God Loves… Himself

In the previous musing (Musing 3) the subject was primarily on humility in order to pray based on II Chronicles 7:14. That text gives us the words of God in which He tells His people to humble themselves and pray. The problem, however, is the English word “humility.” It is a weak word to translate the original language of the text, but it is at least a good place to start.

The Hebrew word [n:K’ (k¹na`) means to be humbled, subdued, brought down, and brought into subjection. It is a stronger word than the basic term for humility. What this tells us, then, is that in order to truly pray, seek the face of God, and to repent requires a subjection of the soul first and foremost. When a foreign army or king went into a nation in older times and conquered it, the people were in complete and total subjection to the foreign king. This is seen in I Kings 20, or seen in one sense.

Now Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered all his army, and there were thirty-two kings with him, and horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria and fought against it. 2 Then he sent messengers to the city to Ahab king of Israel and said to him, “Thus says Ben-hadad, 3 ‘Your silver and your gold are mine; your most beautiful wives and children are also mine.'” 4 The king of Israel replied, “It is according to your word, my lord, O king; I am yours, and all that I have.”

The foreign king (Ben-hadad) came to Ahab who was king of Israel and demanded his silver and gold, the most beautiful wives and children. The king of Israel, who at that moment displayed subjection of heart, said “I am yours, and all that I have.” Ben-hadad sent messengers again and Ahab did not go along and they fought. But the first part of the story illustrates the point of a truly subjected heart. A heart that is humbled and subjected is a heart that says to God, “I am yours, and all that I have.” It is a heart that bows to God and submits all that it is and all that it has with no reservations and no rights to self or to property.

A soul that has been truly subjected to the Lord Jesus Christ is a person that owns nothing, not even self. A person that is going to be subjected to Christ is one that must die to self in order to follow Christ. There is a reason, after all, that the whole of Scripture points to God as absolute Lord and then to the Lord Jesus Christ. There are reasons that the New Testament speaks of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Christ. There are reasons that the Lord Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. In one very real sense the Gospel of the kingdom of God and the Gospel of the glory of God in the face of Christ is the Gospel of absolute and utter subjection to King Jesus. What is repentance if not turning from the love and rule of self to the love and rule of Christ? What is repentance if not turning from the proud love of self to the humbled love of Christ? What is repentance if not from being a slave of the devil and sin to being a slave of Christ and of righteousness?

The Lord Jesus Christ is absolute Lord of the realm of the human heart and not just the realm of external lives. The Lord Jesus Christ either reigns in the heart or He does not truly reign over His subjects. True prayer should be for the welfare of the King rather than selfish things. True prayer should be for our hearts to be broken that we may truly pray and seek the face of God. Hearts that are not subjected pray from self and for self, which is to say that their prayers are all about themselves and love for self. But a heart that is subjected to Christ is a heart that prays out of love for Christ and His glory.

The Lord’s Prayer was not given for people just to repeat the words, but as a guideline for what they should love and pray for. The Lord’s people should pray for the Lord’s name to be hallowed and His glory as opposed to seeking their own glory and honor. The Lord’s people should pray for the Lord’s kingdom to come, not their own. The Lord’s people should pray for the Lord’s will to be done rather than their own. There may also be a language issue here as well. There may be a difference in praying for “the Lord” and praying for “my Lord.” My Lord means that I am a subjected creature with no rights. A subjected creature with no rights is a person that is ready to truly pray for the Lord’s name, the Lord’s kingdom, and the Lord’s will. It is a person ready to pray as Christ prayed as He went to the cross. “Yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). As subjects of King Jesus, we should pray as He prayed and remind ourselves that no matter what happens to us, we are His and He has all the rights and all the wisdom.

It appears that there are vast numbers of books that have been written on prayer the past few centuries and they continue to pour from the presses. The books appear to focus on what to say before God and how to get things from God. But is that true prayer? Do we really find the New Testament teaching us about the proper words to say in prayer? Do we really find the New Testament teaching us about how to pray and get the things we want from God? Since there is no true act of a Christian apart from love, which would certainly include prayer, what would the prayers of a person be like if that person loved God above all things? What would it mean to truly seek God out of love for Him and His glory rather than to seek things for self and the comforts of self? 2 Chronicles 7:14 has some important and vital teaching on this subject.

My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

The order in this passage is for people to humble themselves and then pray. Could it be the case that apart from humility there is no true prayer? If so, then all non-humble prayer is much like the Pharisee who “was praying this to himself” (Luke 18:11). Can it be that all prayer that comes from a non-humbled heart is really a person praying from himself and to himself in reality? What on earth can a proud prayer mean? After all, the prayer of a person that is not humbled is the prayer of a proud person.

The order of the passage continues on and tells us that those who are humbled and praying will seek His face. This is to say that a proud person will pray and see things for himself. The proud person is full of self and self-love and his prayer is nothing but an espousing of his self-love and desire for self. The proud person may use the right words in his religious activity, but the proud heart only wants the things of self and things for self. But the humble heart prays in order to seek the face of God. The humble heart wants and pants after God and longs to know more of God and to see His glory.

The last point of the passage (in this context) is that of repentance. The humbled soul that prays and seeks the face of God is a soul that will repent of all known sin. The proud heart will be blinded to sin for the most part but will repent in order that things will be better for self. Oh how the heart of men must be humbled in order to truly pray. How horrible it is for proud men to pray from their proud hearts and seek themselves in the things of religion. They only pray in order to seek things from God and their repentance is only to obtain things from God or to maintain a good face in religion. A proud heart is, then, the idol of all who have one. It is a horrible thing to be in worship of self while pretending to worship the living God.

If humility is an utter need for prayer, then it is an utter need for all that is truly Christian. Can a person worship God with a proud heart? Can a person give alms with a proud heart? Can a person fast with a proud heart? Can a person preach or teach with a proud heart? It seems self-evident that this is something that cannot be. If all the true believer does must be given by grace first, then it is clear that the proud heart is opposed to God will not serve Him from grace because that proud heart cannot receive grace. Only the humble receive grace and grace is necessary to do all one does for the glory of God.

A proud heart is one of the greatest curses that God turns the soul over to. A proud heart is blind and unfeeling in spiritual things. A proud heart does not hear spiritual things. A proud heart does not taste spiritual things. But if a humble heart is so necessary to be a Christian and the Christian life, then why do people not seek true humility rather than the appearances of it? It is because true humility comes at a great cost. It costs the soul all of its rights and all that it is. True humility means that the soul must be emptied of self and of its pride. True humility means that God has all rights over it and it has no right to choose anything for itself. True humility means that the soul must die to self and Christ must be its life. True humility means that the proud heart must be broken of its pride and the spirit of self and for it to be filled with the Spirit. In other words, it costs the soul all that it is and all that is has to be truly humble. It appears that few are willing to die to self in reality in order to have humility. That means that true prayer is rare.

What will sin look like in eternity? That is another issue that frail and fallen man cannot see clearly in this life. Fallen man cannot even understand what the fullness of his fallen nature and sin are like, but this just means that his blindness in spiritual things is part of his sinfulness rather than an excuse for it. Hebrews 4:13 sets out one aspect of the nature of man’s sin.

Hebrews 4:13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

While the heart of man tries with all of his might to hide the heart and other things about him from other sinful men, and perhaps can be successful to a great degree, before God there is no hiding in the slightest degree. Man may even work hard to hide his own heart from himself from disgust at what he gets a peek of here and there, but no excuse will work before the living God. Man tries mightily to offer excuses in order to justify himself and his sin, but God sees right through those for what they are, nothing but flimsy excuses.

It would seem beneficial to people to try to view their sin as God sees it rather than try to excuse it and rationalize it away. Hebrews 4:13 gives us limited words about sin, but it tells us that God has full sight of our hearts and all we do. The text tells us that no creature is hidden from His sight, and it is safe to deduce that nothing about the creature is hidden in His sight. We are told that our thoughts and our words will come into judgment. We are told that the intentions of our hearts will be brought into judgment. But to imagine a poor creature before the living God and everything (even what the creature thought was hidden and things that the creature never thought of) laid bare before His all-knowing eye should bring some fear to the heart. The words “laid bare” are a translation of the Greek word (trachli,zw or transliterated as trachelizo) that gives us the idea of a bare neck. In the old days that executioner chopped heads off and wanted a bare neck rather than one covered with anything. Others think that this refers to victims of sacrifice (OT ceremonial sacrifices) that were hung up and the entrails examined.

The real point, regardless of the illusion, is that all sinners are completely uncovered and completely exposed to the desires and wishes of God. The all-seeing eye of God using the “word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). Even the slightest movements of the intentions of the heart are known to God. Every thought, every desire, and every word are before Him and are as clear to Him as a mountain is to the human eye. There is no possibility of hiding even the smallest sin or anything else before this God who sees all and knows all and does so in a depth that we cannot truly imagine.

But this should drive the sinner to the infinite grace of God as found in Christ Jesus alone. While it is clear that Hebrews 4:12-13 has the possibility of leaving a poor sinners in utter despair, the intent of the Spirit can be seen from the context (verses 14-16). The Spirit is using the complete and absolute knowledge of God of our inner parts to drive us to the complete and absolute sufficiency of Jesus Christ and His grace.

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Christ is our great High Priest and He is Jesus the Son of God. Repentant and believing sinners have Christ as their representative to God and He has offered Himself as their sacrifice. Christ has suffered and died, yes, but He has also been raised from the dead and has entered heaven on behalf of the worse of sinners who bow to Him in utter submission. It is because of Christ and His perfect life and now as High Priest that poor sinners can draw near to the throne of grace with confidence? Why is that? It is because there is mercy and grace at this throne of grace. Only really bad sinners can go to the throne of grace to receive nothing but grace. All others want just enough grace to make up for something they lack. But for those who have truly been laid bare before Him, they want nothing but Christ alone and grace alone.

The world has so many nice people and so many moral people. It has so many talented people in many areas. It has many smart people in many areas. The world is full of religion and the many religions all join together (in some way) in a war against God. The religions of the world can join up with the nice people and the moral people. The religions of the world can join up with the talented people and the smart people. But the religions of the world (and all the other people) cannot join with the true seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus Christ. All the religions, the nice, the moral, smart and talented people are all opposed to the King of kings and LORD of lords.

When a person is faced with death, what type of person will the one faced with death want to be around? It is true that it is nice to be around nice people, but hell is full of nice people. It is much better to be around those who are moral rather than the immoral, but hell will be full of people who are moral. It is a good thing to be around talented people, but once again hell will be full of talented people. Is it a good thing to be around smart people? Perhaps if a doctor was smart one would want a smart doctor, but then again hell will be full of smart people and most likely have a lot of smart doctors. What kind of preacher or friends would one want to hang around?

What is the most important thing when one approaches death? This is not an idle question because each and every human being faces death from the moment of birth. Every moment a person lives it is a constant march to the time of death which God alone ordains. Oh how people mourn when a young person dies and yet when an older person dies they seem satisfied that the person lived a full life. There may only be 30-40 years separating a younger person and an older person, which is rather trivial in light of eternity. When each person can have his or her soul yanked from the body at each moment, age seems to be less important than what is the most important thing in life or death.

Many people find comfort in the way they have lived or in various things they have done, but how utterly inane and even blasphemous that appears in light of a thrice holy God. Many want to live just a little longer if possible and would seemingly sell the soul for six months more of life. But what is the chief end (or primary purpose) of man? It is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever (Westminster Shorter Catechism). This is to say that man’s chief end is not to live a long life, but to glorify God and enjoy Him during that life regardless of how short or long it is. But even more, the Catechism teaches us that we are to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. In other words, assuming that the Catechism catches at the biblical teaching of the purpose of man, human beings are to glorify and enjoy God in their lives and in their deaths. But even more, for all eternity the purpose of human beings is to glorify God and enjoy Him. But again, that is for all eternity.

Can a human being really capture the thought or taste of what it means to live forever in the perfect delight of knowing God in the face of Christ? Yes, one can in the Gospel. Jesus the Christ came from eternity past, entered time (so to speak) 2,000 years ago, and did so in order to purchase a people who will delight in God for all eternity future. If Christ will say to a person to enter into the joy of the Master, that person will have God to delight in for all eternity. But the Catechism also says that we are to glorify God. I would argue that the greatest thing a person can do in this life is to be an instrument of glory in this world and bow in total submission to the will of God with joy in all that He is pleased to bring to pass.

When a person faces death and the mouth of eternity is getting ready to swallow him or her up, one does not want a nice person to whisper sweet morsels to comfort him or her, that person wants to hear of Christ and His glory concerning His Person and work. Who would want to hear of the weak and insipid prayers of man-centered humans when one is going to face the King of kings? Who would want to hear the proud utterances of smart people when the wisdom of God can be found in Christ? Who would want to hear of the most talented people in the world when one can have the talents of Christ in working a real and eternal salvation?

The reality of eternity can indeed bring a focus to the soul that is faced with it. This does not need to be a bad thing, but it may be that a person that has a sight of eternity may appear quite rude to the froth that the world wants to offer up. Take away the things and comforts of the world and give that person someone who will speak the truth of Christ and of eternity with Him where it will be all about His glory and joy in Him. Christ prayed for His people to behold His glory and so many preachers try to hide it in our day. Give them more of Christ and even more of Christ. Away with the nice people and nice ministers who prattle on of an unknown and unfelt Christ! Away with those who speak nice and wise words about religion but are clueless to the glories of eternity in Christ! Will their words help? Will their prayers rise out of the sound of their voices? Can their empty words comfort a soul?

God said in the Old Testament, concerning the rituals of His people (in name), away with that noise. We must have ministers and people who take eternity seriously if those who are entering eternity are going to listen. Meanwhile, people sing their happy songs of a nice and comfortable Jesus while ministers tickle their ears as the people head toward a devil’s hell. Ministers are so busy being concerned with their positions and their salaries that they preach for self rather than for the eternal good of their people. They want to comfort people in their sins rather than make them uncomfortable that they may see how lost they are and how much they need Christ. They want to comfort people who are sick and dying rather than get them to understand the seriousness of eternity. Shall we comfort people who are dying so that they can lift their eyes in hell and for eternity never have another moment of comfort? The idea of eternity is so greatly dulled in our day and people simply live for the present moment. It is a lie and a delusion of the devil.