- They Say It Does Not Make Sense

To the worldling this does not make sense. “I will stick with the psychiatrist,” is his or her response. But the necessity for spiritual illumination before we can grasp spiritual truth is taught throughout the New Testament. God certainly has something to say to the seeking soul that He cannot impart to the person who ignores the truth and scorns the message in His Word. Spiritual truths cannot be received in the ordinary ways of human nature. When the Revelation warns against this world, it is not so much a warning against the ways of this world as it is against the spirit of this world. This present world, in the New Testament meaning of the word, is simply unregenerate human nature no matter where it is found, even in the midst of zealous devotion to religion. When Jesus came into our midst and presented Himself as the Messiah, His greatest enemies were the entrenched religious leaders of Israel. Their spiritual principles were drawn not from above, but from below. They used all the tactics of unregenerate men, including bribes, to bring the witness of lies against Jesus. To defend God, they acted like the devil. To claim support from the Scriptures, they defied its true teachings. In the name of a religion of love and mercy, they loosed the reins of blind hate. So fierce was their spirit—the spirit of this world that dominated them—that it never rested until they had put to death the Son of God.

Now, we are evangelicals at a troubled time in history. We face a danger—the danger of taking for granted that because we are evangelicals in theology and creed, we are automatically pleasing in the sight of God. Is it possible that our conservative theology is really a kind of nibbling of God’s sweet and precious Word? Do we never allow it to become anything more than the creed and doctrines we say we believe? The angel said to John, “Eat the scroll! Consume it! Digest it!” Jeremiah and Ezekiel testified that they ate and digested the Word of God, and then they went out to face bitterness and hostility. We are God’s people for our day and our generation. God’s people are called to be something different. God expects a certain kind of heroism from His redeemed people. Our call is not to a life of ease; we are called to be at our best for God and for His gospel.