In the Darkness of an Antichrist Ethos, God's Law Lights the Way (Back) to Our First Love
“For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect ... you will recognize them by their fruits ... sin is lawlessness” (Matthew 24:24; 7:15-16; 1 John 3:4).
Look to God‘s law. Let its light expose the darkness of our days and condemn their defining cruelties: the antipathies that an antichrist ethos baptizes in the church and empowers in the state. These hatreds include dehumanization peddled as anthropological realism; the misogyny that cloaks itself as Christian manliness; the conspiracy theories that distract from blunt, often brutal reality; the indifference even toward children savaged by unspeakable sin. The evidence is there to be seen, sometimes literally crying out to be heard. Please don’t look away.
Look to the divine law’s just weights and balances. Let’s no longer explain away the blatant evil on our “side” while straining out the gnat to find sin among our side’s victims – searching for something, anything, they’ve done wrong so we can minimize the atrocities committed against them. Don’t spare your conscience the work God designed it to do. Let your image-bearing instincts find fuller understanding from God’s moral law, and let us have the courage to face what it reveals about our treatment of others. As citizens of heaven, we have rationalized tyrannical lawlessness – even as it devastates our own brothers and sisters in Christ – so that our earthly people and nation won’t be taken away. We've committed treason against our King and become a terror to our neighbors. Let us confess our crimes and be readily, sincerely repentant.
Look to the weightier matters of the law. These compel us to see with Christ-like compassion those in desperate need of his tangible mercy. Beholding the weightier matters also sharpens our vision to spot wolves in sheep's clothing hiding among us. Those who secretly introduce destructive heresies in the church reveal their true nature - often early on - by how they treat "the least of these."
Look to the Lord‘s law as Jesus preaches it. Let us no longer add to it in order to exalt our cultural preferences – or our preferred culture. Let us no longer take away from God’s law in order to exonerate our favorite politicians and preachers. Look to God’s law first with regard to our own sin, individually and corporately. None of us comes up innocent when judged by God’s relentlessly righteous standards. Confess sins and wanderings; embrace Christ’s forgiveness and cleansing. Believe the gospel of his grace. Trust Jesus as Lord and Savior, or rekindle past faith now doused by politically construed loyalties. Let us return to our first love; let us seek his face - he is compassionate and will abundantly pardon. The homecoming will be so very sweet, full of tears - the kind of reunion that our Heavenly Father longs for and the holy angels celebrate.
Then let us look to the Lord's law again, turning no more to the right or to the left; let it teach us how to truly understand our times and what the Lord’s people must do. Then let’s be doers of the Word, not hearers only. Let’s stop deceiving ourselves.
Look to the perfect law of liberty and see the divine, Fatherly heart from which it flows. Behold and adore the Savior or who personifies it! And have hope. Jesus fulfilled this law and accomplished perfect redemption. By his word and Spirit, he is, even now, making all things new. Let us follow Jesus, our king and shepherd, as he leads us along the law-lit paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Finally, until the day our faith becomes sight, look to the law of the Lord as prophecy and promise. As we let the Scriptures train us in righteousness now, the Holy Spirit will form our hearts in the shape of things to come.
(Exodus 20 – Deuteronomy 5; Ephesians 5:11; 1 John 2:18; 3:4 / Matthew 7:23; 23:28; 24:24 / Genesis 1:26-28; Malachi 3; Luke 17:2; Proverbs 11:1; Matthew 23:23-24; Romans 2:14-16; John 7:19-24; Philippians 3:17-21; Colossians 3:1-4; John 11:48; Acts 21:27-28; Matthew 23:23; 1 John 3:4-18; 2 Peter 2; Jude; Matthew 7:23; 25:30-46; Matthew 5-7; Deuteronomy 12:32; Matthew 5:19; 7:1-5; 1 John 1:9; Psalm 130; John 3:16 / Ephesians 2:1-10; Matthew 6:24; Revelation 2:1-5; Isaiah 55:7; Luke 15:10-32; Joshua 1:7-9; 1Chronicles 12:32; James 1:19-26; Exodus 20:1-2; Matthew 3: 11-17, 5:17-18; Revelation 21:1-5; Psalm 23; Isaiah 32:16; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; Romans 12:1-2; 2 Peter 3:11-18).
