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Living Speech in Sacred Scripture Personification in the English Bible · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reform Thinking. Usually when we talk about
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reading a text, especially an ancient historical document,
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there is this expectation of mechanical precision.
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Right, like you're reading a manual or something.
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Yeah, precisely. You look at the manuscript, you
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find the facts, the dates, the locations, and you just point to
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the page and say there it is. You treat it like an engineering
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schematic, true or false, literal or non literal, clean
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binary categories. Which is very comforting to the
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modern mind, honestly. Oh, absolutely.
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But then, you know, you step into the world of biblical
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literature, specifically the poetic language of Scripture,
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and suddenly that simple binary machine is just.
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It's broken. Yeah, it completely falls apart.
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Right. We are not just looking at
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decorative words on a page, we are looking at a linguistic
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landscape where where the blood of a victim literally cries out
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from the ground for justice. We are looking at a universe
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where the sea roars and conscious obedience to a
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command, and where death itself boasts arrogantly before being
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completely defeated. It's a loud universe.
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It really is. So today on Reformed Thinking,
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we are taking a deep dive into the living speech of Scripture
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to figure out how this poetic shortcut actually teaches us the
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moral character of the universe. And we have to establish the
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stakes right from the start here because we are not looking at a
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collection of, you know, fables or fairy tales.
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Right, this is an ESOP. Not at all.
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We are looking at the deliberate, vivid, and highly
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specific language the Bible uses to communicate absolute truth.
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When we see this kind of language treating abstract
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concepts or inanimate objects as living, breathing beings, we're
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looking at a vehicle for divine revelation.
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So it's not just pretty window dressing.
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No, it carries massive hermeneutical, doctrinal, and
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pastoral weight. It teaches us how to read the
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text, what to believe about God, and, well, how to live in
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response to Him. OK, let's unpack the mission for
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today's deep dive. Our goal is to investigate how
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reading these texts with their intended poetic force actually
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works. We want to see what happens when
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we stop treating the Bible like a flat, dry textbook and start
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hearing it as the living, breathing voice of the Creator.
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Which is a huge shift for a lot of people.
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It really is. We have a stack of sources that
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synthesize these concepts, and I think the first major hurdle we
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need to get over is how we actually interpret these words.
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Yeah, the central concept here is hermeneutical humility.
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Hermeneutical humility. OK, define that for us.
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So Hermeneutius is just the science and art of
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interpretation. It's the framework we use to
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understand a text. Humility in this context means
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letting the text dictate how it should be read, rather than
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forcing our own assumptions onto it.
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Our sources point out that modern readers often try to
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force post Enlightenment categories onto ancient
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literature. OK, stop right there.
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Let's define post enlightenment categories.
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For those of us who you know might not spend our weekends
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reading European philosophy. What specific mindset are we
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trying to avoid here? Well, the Enlightenment was this
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philosophical movement in the 17th and 18th centuries that
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elevated human reason and the scientific method as the primary
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sources of knowing anything. Like the whole Rene Descartes, I
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think therefore I am era. Spot on.
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So a post enlightenment mindset demands empirical data.
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It wants things quantified, measured, and verified in a
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laboratory, right? It assumes that if a statement
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is not scientifically precise, it cannot be factually true.
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But hermeneutical humility pushes back against that
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arrogance. Because God's word is literal in
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the proper sense. Yes, it means what the divine
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and human authors intended according to the grammar, the
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genre, the historical context and the analogy of faith.
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I want to clarify analogy of faith this way because that is a
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vital principle for interpreting Scripture.
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Absolutely. As I understand it, the analogy
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of faith means that Scripture interprets Scripture.
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We use the clear, unambiguous passages of the Bible to help us
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understand the more obscure or difficult ones.
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Yeah, that's it perfectly. We assume a unified, non
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contradictory message because the ultimate author is a Holy
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Spirit. Right.
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And applying that principle helps us recognize a key
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distinction. Literal interpretation does not
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mean wooden interpretation. Oh.
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That's a good phrase. Wooden interpretation, yeah.
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Poetry must be read as poetry. Wisdom literature must be read
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as wisdom literature. Prophecy must be read as
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prophecy. So you don't read the Psalms the
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same way you read the book of Leviticus.
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Precisely so. When the prophet Isaiah writes
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that the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing,
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he is not giving a geological lecture right.
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He is not teaching that granite and limestone have physical
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vocal cords. He is announcing the cosmic joy
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of redemption in language that is appropriate to prophetic
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poetry. So the figure of speech is not
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false just because it is figurative.
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No, not at all. It is a true statement conveyed
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through the specific vehicle God chose to use.
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I love that framework. It is true by the very means God
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chose to use. Yeah, Here is an analogy that
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might help us picture this difference between a proper
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reading and a wooden reading. Let's hear it.
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Imagine you are looking at a vibrant 3 dimensional
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architectural blueprint of a massive, glorious cathedral.
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It shows the soaring arches, the depth of the foundations, the
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specific angles of the buttresses, and the way the
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light is going to hit the stained glass at 4:00 in the
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afternoon. Now imagine taking that
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breathtaking 3D blueprint and choosing to read it as if it
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were a simple black and white restaurant menu.
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Oh wow. You just scan it for a flat list
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of items and prices. You're just looking for the
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facts. That is what a flat reading does
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to the Bible. It strips away the depth, the
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texture and the holy imagination.
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That analogy gets to the heart of the problem.
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A flat reading destroys the architecture of the text.
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Yeah, and modern pragmatism often does this very thing.
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We reduce the Bible to therapeutic slogans.
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Oh, constantly. We look for a quick tip to have
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a better Tuesday. We want a five step plan for
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managing anxiety or increasing our productivity.
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Right, like life hacks. Yeah, life hacks.
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And in doing that, we completely miss the majestic architecture
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of what God is actually saying. The sources mentioned that
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reading this poetic language actually changes how we process
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information. It does read about a mountain
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singing. We aren't just memorizing a
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fact, something that's happening to our minds.
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How does reading personified poetry actually rewire our
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brains compared to reading a list of moral rules?
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Well, it engages the whole person.
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A list of rules only engages the intellect.
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OK, you read the rule, you understand the restriction, and
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you decide whether to obey or disobey.
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But personification engages the intellect, the imagination, the
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conscience, and the affections simultaneously.
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All at once. All at once, when scripture puts
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a face in a voice on an abstract concept, it forces you into a
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relationship with that concept. That's fascinating.
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The world speaks to us in slogans, advertising advisements
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and self flattering myths that tell us what we want to hear.
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But Scripture speaks with holy imagination under divine
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inspiration. It makes invisible spiritual
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realities visible to the mind's eye.
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So it's not just a suggestion, it's an encounter.
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Yeah, it puts the Sinner on trial.
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For instance, the Bible does not just say sin is bad.
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In Genesis chapter 4, God tells Cain that sin is crouching at
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his door. Its desire is for him and he
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must rule over it. That language pictures sin as a
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predatory beast waiting to strike.
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You cannot just intellectually agree with that statement.
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You have to feel the danger. You have to react to the
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predator. Precisely that language summons
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the whole person before the living God.
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Well, let's ground this broad concept of living speech in a
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specific text. Let's transition from this
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general theory of poetry to the actual streets of the ancient
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world. OK, where to?
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Let's look at the figure of Lady Wisdom in the book of Proverbs,
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which is where our sources spend a great deal of time.
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Proverbs chapter 8 is the ideal text for this investigation.
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To grasp the weight of this passage, we need to reconstruct
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the historical and cultural scene.
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Set the stays for us. We are in ancient Israel.
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Israel's wisdom tradition is historically associated with
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King Solomon. Now we have to understand the
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function of this tradition. It wasn't just philosophy,
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right? Right.
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This was not meant to be a collection of abstract
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philosophical musings for academics sitting in an ivory
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tower debating the meaning of life, the wisdom tradition was
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intensely practical. Its primary pedagogical function
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was to chain covenant youth. How did it function
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pedagogically? I mean, if I am an Israelite
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father trying to teach my son how to live, why am I using
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poetry about a woman named Wisdom instead of just handing
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him the 10 commandments and telling him to memorize them?
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You use poetry because you are preparing him for a complex
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world filled with competing voices.
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OK, the Father is instructing the Son on how to walk under
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divine order in all aspects of life, commerce, sexuality,
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justice, friendship, speech and worship.
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So the law is the foundation, but wisdom is the application.
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Spot on. The law gives the boundaries,
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but wisdom teaches the application of the law in 1000
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different daily scenarios. That makes sense.
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The youth is walking into a world where Folly is calling
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out. The adulterous woman is
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flattering him. Violent men are enticing him to
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join their gangs to get rich quick.
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Sloth is whispering. Bring to him to sleep a little
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longer. Pride is blinding his judgment.
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Yes, the father uses personification to give a face
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to all these temptations. And against all those dangerous,
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destructive voices, Wisdom herself cries aloud.
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She becomes a character in the drama of his life.
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I am looking at the way Proverbs 8 describes her public summons,
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and the specific details are just they're fascinating.
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Yeah, look at where. She is.
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She's not hiding in a secret chamber.
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She is not tucked away in a monastery on top of a remote
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mountain accessible only to the spiritual elite.
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No, the text says. She stands at the high places
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beside the way, at the gates and at the crossroads.
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The physical location of wisdom is a massive theological
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statement in itself. In ancient Israel, the city gate
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was the center of everything. It wasn't just a physical door
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to keep enemies out. Not at all.
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It was not just a whole on the wall for people to walk through.
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The gate was a complex structure where the elders of the city
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sat. It was the place of judicial
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judgement. It was the place of major
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commerce and legal transactions like we see in the Book of Ruth
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when Boaz redeems the property. It was the center of civic
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order. And what about the crossroads?
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The crossroads were the specific places where travelers had to
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make a definitive choice about which direction to take.
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You know, I am looking at the modern landscape and it seems
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almost completely backward to this ancient picture.
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Oh, entirely. Today, religion and faith are
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largely treated as purely private, internal matters.
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Society tells us that what we believe is fine as long as we
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keep it to ourselves. Keep it in your heart.
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Keep it in your heart. We are told to keep it in our
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homes or quietly in a designated building on Sunday.
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If that is the modern assumption, what does Wisdom's
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public shouting at the city gate say about how truth is supposed
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to operate in our lives? The sources address this tension
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directly. The placement of wisdom in the
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public square is a devastating rebuke to the privatization of
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faith A. Devastating rebuke.
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Yes, God's truth lays claim to all of public life.
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Wisdom is not reserved for private piety that is completely
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detached from public righteousness.
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That is such a crucial distinction.
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She raises her voice exactly where judges rendered a
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decisions, where merchants weigh their scales, where rulers
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govern the populace, and where households are established.
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So she's right in the middle of the mess.
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Yes, the text demands that we recognize God's moral order in
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the public sphere, not just in the private recesses of our
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thoughts. That public nature becomes even
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sharper when we look at the literary context surrounding
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Chapter 8. The sources draw a tight
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connection between Proverbs Chapter 7 and Proverbs Chapter
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8. Yeah, the contrast is
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incredible. In Proverbs 7, we are introduced
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to the figure of Lady Folly, who's represented by the
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adulterous woman. Her speech is incredibly
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seductive, but is also highly secretive.
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Very sneaky, right? She operates in the twilight, in
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the evening, in the black and dark night.
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She flatters her victim in the shadows and the text says her
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house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
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And then look at the shift. The very next verse shifts into
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chapter 8, introducing Lady Wisdom.
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The contrast is stunning. Wisdom speaks openly.
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She speaks noble, righteous things.
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She is not hiding in the shadows trying to trick anyone.
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She is standing in the bright light of the public square,
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telling the truth. The author is staging a stark
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moral conflict for the reader. Sin rarely presents itself as
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death. No, it never does.
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It presents itself as pleasure, as a shortcut, as a secret that
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no one else will find out about. It speaks sweetly and it
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flatters the ego. Therefore, wisdom must also be
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heard. She must be cherished, pursued,
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and followed. The personification allows the
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reader to feel the full force of this contrast.
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So it's not just a multiple choice question.
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No, the youth reading this is not just choosing between two
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abstract ethical systems or two sets of roles.
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He's choosing which voice he is going to listen to, which house
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he is going to enter and which ultimate destination he is going
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to reach. Let's walk through the actual
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architecture of Proverbs 8, because the sequence of what
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Wisdom says feels almost counterintuitive to modern
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priorities. Well, why does Wisdom start her
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public speech by attacking the concept of wealth?
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She claims that her instruction is better than silver, better
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than choice gold, better than rubies.
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Yeah, she is targeting the exact things that the ancient world
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and, let's be honest, the modern world prizes above almost
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anything else. She starts there because a
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person's treasure reveals their theology.
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Coach, right? What you seek early, what you
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prize most highly, and what you fear losing the most will
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dictate how you live. The text is pressing the
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conscience of the listener. No, she's not saying money is
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bad. No, the comparison is not
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suggesting that material things are inherently evil.
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God created silver and gold. Rather, wisdom is establishing
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the proper order of loves. The proper order of loves.
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The biblical mind categorizes wealth as a tool that must be
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subordinate to wisdom. The modern mind often
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categorizes wealth as an end in itself.
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And that's where the danger lies.
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Yes, wealth without wisdom becomes a terrible snare.
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Treasure without righteousness corrupts the soul.
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This sequence directly confronts prosperity theology, which
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treats God simply as a mechanism for acquiring earthly increase.
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Like a vending machine in the sky.
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Yeah, exactly. Oh, I mean spot on.
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Proverbs 8 places earthly wealth securely under the authority of
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wisdom. And from wealth she moves to
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authority. Verse 15 asserts By me King's
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reign and Prince's decree, Justice.
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This is huge. This radically shifts the modern
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perspective on political authority.
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We tend to think of authority as self authenticating.
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We assume that if someone has the power, they have the right
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to rule. Or we assume it's just a social
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contract. Right, that authority is derived
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entirely from the consent of the governed.
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But this text is arguing that rule is only just insofar as it
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aligns with God's ordered reality.
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That is the core of biblical political theology.
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This does not mean every earthly ruler consciously honors God.
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Obviously, human history is full of tyrants.
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Unjust rulers are everywhere. Right.
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It means that all just rule, wherever it is found in any
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society, depends upon the wisdom that God has woven into the
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moral structure of the universe. So even a Pagan king can only
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govern well if he accidentally bumps into God's wisdom.
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Essentially, yes. Government, family, commerce,
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all of these institutions eventually collapse when they
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are detached from divine wisdom. Wow.
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In an age that loves to enthrone human autonomy and call
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rebellion freedom, this is a sharp, necessary reality check.
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Earthly kings may possess physical Thrones, they may have
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armies and treasuries, but they only rule rightly if they govern
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according to the wisdom of the Creator.
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Then we get to what might be the most awe inspiring part of the
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chapter. We move from the public streets
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and the Royal Courts all the way back to the cosmos.
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The origins of creation. Verses 22 through 31 describe
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Wisdom as existing before the mountains were settled, before
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the fountains of the deep, before the seas were given their
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boundaries. Wisdom was there rejoicing in
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the habitable part of the earth before any human being existed.
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The antiquity of wisdom is a major theological theme.
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Wisdom is not a late invention of human society.
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It's not a cultural artifact. No, it is not a sociological
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construct that evolved over thousands of years.
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It is anterior to human society. It is embedded in the created
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order by the Creator himself. That's a beautiful way to
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phrase. It and the sources point out how
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this rebukes the arrogance of novelty.
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The arrogance of novelty. We live in a world that assumes
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the newest idea, the latest sociological theory on ethics or
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human nature must be the truest simply because it is new.
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Oh, CS Lewis called that chronological snobbery.
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That's it. We suffer from chronological
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snobbery, but Scripture tells us that the oldest way is the way
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of life because it is grounded in God's original ordering of
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creation, the universe. This is not chaos.
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It is not meaningless matter colliding randomly.
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It is ordered according to divine wisdom.
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I have to bring up a crucial theological question here,
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because this specific passage has been the site of intense
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historical debate within the Church.
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Yes, it has. The text says that the Lord
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possessed or brought forth wisdom at the beginning of his
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work. Now some people try to say that
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wisdom in Proverbs 8 represents Jesus Christ directly.
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If that is true, and the text says wisdom was brought forth or
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created, doesn't that lead to the heretical idea that Jesus
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was a created being? How do we handle that tension
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without compromising our theology?
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That is a critical issue. The Aryan controversy in the
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early church hinged heavily on the misinterpretation of this
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exact passage. The Aryans claimed there was a
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time when the sun was not. Right.
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And our sources provide a very sharp doctrinal boundary here.
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We must avoid speculative, uncontrolled allegorizing.
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We have to stick to the text. We have to respect the genre of
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the text. Proverbs 8 is personifying God's
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creational wisdom. It is a poetic figure.
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We cannot crudely equate this poetic figure exhaustively with
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the pre Incarnate Christ in a way that denies his eternal
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deity. Because that would violate
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everything else we know from scripture.
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Yeah, absolutely. We hold firmly to the Orthodox
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confession that the eternal sin of God is not made, not created,
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not a creature. He is eternally begotten of the
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Father, very God, a very God. But there is a connection to
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Christ, right? Would you not just read Proverbs
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8 and say it has? Absolutely there is a.
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Massive canonical connection. The New Testament reveals that
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Jesus Christ is the one in whom all the treasures of wisdom and
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knowledge are hidden. Colossians tells us he is the
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agent of creation. First Corinthians calls him the
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wisdom of God. So while we do not say Proverbs
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8 is a literal historical biography of the sun's origins,
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which would be a categorical error violating the genre of
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poetry, we do say that the wisdom described in Proverbs 8
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finds its ultimate personal fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
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He perfectly. Embodies it yes, he's.
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The one who perfectly embodies this wisdom, who speaks truth in
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the public square, who rules righteously over the kings of
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the earth, and who gives life to those who find him so, Lady.
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Wisdom claims authority over human cities and kings, and she
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claims to have been present when the mountains were formed.
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But what about the parts of the world humanity cannot control?
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The Wild. Places, Yeah, What about the?
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Terrifying, chaotic forces of nature.
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That brings us to our next source, Psalm 98, where the
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poetry goes beyond the city gates and actually starts
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commanding the ocean. The imagery here just explodes
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off the page to grasp. The weight of Psalm 98.
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We need to establish the historical Crucible that the
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original audience was sitting in.
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Set the context. For us, the backdrop.
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Is vital. The Jews had returned from a
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devastating exile in Babylon. The Babylonian Empire had
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crushed Jerusalem, destroyed Solomon's temple and carried the
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people away. Utter devastation.
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Decades. Later they had been liberated by
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the decree of Cyrus the Persian. They returned to Jerusalem, as
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we read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and their temple is in
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ruins. Nothing left but.
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Rubble. The walls.
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Are broken down. They are a weary, impoverished
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remnant surrounded by hostile Pagan empires and Samaritan
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opposition. They are being mocked by their
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neighbors in that specific Crucible of affliction and
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political weakness. What did they need most?
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Well, they. Did not need a motivational
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speech about positive thinking, no.
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They did not. Need a 10 step plan for better
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agricultural yields in a drought they needed.
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Absolute ironclad assurance of Yahweh's reign.
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They needed to know that their God was supreme over the
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geopolitical chaos that surrounded them, supreme over
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the mocking empires, and supreme over the natural world.
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And this leads. To a fascinating historical
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contrast that our sources highlight regarding the ancient
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Near Eastern worldview, specifically the demythologizing
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of the elements. This is brilliant.
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In the surrounding. Canaanite and Ugaritic myths.
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The sea, known as Gong was viewed as a chaotic, terrifying,
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warring God. The sea was a deity that the
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other gods like Baal had to battle and physically subdue in
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order to bring order to the world, right?
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It was a constant. Struggle, but in Psalm. 98 The
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sea is not a rival God, it is commanded to roar in praise to
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Yahweh. I was trying to think of a way
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to picture this shift in perspective.
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What did you come up? With it is like.
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Finding out the terrifying rival CEO who has been threatening A
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hostile takeover of your company, the guy everyone is
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terrified of actually works in your building, and he answers
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directly to your boss, you realize he is not a rival power
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at all, he's just a subordinate that.
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Analogy captures the shock value perfectly.
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It completely dismantles the Pagan worldview.
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This proves that Yahweh is not struggling against the sea.
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He's not breaking. A sweat.
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He is not locked. In a cosmic wrestling match with
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chaotic forces, the sea is his obedient servant.
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When the psalmist calls upon the sea to roar, he is explicitly
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undermining those Pagan mythologies.
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He's mocking them. In a way, he is telling.
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The weary Israelites that the scariest things in their
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environment are totally under the control of their God.
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And this has massive implications for us today
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because it directly confronts modern secular and evolutionary
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worldviews. Those worldviews view the
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universe as dead random matter produced by time and chance
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moving toward heat death. But Psalm 98 says the universe
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is a theater of glory. It is meticulously crafted, it
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is alive with purpose, and it responds to its maker.
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Let's dig into. The actual structure of how this
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song builds up to its climax. We're looking specifically at
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verses 7 through 9. Our sources breakdown the
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exegetical structure, and it is built on a command ground
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structure. We have to.
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Look at the syntax to see how the author's building his
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theological argument. OK, first you have a series of
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commands in verses 7 and 8. The sea is commanded to roar,
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the rivers are commanded to clack their hands, the hills are
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commanded to sing for joy. And then what happens?
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Then in verse 9 you have the Hebrew particle key which
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translates to for or because this particle introduces the
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ground or the reason for all the exultation that was just
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commanded. I noticed in the.
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English translation that the text specifically commands the
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rivers to clap their hands. That feels like such a specific,
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almost aggressively human action for a body of water.
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By clapping it is. Highly specific, and if we look
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at the original Hebrew word used there, macha, it unlocks
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something incredible. Macha.
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Yes. It is the exact same word used
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in Second Kings Chapter 11 verse 12 during the royal coronation
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of King Joe Ash. The high priest brings the young
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king out, puts the crown on him, and the people clap their hands
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and shout Long live the king. So the author.
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Chose that specific word to trigger the memory of a
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coronation. Yes, the.
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Authorial choice of words is deliberate.
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The author could have used a different Hebrew word, safac,
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which also means to clap hands. OK, so why not?
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Use SAFAC because SAFAC. Is frequently used in contexts
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of mockery, grief, or derision, like in the Book of Job or
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Lamentations, where enemies clap their hands in malice.
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I. By choosing Macha, the psalmist
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is painting a picture of a joyous ceremonial coronation.
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The rivers are not just crashing chaotically against the rocks,
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they are giving a standing ovation to the and the hills
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are. Commanded to sing for joy, our
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sources point out that the Hebrew word here denotes a
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ringing cry of intense jubilation.
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Yeah, an absolute. Uproar.
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So you. Have the sea roaring, the
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river's giving a standing ovation, the mountains bursting
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into a ringing cry of joy. The whole natural world is in an
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uproar of celebration. And then we hit that keys clause
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you mentioned. The reason for all this cosmic
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applause. What is the ground for this joy?
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The arrival. Of the Lord to judge the earth
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with righteousness and equity, I have to ask.
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You about this because this feels incredibly
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counterintuitive to the modern ear.
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Oh. Completely backward Most.
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People today shrink away from the very concept of judgment.
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We view judgment as harsh, restrictive and negative.
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We prefer a sanitized, therapeutic deity who just
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affirms our life choices and makes us feel comfortable.
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Yeah, so how in the world can judgment be the specific reason
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that the hills burst into a ringing cry of jubilation?
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You are. Hitting on the core tension
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between the biblical worldview and the modern mindset, it is a
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striking paradox to the modern mind, but it is fundamental to
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Scripture. OK, explain.
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That true? Cosmic joy is completely
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impossible without righteous justice.
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We live in a world steeped in corruption, oppression,
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exploitation, and sin. The wicked often prosper and the
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righteous often suffer, right. A world like that cries out for
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a perfect sovereign to set things right.
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The passage anticipates the literal, physical return of the
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Lord Jesus Christ to execute justness, to punish wickedness,
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to vindicate the righteous, and to lift the curse that has been
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placed upon creation since the fallen.
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Genesis. Wait, Eschatological?
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Triumph for those who might not have a theology dictionary
26:16
handy. We are just talking about the
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end of the world, the final act of human history, right?
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Yes. Eschatology is the study of last
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things, the return of Christ, the final judgement, the
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resurrection of the dead and the creation of the new heavens and
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the new earth, the grand finale. Right.
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When we read Psalm 98, we are looking forward to that final
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eschatological triumph. The rivers and the hills are
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rejoicing because they are anticipating being freed from
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their bondage to decay. Yes, the apostle Paul talks
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about this explicitly in Romans chapter 8.
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He says the whole creation has been groaning together in the
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pains of childbirth, waiting for the revealing of the sons of
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God. The arrival of the righteous
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judge is the best news possible for a universe groaning under
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the weight of sin. So the.
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Earth is rejoicing because the eviction notice have been handed
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to corruption and the rightful king is stepping back onto the
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property to restore it. That captures.
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The joy of the passage perfectly the judgement of God is a terror
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to the wicked, but it is the absolute vindication and
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salvation of the righteous, and it is the restoration of the
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created order this brings us. To the most vital part of our
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deep dive, the hermeneutical application for you, the
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listener. How does all this ancient
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poetry, all these roaring seas and shouting mountains change
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the way we live our lives today? The 1st.
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Application is a matter of how you approach the Bible itself.
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You have to read with reverence. You must let scripture dictate
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how you think, how you imagine, and how you feel.
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When the text says Death reigns as a tyrant, you should tremble
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at the severity of sin. When the text says Creation
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groans, you should long for the redemption of the world.
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We can't just. Brush past the imagery.
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No, we cannot. Flatten these texts into
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lifeless abstractions. We have to receive the Lord's
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chosen manner of speech with the sobriety and the warmth that
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demands. You have to let the poetry shape
28:06
your emotional response to theology.
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The second. Challenge our sources Present is
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an evaluation of the voices in your own life.
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We talked about wisdom calling in the streets.
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You live in a marketplace of voices.
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Every single day you were bombarded.
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It's exhausting. It is.
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Are you listening to secularism, which tells you that autonomy
28:24
from God is true freedom? Are you listening to pragmatism,
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which says whatever works and gets results is what is right,
28:31
right? Are you listening to mysticism,
28:32
looking for subjective signs in the clouds while ignoring the
28:35
objective written word of God? Or are you listening to the
28:38
voice of wisdom calling from the text, speaking truth,
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righteousness and order, the pastoral?
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Contrast drawn here is razor sharp.
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It is an indictment of the silent heart, the silent.
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Heart talk about that. Think about.
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The picture Psalm 98 paints. Inanimate rivers obey the
28:55
command to applaud God. Mountains, which are literal
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rocks and dirt, sing at his arrival.
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The sea roars its praise. Yeah, if the natural world
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responds to the Creator with such explosive, unhesitating
29:08
adoration, what does it say about the human heart that
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refuses to bow? It exposes.
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Apathy as an unnatural rebellion.
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It is the most unnatural thing in the universe for a human
29:17
being made in the image of God to sit in silent apathy while
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the rivers are giving a standing ovation.
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It does. It shows us that our lack of
29:25
praise is not a neutral state. It is a culpable silence.
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We are out of step with the entire created order.
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The world says there is no judgment, but Christ says the
29:34
judge is at the door. And that's.
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Terrifying if you're on the wrong side, right?
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And. Facing this Rimmer judge on your
29:40
own merit, clothed in your own apathy and rebellion, means
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facing perfect, unyielding justice.
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You cannot stand before absolute purity, relying on your own
29:49
flawed record. And that leads.
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Directly to the ultimate appeal of these texts, the only
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possible way you can join the chorus of the hills in welcoming
29:58
this righteous judge is if that judge is also your savior.
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If you stand before him on your own, you fall.
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But the Gospel declares that the one coming to judge of the world
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is the same step one who bore the wrath of God on the cross
30:12
for his people. He took the.
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Judgement. He took the judgement.
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So that those who trust in him could be justified, he absorbed
30:18
the penalty for our unnatural rebellion.
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This is where. All the theological lines
30:23
converge the wisdom of Proverbs 8 that calls out to give life
30:27
and the judge of Psalm 98 who comes to restore the earth meet
30:30
in the person of Jesus Christ. It all points to.
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Him we do not. Just read these personifications
30:35
to become smarter about ancient Near Eastern poetry.
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We read them so that we are driven to Christ.
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We abandon our self righteousness, we abandon our
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worldly philosophies, and we take refuge in Him.
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He is the wisdom of God and He is the coming judge.
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Let's bring this. All together, we have covered an
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immense amount of ground today. We have seen how personification
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in the English Bible is far more than a literary decoration.
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Yeah, much. More from Lady Wisdom.
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Calling out in the busy public squares, demanding that our
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commerce and our politics submit to God's order, to the rivers
31:06
and the hills, clapping and singing in anticipation of the
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King's arrival. This language is a vivid,
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demanding summons from the Creator.
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It wakes up our. Conscience, it puts our values.
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On trial, it forces us to ask if we are valuing gold over
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instruction, if we were valuing the approval of a secular world
31:24
over the fear of the Lord. And it leaves.
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Us with an inescapable reality. The universe is not an empty,
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silent void produced by random chance.
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It is a cosmic cathedral ringing with the doxology of the
31:36
Sovereign Lord. Everything is moving toward a
31:39
grand appointed consummation. The history of the world is not
31:42
cyclical, it is linear, and it is heading toward the final
31:45
judgment and restoration as we wrap.
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Up this deep dive on reformed thinking, we want to leave you
31:50
with one final thought to Mull over.
31:53
The entire created order stands at attention, poised and eager
31:57
anticipation for the King's return.
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The seas are ready to roar. The rivers are ready to clap.
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The hills are already rehearsing their joyous doxology.
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They are ready. Look at your own.
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Life, look at your own affections.
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Is your heart the only thing in the universe determined to
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remain silent? Thank you for listening, and we
32:14
encourage you to open up Proverbs 8, read Psalm 98, and
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experience the living speech of the text with fresh eyes and a
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listening year.