every Christian. Take these six lessons to heart. Then devote yourself to Scripture. Read it yourself. Join a Bible study. Be at church. Listen to Him.

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This article was originally published at Beautiful Christian Life on April 2, 2020.

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Christian Basics: What Are the Five “Alones” and Why Do You Need to Know Them?

The Protestant Reformers; image from Wikimedia Commons; .

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning Beautiful Christian Life LLC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through its links, at no cost to you.

You may have seen the phrases on t-shirts and tattoos, heard pastors mention them when preaching, or come across them in your readings: the five “alones” (or most commonly “the five solas” in Latin) of Protestant Christianity: “Scripture alone” (Latin: Sola Scriptura), “grace alone” (Sola Gratia), “Christ alone” (Solus Christus), “faith alone” (Sola Fide), and “to the glory of God alone” (Soli Deo Gloria).

If you haven’t heard of them yet, this introduction to the five “alones” will give you the opportunity to discover truths that will make your heart sing with joy, because they are some of the most important foundational beliefs in all of Christianity. These five phrases are distinguishing marks of the Protestant Reformation, setting all Protestants apart from the Roman Catholic Church. How did these five basic Christian beliefs originate, and what do they mean?

Background of the Five “Alones”

By the 1500s, the church in Rome had reached a tremendous level of corruption, having departed in many ways from both the Bible and teachings of earlier Christians. Rome elevated the Pope, bishops, and a long line of “saints” and created a system without any true hope for sinners. People were wrongly led to depend upon the merits of the "saints” and an unspecified number of their own works to earn them a place in eternity with God.

The Protestant Reformation was a movement led by pastor-teachers (including Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin) who were remarkably gifted, highly educated, and well-read in the writings of the early church. They realized that Rome had been adding and altering important beliefs as recently as fifty years before the Reformation, and that these changes were departures from earlier Christianity. Using the five "alones," the Protestant leaders led the people back to the Bible and restored and reformed the Christian church. What do these five phrases mean, and what makes them rank among the most important basic truths that all Christians should know?

1. Scripture Alone: Scripture alone is the sole authority in the life and doctrine of the church.

Protestants believe that the Holy Spirit moved men of God to write down the very words of God in the Holy Scriptures, giving us the Bible as the onlyinfallible source of knowledge about God, salvation, and how to live. While the early Protestants diligently studied church history, tradition, and the creeds, they knew these important aids were imperfect and were never meant to be elevated above the authority of Scripture. Protestants reject any view that elevates the church or tradition over the Bible (Deut. 31-32; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).

What it means for us today and tomorrow: “Scripture alone” does not mean that Christians are to rely upon their Bibles alone—this is a serious but common misunderstanding today. We ought to humbly value the imperfect work of well-studied pastors and teachers, church history, tradition, and the creeds and confessions (e.g., Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, Westminster Confession of Faith, Canons of Dort)—resources that aid biblical interpretation and guard important truths. While respecting these other aids, “Scripture alone” means we can trust the Bible fully and completely as the onlyinfallibleauthority and source of truth, because it is the Word of God (1 Thess. 2:13; WCF 1.4; Second Helvetic Confession 1.3 and 2.2.1-5).

Although we may have difficulty understanding some parts of the Bible and may struggle with many diverse interpretations, we can trust that the fault lies with our understanding and not God’s trustworthy Word. When we humbly and diligently pray for understanding and discernment; diligently study the Scriptures, church history, creeds and confessions, and the interpretations offered by others; and research the pros and cons of these various interpretations carefully, we will usually discover one interpretation stands above the others. We can rest easy in dependence upon God and his perfect Word as our ultimate source of authority and truth.

2. Grace Alone: Because of God’s grace alone we are forgiven and declared righteous.

Protestants believe that all humans are born with sinful natures and are enemies of God due to Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the garden of Eden. No one deserves a place in heaven or to be forgiven of their sins. “Grace alone” tells us that the reason Christians are reconciled with God in Christ alone is because of God’s grace alone. Our human wills, sin-stained works, and the works of “the saints” contribute nothing toward our being justified. We are forgiven and declared righteous because of Christ’s work, not anything of our own doing (Deut. 7:6-8; 9:1-6; Eph. 2:1-10; Westminster Larger Catechism 66).

What it means for us today and tomorrow: Those who have suffered the most under the torments of depraved humans such as mass murderers Stalin and Hitler especially know that evil people must be punished—not set free—in order that justice may be served. While humans tend to demand justice for the really bad sins and overlook the minor sins, there are no minor sins before a perfectly holy and just God. Even the smallest sin is the ultimate slap in the face of God and deserving of eternal punishment. Remember, it was not murder but Adam and Eve’s act of rebellion in eating the forbidden fruit that brought sin upon the entire human race (Rom. 5:12).

The Bible tells us, “There is none good, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10). We commit sin all day long, every single day we live. Since we don’t deserve heaven with God, let us especially express our gratitude to God for his gift of eternal life because our salvation came by God’s grace only—not our wills, our works, or the works of some “saint.” Let us never lose sight of this expression of God’s love—the grace of God shows us his mercy in keeping us from foolishly running headlong straight into eternal fire.

3. Christ Alone: We are pardoned and made righteous by the merits of Jesus Christ alone.

Protestants believe that because of our sins, rebellion, and hatred of God, we owe an immeasurable debt of obedience to God that we can never pay. The only way for us to be reconciled to God was for our debt to be paid by the atoning sacrifice of the one and only mediator between God and man—Christ alone—the sinless Lamb of God. Jesus paid our debt, satisfied the justice of God, and merited eternal life for us. Protestants reject the claims that the righteousness of Mary and the “saints” contribute to our forgiveness or that there is any other mediator besides Christ only (Isa. 53:1-12; 1 John 2:1-2; Second Helvetic Confession 5, 11, 23; Belgic Confession 26).

What it means for us today and tomorrow: Some may wonder why Christ had to suffer and die in order to pay the penalty for our sins—why couldn’t God simply forgive us? Since God is righteous and holy, our sins must be punished to uphold God’s justice. In order to pay this immeasurable penalty for us, the Son of God was born in the flesh (the incarnate Christ: truly God and truly man), lived a sinless life on earth, and suffered and died to atone (pay) for our sins. Christ freed us from the guilt of sin by justifying us and removing our guilt. At that moment, he also freed us from slavery to sin, enabling us through sanctification to live godly and selfless lives for him and his people. Let us remember to be thankful for the great payment of Christ only—his sinless life and atoning death for us.

4. Faith alone: Faith alone (in Jesus Christ) is the instrument through which we are justified.

Protestants believe that we are “justified” (pardoned and declared righteous) through God’s gift of faith alone in Jesus Christ. This saving faith consists of a firm and sure knowledge of God’s favor toward us, affirmation (or agreement), and trust (or dependence) which embraces Jesus Christ alone. Saving faith receives and rests on Jesus Christ and his perfect righteousness and atoning sacrifice alone. Protestants reject any view that claims “justification by faith” while also crediting human works for helping to pay for our sins. We also reject any view that attempts to redefine saving faith to include good deeds, works of holiness, or ongoing submission which are all fruits of the Christian life from the moment believers are born again until we die (Ps. 32:1-11; Rom. 3:21-26; WCF 11.2; Heidelberg Catechism 60; Second Helvetic Confession 15).

What it means for us today and tomorrow: We may sometimes hear that “faith” is simply believing or trusting. Humans have faith that when we board an airplane, it will not fall out of the sky in mid-flight. This is not saving faith. Saving faith is not simply a mental decision of the will—a human work we do in order to save ourselves. Saving faith is a gift God gives to us by regenerating us and making us alive in Christ (Eph. 2:4-9). Through this gift of faith, we assent and trust in the truth of the Gospel and receive and rest on Christ and his righteousness alone for our justification. We will bear fruit, because we are branches receiving life from Christ our true Vine.

5. To the Glory of God Alone: Our salvation and our lives are ultimately for the glory of God alone.

Protestants believe that we owe our salvation completely and entirely to God alone. God deserves all of our gratitude not just for saving us but also for creating us and the whole universe. We reject the view that believers owe gratitude and glory to Mary, “the saints,” or our own efforts for our salvation (Ps. 19:1-2; Isa. 48:11; Rom. 11:33-36; 2nd Helvetic Confession 6.1; WLC 18; Canons of Dort 1.18).

What it means for us today and tomorrow: What does it mean to say we were created and saved for God’s glory? It means God deserves praise, honor, and worship from all his creation and creatures (WCF 2.2). God didn’t set a world into motion, not knowing how things would turn out. God logically had a purpose in creating the world. All things were made and ordained for God’s ultimate glory.

Consider the beauty and value of a world where the highest and ultimate love is displayed—where you can see and appreciate good in contrast to evil; great love in contrast to intense hate; life in contrast to death; and in the end, the great selfless sacrifice of the Son of God for those who hated him. Imagine at the end of it all, the praise you will express and the immense love you will have for your Creator and Savior. These are all acts that should prompt humans and angels to praise, admire, and worship God, for he is the one who created you, loved you despite your sinfulness and wickedness, and made the ultimate sacrifice to spend an incomprehensibly joyous and beautiful eternity with you.

Summary

The Protestant Reformation was a recovery of the Christian faith and the throwing off of Rome’s additions and changes. These five basic points are at the heart of the Christian faith and are essential to leading a beautiful Christian life and increasing our faith, hope, and joy. I want to encourage you to familiarize yourself with these five basic points of Christianity by studying and committing to memory the following sentence:

Scripture alone is infallible, and this highest authority teaches that we are saved because of God’s grace alone (not because we are deserving); on the basis of the righteousness of Christ alone (not our works or the works of other saints); through the means or instrument of faith alone (not faith and works); and all things (including our salvation and Christian lives) are for and the glory of God alone.

Recommended:

• Jason Helopoulos, These Truths Alone: Why the Reformation Solas Are Essential for Our Faith Today

• Terry L. Johnson, Case for Traditional Protestantism: The Solas of the Reformation

• Nate Pickowicz, Why We're Protestant: An Introduction to the Five Solas of the Reformation

• Michael Reeves and Tim Chester, Why the Reformation Still Matters

• R.C. Sproul, Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification

The Five Solas Series

• Matthew Barrett, God's Word Alone—The Authority of Scripture: What the Reformers Taught...and Why It Still Matters (The Five Solas Series)

• Carl R. Trueman, Grace Alone—Salvation as a Gift of God: What the Reformers Taughts...and Why It Still Matters (The Five Solas Series)

• Stephen Wellum, Christ Alone—The Uniqueness of Jesus as Savior: What the Reformers Taught...and Why It Still Matters (The Five Solas Series)

• Thomas R. Schreiner, Faith Alone—The Doctrine of Justification: What the Reformers Taught...and Why It Still Matters (The Five Solas Series)

• David VanDrunen, God's Glory Alone—The Majestic Heart of Christian Faith and Life: What the Reformers Taught...and Why It Still Matters (The Five Solas Series)

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This article was originally published on October 30, 2017.

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Being on Alert for the Demonic in the Mundane

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning Beautiful Christian Life LLC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through its links, at no cost to you.

When we read the gospel accounts of Christ’s ministry, one of the regular features we encounter is Christ’s interaction with demons. We read of demon possessed people, those oppressed by them, Jesus casting demons out of people, as well as Jesus speaking about them (see, e.g., Matt. 4:24, 7:22, 8:16, 12:27, 15:22, etc.). Yet, living in the modern world, I suspect that most Christians don’t encounter these types of demonic phenomena. Yet, does this mean that the demonic is nonexistent? The general answer to this question is, no.

Demons are real.

Demons are real, even if we don’t encounter them on a regular basis, or do we? One of the common assumptions is that demonic activity looks demonic. If we run into someone wearing a black cape on his way to his Church of Satan meeting where we find satanic symbols adorning the door, then we naturally assume that we’ve uncovered demonic activity. While such things do exist, we should realize that the demonic can take on a far more mundane form.

Saint Augustine once charged the politicians of Rome with corruption because they offered his countrymen the spectacle entertainments. In the ancient world, Rome’s spectacle entertainments featured in the Coliseum and amphitheaters scattered throughout the empire were a part of every facet of life. The spectacles included gladiator contests, hunting animals, and even mass executions.

The demonic can take on mundane forms.

Rome presented these spectacles for entertainment purposes, amusement, and pleasure—these spectacles touted the idea that life was cheap and death and violence were a form of entertainment. Augustine was part of the church and actively rejected the spectacle entertainments. In a sermon he connects the spectacle entertainments with the demonic. Augustine writes:

For such demons are pleased…with the frenzy of the games, with the cruelty of the amphitheater, with the violent contests of those who undertake the strife and controversy….By acting this way [pagans] offer incense to the demons with their hearts. For the deceptive spirits rejoice in seduction; they feast upon the evil customs and the notoriously vile life of those whom they have misled and entrapped. (Saint Augustine: Sermons on the Liturgical Seasons [The Fathers of the Church, Volume 38], p. 58)

In contrast to the pagan appetite for frenzy, violence, and blood, Augustine believed that the true God never enjoys bloodlust and violence, and as such, those who worship this true God should reject spectacle entertainments.

Ordinary, everyday events can be filled with evil.

In his book Gifts Glittering and Poisoned: Spectacle, Empire, and Metaphysics, Chanon Ross, describes the Coliseum in the following manner:

The Coliseum simulated the topsy-turvy existence of the demons by elevating the spectators above the death and suffering occurring on the amphitheater floor. From his privileged seat, the spectator looked down upon the mortality of the victims as if he were gazing at it all as an immortal demon. Through an objectifying gaze, he consumed the excitement and psychosexual allure of the spectacular violence. The unfolding drama of death ignited his lusts and most wicked desires; such desires were enflamed when a lion ripped a man’s arm from his body or when a gladiator delivered the deathblow. By means of a consuming gaze, he experienced life as a topsy-turvy demon, immortal yet rapt in the passions of the soul. (p. 59)

In this description I think we see how the demonic doesn’t have to appear as a devil in a red suit with a pitchfork but can rather become manifest in the mundane. In this case, the gladiatorial games and the violence of the Roman Coliseum were ordinary, mundane, everyday events, yet Christians like Augustine saw through the façade to identify their evil nature. This begs the question, what in our own culture looks ordinary and mundane, yet, at its core, pulsates with the demonic?

The demonic spectacle entertainments of today can fool us with their slick advertising and shiny wrappers. 

Despite all of our modern pretensions to advancement, even though 1,500 years have passed since Augustine’s day, our so-called evolved society still has bloodlust and regularly lathers its hands in violence as a form of entertainment. Yes, our spectacle entertainments have slick advertising and shiny wrappers, but beneath this layer of respectability we find the demonic.

How many parents buy video games for their children that glorify violence? How many people participate in events that are filled with gratuitous violence? How often do spectators attend sporting events eagerly looking for bone-crunching collisions, metal-bending accidents, or violent altercations all in the name of entertainment?

In one sense, the world is as the world does, but what about Christians? How many Christians march with the crowd in lemming lines to the various virtual and real coliseums and arenas around the land to consume the violence and offer incense of idolatry to the demonic powers behind these spectacles?

We have to examine carefully what we’re seeking to achieve through our entertainment.

Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. I am not condemning all forms of entertainment, nor am I saying that there can never be excitement in our use of entertainment. I am saying, however, that we have to examine carefully what we’re seeking to achieve through our entertainment, so we are not unwittingly conformed to the patterns of this world but renewed by the transformation of our minds as we live our lives in accordance with the teaching of Scripture.

We should ask ourselves, am I looking for violence and mayhem in my entertainment? Or am I looking to admire the noblest virtues that God has given to human beings? Celebrating skill, artistry, or heroism is one thing; bloodlust and violence is another.

Moreover, what are we feeding our children? Are we unintentionally nourishing them on a deleterious diet of violence when we let them sit in front of the big screen and watch violent cartoons, movies, or play violent video games? These are all important questions to ask so we do not give ourselves over to the demonic in the seemingly mundane things of this world.

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This article by J. V. Fesko is adapted from “A Pastor’s Reflections: The Demonic in the Mundane” and was originally published at Beautiful Christian Life on October 24, 2019. For more helpful content by Dr. Fesko, please visit jvfesko.com.

Related Articles:

• The 15 Vices of Galatians 5:19-21 and How to Resist Them

• 2 Important Things to Remember about Fighting Sin—Romans 7:13-25

• Do the Lies of the World Taste Sweet to You?

• “Are You Not Entertained?” The Pseudo-Kingdom Versus the Kingdom of God

Recommended:

The Fruit of the Spirit Is... by J. V. Fesko

Notes:

Quotes and references cited above come from Chanon Ross’s Gifts Glittering and Poisoned: Spectacle, Empire, and Metaphysics (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2014), a book well worth reading.

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Why Psalm 23 Is My Favorite Psalm

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning Beautiful Christian Life LLC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through its links, at no cost to you.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. — Psalm 23:1

One of the first psalms I learned as a child was Psalm 23. Many find this psalm to be beloved, and it has certainly been and continues to be a precious one to me. While I learned many other Scripture passages throughout my childhood, this one has stuck, most likely because it has been recited and meditated upon frequently over the years. Whether I needed comfort or calming, reading this psalm was a help many times, and it has been a blessing to know it from an early age. There are several things that play a part in making this such a cherished psalm.

Psalm 23 is highly personal.

Being able to call and refer to the Lord as your Shepherd is a wonderfully intimate and comforting action. It puts everything else into perspective and sets the mood right away. It reminds me that I belong to Jesus, and, whatever I may be experiencing, this statement is one that is foundational to finding comfort and peace.

Psalm 23 paints a vivid picture of the tender loving care of my Lord for me.

Psalm 23 not only states that I will have everything I need from the Lord but it also paints a vivid picture of the tender loving care of my Lord for me: Jesus is my guide, my guard, my provider. For those who are visual learners, seeing in your mind's eye the pastoral picture the psalmist paints is very powerful. We don't wander the wilderness, left to our own devices to find food, rest, and safety for ourselves. We have a faithful Shepherd who is watchful over all of these details in our lives. These are things everyone longs for, and it's important to remind ourselves often that these are realities for Jesus' sheep.

Psalm 23 recognizes that we walk through tough times.

This psalm recognizes that, as idyllic as the first few verses are, we often walk through tough times: times of fear, times of hurt, times of mental, spiritual, and emotional pain and darkness. Yet, in these times we do not have to fear because the presence of our guiding and protecting Lord keeps us safe and gives us confidence.

Psalm 23 looks to our home with our Savior in heaven.

Lastly, this psalm looks to our present and future blessedness. Not only will the Lord provide sustenance and blessing while our enemies are present, but we will also have a home with him in heaven. Perhaps Psalm 23 is so precious because at each stage that you find yourself in it, you also find your Savior, and this is the type of reminder and comfort we need each and every day.

Related Articles:

• A Psalm for Restful Sleep

• You Need to Rest—the Seventh Day of Creation

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• 5 Reasons Why We Should Sing Psalms and Hymns in Church

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3 Reasons Why Christians Should Lay “R.I.P.” to Rest

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning Beautiful Christian Life LLC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through its links, at no cost to you.

I have great admiration for non-Christians who have contributed to the improvement of society through their inventions, production, leadership, literature, and art. My wife and I were recently reflecting on the remarkable ways in which Steve Jobs's labors helped change the world in which we live. I love so many of the beautiful works of art and music that have been the product of secular artists; and I do not, for one second, believe that we should sequester ourselves from the use and enjoyment of the contributions of self-avowed unbelievers in the world around us. Otherwise, as the apostle Paul wrote, "you would need to go out of the world" (1 Cor. 5:10). There is a common grace principle at work in the world by which God allows men to benefit their neighbors, making life in this fallen world a little less painful than it would otherwise be.

That being said, I've noticed something of a concerning trend over the past several years. It is the way in which believers speak about culture-impacting individuals at their deaths. Instead of simply expressing appreciation for their life and achievements, it has become commonplace for Christians to use the shorthand “R.I.P.” (rest in peace) on social media when speaking of individuals in whose lives there was no evidence of saving grace at their death. At the risk of sounding ill-tempered, I wish to set out several reasons why I am troubled by this occurrence.

1. R.I.P. refers to the afterlife.

First, when we employ the abbreviation R.I.P., we are inevitably admitting a state or condition inseparably linked to the idea of the afterlife. We are not speaking of something indifferent to the truth of the hereafter. Someone might push back at this point, suggesting that R.I.P. is nothing other than a way of expressing appreciation for an individual's life and achievements.

However, while certain words and phrases can be fluid in their meaning (e.g., "goodbye" has taken on a different meaning than its Old English sense, "God be with you"), "rest in peace" gives the sense that the deceased are "in a better place"—a place of rest and peace. If we care about the eternal salvation of people, and whether or not they are trusting in Christ alone for eternal life, then we should painstakingly avoid giving the sense that we believe in any form of universalism whatsoever.

2. Christians should not pray for the dead.

Second, as Christians we should revolt at the idea of "praying for the dead," since there is not a single ounce of biblical support for such an idea. By saying "rest in peace," we necessarily run the risk of giving the impression that we are saying a prayer for the deceased—whether for self-professed unbelievers or self-professed believers. This alone ought to give us pause as to whether we should seek to abandon using the expression.

3. The Bible clearly teaches the costly nature of both rest and peace. 

Third, the Scriptures teach very clearly the costly nature of both rest and peace. The biblical narrative is one of the redemptive rest that God has promised to provide through the life, death, resurrection, ascension, intercession, and return of Christ (Matt. 11:28-30; Heb. 4:1-10). The eschatological rest that Jesus has purchased for believers comes at the costly price of his blood (1 Cor. 6:20; 1 Pet. 1:19). Additionally, the Scriptures are clear that there is "no peace for the wicked" (Isa. 48:22; 57:21). The Lord warned, through the prophets, of the false prophets' message of "Peace, Peace!" when there was no peace (Jer. 6:14; 8:11).

The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that God has purchased peace only "through the blood of the cross" (Col. 1:20). The rest and peace for which we should long—both for ourselves and for those around us—is grounded on the nature of the person and atoning death of Jesus. If men have spent their lives rejecting the gospel and have not professed faith in Jesus, we should not be offering them posthumous well-wishes. It puts the nature of the exclusivity of Jesus and the gospel in jeopardy, even if that is not our intention.

None of us knows whether the regenerating grace of God has come at the final moment of someone’s life.

This does not mean that believers are to be hasty or uncharitable in the way in which we speak of the death of those who most likely died in unbelief, or that we are to speak in such a way as to indicate that we know with certainty where someone has gone when they have died. Surely, we have comfort and joy when someone who has professed faith in Christ—and in whose life there was fruit that they are in Christ (Matt. 7:16, 20)—departs from this life. It is the great comfort of believers to know that their fellow believers are now "resting in peace," as they "rest in Jesus" (1 Thess. 4:14).

The Old Testament speaks of believers as being "gathered to their people" at their death (Gen. 25:8, 17; 35:29; 49:29, 33). This is reserved only for believers. It is set in contrast with how the Scriptures speak of unbelievers at their deaths. However, when asked about those who never professed faith in Christ—someone who has spent the better part of his or her life adhering to some particular false religion—we should remember that none of us knows what God the Holy Spirit has done in the hearts of men and women moments prior to their death. None of us knows whether the regenerating grace of God has come at the final moment; and, therefore, we should only now be seeking to warn the living of the wrath to come in order to hold out the hope of redeeming grace in Christ.

We should weigh the implications of our speech, both in verbal and written form.

In a day when the biblical doctrine of hell has virtually disappeared from pulpits across the land, and the social conventions of the time demand more seemingly congenial speech than the Scriptures exemplify and require, we should give great personal examination to what we are saying and why we are saying what we are saying.

We should weigh the implications of our speech, both in verbal and written form, remembering that the same Jesus who said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:28-29), also said, "I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matt. 12:36).

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This article is adapted from “Laying R.I.P. to Rest” at Reformation21, the online magazine of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals and was originally published at Beautiful Christian Life on August 7, 2019.

Related Articles:

• If God Is Loving, Why Doesn’t He Just Forgive People?

• Did Hell Go Away?

• Jesus Is the True and Faithful Gardener Who Cares for Your Soul

• Unbelieving the Resurrection

• What Is the Difference between the Law and the Gospel?

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Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiates Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End by David Gibson

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Pietism vs. Piety — What’s the Difference?

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Many people seek a personal, subjective experience with God of some kind, perhaps by seeing a vision or hearing a revelation of some kind. It may be that someone has encouraged you to seek a similar experience. Does the Bible encourage Christians to do this?

What is the difference between pietism and piety?

The apostle Paul didn’t want the believers of Colossae to be deceived by those who would attempt to take them “captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8). He urged the Colossians to focus on Christ and their new life in him (Col. 9-17), not in practices and traditions that would lead them astray:

Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind. (Col. 2:18)

So what is the difference between pietism and piety? According to historical theologian R. Scott Clark,

Pietism is not to be confused with piety, which describes the Christian life and worship; pietism describes a retreat into the subjective experience of God. (Recovering the Reformed Confession: Our Theology, Piety, and Practice, p. 74)

The practice of pietism, either seeking personal encounters with God or practicing asceticism (another form of pietism that involves denying oneself of physical pleasures for the sake of spiritual advancement), can be appealing to people because they feel like they are being more religious and, thus, closer to God. Yet, Paul specifically states that such pursuits puff up one’s “sensuous mind” (Col. 2:18).

Christians should be known for their piety.

Instead of seeking mystical religious experiences and a lofty spiritual status, Christians can take comfort in knowing that the Holy Spirit actually dwells in them (1 Cor. 6:19; Rom. 8:9). Believers should be known for their piety, as they seek to know God’s word (1 Pet. 3:15), attend a faithful local church (1 Tim. 3:14-17; 2 Tim. 2:15; 1 Pet. 5:2; Heb. 10:24-25), and “walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2:12).

Related Articles:

• Is Poverty More Spiritual?

• What Is Biblical Meditation?

• What Is the Difference Between Justification and Sanctification?

• 9 Reasons You May Be in a Spiritual Drought—and How to Find Refreshment

Recommended:

All of Grace by Charles Spurgeon

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Marie Durand — Part 2: Daughter of the French Reformation

Jeanne Lombard (1865-1945); Prisonnières huguenotes à la Tour de Constance, par ; image from Wikimedia Commons.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning Beautiful Christian Life LLC may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through its links, at no cost to you.

Editor’s note: This is part two of a BCL series on Marie Durand by pastor and author Campbell Markham. Campbell’s translations of Durand's letters are included at the end of each installment. Click here to read part one.

We must come to His Word and be ordered by it. — John Calvin, 1536

An intelligent and educated nineteen-year old woman like Marie Durand (1711–1776) does not give up her freedom and the best years of her life—when she would hope to marry, raise children, and manage a home and farm amid the chestnut groves of Bouchet-de-Pranles—and choose instead to stick to her convictions and endure the brutal conditions of a stone dungeon for nearly four decades, without those convictions being rooted in a long, deep, and rich faith heritage.

In this chapter, I begin to lay the historical foundation for understanding Marie Durand and her words and decisions. I describe the French Reformation of the sixteenth century, that great work of Christ that freed some one-and-a-half million men and women from the shackles of medieval Catholicism. I trace, in particular, its geographical, historical, political, and linguistic roots before sketching some of its most important figures and some of the key events which shaped its first half-century. This is Marie Durand’s heritage, and her life and letters cannot be understood apart from it.

Likewise, we cannot understand the Reformation in France without understanding its own social and geographical roots.

Although Paris played a leading role in the Reformation, in the main the movement traced a crescent far distant from the capital, down the Atlantic coast from La Rochelle, across the Pyrenees, and north-east into the wild Cévennes, Ardèche, and the Dauphiné. This is the le croissant Huguenot, and it was no accident that Reform took hold there.

At the dawn of the sixteenth century a great deal about the south of France was distinct from the north, including its languages. Even today, France harbours many distinct dialects, and a Parisian will hardly understand a single word of the Celtic language spoken in Breton. Things were even more diverse in the sixteenth century. Roughly speaking, those in the south spoke Languedocien dialects, the langue d’oc: the tongue or language of oc, which was the word for “yes” in that region. This was unlike the northern langue d’oïl, oïl being the word for “yes” north of the Loire. (Oïl became the modern oui). It is a law unchanged since the Tower of Babel that different languages underlay different identities and cultures, and for those in the south of France northerners may as well have been from Scotland for all the social affinity they felt with them.

It is no surprise then that during the Middle Ages some distinct religious communities found a foothold in some of those same southern and south-western parts of France. These included the Cathars and Waldensians. Although their beliefs are difficult to circumscribe, the Cathars—the “Pure ones”—attempted in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries to recover a more sincere and inward form of Christian life. They were strong in Provence, in the south of France, where they were known as the Albigenses.

The Albigenses spoke Languedocien dialects and developed a distinct and elaborate social culture centered on their own ideals of courtly manners. Their autonomy and their sometimes peculiarly unorthodox doctrines caused grave concern among the Latin Catholic powers and the Pope himself. They were targeted by Dominican missionaries, threatened with the fire of Inquisition, and were ultimately assailed by knights in armour with crosses on their tunics and the massed violent hordes that accompanied them. The Albigensian Crusade (1209–29) spilled over into a general civil war that eventually brought Languedoc under the rule of the northern French kings and left a bitter separatism in the heart of the southern regions.

The Waldensians likewise sprang from a reform movement. They arose around Lyons in the twelfth century and spread into southern France and north-western Italy. They too ran afoul of the Inquisition. (Waldensian Protestants continue to live and worship in northern Italy. The Italian author Bruna Peyrot, who in 1997 wrote an historical novel about Durand, Prigioniere della Torre, is a Waldensian.)

All of this means that long before the Reformation, the Vivarais, the Durands’ home region in the south which roughly corresponds to modern-day Ardèche, bore a strong bent towards cultural separation from the north, religious non-conformity, and political autonomy.

If the south of France felt a sense of proud geographical and cultural autonomy from the north, a great many in France as a whole felt a proud sense of religious autonomy from the Pope and Italy. This divided the late-medieval French church into two groups. The Ultramontanes—literally “over the mountains”were fiercely loyal to the Pope, who resided across the alps in Italy. The opposing Gallicans resented the church being ruled by distant Italians and preferred all things Gallic, French. (Gaul is an ancient name for France.) Needless to say, French monarchs were proud Gallicans, and in 1516 Francis I secured the Concordat of Bologna, which removed the right to appoint senior church positions in the French church from the Pope to the French kings.    

The other big social movement that played such a key role in the rise of French Protestantism was the fourteenth and fifteenth-century European Renaissance, which means “re-birth.” Beginning in northern Italy, great minds and artists looked to recover and build upon the achievements of Classical Greece and Rome. This brought tremendous developments in painting, sculpture, music, architecture, historical and textual scholarship, literature, mechanical invention, and political theory.

Renaissance flowered in fifteenth-century Europe into Humanism, a scholarly movement which looked ad fontes, “back to the sources.” From the time of the Crusades, ancient books and parchments flowed into western Europe from Palestine and southern Europe. Scholars strove to grasp the thought of the ancients by mastering their languages—especially Greek, Hebrew, and classical Latinand by searching for and copying and comparing the oldest manuscripts that they could get their hands on.

Gutenberg’s development of the printing press around 1436 supercharged the whole Humanist project. It permitted the cheap, massive, and rapid multiplication of books and pamphlets and the ideas they carried. Western European scholarship was shaken by the content of this tidal wave of fresh thought and the exhilarating spirit of personal intellectual responsibility, of searching out the truth for oneself.

The re-examination of the biblical texts in their original languages sparked a major rethink of Christian thought and practice. A German Augustinian monk at the University of Wittenberg, who was lecturing in the early sixteenth century on the Psalms, Galatians, and Romans, rediscovered the Bible’s teaching about the way of salvation. The teachings of Martin Luther, and especially his recovery of the biblical doctrine of salvation by grace alone through faith in Christ alone, began to be debated in France in the 1520s. Luther’s critique of the papacy and all things Rome appealed to those with Gallican tendencies. They also appealed to a growing intelligentsia with a newly acquired taste for self-education and the new humanism.

Reformation in France was sparked in Paris in the 1520s in the diocese of Meaux around bishop Guillaume Briçonnet (1472–1534), the humanist Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples (1455–1536), and the brilliant author Marguerite de Navarre (1492–1549), sister of the French King Francis I. There was however one great figure who would far eclipse them all.

Visit the 1909 Monument international de la réformation, built into the wall of Geneva’s Old Town, and you will see among the granite statues of such Reformers as Guillaume Farel, Theodore Beza, and John Knox, a five-meter-tall representation of John Calvin. Calvin’s figure stands slightly forward of the others and dominates the monument. Calvin is indeed a giant in the Western intellectual tradition, and by far the greatest single figure of the French Reformation.

John Calvin was born in 1509 in Noyon, to the north of Paris. He trained in Latin and was destined, with his manifest intellectual gifts, for the riches and honour of a career in the law. In his early twenties he was exposed to humanist studies and learned New Testament Greek. By 1530 he had converted to the Protestant faith, the exact timing and precise causes of which remain obscure. In 1532 he published his first book, a commentary on the first-century philosopher Seneca’s De Clementia. Calvin hoped to make his name as a humanist scholar. In 1533, however, he came under the influence of the Swiss Protestant Reformer Nicolas Cop (1501–1540) at the Sorbonne, and Calvin’s career as a not-so-rich-and-honoured Reformer and theologian was set.

Calvin and Cop were forced to flee France after a notorious pro-Lutheran sermon by Cop in 1533 and the Affaire de placards of 1534, when stridently anti-clerical and anti-Mass posters appeared throughout Paris and other French cities. One poster was said even to have been tacked onto the apoplectic King’s bedchamber. Scores of Protestants were burned at the stake during the ensuing crackdown. Yet, by the time Calvin first arrived in Geneva, which would come to be his home city until his death in 1564, the seeds of Reformation had been scattered upon the variously stony, weed-choked, and fertile soils of France.

Look at a map of France and you will see Lake Geneva pointing like an arrow into the heart of France. From Calvin’s pen flowed a torrent of letters, sermons, biblical commentaries, and his Institutes of the Christian Religion. The Institutes, the fifth and final edition of which Calvin published in 1559 and which runs to some 230,000 words, lays out a complete explanation of Christian thought and life. Theologian J. I. Packer called it one of “the wonders of the literary world,” and it became the scholarly theological bedrock of Reformed Protestantism.

Yet though we identify the great achievements of John Calvin with Geneva, Calvin identified himself with France. Calvin, who was born and educated in France, spoke and wrote in French when he wasn’t communicating in Latin. He laboured with a passionate love and yearning for the religious Reformation and salvation of his own people. That’s why Calvin corresponded incessantly with French political and church leaders; that’s why he trained a corps of hundreds of native French pastors to build a Reformed church in France; and that’s why he personally translated his Institutes from Latin into French.

In 1559, Reformed churches in France formally linked themselves to Calvin’s doctrine by adopting a statement of faith, the Confessio Gallicana, which had been drafted by Calvin and his pupil Antoine de Chandieu (1534–1591). After Calvin’s death in 1564, his colleague Theodore Beza (1519–1605), a rarely gifted scholar in his own right, continued to develop and propagate his friend’s work in France. By the middle of the sixteenth century, an estimated one-and-a-half million people, more than seven percent of the French population, had converted to Protestantism. John Calvin’s books, letters, and trained pastors had made the single biggest human contribution to this.

This is a brief sketch of the deep historical background to the life and letters of Marie Durand. She would be born in 1711 in Bouchet-de-Pranles into a community with a hoary past of linguistic, cultural, political, and religious autonomy. She was born into a church whose beliefs and practices were deeply rooted in the sixteenth-century Reformation and the labours of John Calvin, one of France’s greatest sons and exiles. Though she never refers to Calvin in any of her surviving letters, his Reformed teaching of the Scripture underpins her theology, and indeed her decision to endure decades of imprisonment rather than abjure her Protestant faith.

We look next at the terrible events of the later sixteenth century that plagued French Protestants, the most appalling of which—the Saint Bartholomew’s Massacre—continued to reverberate and shape the lives of eighteenth-century Huguenots like Marie Durand.

Marie Durand Letter 4 — to Justine Peschaire

[After ten years of imprisonment.]

To Mademoiselle Justine Peschaire de Vallon

The Tour de Constance, May 21, 1740

Mademoiselle,

While I do not have the honour of knowing you, except by your worthy reputation, I take the liberty of writing to assure you of my most humble respects, to wish you perfect health, and that you be favoured with all kinds of blessings and prolonged prosperity.

The courier told me that you have charged him to tell you if we have need of anything. We are very much obliged to you for your care; but allow me to inform you that, being so far from our homes as we are, we can only have extreme need of the help of our brethren.

There are nine of us from the Vivarais, held captive in this sad place. Yet for the ten years that I have been here the people of the Vivarais have not sent anything. Those from other places have not behaved in this way, for they provided what was necessary to the women of their own lands, and even as much as they could manage for us.

Permit me please to say that I am not surprised if God makes his rod felt in so terrible a manner to those of the faith in our wretched province; for they do not follow the commands of the divine Master. He commands us to take care of prisoners, and they have not done this at all. Charity is the true principle of our religion and they do not carry out this duty. In a word, it seems that we are in the last days, for this divine virtue has very much cooled. True Christians will not be condemned for having abandoned the purity of the Gospel, since in effect they make constant profession of it; but they will be condemned for not visiting Jesus Christ in the prisons, in the person of his members.

I exhort them by the compassion of God to reignite their charitable zeal for the poor and suffering; that they will remember that the Lord Jesus promised to repay even the gift of a glass of cold water to his children. How much more will he recompense those who sustain his elect, who fight under the standard of the cross. Their alms will rise in memory before God, as have risen the alms sent from Corneille. In short, if they sow freely, they will reap freely, as the Apostle explains.

My own needs cause me to think of yours, especially because the prisoners of Languedoc reproach us that nothing ever comes from our land. They are absolutely right. They share with us from that which was given to them. In this way we have been abandoned by those who should have given us the most support, and who are now therefore considered as strangers.

If you would like, Mademoiselle, to have the blessing of sharing something with us we would be greatly in your debt. You could do this for both Mademoiselle de Rouvier, mother-in-law of my late brother, prisoner here with me, and to myself conjointly. She assures you of her respects, as does the wife of master Daniel Durand, and the wife of Jean Degoutet.

You can pass on our letter to the faithful who may want to contribute to this good work; I beg you to assure them of my deepest respect. I hope that you will prove your love for us by making your charity shine upon our sad situation.

I conclude by praying to the Supreme Being, that it will please him to satisfy you with all his earthly gifts and, one day, with his heavenly glory. These are the prayers made by the one who has the honour of being, with complete and respectful veneration,

Mademoiselle,

your very humble and very obedient servant,

La Durand.

Translation © 2022 Campbell Markham | All rights reserved

Marie Durand Letter 5 – to the Widow Guiraudet

[After sixteen years of imprisonment.]

To Mademoiselle the widow of the late Monsieur Guiraudet delivered by hand to Alais

The Tour de Constance, February 27, 1746

Mademoiselle,

If I thought that your feelings were captured by a worldly spirit, the fear of displeasing them by an overly protracted silence would have entirely withheld my hand. And I would not dare to justify myself by any motive except that of your generosity, since I made myself worthy of the harshest censures, worthy of being eternally forgotten, and unworthy to receive the least mercy from you, since, having received such genuine favours, it must seem to you that an assuredly most criminal negligence had caused me to forget such great benefits.

But as, Mademoiselle, you are so well instructed in the school of the One who has perfect charity, to have given himself for our ransom, and that the great Paraclete, who enlightens you by his bright lights and inflames you by that pure love and ardent zeal which sets ablaze the seraphs, this tenderness with which you are pleased to honour me, so much like that which a good mother has for her children, this exemplary piety which reigns in you, and which causes you to be admired not only by the faithful, but even by those who look at us with horror – this tenor of a consistently pure life, always unchanging, always self-consistent, where nothing fails, all these heroic virtues with which you are invested make me hope that your natural kindness will compensate for my delay, all the more because it was not the result of negligence.

I spoke of this subject to the venerable Mademoiselle de Noguier, and I am fully persuaded that your compassion will be moved by this. I am infinitely obliged to you for all your charitable kindness toward me. I ask you for the grace to continue your excellent protection to me, which I will try to maintain by submissive devotion. Support, please, my trembling hands as long as the will of the One who distributes good and ill chooses to inflict me with afflictions and ills.

In just recognition, I can only offer you my feeble but nonetheless sincerest prayers. God wants to satisfy you with his most particular blessings, to pour out on your worthy person and on all those who are dear to you the abundance of the sweet influences of his most life-giving grace, that you may experience all the sweetness of nature and the treasures of grace, until that time when the Supreme Being introduces you into sovereign happiness, where you will be crowned with glory and immortality to repay the sublime charity that you are pouring out upon those who suffer under the cross of Christ.

These are the sincere prayers and wishes that I make in all my prayers for the preservation and long and happy prosperity of your venerable person, and for all those who are dear to you. Be utterly convinced, Mademoiselle, and believe me to be, with deep submission and inviolable respect,

Mademoiselle,

your very humble and obedient servant,

La Durand.

All my suffering sisters assure you of their respectful submission and commend themselves, like me, to your good prayers and pious care.

Translation © 2022 Campbell Markham | All rights reserved

Related Articles:

• Marie Durand (1711–1776), the Famous Prisoner of Faith — Introduction (part one of BCL’s series on Marie Durand)

• Do You Have the Guts to Remain in the Church? — Revelation 21:1-8

• You Must Be Ready for Jesus' Return!

• Do You Have Resurrection Courage?

• 3 Ways God Saves You from Drowning—the Second Day of Creation

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How to Love Your Wife As Christ Loves the Church

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In the latter half of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul gives Christian husbands a few lofty, intimidating, yet glorious instructions for how we are to live with our wives in our marriages. He begins with a straightforward command: “Husbands, love your wives” (Eph. 5:25). This sentence is not difficult to understand. We don’t need to scour our commentaries or study Bibles to grasp the nuances of the original language or to disentangle the complexities of its syntax. No, the command is simple: we are to love our wives.

Love your wife as Christ loves the church.

Of course, how we love our wives is vital, so Paul continues his instructions by providing us with a model to follow: Christian husbands are to love their wives as “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25). In the same way that Christ laid down his life to purify his bride and provide for her every need, so husbands are to die daily to provide for their wives’ spiritual and physical needs (Eph. 5:26-29).

But not only are we called to provide for our wife’s needs; we are also to “cherish” our wife and count her as highly valuable and precious to us. The word for “cherish” in Ephesians 5:29 is the same word used for “care” in 1 Thessalonians 2:7 where Paul describes his ministry to the Thessalonians. Paul describes himself as tender with these new believers like a mommy caring for her new baby. The reason why Paul would use this analogy to describe his ministry to the Thessalonians is because mommies cherish their babies. Mommies delight in their babies and love to provide for all of their needs. Mommies want to spend time with their baby and protect their child from any possible harm.

When Paul calls husbands to cherish their wives, he means that we are to do more than crank out our duty to provide for their spiritual and physical needs. Far more than rote obedience, Paul wants us to highly value our wives, desire to be with them, and treasure their friendship. Amazingly, this is how Christ loves his bride. Christ proactively sought his bride and died for her to heal the breach she created in the relationship (Rom. 3:21-26; cf. Eph. 5:25). Scripture also tells us that Christ greatly delights in his bride (Zech. 3:17). Husbands, in the same way, should delight in their wives, study them to know how to bless them in tangible ways, and aim to restore the relationship whenever a breach occurs because of how highly he values her friendship.

Again, this is a high calling. Some husbands may sense the pang of conviction when they hear they must make their wives’ spiritual health a top priority. Others may feel a pinch of guilt when they realize they haven’t worked hard to provide for their wives. Still others of us may experience a twinge of shame when we hear that cherishing our bride is part of our calling as Christian husbands because we know we don’t cherish them as we should.

A husband’s love for his wife is empowered by the gospel.

But this passage contains some wonderful news for husbands who believe they fall far short of this high calling. The first encouraging truth is that Paul’s admonition to husbands is rooted in the gospel. When Paul tells Christian husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church, he is implicitly reminding them to ground their love in the truth that Christ has laid down his life for his bride. Yes, Jesus Christ is the model to follow—we lay down our lives for our wives just like Christ laid down his life for his bride. But before Christ is our model, he is our Savior. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. Paul speaks this way in Galatians:

The life that I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)

Everything that Paul did in his Christian life was empowered and motivated by the reality that Christ had died for him. That’s the gospel, and that gospel is embedded in the passage that exhorts us to love our wives. If we don’t soak ourselves in the truths of the gospel—that Christ freely gave himself for our sins and that we are forgiven of our sins by faith in his alone—we will quickly find ourselves spiritually weak and unable to fulfill our calling as husbands with any consistency.

It doesn’t matter how, why, when, or where you got married.

The second encouraging truth is that Paul does not qualify any of his instructions to husbands. He simply exhorts all Christian husbands to love their wives. It doesn’t matter how, why, when, or where you came to be married. Your marriage may have been hasty, or it may have been arranged. You may have been head-over-heels for your bride, or you may not have loved your wife when you married her. Perhaps you knew for certain that you wanted to marry your wife, or maybe you wonder whether you should have married someone else. Or, maybe your marriage started well, but now after a few years and a few kids, affection for your bride is waning.

The glorious wisdom of this passage is this: none of those factors ultimately matter. Nope. Not a one. It doesn’t matter if your marriage was arranged or if you met in high school. It doesn’t matter if you loved your wife when you met her or if you ventured into your marriage for other reasons. It doesn’t matter if the first ten years of your marriage have been blissful or bleak. It doesn’t matter if you met your wife at work or at church or online.

Paul knew of countless possible circumstances surrounding how and why married couples came together, yet he doesn’t qualify his statement to Christian husbands in the slightest. In Paul’s day, just as today, there were arranged marriages, marriages of convenience, marriages of duty, marriages of passion, marriages that resulted from a child out of wedlock, and many other potential scenarios. Nowhere in this passage or in any of his other writings does Paul modify his instruction for husbands to love their wives. He never says, “Husbands, love your wives—if you are sure she is the one for you.” Paul doesn’t hedge his command by saying, “Husbands, love your wives if you met her at church.” The apostle doesn’t provide an exit clause by suggesting, “Husbands, love your wives if you are still feeling deep affection for her.” No, the command is clear and unqualified: husbands, love your wives.

Husbands, you can love your wives.

How is this good news? It is good news because the command implies that you are, by grace, able to fulfill it. That means that regardless of why or how you got together with your wife, you can, starting today, begin to love her as Christ loves the church and continue to grow in that love. Of course, these comments are not to suggest that we don’t need to repent of sinful past motives or work hard to overcome foolish patterns we’ve developed in our marriage. These concerns notwithstanding, the Christian husband can re-engage his wife and his marriage with the confidence that God will enable him to love her as Christ loves the church. Through the aid of the Spirit, the Word of God, and the local church, Christ can enable any Christian man to love his wife, regardless of the circumstances surrounding his marriage. In light of this, men, let us work hard to love our wives as Christ loves the church.

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This article was originally published under the title “Paul Doesn’t Qualify His Instructions for Husbands, and that’s Great News” at withallwisdom.com.

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• 6 Ways a Christian Husband Cherishes His Wife

• The Importance of Compatibility in Romantic Relationships

• 7 Dos and Don'ts to Remember When You Disagree with Your Spouse

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