"In this context, the first marriage between Adam and Eve implies that there will be a last marriage. The marriage in chapter one is a foreshadowing of the marriage that will occur in the last chapter... But this is not a trivial point. After all, someone might say, there will also be a last person to have a steak, or scratch his ear, or mow his lawn. Why make a fuss over something like this? Remember the Lord’s words—at the beginning, from the beginning. There were certain things God wanted us to note in the first chapter because He intended to develop them in a glorious way. In other words, this last couple is not just another couple, one more in an endless, meandering line of meaningless marriages; rather, they have the privilege of living right at the crescendo. Not only did the marriage of Adam and Eve set the pattern for all human marriages, the apostle Paul takes this truth as his basis for saying that all human marriages are a foreshadowing of the great marriage, the glorious consummation of all things. At the close of human history, our Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, will be presented with His bride, dressed in white, without any fault, without any blemish, and radiant in beauty" -- Douglas Wilson, Bone of My Bones
The mention of marriage in the first few chapters of Genesis is meant to be a foreshadowing for those paying attention to the story. When it appears again at the very end, it does not surprise the reader who has been making notes of these things and tucking them away assuming their significance will be manifested. Marriage is the metaphor that stretches from beginning to end. It's initiation in Genesis 2 reaches its culmination in Revelation 19.
Sunday, October 18, 2020
Saturday, October 17, 2020
day no. 15,335: honor
1 Peter 3:7
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
"There are forms of weakness that are a sign of great value, and not a sign of inferiority. You don’t want either of your linebackers to be frail, but you do want an expensive china tea set to be frail. You could protect your tea set forever by getting one made out of stainless steel—but if you did that, it wouldn’t be nearly as valuable. Peter is telling husbands that they are to stand up for their wives and open doors and step aside for them, not because the wife is an invalid and we should all feel sorry for her. Rather, he says this because only a husband who honors his wife in this way has the faintest notion of what a precious gift he has been given... A priceless vase may be a less sturdy container than a Tupperware bin. It may be weaker in that sense, but that is no reason to put the Tupperware bin in a place of honor on the mantle. A crown is weaker than a king, and yet it is the strength of the crown that is the strength of the king. Therefore the king honors that which is weaker than he is, and he honors it because it is his strength." -- Douglas Wilson, Bone of My Bones
A piece of art is not valued by its durability, but by its beauty. In many cases, the more beautiful the piece, the more breakable it is. And when men recognize this beauty, they go to great lengths to protect it, to secure it, to keep it pure and safe from degradation or corruption.
So it has been given as the charge to men. Place this beauty in a place of honor for all to see and go to great lengths to keep it safe and pure and beautiful. Thus the charge to women is be beautiful. Be honorable in a way that wears your glory well. The more beautiful you become, the more lengths to which the man who loves you will go to secure your place of honor.
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
"There are forms of weakness that are a sign of great value, and not a sign of inferiority. You don’t want either of your linebackers to be frail, but you do want an expensive china tea set to be frail. You could protect your tea set forever by getting one made out of stainless steel—but if you did that, it wouldn’t be nearly as valuable. Peter is telling husbands that they are to stand up for their wives and open doors and step aside for them, not because the wife is an invalid and we should all feel sorry for her. Rather, he says this because only a husband who honors his wife in this way has the faintest notion of what a precious gift he has been given... A priceless vase may be a less sturdy container than a Tupperware bin. It may be weaker in that sense, but that is no reason to put the Tupperware bin in a place of honor on the mantle. A crown is weaker than a king, and yet it is the strength of the crown that is the strength of the king. Therefore the king honors that which is weaker than he is, and he honors it because it is his strength." -- Douglas Wilson, Bone of My Bones
A piece of art is not valued by its durability, but by its beauty. In many cases, the more beautiful the piece, the more breakable it is. And when men recognize this beauty, they go to great lengths to protect it, to secure it, to keep it pure and safe from degradation or corruption.
So it has been given as the charge to men. Place this beauty in a place of honor for all to see and go to great lengths to keep it safe and pure and beautiful. Thus the charge to women is be beautiful. Be honorable in a way that wears your glory well. The more beautiful you become, the more lengths to which the man who loves you will go to secure your place of honor.
Friday, October 16, 2020
day no. 15,334: one leak sinks
James 2:10
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
"One leak will sink a ship, and one sin will destroy a sinner" -- Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening
How many leaks does it take to sink a ship? Just the one. No matter the size, no matter the grandeur, one leak can sink it. One little entry point and everything grand goes down. So too one sin is enough to condemn a man. Perfection is an unyielding standard that cannot make exceptions without compromising its integrity. In order for there to be a person or place free of sin, without death, pain, sickness, sorrow, etc... it must be a person or place that insists on a zero tolerance policy when it comes to sin. Sin is the source of all destruction. To permit even a crumb of sin to survive is to corrupt the place or person in which it resides. Perfection is an all or nothing proposition.
By the grace of God He provided Christ on our behalf. His flawless, perfect existence is exactly the kind of righteousness we need to enter into and enjoy the presence of Perfection without being destroyed. Jesus' death on our behalf pays for the sins we committed and the dispositions within us that wanted to commit them in the first place so that in His new world not only are we sinners saved from our sins, but we sinners are made righteous as though never sinned so that the new world will never again suffer the presence of sin. It will be... perfection!
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
"One leak will sink a ship, and one sin will destroy a sinner" -- Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening
How many leaks does it take to sink a ship? Just the one. No matter the size, no matter the grandeur, one leak can sink it. One little entry point and everything grand goes down. So too one sin is enough to condemn a man. Perfection is an unyielding standard that cannot make exceptions without compromising its integrity. In order for there to be a person or place free of sin, without death, pain, sickness, sorrow, etc... it must be a person or place that insists on a zero tolerance policy when it comes to sin. Sin is the source of all destruction. To permit even a crumb of sin to survive is to corrupt the place or person in which it resides. Perfection is an all or nothing proposition.
By the grace of God He provided Christ on our behalf. His flawless, perfect existence is exactly the kind of righteousness we need to enter into and enjoy the presence of Perfection without being destroyed. Jesus' death on our behalf pays for the sins we committed and the dispositions within us that wanted to commit them in the first place so that in His new world not only are we sinners saved from our sins, but we sinners are made righteous as though never sinned so that the new world will never again suffer the presence of sin. It will be... perfection!
Thursday, October 15, 2020
day no. 15,333: jettison and justifcation
Philippians 3:3-9
(We) worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith
"Every ship master, when in a storm, will willingly cast that overboard which is of the smallest value in the vessel; but who will throw the best out first?" -- Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening
Captains do not jettison their cargo unless there is no other way to save the ship. And even in those rare circumstances where jettisoning good is employed, there is an order to how it takes place. You begin by tossing over the most expendable items on board. In other words, you lose first, what you can most easily afford to lose. It isn't until all hope appears to be lost and no other way of escape remains that the most precious cargo will be abandoned to the depths of the sea. At that point, the only thing remaining on the boat are the lives of those you are trying to save.
A man will not turn to Christ until he sees his situation as so desperate as to toss even his best overboard. Until he sees that his ship is going down as long as any item of value remains, he remains in danger. But once he tosses it over, he finds he is able to receive the fullness of Christ's treasures onto his ship. His emptiness leads to fulfillment. The jettisoned boat makes room for the treasures of another vessel.
(We) worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith
"Every ship master, when in a storm, will willingly cast that overboard which is of the smallest value in the vessel; but who will throw the best out first?" -- Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening
Captains do not jettison their cargo unless there is no other way to save the ship. And even in those rare circumstances where jettisoning good is employed, there is an order to how it takes place. You begin by tossing over the most expendable items on board. In other words, you lose first, what you can most easily afford to lose. It isn't until all hope appears to be lost and no other way of escape remains that the most precious cargo will be abandoned to the depths of the sea. At that point, the only thing remaining on the boat are the lives of those you are trying to save.
A man will not turn to Christ until he sees his situation as so desperate as to toss even his best overboard. Until he sees that his ship is going down as long as any item of value remains, he remains in danger. But once he tosses it over, he finds he is able to receive the fullness of Christ's treasures onto his ship. His emptiness leads to fulfillment. The jettisoned boat makes room for the treasures of another vessel.
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
day no. 15,332: assigned language
"Men are often offense-givers and women have a tendency to be offense-takers. Here is something that may help you as you sort this out—and all godly wives do have to sort it out. The temptation for women is to impute motives. In other words, you think something like this. 'If I ever said something like that to one of my friends, it would be because I was being cruel in the most calculating way possible. He just said that to me. Therefore he is being deliberately cruel to me.' The reasoning seems valid, but notice that the entire argument depends upon the false idea that men think and speak the same way that women do. But they do not, and one of the best things a wife can learn at the earliest possible time is that men say these things because they are Labrador retrievers, and Labs like to bark. For no particular reason. Another way of saying this is that dogs aren’t very good at being catty. So my charge to you is this. You both believe that you speak English, and you both do, after a sort. But he speaks men-English, and you speak women-English." -- Douglas Wilson, Bone of My Bones
We know that we are to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. But sometimes we take this as far as to mean that what someone else did to us can only be why we would have done it to them. It is an inverse of the same logic. We impute to the other the same motives that would have been necessary for us to do or say what they did or said. But we are often wrong when it comes to this, particularly when we are talking about interacting with someone of the complementary gender.
We know that we are to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. But sometimes we take this as far as to mean that what someone else did to us can only be why we would have done it to them. It is an inverse of the same logic. We impute to the other the same motives that would have been necessary for us to do or say what they did or said. But we are often wrong when it comes to this, particularly when we are talking about interacting with someone of the complementary gender.
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
day no. 15,331: the difference between delicate and deficient
1 Peter 3:7
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
"The apostle Peter tells husbands to dwell with their wives with understanding, bestowing honor on them as the weaker vessel. We frequently miss Peter’s point because we were distracted by the fact that he said 'weaker vessel,' which we take as insulting. Because of that we miss that Peter is telling husbands to honor their wives, and we think it is not an honor to have someone kindly overlook the fact of your inferiority. Perhaps we should rethink this." -- Douglas Wilson, Bone of My Bones
There is a difference between delicate and deficient.
A bird's bones are delicate, but not deficient. They are beautiful, ornate and help one to fly. It would be nonsense to imply that a bird's wing is deficient compared to the wing of B-52. They are both wings and they both fly, but the one is not an improvement on the other. While the bird's wing may be more easily broken, it is easily more beautiful than the other.
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
"The apostle Peter tells husbands to dwell with their wives with understanding, bestowing honor on them as the weaker vessel. We frequently miss Peter’s point because we were distracted by the fact that he said 'weaker vessel,' which we take as insulting. Because of that we miss that Peter is telling husbands to honor their wives, and we think it is not an honor to have someone kindly overlook the fact of your inferiority. Perhaps we should rethink this." -- Douglas Wilson, Bone of My Bones
There is a difference between delicate and deficient.
A bird's bones are delicate, but not deficient. They are beautiful, ornate and help one to fly. It would be nonsense to imply that a bird's wing is deficient compared to the wing of B-52. They are both wings and they both fly, but the one is not an improvement on the other. While the bird's wing may be more easily broken, it is easily more beautiful than the other.
Monday, October 12, 2020
day no. 15,330: offend or else
"There are two kinds of people in the world—those who give offense and those who take it." -- Douglas Wilson, Bone of My Bones
Offense is inescapable. You will either be accused of being offensive or you will find yourself often offended. The irony is that those who possess and practice the peculiar fruit of the Spirit called "kindness" will often be accused of being offensive and mean. Those who are nice will be beloved, but those who are nice will often find themselves offended by the meanness of others. Christians are called, commanded and equipped to be kind. This will invariably offend someone. Christian kindness is considered mean by those who prefer niceness to kindness. And those who want everyone else to be nice often say as much in the accent of offense.
Offense is inescapable. You will either be accused of being offensive or you will find yourself often offended. The irony is that those who possess and practice the peculiar fruit of the Spirit called "kindness" will often be accused of being offensive and mean. Those who are nice will be beloved, but those who are nice will often find themselves offended by the meanness of others. Christians are called, commanded and equipped to be kind. This will invariably offend someone. Christian kindness is considered mean by those who prefer niceness to kindness. And those who want everyone else to be nice often say as much in the accent of offense.
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