The apostle Paul begins 2 Corinthians with the usual greeting, followed by a section on the comfort God provides us when we suffer or are afflicted for Christ’s sake. 2 Corinthians 1:5 makes this statement: “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”
On that verse, Charles Spurgeon wrote this analogy: “The Ruler of Providence bears a pair of scales—in this side He puts His people’s trials, and in that He puts their consolations. When the scale of trial is nearly empty, you will always find the scale of consolation in nearly the same condition; and when the scale of trials is full, you will find the scale of consolation just as heavy.”[1]
Therefore, when living for Christ brings trouble and opposition, remember also that our Father is ruler of all and fully intends to share His comfort with us through Christ eternally.
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” – Romans 8:18
[1] From “February 12” of Spurgeon’s Morning by Morning commentary
When describing His holiness, God provided pictures like the one in Isaiah 6:1 – “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” Because “the train of his robe filled the temple,” there is no room in the temple for anything that isn’t holy. Or in Revelation 15:8, which says: “and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.” Until God’s judgment was complete – both on the unrepentant and on the cross for His people – there would continue to be no room in the sanctuary for anyone but the Lord.
How do these pictures apply to us? Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 – “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” Therefore, we ask ourselves: does the train of the Lord’s robe fill our temples?
A transformative moment came in my Christian life when I understood sin in contrast to holiness, rather than as a list of “don’ts.” It’s possible (perhaps even easy) to convince ourselves we are not sinners in need of grace by defining sin as things we don’t do. However, much of the time, the word “sin” in the New Testament is a translation of the Greek word hamartia, which means “to miss the mark.”[1] The word has athletic connotations, such as if an archer couldn’t hit the bullseye, they wouldn’t win the competition and the prize. As we all know, archers are supposed to be accurate, and if they aren’t, they’ve “missed the mark.”
Therefore, when Paul writes in Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” he is not saying everybody failed to follow a list of dos and don’ts, but that we have not fully lived the life God intended us to live. Romans 3:23 declares that while we wouldn’t set up idols in our church building, all of us tolerate some idols in our soul, which is where the Holy Spirit of God chooses to dwell. The train of His robe does not fill our inner temple, and we too often trod on it with dirty feet. We’ve “missed the mark” any time there’s other stuff in our temple, directing our thoughts and actions. However, by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we have both a hope of living with God and a future where His metaphorical robe does fill us.
In Paradise, God’s people will – individually and collectively – “hit the mark” perfectly for eternity. His perfect temple will be completed in Paradise, with the living stones of all His people.
Paul returns to holiness again in 2 Corinthians 6:16 to 7:1, quoting several Old Testament passages, since holiness of His people has been the plan from the beginning –
“What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.’
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”
Many people, both Christian and non-Christian, think of obedience to God as a dreadful chore, something that robs us of our autonomy and joy. Sometimes people refuse to believe in God because they reject His requirements, and sometimes people resent God because they see Him as making them labor in futility for the perfection He requires. However, we know that salvation does not come from our obedience, but Christ’s, and through God’s grace He reveals Himself to us. Then we learn that the rules we should follow come from a God who loves us and perfectly knows what is good and bad for us – far beyond our own knowledge. Therefore, those rules become our freedom and joy when we follow them willingly. He always knows the best and right choice to make.
Psalm 119 (the longest chapter in the Bible) is a meditation on the benefits of God’s laws for us, and verses 44-45 give us a picture of those benefits:
“I will keep your law continually, forever and ever, and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.”
The central idea here is that when we are obedient to God, we “shall walk in a wide place,” but what does that mean? How does that benefit us?
Think about walking along a mountain path, or on stones crossing a river. Does it make a difference how wide that path is, or how big and flat the stones are? If we trip and fall on a narrow place, we may fall into a river or off a cliff. However, if we fall in a wide place on a mountain path or on a very large rock, we may scrape a knee or our hands, but the consequences won’t be as severe as falling off a cliff!
The idea of walking in a wide place brings to mind the contrast between the consequences of following our own way versus following God’s. Going our own way can not only have worse consequences now, in this world, but it can also have consequences in eternity. Never repenting of going our own way at all leads to an eternity banished from God’s presence and blessings. But even if we are saved, failure to follow God can rob others of God’s blessings for them that He intends through us and can influence our experience in heaven. Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 that there are rewards in heaven for those who follow Him, as well as “loss” for not doing so. So, doing whatever we please has consequences, some of which may be eternal.
In contrast, obedience to God is like walking in a safe place, where any negative consequence is temporary, or comes with a corresponding blessing. We may get a scraped knee, but we don’t fall off a cliff, suffering permanent damage, death or other loss. Following God’s word can’t keep all bad things from happening to you, but it can limit the worldly consequences, and eliminate the eternal consequences.
Therefore, seek God’s guidance and follow it, and we “shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.”
Haggai was a prophet during the time shortly after the end of the Babylonian exile. His main focus was encouraging the people to complete the rebuilding of the Temple, which had been destroyed at the beginning of the exile, in 586 B.C. After returning to Israel, the people had become lazy and complacent about God’s house, the Temple, saying “the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD,”[1] and made excuses not to rebuild it. But Haggai challenged them, in true prophetic fashion, asking “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”[2] The problem was that the people took great care of their own houses with fancy paneling, yet weren’t concerned that the Temple was still a ruin. “The time has not yet come,” they said.
Haggai told the people: “Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD.”[3] This would involve a lot of hard work, God knows what it takes to build His Temple, and He also knows that it needs to be done and should be a priority.
Today, the equivalent of the Temple is the body of believers known as the church. 1 Peter 2:5 says, “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” God’s goal for the church is to perfect it in Jesus’ likeness, therefore no matter what condition the church is in here, it always needs to be built up. We may be tempted to say “the time has not yet come” because we won’t be perfected until eternity, but He says ““Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD.”
Building the church (God’s house) may feel as difficult as climbing hills, gathering and transporting wood from forests to build a literal, physical Temple. It’s not easy and we shouldn’t expect it to be. But God will build His church and He wants our help.
When writing of our diverse spiritual gifts, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:12 – “So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.” Has the time come to build His church? Yes, it has.
It’s universal to human experience that big and strong people bully smaller and weaker people. Those with position, influence and power use what they have to take advantage of those who don’t have what they have. Centuries ago, David imagined in Psalm 68:15-16 that even the mountains do the same:
“O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan; O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan! Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain, at the mount that God desired for his abode, yes, where the LORD will dwell forever?” – Psalm 68:15-16
The mountains of Bashan, of which Mount Hermon is the tallest, are northeast of Israel and are much taller than Mount Zion, where God had chosen to be most fully present with His people. In David’s picture, size is what matters: the bigger mountains hate the smaller mountains, even knowing that God is there. The big bully the small, and perhaps they do so because they know God is there.
Likewise, people who are well-off in this world often look down on Christians, God’s chosen people. It is rare for the rich, famous, or powerful to publicly testify about Christ, and so we often get excited when athletes, celebrities, or politicians make their faith public. We say to each other, “did you hear so-and-so is a Christian?” It can make us feel like it’s more reasonable and accepted to follow Christ when this happens. It feels good to identify with the rich and powerful.
But what if this rarity of seeing faith in the rich and powerful is intentional on God’s part?
Throughout Scripture God doesn’t identify with the rich and powerful; He identifies with the widow and orphan, with the lonely and outcast. He favors the weak and the exploited.
In 1 Corinthians 1:26, Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.” The first century isn’t much different than to today: the “wise”, powerful and noble rarely testified about Christ. Next Paul wrote: “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are…”
Why? “…so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”
Back to Psalm 68, where we found the mountains of Bashan ridiculing God’s mountain of Zion, David ends with these verses:
“Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies. Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!”
I’ll rejoice over a public Christian testimony wherever it comes from, but I remember that God doesn’t need the help of the movers and shakers of this world. His power is “in the skies” – way above the mountains that bully His Mount Zion. He is glorified more when His power enables the weak to love Him and love their neighbor.
We might sometimes feel alone and ignored, like we’re not part of the “in crowd” or successful, but that might mean we’re God’s type of person! No celebrity endorsement required.
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 