Monday, July 21, 2014

Reflections in the Psalms

C.S. Lewis once wrote a book Reflections on the Psalms but it is not very recommended reading because of his treatment of the doctrine of inspiration and the imprecatory psalms (or psalms of cursing). To reflect ‘on’ the Psalms seems to be the wrong approach – since it establishes a position of personal opinion above Scripture. This cannot be right: we come to the Scriptures with humility and trust in order to be changed by them, not to have our own assumptions reflected back at us unaltered.   We should not walk away from the mirror of Scripture without ‘looking’ intently into the ‘perfect law of liberty’ in order to continue in its precepts, remembering the way in which it has exposed our character (James 1:22-25). We should behold in that mirror ‘the glory of the Lord’ in order to be ‘changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord’ (II Corinthians 3:18).

The Early Church Fathers (especially Athanasius (c. 296-373), Bishop of Alexandria) viewed the Psalms in this way. Athanasius is famous for his mighty defence of the deity of Christ. In his Letter on the Psalms, he praises the Psalter very highly:
[Within it] are represented and portrayed in all their great variety the movements of the human soul. It is like a picture, in which you see yourself portrayed and, seeing, may understand and consequently form yourself upon the pattern given…you learn aboutyourself. You find depicted in it all the movements of your soul, all its changes, its ups and downs, its failures and recoveries. Moreover, whatever your particular need or trouble, from this same book you can select a form of words to fit it, so that you do not merely hear and then pass on, but learn the way to remedy your ill (p.19).
Athanasius stresses the singing of the Psalms – for him this is their primary use and purpose, and he finds a special benefit in this:
It seems to me, moreover, that because the Psalms thus serve him who sings them as a mirror, wherein he sees himself and his own soul, he cannot help but render them in such a manner that their words go home with equal force to those who hear him sing, and stir them also to a like reaction…just as in a mirror the movements of our own souls are reflected in them an the words are indeed our very own, given us to serve both as a reminder of our changes of condition and as a pattern and model for the amendment of our lives (p.22-23).
Athanasius, together with all the Church Fathers as well as the apostles, also sees the Psalms as the Book about Christ, words that are His very own spoken about Himself: reflections of the perfect life of the perfect man. ‘And therefore, before He came among us, He sketched the likeness if this perfect life for us in words, in this same book of Psalms; in order that, just as He revealed Himself in flesh to be the perfect, heavenly Man, so in the Psalms also men of good-will might see the pattern life portrayed, and find therein the healing and correction of their own’ (p.24).

John Calvin continued the idea in calling the Psalter ‘an anatomy of all parts of the soul, since no one can experience emotions whose portrait he could not behold reflected in its mirror. Yes, the Holy Spirit has there depicted in the most vivid manner every species of pain, affliction, fear doubt, hope, care, anxiety, and turbulent emotion, through which the hearts of men are chased’.

As a book for corporate at least as much as individual praise the book of Psalms is also able to reflect and to change the Church as its songs are sung together (for the Church in the interpretation of the Psalms see Bishop Horne’s classic exposition).

Saturday, July 19, 2014

His righteousness complete by his Resurrection

Some notes from a sermon by one of our ministers some time ago.

John 20:1-8. There is much interest in the fact that John reached the grave before Peter, but the minister felt that might just have been the due to the fact that different people have different physiques and can run faster than others. What is significant is the word 'seeth' in John 20:6, which actually means that John 'studied' what he saw. The Scripture reference to the head napkin and the separate winding clothes disprove the Turin shroud's authenticity. The grave clothes had fallen in empty on themselves: Christ did not have to tear his way out of them, as His resurrection body was a spiritual body, real but capable of things the normal human body was not; this point is shown in His being able to walk through the door into the room where the disciples gathered later for fear of the Jews (John 20:19).

Many place emphasis on the incarnation, the child in the manger. But that is an incomplete Saviour. To fully satisfy divine justice, Christ had to suffer and die and rise again, His righteousness complete by his resurrection, His foes defeated.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

in one day

One or two notes taken from a sermon by one of our ministers some years ago. This is a summary not a verbatim quote.

Zechariah 3v9 "I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day".
1. the greatness of Christ's suffering; 2. the greatness of the strength of Christ, and 3. the greatness of His love.

Adam's one 'small' act of disobedience had massive repercussions for the millions of his descendants; one sin led to another and the corruption brought in by his one act of disobedience has led to an infinite number of sins. Each sin any one person commits can lead to  dreadful results too in future generations.

The minister laid emphasis on the sufferings being in Christ's human nature as the divine nature cannot suffer (an error, he said which is beginning to appear now). Also laid stress on His love to His own people and the great victory wrought.

Samson was a type of Christ. Just as Samson brought down the house of his enemies by heaving down the two pillars which held it up, so Christ leaned His strength against Sin and Death - the two pillars holding up the House of Satan. And just as Samson destroyed more of the Philistines in his death than he did in his life, so Christ caused great destruction to Satan in His own death.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

O send out thy light and thy truth

A few sermon notes from one of the ministers.

Psalm 43 v 3;4. "O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. 4 Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God".

The desire is for a blessing on God's Word to his own soul, for the Word to be his guide. The first word in v3 is 'O'…how much meaning is in that one-vowel word of longing, which also appears at the end of v4. The psalmist is able to say that the Most High is "my God".