Latest / Reformed Thinking / Providence over Broken Families: Divine Sovereignty, Sin, and Hope

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Providence over Broken Families: Divine Sovereignty, Sin, and Hope · Reformed Thinking

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Usually when we look at a collapsed building, we expect a
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pretty clean structural explanation.
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You know, you bring in an engineering inspector and they
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walk through the rubble with their little clipboard and they
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find like a rusted support beam or maybe a stress fracture in
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the concrete foundation or even a miscalculation in the original
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blueprints. Yeah, they just point a
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flashlight at. It yeah, they point the
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flashlight and say there it is. That is why the building fell.
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Right, because it is binary. Cause and effect in the physical
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world are highly visible. Broken beam, fallen building.
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It is clean. We can categorize it, you know,
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we can write a report on it. We crave that kind of visible,
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categorized causality in, well, pretty much every area of our
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life. It gives us a sense of control.
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If we can identify the specific broken beam, we believe we can
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just go in and fix it. But then you step into the
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reality of a fractured family and suddenly that structural
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inspector with the clipboard is completely useless.
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Completely useless. You cannot point a flashlight at
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a rebellious teenager's heart. You cannot, you know, pull up a
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blueprint to explain why a spouse of 20 years just walked
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out the front door. We are looking at a landscape of
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human heartbreak that is honestly incredibly murky.
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It is the absolute definition of diagnostic Muddy Waters.
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The variables are infinite. The pain is blinding, and the
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neat little categories we use for everything else in life just
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completely disintegrate. Welcome to Reformed Thinking,
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you are listening to our latest deep dive.
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Today we are putting away the clipboard.
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Yes, we are. We are pulling apart a stack of
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really dense theological essays that focus on the darkest
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moments of family collapse in history, and we are doing this
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to find out why God's absolute control over that chaos is
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actually the only reason you can have hope.
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Our mission today is to look intently at the agonizing
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reality of broken families, but we are skipping the usual
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routes. We are not looking at this
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through the lens of modern psychology.
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We're not looking at it through sociology.
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We are examining this through the theological doctrine of
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divine Providence. The source material we have
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gathered for this deep dive consists of really thorough
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theological essays. They analyze historical Old
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Testament narratives. Specifically, we're going to
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look closely at the families of Eli the priest and King David,
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right? The goal is to uncover what
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these agonizing historical accounts reveal about God's
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sovereign governance over human sin and family fracture.
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The sheer gravity of this topic, I mean, it just cannot be
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overstated. We are stepping into the most
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painful areas of human existence.
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If you are listening to this right now, there's a very high
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probability that you either have an eye fractured family or
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you're watching someone you love walk through the wreckage of 1.
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It is everywhere, and our core objective today is to show you
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how the terrifying and comforting doctrine of God's
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absolute sovereignty offers the only real hope when a home is
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shattered. We want to strip away the false
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modern comforts that our culture offers.
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We want to anchor your hope in the meticulous Providence of God
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over every single detail of your life.
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Right. So let's unpack this from the
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ground up. We have to start by
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acknowledging the current crisis.
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We are not talking about a niche issue here.
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Not at all. The sociological data from our
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sources presents a staggering reality in the United States
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today. One in four children currently
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resides in a fatherless home. Wow.
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Think about the math on that. That is approximately 19,000,000
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individual souls. 19,000,000 If you put all those children in
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one place, they would outnumber the entire population of New
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York State. We are looking at a catastrophic
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destabilization of society. And the sheer scale of the
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devastation that cuts across all demographics, all income
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brackets, in all regions. We are witnessing massive rates
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of single parent households, estrangement and just general
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domestic collapse. What is fascinating here, when
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our sources point out, is how the secular world attempts to
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explain this away. Yeah, they definitely try.
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They do. They lean heavily on godless
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ideologies. They point to systemic
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oppression, economic disparities, or, you know,
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racial constructs as the sole culprits for this familial
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collapse. They are essentially looking for
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that rusted support beam in the societal structure.
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They want a physical, measurable thing they can point to.
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Precisely because if the problem is strictly economic, well, you
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can pass a law to fix it. The problem is systemic.
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You can create a government program to address it.
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But what secular psychology and sociology absolutely refused to
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touch is the innate corruption of the human heart.
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Yeah, they want a solution that leaves human autonomy intact.
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And it is not just the secular world doing this.
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The sources point out how liberal theology and progressive
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Christianity adopt these empty sociological talking points
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wholesale. They really do.
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They trade the sufficiency of Scripture for what we call
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therapeutic deism. It's a therapeutic deism that is
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essentially the belief that God exists, but he acts like a
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cosmic Butler. Right, that is a great way to
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put it. His only job is to make sure you
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are happy, be fulfilled and, you know, emotionally stable.
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He does not demand holiness, and he certainly does not judge sin.
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So when progressive circles encounter a broken family, they
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just abandoned the biblical diagnosis of the human heart and
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settle for secular therapy disguised with religious
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vocabulary. That is exactly what happens.
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But wait, it is not just the secular world or progressive
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circles making massive errors here.
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I think this is where the sources get really piercing.
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We the false comforts creeping into conservative evangelical
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circles as well. I am thinking specifically of
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two massive frameworks, the prosperity gospel and
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Armenianism. Yes, those two are huge.
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Let's start with the prosperity gospel.
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This is the idea that if you simply have enough faith, or,
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you know, if you sow enough financial seed into a ministry,
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God owes you a perfect life. It treats domestic peace as a
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temporal right. And it creates an incredibly
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cruel environment for a grieving parent.
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If your child rebels or your marriage fails, the prosperity
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gospel essentially looked at you and says, well, you must not
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have had enough faith. You must have unconfessed sin.
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Right, you didn't claim the promises hard enough.
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It has immense guilt to an already crushing burden.
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And then there's the other framework, which is far more
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common and I think subtle Arminianism.
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This framework suggests that a family's spiritual harmony is
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entirely dependent on the libertarian free will of the
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individuals involved. Right, It implies God is just a
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polite bystander. He has done all he can do, and
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now he is anxiously looking down the corridors of time, hoping
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that autonomous humans will utilize their free will to make
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the right choices. Like he is wringing his hands
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hoping a rebellious teenager decides to come home.
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If you are listening to this right now and you have a kid who
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has completely walked away from everything you taught them, this
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concept of free will actually leaves you with 0 hope.
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It really does. I mean, if a wayward child's
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salvation is entirely dependent on their own autonomous free
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will, isn't that like asking a person at the bottom of the
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ocean to simply decide to breathe water?
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That is a harsh reality. The sources make it clear that
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the natural man is dead in Trespasses and sins.
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Dead men cannot choose to resuscitate themselves.
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So how does realizing we have 0 control over our family's
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choices actually lead to hope rather than absolute despair?
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That is the pivotal question right there.
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If we connect this to the bigger picture, true comfort is found
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in the Reformed doctrine outlined in documents like the
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Westminster Confession of Faith. The Confession rightly declares
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that God from all eternity freely and unchangeably ordains
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whatsoever comes to pass. He is not a bystander.
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Wait, ordains whatsoever comes to pass, like everything.
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Everything. He is the act of sovereign over
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every single molecule and every single choice in the universe.
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If blind fate or Satan or the unregenerate human will had the
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upper hand, the grieving parent would have absolutely no one to
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cry out to. Because if your child's
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rebellion is outside of God's control, then God cannot help
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you. That is it.
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The tears would just fall into a void.
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You would just be screaming into an empty room.
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Yes, God's absolute rule over the darkest familial despair is
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the only solid ground for hope. He governs all creatures,
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actions, and things from the greatest even to the least.
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The world says the broken home is a product of environmental
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factors. Christ says it is a theater for
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His severe and sovereign grace. God is actively working in the
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very mess you think He has abandoned.
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I want to take this out of the realm of abstract theology
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because, you know, talking about decrees and sovereignty can
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sound like we are just reading a seminary textbook.
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It can get dry if we are not careful.
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Right. So to truly grasp this, we have
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to look at how God actually executed this in history.
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We need to look at real people with real families who failed
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spectacularly. This leads us directly to the
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chaotic era of the Judges and the devastating collapse of a
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prominent priestly family. We are going to a place called
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Shiloh. We really have to set the stage
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here because the historical backdrop makes their sins so
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much worse. The era of the Judges is drawing
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to a close. This was a time characterized by
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complete spiritual bankruptcy in Israel.
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The author of Judges summarizes the entire era with a chilling
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phrase. Everyone did what was right.
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In his own eyes. It was absolute moral anarchy.
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And right in the middle of this anarchy, the Tabernacle, the
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literal dwelling place of God's presence on earth, is resting at
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Shiloh, and Eli is the high Priest.
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And he is also the civil judge of Israel.
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Yeah, he is the spiritual mediator for the entire nation.
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When the people need to hear from God or offer sacrifices for
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their sins, they go to Eli. And his two sons, Hofni and
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Phineas, are functioning as active priests under his
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authority. Yet the biblical text explicitly
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calls them worthless men who did not know the Lord.
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Now, corrupt priesthoods were common in Pagan ancient Near
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Eastern cults. Very common.
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You had temple prostitution, bribery, extortion.
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That was standard operating procedure for Pagan religions,
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but the God of Israel demanded absolute holiness.
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His priests were supposed to reflect his character.
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And their sins were not hidden or subtle, They were brazen.
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The text in First Samuel 2 lists their specific offenses, and we
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really need to understand the mechanics of what they were
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doing to grasp the severity. Of OK, walk us through that.
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Under the Levitical law, when a worshipper brought a peace
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offering, the fat was supposed to be burned on the altar as an
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offering to God. Then the priest was given a
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specific, modest portion of the boiled meat.
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It was a beautiful picture of communion between God, the
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priest and the worshipper. But Hofni and Phineas completely
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hijacked the system. They did.
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The text says they were literally taking 3 pronged meat
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hooks, thrusting them into the boiling pots and taking whatever
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they wanted. And it gets worse.
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They demanded the raw meat before the fat was even burned
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for the Lord. They were robbing God of his
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offering and bullying the worshippers.
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And if the worshippers hesitated, the priests
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threatened to take it by force. They turned the Sanctuary of
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Grace into a mafia shakedown. That is a good analogy.
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And as if that were not enough, they were committing gross
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sexual immorality with the women who are serving at the entrance
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to the tent meeting. Right at the doorway to the Holy
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Place, yes. This was a deliberate, settled
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profanation of the Holy Place. It was not a momentary lapse of
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judgement, it was a lifestyle of high handed rebellion.
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And this brings us to the failure of soft parenting.
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Eli's response is documented, and it is a terrifying warning
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for anyone raising children. It really is.
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He hears about all of this. He knows what his sons are
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doing, and he gives them a verbal rebuke.
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He says, why do you do such things?
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For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people.
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No, my sons, it is no good report that I hear the people of
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the Lord spreading abroad. And that is the extent of his
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discipline. He wags his finger at but he
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fails to act. He honors his sons above God
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under the Levitical law. What they were doing warranted
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removal from the priesthood at the very least, and likely
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capital punishment. But Eli just gives a weak,
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passive aggressive sigh. A father's verbal rebuke was
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simply not enough when decisive priestly discipline was required
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by the law of God. This is such a stark warning for
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modern families and churches. Speaking truth without taking
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decisive action is complicity. Wow, complicity.
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If a church leader or a parent simply says I don't like what
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you were doing but refuses to implement church discipline or
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establish firm boundaries, they are prioritizing a false,
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superficial domestic peace over the holiness of God.
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Let's talk about the proximity issue here, because this is
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where the sources draw a brilliant parallel to the modern
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listener. Now let's look at that.
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Hofni and Phineas were sons of immense privilege.
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They were not pagans living in a foreign land, ignorant of the
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law. They grew up in the Tabernacle.
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They had physical access to the sacrifices, the altar, the
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priestly garments. Yeah, they smell the incense
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every single day. But mere physical nearness to
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holy things does not regenerate a heart.
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It is like assuming that sitting in a garage makes you a car.
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You can have a kid who never misses youth group, who knows
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all the answers to the Catechism, who sits under
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expositional preaching every Sunday, but their heart can be
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entirely waterproofed against the Gospel.
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That is a terrifying thought for anyone raised in the church.
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It should strike fear into the modern conscience.
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Baptismal water, sound doctrine, Christian schooling, or having a
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godly parent cannot save a rebel.
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Covenant privilege actually increases accountability.
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Because greater light brings greater judgement.
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Yes, the sons of Eli sinned in the very place where they should
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have stood as witnesses to the Atonement.
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Their proximity to Grace made their rebellion infinitely more
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offensive. Which brings us to the climax of
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Eli's confrontation. Eli warns them.
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He tells them that if a man sins against another man, God may
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mediate for him. But if a man sins against the
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Lord, who will intercede? He lays out the severity of
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their position. He warns them of the severe
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danger they are in, but the sons refuse to listen.
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They just ignore him. And then the text gives the
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specific reason why they refuse to listen.
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And I have to say, when I read this in the Sorcerer's, it
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stopped me in my tracks. It is one of the most sobering
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verses in the entire Bible. We are looking at First Samuel
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2.25. Let me read the devastating
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rationale straight from the text, it says.
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But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it
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was the will of the Lord to put them to death.
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We have to slow down and dive into the Hebrew syntax here to
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understand the sheer weight of this statement.
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OK, let's do it. The conjunction used in this
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verse, translated as 4, is the Hebrew word key.
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A thorough syntactic analysis reveals that this is not merely
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A temporal use of the word OK. It is not saying and then God
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decided to put them to death. It is explicitly causal.
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Wait, hold on, I have to stop you there.
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You were telling me they refused to listen because God purposed
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their judgement. Yes, if I'm a parent listening
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to this, that sounds terrifying. It sounds like God set them up
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to fail. How is that not God causing them
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to sin? That is the natural human
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reaction to this text. We want to soften it.
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We want to say, well, God willed to put them to death because
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they wouldn't listen. But the Hebrew grammar simply
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does not allow for that. The text says they wouldn't
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listen because God had purposed their judgement.
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Furthermore, the Hebrew verb used for will or desire is
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chaffetz. This word denotes God's
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unassailable active decree to execute covenantal judgment.
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So it's very deliberate. Very deliberate, the author
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bypassed other Hebrew constructions that might have
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softened the blow. He used direct, active language
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to show God's absolute sovereignty in hardening their
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hearts. OK, but you have to explain how
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they can be held accountable if God willed their refusal,
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because right now it sounds like God is the author of sin.
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To understand this, we must grasp a vital theological
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distinction regarding the will of God.
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We must differentiate between God's revealed will, which is
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also known as His perceptive will, and His sovereign will,
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which is known as His decreative will.
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Break those down for me in plain English.
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God's revealed will consists of His righteous commandments, is
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what He tells us to do. His revealed will commanded
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Hofni and Phineas to be holy, to honor the sacrifices, to flee
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sexual immorality, and to heed their Father's rebuke.
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That is the standard of righteousness.
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But God's sovereign decreative will is the hidden blueprint of
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history. It determines the actual events
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that will unfold. His sovereign will ordain the
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circumstances where the hardened hearts of these two priests
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would freely choose to continue in their rebellion, which would
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lead directly to their ultimate judgement.
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OK, let's unpack this with an analogy because the concept of
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compatibilism, you know, the idea that God is absolutely
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sovereign and man is absolutely responsible, it can kind of
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break your brain if you don't visualize it.
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It is a heavy concept. Think about an author writing a
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massive epic novel. In this novel, there is a
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villain who makes a truly evil choice.
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The villain acts entirely according to his own wicked
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desires within the story. He plots, he schemes, he
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executes his evil plan because he wants to.
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Within the reality of the story, the villain is fully guilty.
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No one reads the book and says the villain is actually a good
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guy. We all know he is wicked.
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Right, his motives are entirely corrupt.
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But step outside the book. The author orchestrated the
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entire narrative structure. The author wrote the parameters
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of the world. The author created the scenario
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where the villains true nature would be exposed.
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Yes, the villain is totally accountable for his choices
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within the narrative, yet the author is sovereign over the
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whole book. That analogy He captures the
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essence of compatibilism beautifully.
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The Westminster Confession, specifically chapter 5,
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paragraph 4, addresses this directly.
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What does it say? It states that God's Providence
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extends to the first Fall and all other sins of angels and
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men, yet the sinfulness thereof proceeds only from the creature
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and not from God. God, being most holy and
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righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.
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So the sons of Eli were acting exactly as their depraved hearts
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desired. God wasn't forcing them against
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their will to steal meat or commit immorality.
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They loved doing those things. That is right.
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God did not inject fresh evil into innocent men.
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He simply handed guilty men over to the hardness they already
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loved. He withdrew His common grace.
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He withheld the restraining grace they did not deserve in
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the 1st place. Their refusal to listen is
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morally their own doing, yet simultaneously serves God's holy
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judicial sentence against them. This story of Eli's family shows
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God judging corrupt priests. It shows God managing the chaos
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in the Tabernacle. But the narrative of divine
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Providence over family brokenness does not end there.
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No it does not. We see this exact same sovereign
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discipline applied not just to the priesthood, but to the
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throne. So we see God's sovereignty over
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a corrupt priest. But it's easy to dismiss Eli as
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just a weak, passive father. What happens when the Father is
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a warrior, a king, a man after God's own heart?
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That brings us to David, right? Moving into Second Samuel, we
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shift from the chaotic era of the Judges to the established
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Davidic Kingdom. God had unilaterally established
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the digitic covenant, promising David an eternal throne.
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And David is described as a man after God's own heart.
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He wrote the Psalms. He slew Goliath.
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Yet his reign is marred by severe, catastrophic moral
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failure. We are talking about the
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Bathsheba incident. Yes, David is walking on his
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roof. He sees Bathsheba bathing.
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He uses his royal power to commit adultery with her and
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then to cover up the resulting pregnancy.
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He orchestrates the premeditated murder of her husband, Uriah the
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Hittite. It is an appalling abuse of
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power. It is the prophet Nathan
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confronts David and delivers a terrifying covenantal curse from
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the Lord. The sword shall never depart
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from your house. I will raise up evil against you
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out of your own house. The outworking of that judgement
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is horrific. We see a literal bloody
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fulfillment within David's own family tree.
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It is an absolute. Mess A total tragedy.
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His first born son Amnon assaults his half sister Tamar.
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Then Tamar's brother Absalom simmers in rage for two years
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and finally murders Amnon in retaliation.
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And it keeps going. Yeah, Absalom flees into exile,
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comes back and eventually orchestrates a massive military
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coup against his own father. He drives David out of Jerusalem
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and weeping and complete humiliation.
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It is the agonizing realization of God's active disciplinary
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Providence within the covenant family.
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God forgave David's sin in terms of eternal salvation, but he did
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not remove the temporal providential consequences.
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That is a massive distinction. As David is fleeing Jerusalem,
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cresting the Mount of Olives and heading toward the Jordan
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Valley, we encounter A staggering moment in Second
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Samuel 16. Paint the scene for us.
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David is exhausted. He is barefoot.
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He's weeping. His own son is trying to hunt
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him down and kill him. The physical exhaustion and
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emotional devastation are absolute, and right at this
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lowest point, a man named Shimei, who is from the
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household of the former king Saul, comes out and begins
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violently cursing David. He is throwing stones at the
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fleeing king. He is throwing dust in the air.
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Talk about kicking a man when he is down.
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Your own kid is trying to kill you, You have lost your Kingdom
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and now this random guy is hurling rocks and screaming
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insults at you. We really need to to look at how
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this event is framed, because the way David responds changes
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everything about how we understand suffering.
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The interaction is fascinating. It begins with the aggression of
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Shimei, who is actively cursing and making false theological
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accusation. He claims God is avenging the
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blood of Saul's house, which is a lie.
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David had actually shown mercy to Saul's house.
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Then Bishai, one of David's top military commanders, steps up
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with what we would call a Flesley retributive solution.
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He is a soldier after. All exactly.
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He looks at Shimei and says, why should this dead dog curse my
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Lord? The king let me go over and take
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off his head. Which politically and militarily
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makes total sense. You do not let a citizen throw
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rocks at the king. But David stops him.
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David completely bypasses the secondary 'cause he ignores
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Shimae's personal hatred. He ignores the rocks and the
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dust. Instead, he looks directly at
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the primary cause. David says leave him alone and
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let him curse, for the Lord has told him to.
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The Lord has told him to. That is incredible.
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David recognizes that this humiliating, unjust assault is
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part of God's meticulous Providence.
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David argues from the greater to the lesser.
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He basically says, if my own son from my own body is seeking my
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life right now, how much more might this Benjamite be
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permitted to curse me? David submits to the trial.
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He proceeds in patient endurance while she may just keeps walking
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along the Ridge, throwing stones and kicking up dirt.
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David understands that the resolution is not found and
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executing immediate vengeance, but in submissive trust to the
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sovereign decrees of God over the hostile actions of men.
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And we need to clarify again, based on what we discussed
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earlier with the compatibilism, God did not suspend the moral
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law and command shimmy to sin. Right, God didn't force him to
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be evil. Exactly.
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God spoke in His Creator voice, providentially bringing about
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the specific circumstances wherein Shimay's own wicked,
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bitter heart would freely choose to curse David.
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Shimay was entirely responsible and guilty for his sin, yet his
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actions were governed by God's for arching decree to discipline
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David. Think about the application here
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for your own life. When conflict strikes your
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family, when a spouse betrays you or a child rebels with high
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handed defiance and starts throwing metaphorical rocks at
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you, the faithful response is not fleshly vengeance.
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It is not lashing out like a Bishop trying to cut someone's
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head off in an argument. It is hard not to though.
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It is incredibly hard, but the faithful response is bowing
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beneath the mighty hand of God, crusting his meticulous
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Providence over the hostility. It is saying God has permitted
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this rock to hit me for my sanctification.
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It requires a massive paradigm shift.
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You stop fighting the secondary 'cause as the frustrating
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spouse, the rebellious child, and you submit to the primary
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cause, knowing He is working all things for your good.
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OK, this all sounds incredibly heavy.
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If God is in complete control of hardening hearts, if he ordains
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the circumstances of our trials, and if human beings are totally
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depraved and love their sin like Eli Sons did, yeah, how does
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anyone ever change? That is the big question.
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How does a wayward child ever wake up and come home?
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If I am a parent listening to this, I need to know the
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mechanics of how this turns around.
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To understand how a heart changes, we must establish
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clearly the human autonomy offers absolutely 0 hope for a
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dead Sinner. 0. If a rebel could simply choose
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to come home on their own, utilizing some innate goodness,
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they would have done it already. The natural man is dead in
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trespasses and sins. So repentance is not a human
25:07
work. I cannot logic my child into
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repenting. I cannot threaten my spouse into
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repenting. No, it is an entirely
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supernatural reality. Let's look at the biblical text.
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In Second Timothy 2.25, Paul instructs Timothy on how to deal
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with difficult people. What does he say?
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He says to correct opponents with gentleness, adding God may
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perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the
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truth. Let's write down that word
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repentance because you know, we use it a lot in church, but I
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think we lose the weight of. It we definitely do.
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The Greek word used there is menoya.
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It is derived from meta meaning after and no way meaning to
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perceive or think. In the secular Greco Roman usage
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of the 1st century, this word often carried A shallow meaning,
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just a simple regret or a change of opinion, like changing your
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mind about what you want for dinner, right?
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But the New Testament elevates this term to describe a radical,
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divinely wrought change of mind, heart, and direction.
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And the grammar of that verse in Second Timothy is crucial to
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understanding who actually produces this change.
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The syntax is vital. Repentance metanoia is the
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direct object of the verb translated may grant.
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Oh wow. In Greek, this specific verb
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tense is essentially the mood of potential.
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It completely removes human action from the driver's seat.
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It proves that repentance is not a human work generated by the
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flesh. It is a gift.
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It is a specific divine gift granted by the Holy Spirit.
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It means God has to be the one to flip the switch in the human
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heart. If God does not flip the switch,
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the room stays dark. Always we see the terrifying
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flip side of this in Hebrews 12. The text points to Esau, who
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sold his birthright for a single meal.
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Later, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was
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rejected. The verse says he found no
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chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
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With tears. The literal translation is that
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he found no place of repentance. He had worldly sorrow.
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He was sad about the consequences, but God possesses
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the terrifying prerogative to withhold the grace of true
27:05
repentance. God knows precisely what
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circumstances, what preaching, and what internal workings of
27:12
the Spirit are necessary to break the hardest heart of any
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family member. Yes, we do.
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When He decrees to grant that repentance, it is absolute and
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effective. When he withholds it, the Sinner
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remains in their chosen rebellion.
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That is the hard truth of divine sovereignty.
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I can hear the pushback from our listeners right now.
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Someone is screaming at their phone saying if repentance is a
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total gift from God and I cannot manufacture it in my kid, should
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I just sit in an armchair, stay silent and wait for lightning to
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strike? Do I just do nothing and blame
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God if they don't repent? Absolutely not.
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That leads to the error of fatalism.
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The Reformed faith teaches that God ordains both the ends and
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the means. He ordains the salvation of His
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elect, and He ordains the specific methods by which that
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salvation is brought about. The ordinary means of grace,
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yes. Parents are explicitly commanded
28:00
to warn, to discipline, to model holiness, and to pray fervently.
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We do not abandon these duties just because God is sovereign.
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We use them precisely because we trust that God works through
28:11
them. Exactly using the application
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from our sources, we are called to pray Romans 10.1 prayers.
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Paul says My heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that
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they may be saved. We ask God to open blind eyes
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precisely because He's the only one who possesses the authority
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and the power to do so. We speak the truth, we maintain
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boundaries, and we plead with God to grant the gift of
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metanoia. We must reject the pragmatic,
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seeker sensitive church methods that attempt to heal rebellion
28:39
through entertainment or moralistic advice.
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You cannot entertain a dead soul to life.
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You really can't. We rely entirely on the Word
28:46
preached, prayer offered, and discipline administered, knowing
28:50
God operates through these ordinary means.
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So we have seen human priests fail horribly with Eli's sons.
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We have seen human kings fail disastrously with David's house.
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The Old Testament leaves us with this aching voice, a huge voice.
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We need a mediator who will never fail.
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We need a king who will never abuse his power.
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This brings our focus to the Christological fulfillment of
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these agonizing historical narratives.
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Let's return to Eli's agonizing question from earlier.
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If a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede?
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Yeah, Hashmi couldn't do it. He was the one sending.
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Phineas couldn't do it. David, despite being a king,
29:28
couldn't do it because his own hands were stained with Uriah's
29:30
blood. The Levitical system was utterly
29:33
incapable of producing lasting righteousness.
29:36
Israel desperately needed a perfect Thai priest who wouldn't
29:39
exploit the worshippers or profane the sacrifice.
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And Jesus Christ, perfectly fulfilled with those corrupt
29:44
sons, failed to do He didn't defile the temple, He cleansed
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it with a whip. He didn't steal the sacrifice
29:49
with a meat hook. He became the spotless
29:52
substitutionary lamb. Where Eli's sons were rebellious
29:55
and refused their Father's voice, Jesus was the perfectly
29:58
obedient son. In Gethsemane, facing a cup of
30:01
wrath infinitely more dreadful than temporal death, he didn't
30:05
harden himself. He sweat blood and he cried out.
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Not my will, but yours be done. The doctrine of Providence
30:12
connects directly to the crucifixion of Christ.
30:15
The hardest line we analyzed earlier was that Eli's sons
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would not listen because the Lord intended to put them to
30:21
death. The cross reveals the holiest,
30:24
most stunning form of divine Providence over human evil.
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Look at Acts 2.23. Peter is preaching at Pentecost
30:31
and he says this Jesus delivered up according to the definite
30:35
plan and foreknowledge of God. You crucified and killed by the
30:38
hands of lawless men. Lawless man acted wickedly.
30:42
Herod Pontius Pilate, the Roman soldiers who drove the nails,
30:45
the religious leaders who mocked him, they all made real,
30:48
culpable choices. They acted according to their
30:50
own depraved desires. Yet it happened according to the
30:53
definite predetermined plan of God.
30:55
God ordained the greatest evil in the history of the cosmos to
30:58
accomplish the greatest good ever realized.
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Jesus experienced the ultimate broken family.
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Think about it. During his earthly ministry, his
31:05
own physical brothers mocked him and didn't believe in him.
31:08
They thought he was out of his mind.
31:09
He was betrayed by a close friend who ate bread with him.
31:13
He was abandoned by his disciples when he needed the
31:15
most. And then on the cross, he
31:18
experienced the ultimate familial rejection.
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He was forsaken by his Heavenly Father.
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He absorbed the full, unmitigated wrath of God so that
31:28
enemies could be adopted into the household of God.
31:30
Christ bore the penalty for covenant Breakers.
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Because he secured this eternal adoption, believers can face the
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temporal fractures of their earthly families with a
31:40
completely different mindset. The earthly home is not the
31:44
final reality. Your biological family is not
31:47
your ultimate family. Which brings us to the pastoral
31:50
application. For you, the listener, how do
31:52
you suffer through a shattered home with actual hope?
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We have a lot of practical takeaways from the sources. 1st
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the sources are clear. Refuse denial.
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Do not deny the reality of sin in your home.
32:02
Families often survive by sweeping things under the rug.
32:05
Parents minimize the rebellion, they say.
32:07
Oh, it's just a phase. Or spouses conceal destructive
32:09
patterns to keep up appearances at church.
32:12
But scripture refuses denial. Love does not require blindness.
32:17
You could look at a situation and say My loved 1 is in
32:19
hardened rebellion without ceasing to love them.
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You must name the evil, but you do not have to interpret the
32:25
story as though you are God. You do not know the final
32:28
chapter. The second application deals
32:30
with our priorities. We have to maintain ordered
32:32
loves. This speaks directly to the
32:35
danger of idolizing the family. In conservative circles, we love
32:38
to talk about family values, but Eli's massive failure was that
32:42
he honored his sons above the Lord.
32:44
Covenant faithfulness requires a strict hierarchy.
32:47
God first, family second. We cannot sacrifice biblical
32:50
truth to preserve a temporary, superficial domestic peace.
32:54
If you are prioritizing family harmony over obedience to God's
32:57
Word. If you are letting a rebellious
32:59
child dictate the spiritual climate of your home just to
33:01
keep them happy, you are walking in the exact footsteps of Eli.
33:05
Now what about the listener who is feeling a terrified
33:07
conscience right now? Someone listening might be
33:09
thinking, what if God has withheld repentance from me?
33:13
What if I am the Esau in this story?
33:15
What if I have sinned away my day of grace?
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The pastoral comfort drawn from these texts is beautiful in its
33:21
simplicity. If you are grieving over your
33:24
sin, if you are experiencing A terrified conscience and a
33:28
desperate desire to repent, that very grief is undeniable
33:33
evidence that the Holy Spirit is actively at work within you.
33:36
Because dead men don't feel pain.
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Precisely. Reprobates like Hofni and
33:41
Phineas love their darkness. They do not grieve their sin
33:45
against the Lord, They revel in it.
33:47
They want more of it. If your heart is breaking over
33:50
your rebellion, it is because the Sovereign Lord is actively
33:53
healing it. The final application is to
33:55
maintain a fierce hope. If human inability is total, if
33:59
we are completely unable to save our loved ones, then it sets the
34:02
stage for God's greatest miracles.
34:04
God can break the hardest of hearts.
34:06
He can humble the proudest rebel.
34:08
You have every reason to pray with unrelenting hope, not
34:10
because you're a perfect parent or a perfect spouse, but because
34:13
God is absolutely sovereign over the human heart.
34:16
The Christian does not say my family is whole, therefore God
34:19
is faithful. That is a fragile conditional
34:22
faith, the Christian says. God is faithful, therefore I can
34:25
obey, pray, warn, forgive and hope even while my family is
34:29
broken. All the paths of the Lord are
34:32
steadfast love and faithfulness, including the paths of prodigal
34:35
children, silent dinners, and tear stained pillows.
34:38
To wrap up our deep dive today, the sorrow of a broken family is
34:42
a heavy, heavy cross. It is a unique agony that only
34:47
those who walk it truly understand.
34:49
It is, but God's absolute sovereignty over that sorrow is
34:52
your strongest anchor. The same Providence that judged
34:55
Eli's house raised up the prophet Samuel.
34:58
The same Providence that struck David's house prepared the way
35:01
for Christ the eternal King. As we conclude, I want to leave
35:04
you with a final thought in the ponder When you look at the
35:07
empty chair at your dining table, when the absence of that
35:09
wayward family member feels like a physical weight on your chest,
35:13
consider this. What is that?
35:15
What if God is using that painful absence to hollow out of
35:17
space in your own heart? What if He is making room for a
35:21
reliance on Christ that you never would have developed if
35:24
your home had remained perfectly intact?
35:26
What if the collapse of the building is what finally makes
35:29
you look to the architect? Thank you for joining us for
35:32
this deep dive on reformed thinking.
35:34
Keep your eyes fixed on the eternal family of the redeemed.