Latest / Reformed Thinking / Providence and the Wickedness God Especially Abhors

Transcript

Providence and the Wickedness God Especially Abhors · Reformed Thinking

0:00
Welcome to reformed thinking. Good to be here.
0:02
So imagine for a second that you are walking just outside the
0:06
walls of a holy city. A place that is, you know, built
0:09
entirely upon the 10 Commandments, right?
0:11
A society that literally holds the history of the Exodus in its
0:15
collective memory. You're walking near the
0:17
sanctuary, but instead of the quiet chanting of priests or
0:22
like the singing of Psalms, you hear drums.
0:25
Yeah, deafening, drum, deafening.
0:27
Rhythmic, just frantic drums. And those drums are beating for
0:32
a highly specific reason. They are designed to drown out
0:35
the screams of children. It is a horrific image.
0:37
It really is. You are standing in the Valley
0:39
of Ben Hinnom. The year is 586 BC and you are
0:43
witnessing a holy nation turning itself into a literal
0:46
slaughterhouse. So the question is, how does the
0:48
society get to that point? And maybe even more
0:51
terrifyingly, what does the Creator do in response to that
0:55
level of moral collapse? That is the big question.
0:57
Right today we are taking you into a deep dive on a stack of
1:01
weighty theological essays that confront those specific
1:04
questions. Our mission today is to unpack
1:07
the biblical doctrine of Providence, divine retribution,
1:11
and human wickedness. Specifically looking at Jeremiah
1:14
19 and the Book of Lamentations. Spot on.
1:17
We are confronting themes that modern sensibilities usually
1:20
just, well, they rush past them. God's sovereign governance over
1:23
both salvation and judgement, the gruesome reality of ancient
1:27
child sacrifice and a theology of suffering that refuses to
1:30
offer, you know, easy bumper sticker platitude.
1:34
Yeah. There is no easy way around this
1:35
this material. No, there isn't.
1:37
So here's a thought for you to hold onto as we start What if
1:41
physical suffering in this world is not a random accident?
1:44
Like not a case of biological bad luck, but a highly specific
1:47
divine parable meant to awaken humanity to spiritual realities.
1:51
Joining me to lay out the framework of these sources is
1:54
our Resident Theological Guide. Thanks, I am really glad we are
1:57
unpacking this today. Let's establish the fundamental
1:59
premise here. Right away we are dealing with
2:02
texts that argue the contemporary mind recoils from
2:05
the concept of God's judgment far quicker than it recoils from
2:09
the reality of human sin. Yeah, that premise is basically
2:13
the lens through which we have to view everything we discussed
2:15
today. The essays present a very
2:18
specific theological framework. And they rely heavily on the
2:20
Westminster Confession. Right, they do.
2:23
Specifically chapter 5. It teaches that God upholds,
2:26
directs, disposes, and governs all creatures and all actions.
2:31
But, and this is key, He does this without being the author of
2:36
sin. OK, wait and unpack that a bit
2:37
without being the author of sin. Yeah, meaning he does not force
2:40
people to do evil and he doesn't violate the will of the
2:44
creature. So the God presented in these
2:46
sources is not morally indifferent, right?
2:48
And his sovereignty is not some cloak for cruelty.
2:52
When we look at the unimaginable horrors in Judah around 586 BC,
2:56
we have to hold 2 truths simultaneously.
2:58
First, Judah's abominations are entirely their own guilt, they
3:02
chose this. And 2nd, the Babylonian siege
3:05
that destroys them is a real historical judgement brought
3:09
about by the Lord in righteous retribution.
3:11
I see, so it's not just blind fate.
3:13
No, not at all. The argument laid out in her
3:16
reading is that without Providence, evil becomes
3:18
meaningless chaos. Suffering would have no
3:21
governor. Right.
3:22
It would just be random blind tragedy.
3:24
But on the flip side, without holiness, Providence would be a
3:27
monster. Scripture gives us neither chaos
3:29
nor monstrosity. So it presents a Lord whose
3:32
throne is established in righteousness.
3:34
Yes, a God who judicially hands sinners over to the fitting
3:38
consequences of their own rebellion.
3:39
Wow OK I want to stop and think about the geography of this
3:42
abomination because understanding the physical
3:44
location it really helps us grasp the abyss of depravity
3:49
these texts describe. The geography is crucial.
3:51
The historical setting is the Kingdom of Judah, right before
3:54
the Babylonian exile, and the geographical center of this
3:57
absolute nightmare is the Valley of Ben Hinnom.
4:00
Yeah, which is just outside Jerusalem.
4:01
For you listening, if you look at a topographical map of
4:04
ancient Jerusalem, this is a steep, craggy ravine located
4:09
just South and West of the city walls.
4:11
It is a really dark descending place.
4:14
And this valley later became the root for the Greek word Gehenna.
4:18
Fright, which Jesus used as an image for final judgement.
4:22
Yes, at a specific site within this valley called Topheth,
4:25
apostate Israelites were mixing the worship of Yahweh with the
4:29
worship of Molech and Baal. That syncretism is where the
4:32
disaster starts. And this syncretism demanded the
4:36
sacrifice of living infants by fire.
4:38
Parents would place their babies into the blazing arms of an
4:41
idol. It is almost impossible to
4:43
picture. It is, and this force is a
4:45
massive question about human psychology and spiritual decay.
4:47
Like how does a nation that possesses the law of Moses
4:50
arrive at this point? Right, because it doesn't happen
4:52
overnight. Yeah, you don't just wake up one
4:53
Tuesday, read the 10 commandments, and then say, hey,
4:56
let's walk our child down to a fire pit.
4:59
You certainly do not. It is a slow generational fade,
5:02
and this dissent illustrates the theological doctrine of total
5:06
depravity perfectly well. The Israelites were not
5:09
primitive people ignorant of morality.
5:11
They were the covenant people. Yet without God's restraining
5:15
grace, there is absolute zero limit to the darkness of the
5:18
unregenerate human heart. So they just slowly drift into
5:21
it. Yeah, syncretism rarely starts
5:23
with an outright denial of God. People do not usually tear down
5:27
the altar of Yahweh in one day. Instead, it begins by adding
5:33
other loyalties. Like political alliances?
5:35
A king makes an alliance with a foreign nation.
5:37
He brings in their altars just to be polite, and soon the
5:40
people adopt those practices to hedge their bets.
5:43
Oh I see, so they want Yahweh for covenant promises but they
5:46
want ball for rain and crops? Precisely, they want pragmatic
5:50
results. Eventually, worship devolves
5:52
into a monstrous mixture of biblical vocabulary and desires.
5:56
So they convince themselves they can manipulate the divine realm
5:59
if they just pay a high enough price.
6:01
That is the lie of idolatry. And that price brings us to a
6:04
crucial Hebrew concept the source has spent a lot of time
6:07
on Damn Naki, which translates to innocent blood.
6:10
This is a heavy realization. It is.
6:12
We need to be clear about what innocent means in this context
6:15
because biblical theology holds that all humanity carries
6:18
original sin. Every human being inherits the
6:22
guilt of Adam. Right, so the texts are not
6:24
claiming these infants possessed sinless perfection.
6:26
No, rather damn. Naki refers to blood free from
6:30
civil guilt. These children had committed no
6:32
capital crime. They had done nothing to warrant
6:34
a death sentence from the state or society.
6:36
Yet false worship, whenever it is severed from God's commands,
6:40
always demands a blood price, and it invariably devalues human
6:45
life. Religion, instead of humbling
6:47
people before their creator, becomes this this priestly mask
6:51
for murder. I want you, the listener, to
6:53
pause and really reflect on the cognitive dissonance happening
6:56
in that valley. The people beating those drums
6:59
to drown out the screams of their own children were doing it
7:01
because natural affection still existed inside them.
7:04
Yeah, they had to cover up the sound.
7:06
They had to physically deafen themselves to their own
7:08
conscience in order to follow through with their pragmatic.
7:11
Religion. The psychology of that is
7:12
chilling. The psychological mechanism
7:14
required to suppress that natural, God-given affection
7:18
toward your own offspring is staggering.
7:20
It really is. The reading makes a strong
7:22
assertion here. Sincerity cannot sanctify
7:26
idolatry. Oh wow, say that again.
7:29
Sincerity cannot sanctify idolatry.
7:31
We live in a modern era that highly values authenticity.
7:35
The current cultural thought process assumes that as long as
7:38
your worship or your belief is intense or costly or sincere, it
7:42
is acceptable. Because at least you mean it,
7:44
right? But the people climbing those
7:47
high places in the valley of Ben Hinnam were incredibly sincere.
7:50
They were giving up their most precious possessions, their own
7:53
children. You don't do that unless you are
7:55
terrifyingly dedicated to your belief system.
7:57
Exactly or spot on. Yet biblical religion asks an
8:02
objective question. Has the Lord spoken?
8:04
While pragmatic religion asks subjective question.
8:08
Does this work for my immediate desires?
8:10
Yeah. The people in Judah thought they
8:11
were being highly religious, but God viewed it as the ultimate
8:14
cosmic treason. Which sets the stage perfectly
8:17
for the literary context of Jeremiah chapter 19.
8:21
God does not just watch this happen silently.
8:23
No, he intervenes. He commands the prophet Jeremiah
8:26
to take a very specific physical action.
8:29
He tells Jeremiah to go buy a Potter's earthen flask.
8:33
A literal clay jar, right? Then Jeremiah is instructed to
8:37
take the elders of the people and the senior priests out to
8:40
that very valley, out to tofeff the site of the slaughter.
8:44
Standing right in the physical location of their crimes.
8:46
Jeremiah reads the charges against them and then just
8:49
smashes the flask on the ground. It's a dramatic moment.
8:52
It is a formal covenant lawsuit, which is called a rib in Hebrew.
8:55
It is a legal proceeding. God is acting as the prosecuting
8:59
attorney, the judge, and the jury.
9:02
And the charges are meticulously laid out.
9:05
Yeah, when you read the specific charges God brings, they are
9:08
incredibly detailed. He charges them with forsaking
9:11
him, treating the covenant Lord as though he were unreliable.
9:14
He charges them with alienating the land too.
9:16
Taking consecrated holy territory and treating it as
9:19
foreign soil by burning incense to God's unknown to their
9:23
ancestors and explicitly he charges them with shedding
9:27
innocent blood. Filling the place with the blood
9:29
of their children. God even adds A striking phrase
9:32
in those charges. He says they built the high
9:34
places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire, something he
9:38
never commanded. He says it never even entered
9:40
his mind. Yes, that means this action is
9:42
entirely alien to his revealed will and holy character.
9:47
Now there is a massive academic debate surrounding this literary
9:51
context that the essays tackle head on.
9:53
Let's get into that. The authors vigorously defend
9:55
this text as genuine predictive prophecy.
9:58
They actively reject a concept from critical scholarship known
10:01
as Vaticinium X of INTO. Which translates to prophecy
10:05
after the event. Right 19th century higher
10:07
criticism popularized the idea that a prophet like Jeremiah
10:11
could not possibly have predicted the Babylonian exile
10:13
with such startling accuracy. So they assume it must be fake.
10:17
Yeah, the critical scholars argue these texts must have been
10:19
edited or written by anonymous scribes long after the exile
10:23
happened, retroactively putting predictions into Jeremiah's
10:26
mouth to make sense of the historical tragedy.
10:28
Let's stop and analyze why that academic debate matters so much
10:31
to the listener. If Vaticinium X Exempt You is
10:35
true, then the Bible is just a collection of historical fiction
10:38
written to cope with trauma. It strips the supernatural out
10:41
of the text entirely. Totally.
10:43
But the authors of our sources argue that stripping the
10:45
predictive nature of this text destroys the entire point God is
10:48
making. How so?
10:50
Well, God declared the punishment before it occurred
10:52
precisely so that when the hammer fell, the people could
10:55
not mistake it for random blind fate.
10:58
If God doesn't speak beforehand, the Babylonians just look like a
11:01
stronger army winning a geopolitical border dispute.
11:04
The predictive prophecy is the mechanism that proves God is
11:07
governing the history, not just reacting to it.
11:10
That is an excellent point. The predictive nature is
11:13
fundamental, and the visual nature of Jeremiah's prophetic
11:17
action is equally critical. To fully grasp it, you have to
11:21
look back 1 chapter to Jeremiah 18.
11:24
Where he goes to the Potter's house.
11:25
Right in chapter 18, God sends Jeremiah to watch wet, moldable
11:30
clay being shaped on a wheel. The theological point there is
11:33
that if a nation repents, they are like wet clay.
11:36
They can still be reshaped and reformed by the Potter.
11:39
Yes, but by the time we reach Chapter 19, the situation is
11:42
escalated that clay has been taken off the wheel and fired in
11:45
a kiln. It is now a hardened, finished
11:48
earthen flask. So it can't be reshaped anymore.
11:50
No. When Jeremiah takes that
11:52
hardened flask into the valley and smashes, it represents A
11:55
terrifying transition from a conditional warning to an
11:58
absolute final sentence. You cannot put a shattered clay
12:00
flask back together. It is the theological equivalent
12:03
of an intervention where the family has finally changed the
12:05
locks. That is a great way to put it.
12:07
For decades the prophets were saying please change your
12:09
behavior. The door is open, but Jeremiah
12:12
19 is the moment the locks are changed.
12:14
And he does it publicly. Yeah, the shattering of the
12:16
flask, especially being done in the physical presence of the
12:19
elders and priests, is highly intentional.
12:22
Judgment always begins with those who hold responsibility.
12:25
The. Leaders who should have guarded
12:27
the purity of worship and the justice of the civil courts were
12:30
the ones forced to witness the physical shattering of the
12:33
indictment. And the authorial intent behind
12:36
this public display is visceral. The text points out the use of
12:40
the Hebrew word salal. God says He is bringing a
12:44
disaster that will make the ears of everyone who hears it tingle.
12:48
That word salal is fascinating. It implies a physical shutter.
12:52
Like an involuntary ringing in the ears.
12:55
Yes, caused by the sheer overwhelming shock of hearing
12:58
terrible news. The prophetic intent was to
13:01
violently wake up a spiritually comatose nation.
13:04
Because they were just completely numb.
13:05
They had been anesthetized by false prophets.
13:08
Men like Han and I were walking around Jerusalem promising
13:11
peace, prosperity and a quick resolution to any geopolitical
13:15
tension. The false prophets were
13:16
essentially saying God loves this city, He will never let
13:20
anything bad happen to the temple, everything is fine.
13:22
Yeah, so Jeremiah, shattering that flask was designed to cut
13:26
through that comfortable delusion and produce a physical
13:29
reaction of terror. And the reason that terror was
13:32
justified brings us to the most difficult part of our
13:34
discussion, the actual realization of that prophetic
13:37
warning. We move into the terrifying
13:40
symmetry of divine retribution. This part is incredibly dark.
13:44
It is, the texts point out, that the covenant curses outlined
13:48
centuries earlier, back in Deuteronomy 28, literally come
13:51
to life during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem.
13:54
King Nebuchadnezzar surrounds the city.
13:56
Cutting off all supply lines, this siege lasts for 18,
14:00
Brewling mocks. Wow.
14:01
If you think about the mechanics of a walled city completely cut
14:04
off from food and water for a year and a half, the breakdown
14:07
of society happens and stages. 1st the stored grain runs out.
14:11
Then people eat the livestock, then the pets.
14:14
Finally, the sources describe starvation conditions so severe
14:18
that the most basic human, sociological and maternal bonds
14:22
completely disintegrated. Which leads to what we read in
14:24
Lamentations. Yeah, Lamentations chapters 2
14:26
and 4. The famine led to actual
14:29
cannibalism. Mothers boiling their own
14:31
children. It is almost too much to even
14:34
say out loud. The very valley of Tofeth is
14:37
renamed the Valley of Slaughter, filled with the corpses of the
14:41
people who used to worship there.
14:42
The devastation is absolute. If you are listening to this
14:45
right now, your modern instinct is probably to recoil in
14:49
absolute horror. You are probably thinking, how
14:52
can a loving creator orchestrate this?
14:55
How does this not frame God as a cruel architect of suffering?
14:59
The text anticipates that exact reaction.
15:02
It is a horrifying historical reality.
15:05
To understand the reconciliation the sources offer, we have to
15:08
deeply examine the legal concept of lex talionis.
15:11
The law of retaliation. Yes, the principle is an eye for
15:14
an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The text argues that God's
15:17
Providence orchestrates A grim but perfect correspondence here.
15:21
OK, lay that out for us. Look at the specific nature of
15:23
the judgement. The people of Judah voluntarily
15:26
burn their own children in the valley to appease false gods,
15:29
hoping for agricultural prosperity.
15:31
In response, God hands them over to an agricultural famine so
15:35
severe that they eat their own children.
15:39
The killers of children become the eaters of children.
15:41
Wow. The punishment mirrors the
15:44
crime. Florida State.
15:45
It is not arbitrary cruelty. It is precise, terrifying
15:49
justice. To answer the question of how
15:51
this makes God just rather than cruel.
15:54
The essays again point back to the theological framework of the
15:57
Westminster Confession. Which says God governs all
16:00
actions without being the author of sin.
16:01
Yes, God did not force those starving parents to commit
16:06
cannibalism. He did not inject a fresh evil
16:09
into their hearts. Stop right there because that is
16:11
the crux of the issue. God does not make them do it.
16:14
He removes his hand. Yes, precisely.
16:17
His Providence removes His restraining grace and simply
16:20
hands sinners over to the logical, terrifying end of their
16:23
own rejected moral order. So he just lets them have what
16:26
they wanted. The siege exposes the anti life
16:28
nature of idolatry. The people said we do not want
16:30
the laws of Yahweh. So God says very well, I will
16:33
remove my law, my protection, and my restraining grace.
16:36
You may have the reality you've chosen.
16:37
When you abandon the creator of life, the destination is always
16:41
death. And the total disintegration of
16:43
all natural affection. The horrors of the siege were
16:47
just the external manifestation of the internal spiritual rot
16:50
that had been present in Judah for decades.
16:53
That concept of God handing people over to their own choices
16:56
is one of the most chilling realities in Scripture.
16:59
It strips away all the religious glamour, the chanting, the
17:02
incense and the drumming of their idolatry and shows them
17:05
the naked ugliness of what they actually worshipped.
17:08
It removes all the illusions. But the sources do not leave
17:11
this horror isolated in ancient history.
17:14
If God's Providence operates this meticulously in 586 BC, how
17:19
does that exact same mechanism apply to the broader human
17:22
condition? The texts make a direct
17:24
connection to the New Testament here, yeah.
17:26
They connect the physical horrors of the Babylonian siege
17:29
to the universal origin of suffering outlined in Romans
17:32
chapters 5 and 8. The sources introduced the idea
17:35
of the pedagogy of pain. Building a bridge on the concept
17:37
of futility. Right, breakdown that concept
17:40
for us. Well, the expert sources dive
17:42
into the Greek term Mariots, which the apostle Paul uses in
17:45
Romans 8. It translates to futility,
17:48
frustration, or a sense of things not reaching their
17:51
intended goal. The text argues that the
17:54
physical horrors of the world, disease, calamity, starvation,
17:57
and death are not the original design of creation.
18:01
We know from Genesis that creation was originally declared
18:04
very good. Right, There was no death in
18:06
Eden. Exactly.
18:07
Instead, God subjected creation to this futility, Mario's as a
18:12
wholly legal judgement for humanity's cosmic rebellion.
18:16
This traces back to Adam as the federal head of the human race.
18:19
So when Adam sinned, acting as the representative for all
18:22
humanity, God cursed the ground. Yes, and the text makes a very
18:26
sharp theological point here that challenges many modern
18:28
paradigms. God subjected creation to
18:31
futility. Satan did not do it, no.
18:33
Random chance to not do it. This is a divine judicial act by
18:36
the Creator. And because it is a divine act,
18:38
the sources explicitly attack theological systems like
18:41
Arminianism and open theism. Let's break down why the authors
18:44
take such a hard stance against those views.
18:47
Well, open theism essentially argues that God does not possess
18:50
exhaustive foreknowledge of the future free choices of human
18:54
beings. So in that system, God is
18:56
reacting to events as they unfold.
18:58
Yeah, and the authors of our sources find that idea
19:00
horrifying. If open theism is true, then
19:04
suffering is just unguided tragedy.
19:07
God is just an impotent spectator, wringing his hands
19:09
over the world's pain, wishing things had gone differently.
19:12
But the Reformed view presented in the text argues that God is
19:15
an active, sovereign executor of justice who subjected the world
19:19
to futility. But crucially, he did so in
19:22
hope, as Romans 8 says. Meaning the suffering has a
19:25
designated purpose. The purpose is what gives the
19:27
suffering meaning, right? Yes, if suffering is just a
19:30
random accident, it is completely devoid of pedagogical
19:33
value. It teaches us nothing, but if it
19:36
is governed by a sovereign God, it becomes an instrument.
19:39
The authors argue that God uses the frustration of the natural
19:42
world to signal the spiritual brokenness of humanity.
19:44
The physical world is broken to reflect the spiritual reality of
19:47
our rebellion. I want to build on that with an
19:49
analogy the text uses, pulling from CS Lewis's concept of a
19:54
megaphone. Oh, that is a fantastic analogy.
19:56
The sources frame physical pain as a staggeringly realistic
20:00
drama, an alarm system built into the fabric of the universe.
20:04
If humanity is spiritually dead and completely oblivious to the
20:07
moral outrage of rebelling against the Creator, then
20:11
physical suffering acts as a blaring siren.
20:13
Because a spiritually dead person doesn't care that they
20:16
have offended God. Right.
20:18
But they do care if they get a terrible disease, or if a famine
20:21
hits, or if their city is besieged.
20:24
The physical pain is designed to wake us up to the far greater
20:27
danger of our spiritual state. It forces you to look up.
20:30
Consider how you view suffering in your own life or in the news
20:33
you watch. When a natural disaster strikes.
20:36
Do you see it Merely wait? Let me rephrase that.
20:39
Do you see it as a statistical probability, a clash of tectonic
20:42
plates, or a case of biological bad luck?
20:44
Or do you view it the way the sources suggest, as a
20:47
theological call to repentance? The texts point to Jesus's
20:50
teaching in Luke chapter 13, where a tower in Salem falls and
20:54
crushes 18 people to death. That passage in Luke 13 is vital
20:59
for understanding how Jesus viewed calamity.
21:02
The people come to Jesus asking the classic human question.
21:06
Were those 18 people worse sinners than everyone else in
21:10
Jerusalem? Because we always want to
21:12
believe that suffering is directly proportional to
21:15
individual sin, it makes us feel safe.
21:17
Yeah, if we were relatively good, the tower won't fall on
21:19
us. But Jesus shatters that
21:21
assumption. He tells them, no, they were not
21:23
worse sinners. But unless you repent, you will
21:26
all likewise perish. He takes a seemingly random
21:29
architectural collapse and turns it into a universal warning
21:32
about the final judgement. He treats the calamity not as an
21:35
opportunity to rank the sinfulness of others, but as a
21:38
summons to immediate personal humility.
21:41
Which means every time we see suffering, whether it's an
21:43
ancient siege or a modern tragedy, the correct response is
21:47
not to investigate the specific sins of the victims.
21:49
No, it is to look at our own hearts and realize that without
21:53
the grace of God, we are all owed the falling tower.
21:55
That is the sober reality. But thankfully, the essays do
21:58
not leave us in the despair of judgement.
22:01
They trace these incredibly dark themes of Jeremiah 19 directly
22:06
to the cross of Christ, focusing on the ultimate Christological
22:09
fulfillment. They draw a staggering contrast
22:12
between two hills outside Jerusalem.
22:14
In the Valley of Tophith, human beings murdered innocent
22:17
children to manipulate false gods for selfish gain.
22:21
But centuries later, at Calvary, the true God gave his genuinely
22:25
innocent son to save guilty human beings.
22:28
The symmetry there is breathtaking.
22:30
The cross is the ultimate reversal of the Valley of Ben
22:33
Hinnom. And this is where we see the
22:35
final, complete fulfillment of damn Naki, the innocent blood.
22:38
Because the children sacrifice to Molech were innocent of civil
22:41
crimes, but as we discussed, they still carried the guilt of
22:44
original sin. Right.
22:45
But Jesus Christ is innocent in every conceivable sense.
22:48
He's perfectly sinless in his nature, perfectly righteous in
22:51
his obedience to the law, and completely innocent of any civil
22:55
or religious crime. He is the Immaculate Lamb.
22:57
Yes. Furthermore, the text cites
23:00
Galatians 3.13 showing how Christ bears the horrific
23:04
covenant curses of God. Christ redeemed us from the
23:08
curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
23:10
So all the terrifying wrath we saw poured out on Jerusalem in
23:13
Lamentations. The starvation, the despair, the
23:16
total removal of God's favorable presence.
23:19
Christ absorbed all of that on the cross.
23:21
The physical agony of the crucifixion, the darkness
23:24
covering the land, Jesus crying out, My God, my God, why have
23:28
you forsaken me? This becomes the ultimate
23:31
parable of the moral outrage of sin.
23:34
Think about the implications of that.
23:36
The cross is the epicenter of God's Providence, the worst
23:39
human sin in the history of the universe.
23:41
The murder of the Incarnate Son of God by corrupt religious
23:44
leaders and a cowardly Roman governor was predestined by God
23:47
for the greatest possible good. The salvation of his people.
23:50
How does seeing the cross through that lens change our
23:53
reading of these grim Old Testament texts?
23:56
It changes everything because it provides the final resolution to
23:59
the problem of divine justice and human sin.
24:01
The text synthesizes this by arguing that without this level
24:05
of sovereign orchestration over evil, there is absolutely no
24:08
atonement. Think about it.
24:10
If God is not completely sovereign over the darkest, most
24:13
wicked deeds of humanity, then the crucifixion is just a tragic
24:17
miscarriage of justice. It would just be another
24:18
innocent man dying a pointless death, right?
24:21
But because God governs all things, the cross is a triumph.
24:26
The essay suggests that reading a book like Lamentations is
24:28
necessary because it prepares the human mind to grasp the
24:32
sheer magnitude of the wrath that Christ absorbed.
24:35
We cannot appreciate the cross if we think our sin just
24:38
deserves A mild reprimand. Lamentations shows us what sin
24:42
actually deserves. Christ drank the cup of God's
24:44
furious wrath to the bitter dregs, so that his people would
24:47
never have to experience the eternal siege of God's judgment.
24:51
For the believer, this provides absolute, unshakable shelter.
24:55
The exact same meticulous Providence that looks so
24:57
terrifying in Jeremiah 19 becomes the very mechanism that
25:01
secures our redemption at Calvary.
25:03
That is the anchor of the Reformed view of Providence.
25:07
God's absolute sovereignty is terrifying if you are his enemy,
25:11
but it is the only true comfort if you were in Christ.
25:14
Now we need to transition into how the authors apply these
25:17
ancient concepts to our current era.
25:20
The sources spend considerable time pointing out what they
25:22
describe as modern echoes of these ancient texts.
25:25
Specifically calling out the idol of convenience.
25:29
It's fascinating how the authors apply this ancient history to
25:31
our current political and cultural climate.
25:33
To be clear for you listening, our goal today is to map out the
25:37
author's arguments accurately. Right.
25:39
We are not here to endorse a specific political platform
25:41
ourselves. We are just summarizing the
25:43
author's viewpoint, but looking strictly at the text.
25:46
The authors draw a highly provocative parallel between the
25:49
ancient practices in the Valley of Ben Hinnam and the modern
25:52
abortion industry. They cite a recent report from
25:55
the Gitmaker Institute detailing over 1,000,000 abortions in a
25:58
single year. And they argue that while modern
26:01
society does not use bronze statues of Malek, the underlying
26:04
pragmatic mechanism is identical.
26:07
Sacrificing human life for the sake of economic convenience,
26:11
personal autonomy, or societal advancement.
26:13
The authors also explicitly attack critical race theory,
26:17
arguing that it functions as a modern ideological distraction
26:20
that shifts the focus away from individual gospel repentance.
26:24
And instead creates new unbiblical categories of guilt
26:27
and grievance. So, impartially speaking, what
26:30
is the author's central argument in that section?
26:33
The central argument is that modern secular philosophies and
26:36
cultural pragmatism are functioning as the new high
26:40
places. Ancient Israel wanted
26:42
agricultural prosperity, so they went to Baal.
26:44
Modern society wants absolute personal autonomy and
26:47
consequence free living, so they turn to their own pragmatic
26:50
philosophies. Exactly.
26:52
The text asserts that when the modern church tries to
26:54
accommodate this culture by removing the doctrines of hell,
26:57
severe Providence, and divine wrath to make its message more
27:00
palatable, it completely fails its mandate.
27:03
The source argues that a church that refuses to talk about the
27:06
wrath of God is preaching A counterfeit gospel.
27:08
Because he cannot actually save anyone if it denies what we are
27:11
being saved from. Furthermore, the author asserts
27:14
A cessationist view regarding how we interpret modern events.
27:18
Let's define that cessationist view for the listener, because
27:21
it dictates how the author believes we should process
27:23
tragedy today. Certainly cessationism is the
27:27
theological view that the miraculous sign gifts of the
27:30
Apostolic era, such as predictive prophecy, speaking in
27:34
tongues, and direct, infallible revelation from God, has ceased
27:39
with the completion of the New Testament Canon.
27:41
Therefore, the author argues, we should not look to modern
27:44
individuals claiming to be prophets to explain why a
27:47
specific hurricane hit a specific city.
27:49
Or why a specific pandemic occurred.
27:52
We rely strictly on the closed Canon of scripture to interpret
27:55
today's tragedies. And Scripture sufficiently
27:57
explains God's Providence. The world is broken by sin,
28:00
suffering is a megaphone calling all people to repentance, and
28:03
our only hope is the finished work of Christ.
28:06
We do not need new revelation to tell us that the Bible has
28:09
already given us the complete framework.
28:10
Before we close, the sources tackle A deeply emotional,
28:14
agonizing question that naturally arises from reading
28:17
about the siege of Jerusalem or from looking at the horrific
28:21
realities of our own world. This is a tough one.
28:23
What happens to the infants who perished in that starvation?
28:27
What happens to the babies thrown into the fires of Molech?
28:30
It is a heavy question, and historically different
28:33
theological traditions have offered different answers.
28:36
But the texts we are reviewing offer a specific theological
28:39
comfort based on the Apostle Paul's writings in the New
28:42
Testament. Yes, the source addresses this
28:45
sensitive issue using the logic of Romans 1.1920.
28:49
Yeah. Walk us through that.
28:50
Well, in that passage Paul talks about general revelation, how
28:54
God's invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and
28:57
divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the
29:00
creation of the world in the things that have been made.
29:03
Paul says that because of this general revelation, humanity is
29:06
without excuse. Right, and the text argues for a
29:09
vital distinction between natural ability and moral
29:12
inability. The premise is that infants and
29:16
those with severe cognitive disabilities do not possess the
29:19
cognitive perception, the natural capability to observe
29:23
creation, process general revelation, and actively
29:27
suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
29:29
Which is this specific indictment in Romans 1?
29:31
Yes. Therefore, the text concludes,
29:34
there is strong biblical warrant to believe God provides
29:36
salvation for all infants who die.
29:39
But the mechanism of that salvation is critical.
29:41
He does not save them because they are inherently sinless.
29:43
No, they still have original fin.
29:45
He saves them through the sovereign, unmerited imputation
29:48
of Christ's perfect righteousness.
29:50
This provides immense tangible hope against the backdrop of
29:53
such dark historical and modern events.
29:56
It really does. It shows that God's justice is
29:58
perfect, but his mercy is equally staggering.
30:01
As we bring this analysis to a close, I want to ask you
30:03
listening to do a mental audit of your own life.
30:06
The text challenges us to ask what modern idols demand the
30:09
sacrifice of your time, your family or your conscience.
30:12
It's a. Sobering question.
30:14
The ancient Israelites didn't wake up one day and decide to
30:17
abandon everything. It was a slow fade of
30:20
syncretism. They just kept adding little
30:22
compromises until they were deafened to the truth.
30:25
We have to guard against that same slow fade.
30:28
We have covered a massive amount of ground today.
30:30
We started in the physical smoke filled horrors of the Valley of
30:34
Ben Hinnom, examining the chilling reality of Dam Naki and
30:38
the psychological decay of apostasy.
30:40
We walked through the covenant lawsuit of the broken Earth and
30:43
Flask. Witnessing the terrifying
30:45
transition from warning to final judgment, we looked at the grim
30:50
symmetry of divine retribution during the Babylonian siege,
30:54
where the punishment Florida State mirrored the crime and God
30:57
simply handed the people over to their own desires.
31:00
We then broaden the lens to view all of creation groaning under
31:03
the futility described in Romans 8.
31:05
Seeing physical pain as a divine alarm system calling us to
31:08
repentance, finally we landed on the substitutionary hope of the
31:12
cross, where the innocent blood of Christ absorbs the curse.
31:15
Proving that God's severe Providence is the very anchor of
31:19
our salvation. The most vital take away from
31:22
these sources is that the biblical God is neither a
31:24
distant observer of history nor a chaotic, unpredictable force.
31:29
His Providence is comprehensive, governing even the darkest human
31:32
actions without ever endorsing them to accomplish a perfect
31:36
justice and a mercy that is entirely unmerited.
31:39
Spot on. I want to leave you with a final
31:42
lingering thought. We talked extensively about how
31:45
ancient Judah managed to convince themselves that their
31:47
brutal practices were actually sacred and pious.
31:50
They were completely blind to their own depravity.
31:53
Wrapping their pragmatic cruelty in religious vocabulary.
31:57
So if a society with the 10 Commandments could be that
32:00
mistaken, what widely accepted cultural norms today might
32:04
history look back upon as the horrifying blind spots of our
32:07
own era? That is the question, isn't it?
32:09
What are the things we currently consider normal or even virtuous
32:13
that a future generation or the judge of the Earth himself will
32:16
view with absolute shock? It is a question that requires
32:19
total humility and a constant return to the objective truth of
32:22
Scripture. Thank you for joining us on this
32:24
deep dive. Take care.