Ben Zornes

No “Nothing Buttery” about the Lord’s Supper

June 15, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

The many attempts to provide a visual aid for the Trinity devolve, sooner or later, into visual aids for heresies instead. No, the Triune God is not like an egg, or a shamrock, or states of water. When we come to this table, we’re tempted to make almost the inverse mistake: that of thinking that the bread and wine are only visual aids. Where visual aids for the Trinity demean transcendent truths––tarnishing them with unhelpful symbols––the danger here is thinking that the bread and wine are nothing but a visual aid.

If it were just a visual aid, there would be no issue with a rotation of different ones each week. A Shepherd. A Door. A Light. A Refiners Fire. A Vine. But this meal is far beyond just a useful illustration.

These elements are not only visual signs, they’re also performative signs. They seal what they signify. They confer what they display. This bread & wine do what Jesus says they do. Christ commanded us to memorialize Him, until He comes again, by partaking of His body & blood. In this meal we really do partake. While our minds, of course, are reminded of Christ broken and bleeding on the cross, more is happening here than just a mnemonic device. This meal, when taken in faith, is our partaking in that death, our enjoyment of the blessings it gives, and our reception of the fellowship it bestows.

This is true food for our faith, because Jesus is fed to us here. This is true fellowship because Christ unites us with the Father and with each other. This is the medicine for the sickness we’re stricken with. This is Living Water to quench our thirst. Because this is Christ, given for you.

So come in faith, and welcome to Jesus Christ…

Wash Away Our Sin

June 15, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Baptism is a cleansing. This water doesn’t wash away dirt, it washes away sin. Not because we whisper a secret spell over the water to make it magical. Rather, because this water is authorized and sanctified by Christ to perform such a weighty task of cleansing us from sin.

This child, no matter how cute, has the seed of sin in him. Opportunities will soon arise for him to act on those sinful desires. What we do here is apply a sign, which Jesus gave us, that promises that every sin he’ll ever commit is washed away. Not because God turns a blind eye. But when a child of God walks with God they look in faith to Christ to wash away all their sins, as He promised He would do. The waters of our baptism promise each of us, that God, through Christ, washes away our sin.

So welcome our brother to Jesus Christ…

Generous Fathers

June 14, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

God filled this world with uncountable multitudes of molecules and gave them to us in a multitude of ways. God assembles the molecules into flaming spheres of heat and light, summer berries, cool streams, and all manner of other God-sent blessings.

Sinful man, as he runs from God, insists that he deserves all the things. When he’s deprived of any of his wishes he throws a fit––which he cleverly calls a protest. The nanny-state steps in to ape generosity, but this is just disguised theft. In our reformational efforts, we aim to build a culture which obeys & imitates God. One of the places we must begin is in imitation of our Heavenly Father’s generosity.

This means that fathers, in particular, are tasked with being models of God’s generosity; not only the generosity itself, but also the order of His generosity. Jehovah blessed Abraham in order to bless the nations (Gen. 18:18). Otherwise generous men often get the sequence backwards. He writes large checks to charities, gives Benjamins to panhandlers, helps friends out of financial jams; but he’s the stingiest of Scrooges towards his family. He’ll lecture his family when they make requests of him to meet some pressing need or reasonable desire, while convincing himself he’s just being a good steward of the resources God gave him.

Of course, this isn’t a call to live outside your means, or to indulge sinful whims. Nevertheless, fathers, you’re called to make the economy of your home famous for joyful generosity. Your wife & kids should find you to be a fountain of wise bounty. Fathers, send a steady stream of joyful generosity cascading down upon the heads of your wife, your children, and your children’s children. In so doing, you exemplify God’s free grace to your children, leaving them no appetite for Uncle Sam’s gravy train

The Base of the Hill

June 7, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

In Deuteronomy 5, Moses recounts the giving of the Ten Commandments. God had summoned Israel up to Mt. Sinai to meet with Him to hear the whole law by His own voice. When He descended with thunder and fire, holy terror gripped the people. They begged Moses to go meet with God as their mediator. They’d been invited––as a kingdom of priests––to the foot of Sinai, but the glory of God struck such awe in them that they dared proceed no further up the mount. They saw that their brightest works of holiness were but opaque shadows.

The people weren’t chastised by the Lord, but rather commended. The lesson was learned: they needed a mediator. So Moses met with the Lord face to face on behalf of all Israel.

Yet still, the Lord revealed in this episode His desire to commune with all His people. All of this was preparatory for the ascent of God’s people up another hill.

The hill of Zion, which we ascend each Lord’s day, isn’t less in glory, it is more glorious in every way. While we still need a mediator, the difference is that the Mediator of the New Covenant brings us in Himself. We come because Jesus brings us with Him. For we are in Him.

At this table we commune with God face to face, atop the Holy Hill of Heavenly Jerusalem. Not one of us is holy enough to ascend by our own merit. Nor is a single one of us too far gone so as to be left at the base of the hill. If you are in Christ then He brings you––every last one of you, from the least to the greatest––to commune with God Almighty here at this table, here in this bread and wine.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

The War Against God – Joel 3

June 4, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Introduction

There is a long sustained war between the City of Man, and the City of God. In times of general darkness and discouragement, Saints of both testaments have needed to be encouraged. Joel’s prophetic vision concludes with words of assurance, intended to rally the hope of God’s people. Despite all the flexing of the City of Man, its efforts will always turn to dust, it will be like a wave crashing on the rocks.

The Text

Joel 3

For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. [ . . . ]

Summary of the Text

The day of the Lord––described in Joel 2:1-11––would come in the form of the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions. The day of the Lord would be a horror to the unrepentant, but to the repentant they would be equipped to follow in His train.

The remnant (2:32) would be brought home by God’s own hand from all their various exiles (v1). But all the nations would also be brought to the valley of Jehoshaphat (2 Chr. 20), and then they would be made to give an account for how they treated the Lord’s people and His temple (vv2-6). The Lord will gather His people again, while avenging the nations for their sins (vv7-8, Cf. Ps. 62:12). Then the Lord throws down the gauntlet, challenging all the nations to prepare for war with Him (vv9-10, Cf. Is. 2:4)). All nations must assemble themselves before the Almighty in the valley of Jehoshaphat to face the Lord’s judgement––שפט (vv11-12).

God’s harvest-time has come, and the valley shall be filled with the multitudes of those whom the Lord shall slay (vv13-14, Cf. Rev. 14:15, 19-20). Once more, cosmic signs shall accompany these earthly events (v15); the Lord will roar––shaking heaven and earth––and His people will take courage from all this vindicating grace (v16). In this way, God will cleanse Jerusalem, and no strangers will claim residence in the holy hill of the Lord (v17).

Then blessings shall flow down upon Judah out of the Lord’s house, watering even the arid valleys (v18). Egypt and Edom shall be left desolate for their murderous treatment of Judah (v19). The final word on the matter is that Judah and Jerusalem shall stand fast because the Lord will cleanse them from all their bloodguilt (vv20-21).

The Invaders Become the Invaded

Joel has addressed the indifference shown in response to the invasion of locust (Chapter 1). He has warned of a coming invasion of foreign armies to arouse the people to repentance (Chapter 2). But now, after outlining the wonderful outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord, the tables turn. The Day of the Lord comes, and the invaders suddenly become the invaded. The remnant upon whom the Spirit came (in 2:28), shall endure for endless generations (3:20).

God gathers in all His people, from the midst of the nations which have exiled them, enslaved them, or otherwise scattered them. But the nations are summoned as well. Joel tells us that this summons will happen “in those days” (3:1). The Spirit is outpoured resulting in the scattered sheep being gathered in, while at the same time all the nations are brought to face the Lord’s judgement.

This is the wonder of Pentecost. God’s conquest begins in earnest. Joel seems to have Isaiah 2 in mind, which explains why Peter slightly merges the two passages in his Pentecost day sermon. From this we can see that the outpouring of the Spirit, in Peter’s mind, also commenced the Messiah’s conquest of the whole world. Those who have sought the downfall of the Kingdom of God will face the inevitable downfall of the Kingdom of Man. Those who have persecuted the righteous will themselves face the fierce wrath of God.

Sons of Abraham & Sons of Satan

But God has two ways of destroying His enemies. One is that of the final judgement of death in their sins. God, though long-suffering, will one day bring the wicked down to hell, and so they will receive the reward for their evil works.

But the other way He destroys His enemies is by overthrowing them through conversion. This is where we must look at such texts with the eyes of faith. Not all Israelites are Israelites indeed (Rom 9:6).

We see Jesus telling the unbelieving Jews that if they were in earnest Abraham’s sons they would have done Abraham’s works of faith (Jn. 8:39); but their desire to kill the Son of Man––in spite of the signs He had shown to verify Himself as the Son of God––revealed that their true father was Satan (Jn. 8:44a). By contrast, throughout Jesus’ ministry He restricted His ministry to the house of Israel (Mt. 15:24); but there’s one moment which Jesus sees as the climactic moment of His ministry: when the Greeks come to Philip and ask, “We would see Jesus (Jn. 12:21).” Jesus takes this moment as the cue that “the hour had come.”

Later, at Pentecost (which I take to be the Day of the Lord), the foreign tongues were a sign that God had brought judgement upon Jerusalem (Deu. 28:49). The book of Acts makes it clear that the “people of God” were no longer restricted to mere ethnic lineage. While a great number of the priests believed in Christ (Acts 6:7), many times the rulers of the Synagogues were the Apostles’ fiercest opponents. But running parallel to this dividing line between Jews, we simultaneously have the identical dividing line running between the Gentiles. The Spirit falls upon the Roman centurion Cornelius (Acts 10), the Ethiopian eunuch believes (Acts 8:29-40), as well as the entire household of Lydia and the Jailer of Philippi (Acts 16), and story after story of the heathens being converted and receiving the gift of the Spirit (Acts 11:18, 18:25, 19:2); but there were also Pagans who fought the Gospel ferociously (Acts 19:21-41). So we had four categories: godly Jews and unbelieving Jews, as well as unconverted pagans and converted pagans.

If we place the events of Revelation in the first century, this helps us make better sense of what is going on there. It is truly end of the world stuff, but it is largely the end of the world for unbelieving Israel. John makes two particularly forceful references to Joel’s prophecy, which illustrate that true Israel isn’t traced by geography or lineage, but by the presence of the Spirit. In Revelation 14:15, 19-20 John borrows the harvesting imagery of Joel 3:13 to describe the slaughter coming upon Jerusalem (Josephus records that over a million were killed in the siege, and another 100k were enslaved). In Revelation 16:14, 16 John cites the Lord’s summons to judgement from Joel 3:2. The sum is that Jerusalem has become Babylon, but true Zion shall endure forever, for the Lord shall ever be the deliverer of His people, even if they are Babylonian by descent.

Affliction and Avenging

Calvin makes a wonderful observation about Joel’s prophetic vision: “The Prophet intimates that the favor of God had been so hidden during the afflictions of the people, that they could not but think that they were forsaken by God.” We often think that affliction must mean that God’s favor has abandoned us. But Joel makes one thing clear, though hard times come, it all works for the deliverance of God’s people. Their afflicters will not be let off easy, but God will avenge His people. The remnant might seem small, but faith teaches us to not reckon deliverance by a head count.

This is applicable in numerous practical directions. When a bill comes in that is more than you can afford to pay, do you view it as an opportunity for God to showcase His provision? When you think there is no way you’ll be able to complete an assignment or a project at work on time, do you trust God to grant you the endurance to persevere and see it through? When you face a besetting temptation, and feel spent in the battle of resisting it, do you trust that God will uphold you in the fight?When you see the general apostasy of the church, and the all out sprint into every manner of vileness which our culture seem hell bent to pursue, do you see that God has things right where He wants them? The Christians in the gladiatorial arena were right where God wanted them. The Christians in Chinese and Canadian jails are harbingers that God is about to overthrow the wicked. God is about to bare His arm for deliverance. When we think of God the judge, we shouldn’t envision a somber, black-robed figure; we should think of Samson, with a jawbone of a donkey, slaughtering rank after rank of Philistines.

Joel reveals the truth that God loves plot twists. The wheat and wine were cut off by the locust, but now, wholly unexpectedly, a harvest of Gentiles converts is come (Cf. Is. 2:2-3). The meat and drink offerings which were lost, are now restored in the form of worshippers from all nations. The reprobate shall be cast down, the elect of the Lord alone shall walk in the City of our God.

When the Lord Jesus announced that His hour had come, He is telling us that the trap had been laid. The Enemy took the bait. The evil powers (both earthly and supernatural) killed the Prince of glory (1 Cor. 2:8), and as a result, God overthrew the Prince of the air. Now the remnant is swelling into a great army, marching––as Jehoshaphat of old once did––with songs of praise as our weapons of war, and with the sharpened sword of the Word we strike down our enemies. Here is what our songs proclaim, here is what the razor blade of the sword of Word declares: Sin is cleansed away. Death has lost its power. Judah shall dwell forever. The hour is come. All are welcome. God’s harvest is begun.

Uncleanness of Death

June 1, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

In Moses’ law, if you touched a corpse you had to undergo ritual cleansing by water. Death, though inevitable, was counted as unclean. Death was the result of sin, of course. But still, death made you unclean. So, you needed to be washed.

God’s people weren’t to remain in their uncleanness, they were sanctified to Him to be a clean people, a people set apart for life. In obedience, they washed away the uncleanness which came by touching a corpse. All this shadowed forth what we do here. Though born into a world where death is inevitable, we confess with these baptismal waters that this child is set apart unto life.

The twist, however, is that that life is found by union with Christ and His the death. This sign unites us with Christ’s death, but it cleanses us from the death with which this fallen world has defiled us. So, in this glorious mystery, our life is bound up in the death of the Jesus.

So welcome covenant child to Jesus Christ…

What the Water Says

May 24, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

You’ll notice that we accommodate the various convictions regarding the mode of baptism––the large tub of water might have tipped you off. But what we want to affirm, regardless of mode of baptism, is the meaning of baptism.

Whether someone is baptized in infancy, youth, or old age, we’re saying the same thing: Christ saves us. This water speaks. This water promises. It says, “You’re not your own, you are bought with the precious blood of Jesus (1 Cor. 6:19-20).” It promises, “if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection (Rom. 6:5).”

The faith professed here is simply saying what the water says. These waters proclaim that faith is God’s gift to those who are in Him, because these waters are a sign of our union with Jesus.

So welcome our brother to Jesus Christ…

The Day of the Lord – Joel 2

May 24, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Introduction

We’re in dire need of a revival. Evangelicals need to be born-again. The Pentecostals need to be Spirit-filled. The Reformed need a reformation. The Methodists need a Great Awakening. Joel lays out for us what such a Heaven-born revival consists of, what God’s people should do to ready for it, and the consequences of indifference towards the coming Day of the Lord.

The Text

Joel 2

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; [. . .]

Summary of the Text

After imploring the priests and the people to mourn and fast (1:14) in response to the locust swarms devastating the land––cutting off the ingredients for the meat & drink offerings (1:9)––Joel then invites his audience to look through the locust plague, and discern the cosmic implications.

There are two trumpet blasts in this text (v1 & 15). The first describes the day of the Lord as a marauding army and the right response to it (vv1-14); the second trumpet blast describes how a contrite people will enjoy the relenting of God, and experience the Day of the Lord as a day of the Spirit outpoured (vv15-32). The Day of the Lord is first described as a day of horror, and thus an appeal to repent is made. But then for those who repent, the Day of the Lord is described as a great deliverance.

The warning trumpet should be sounded, for the day of the Lord is near (v1). This is the Helms Deep of the OT. It is a day of unrivaled darkness (v2), Eden turns into Mordor, and none can escape (v3). The locust swarms give way to an invading army: swift as horses (v4), determined, well armored (v5), fierce and fearful (v6), disciplined and indefatigable (v7); they move with remarkable coordination and are not deterred by pain (v8); this invasion will be total, leaving no place to hide (v9); these events shake the earth and throw the heavens into turbulence (v10). This is Lord’s army and has come at His command (v11). The prophet closes this description of the coming day of the Lord with the rhetorical question: “Who can abide it?”

The Lord Himself then speaks to the people to describe the right response to the news of this coming day of judgement: “turn to me (v12).” This returning is to be entire, heartfelt, and accompanied with fasting, weeping, and mourning; and lest they think they can go through the motions of mourning, He admonishes them to rend their hearts and not their garments (v13). This repentance is founded upon God’s covenant mercies (v13, Cf. Ex. 34:6-7). Repentant sinners hope for a repentant God. But should God relent from His wrath, and leave the blessing of the restoration of the meat and drink offerings, it will be purely from His great mercy (v14).

Now the second trumpet blast sounds. All the residents of Zion––the elders and infants, the bridegroom and his bride––are summoned to solemnly assemble (vv15-16, Cf. 1:14). Joel paints a touching picture of what this repentance should look like: priests and people in the temple courts, with the priests crying out on behalf of all the people, “Spare thy people, O Lord (v17).” If Judah responds with this sort of total repentance, the result will be God’s aroused jealousy and pity (v18). What will follow is His restoration of the Deuteronomic blessings: bountiful crops, reproach removed, and the invaders driven back (vv19-20). The land shall be refreshed, and all which the locust had eaten would be restored (vv21-25). The people would enjoy the Sabbath rest of the Promised Land once more, and offer thankful praise without shame, all so that it might be known that the Lord is in their midst (vv26-27).

After this, the Spirit of God would be poured out upon all the people (vv28-29). The Cosmos themselves would reverberate to this radical turning of the redemptive tides (vv30-31). The repentant people, being restored to communion with God, are assured that the Lord shall ever be their Deliverer, and any who call on Him shall enjoy this salvation (v32).

The Layers of Prophecy

One of the key tactics of the prophets is how they look through current events. The immediate tragedy of swarming insects was just a forerunner of a greater day of judgement which awaits. Think of it as standing atop a high hill and being able to see the next ridge, and beyond that a higher mountain, and further still the snow-capped peaks.

Joel has rebuked the people for failing to respond appropriately to the locust swarm (the first ridge). He then employs the locust as a portent of coming invaders (the higher ridge). The prophecy then concludes with a Messianic crescendo foretelling the downfall of all God’s enemies, and Zion enjoying His blessed reign (the snow-capped peaks).

So the people ought to have responded to the locust with full-throttled repentance. In order to stir them up to this, Joel warns that an army––fiercer than the swarms they just endured––will soon invade (likely the Assyrians, Cf. v20). Looming behind this is an even greater “Day of the Lord” which will be experienced one of two ways: either great blessing, or great ruin. All of it hinges on the sort of repentance which fills the people. Is it heaven-born sorrow––which God alone gives––or just earthly sorrow?

Innovation is often mistaken for repentance. But just because we’ve made some innovations culturally, doesn’t mean we have repented. Repentance is a returning. Returning to God’s Word. Our modern debates within Christendom center––as they always do––on the authority of God’s Word. The rejection of God’s word as the standard for justice, in favor of embracing Marxist and humanist definitions of justice indicates that we are not truly interested in righting wrongs. Those loudly ringing the bells of social justice are offering a semblance of repentance, but it is mere innovation. Giving minority families $500––of tax-payer money––a month, might seem a noble way to right past wrongs, but is socialism true justice? Most Americans agree that abortion should be illegal after the 1st trimester; so if we pass a law that is based on our national “consensus” have we repented of the evil of the slaughter of the unborn? All these sorts of things are mere innovations. It is not reformation, which would be a humble return to God’s Word.

The Sermon at Pentecost

This text from Joel was the text which the Apostle Peter went to in Acts 2:17 (Cf. Is. 2:2) to describe the day of Pentecost. Peter insists that what Joel prophesied had come to pass in this marvelous outpouring of the Spirit. Pentecost wasn’t innovation, this was a return to what God had promised He would do when Messiah came. Consequently, Peter informs us how to read Joel. The Day of the Lord had come.

God’s compassion forms the basis for Joel’s vision of the future blessing of the outpoured Spirit. An army of destruction comes, but those whom God mercifully humbles and brings to repentance––the first fruits of the outpouring of the Spirit––will enjoy deliverance. The fire fell, and now empowered a nation of priests for prophetic service in a new temple, the church (Cf. Num. 11:16-30). So, Peter tells us that the Day of Pentecost was the Day of the Lord, commencing with the outpouring of the Spirit, and culminating in the Romans’ destruction of Jerusalem.

A Prophetic People

Joel’s vision is of a prophetic people. To quote Spurgeon: “Unless we have the spirit of prophecy resting upon us, the mantle which we wear is nothing but a rough garment to deceive.” The Spirit emboldens us to proclaim that Jesus is Lord (Cf. Rom. 10:13). When the Spirit applies what Christ purchased, the result is a new heart. A heart assured that sin is forgiven.

This promise is for us and our children. Notice that Joel’s solemn assembly of repentance includes the child on the breast, as well as the most learned of elders. All receive the Spirit’s clarity. Dreams, in the OT, are indicative of clarity, and men of God are given the Spirit to see the dreams clearly and speak their meaning plainly. The Spirit comes upon us, and we walk in the clear light of day (Cf. 1 Jn. 1:7).

A mom no longer riddled with shame will be bold in teaching her children to follow Christ. A formerly resentful teen will no longer cower before his peers. A businessman whose confidence is in Christ’s work and not his own will freely speak up about Jesus in his workplace. This is because the Spirit gives boldness.