Abominations: Light & Darkness

"An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but the one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked" (Proverbs 29:27).

In the movie Braveheart, the English king, Edward I, offers William Wallace a bribe of land, title, and gold to stop his crusade against England's oppression of Scotland.  When the princess, who was speaking for the king, offered him the bribe, Wallace responds, "A lordship and titles. Gold. That I should become Judas?"  She continues, "Peace is made in such ways."  Wallace, who is now visibly angered, shouts, "Slaves are made in such ways!  The last time Longshanks spoke of peace I was a boy.  And many Scottish nobles, who would not be slaves, were lured by him under a flag of truce to a barn, where he had them hanged.  I was very young, but I remember Longshanks' notion of peace!"  The princess takes Wallace's response back to Edward I who is baffled by what he hears.  He assumed that his bribe would be accepted.  He trusted in the greed of men.  He trusted in his deception, and the fact that his bribe was turned away confused him.  Even more telling of Edward's character is revealed in his response when he learns that his royal emissary gave the gold away to help those suffering as a result of the war.  His son, Edward II, asks Isabella, "You brought back the money, of course."

Isabella:  No, I gave it to ease the suffering of the children of this war.
Edward I:  Ha!  That's what happens when you send a woman.
Isabella:  Forgive me, sire.  I thought that generosity might demonstrate your greatness to those you mean to rule.
Edward I:  My greatness will be better demonstrated when Wallace returns to Scotland and finds his country in ashes.

The wicked are confused, confounded, and offended by what is good.  They expect everyone else to be as greedy, treacherous, and wicked as they are, and they do not understand it or expect it when a person acts righteously.  You might even be able to remember a time when you stood for Jesus and there were people who reacted in a way similar to Edward I.  They might have been confused by it.  They might have even been angry about it.

I was informed recently about something like this that included me.  I was in a group, and I mentioned something about homosexuality being wrong.  Now, I do not dislike people that practice homosexuality.  God loves all people.  He commands us to love all people, too.  However, homosexuality is not a people.  Homosexuality is a practice, and it is a practice that Scripture says wrong, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived:  neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).  What is also clear is that it is not the only thing that is considered unrighteous.  Homosexual sin is put on the same level as a number of other sins.  It is also clear that people can come out of such practice just as they can stop being drunkards and thieves.  Paul said so, "And such were some of you" (1 Corinthians 6:11).  It is not easy.  Just ask an alcoholic, but it is possible.  The point is that I mentioned that homosexuality is wrong, but I did not say they were ugly, rancid, disgusting excuses for people.  In fact, I believe just they are just like the rest of us, searching for good and missing it.  However, to that person, it sounded like I was a hateful and horrible person merely by saying what Scripture already says.  She did not understand it, and it was very offensive to her  Therefore, I was offensive to her, and she got angry at me.  Righteousness offended.

What is important to understand is that even those of us who are saved by the blood of Jesus are unrighteous people becoming more and more righteous.  The process of sanctification is still at work in us.  We come to Christ with many questions, and nobody understands everything from the beginning.  The important thing is to submit ourselves and our thoughts to the Word of God.  If we do this, we will be on the right course, but we will also offend.  Even the thought of submitting to the Word of God is offensive to many ears, but Jesus did not come to have everyone get along, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.  And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.  Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:34-39).  He came to reveal righteousness, and righteousness offends the unrighteous.  In many cultures today, when one member of the family becomes a Christian, their whole family will turn against them.  They will abuse them, disown them, or even kill them.  Many have to keep their faith a secret from their own families in order to survive.  Righteousness offends.

Righteousness is an abomination to the wicked because it casts light on the evil that they commit or give approval to.  Jesus brought the light to the world, "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life'" (John 8:12).  It was because He illuminated the darkness that those who loved the darkness hated Him.  The same will be true of us, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you:  'A servant is not greater than his master.'  If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.  If they kept my word, they will also keep yours" (John 15:18-20).

 Edward I never got passed his confusion at the way Wallace acted.  Lies and deceit were his strategy throughout the entire movie.  He bribed Wallace's allies even as he sent assassins to kill him.  At the end of Braveheart, Edward I has Wallace tortured.  He attempts to use pain in order to get Wallace to submit to England, thereby admitting that he was wrong in fighting for freedom.  I will always remember how the magistrate extended the English royal seal to the prostrate Wallace telling him to kiss it as a sign of submission to the crown.  Wallace, in visible pain, coughing and heaving as a result of the torture, got to his feet and stood defiant in the face of pain and death for the what was right.  In the same way, Christians must stand upon the Rock that is Jesus Christ in the fact of all opposition.  We will offend.  We will be hated, but we must never relent.

The Shield

We are centuries removed from the kind of combat that involves a shield, so the intricacies of such combat can be lost on us.  A wide variety of shields have been used on the battlefield from the large, rectangular Roman scutum to the buckler, which was sometimes not more than six inches in diameter.  The defensive capabilities of the shield are easily observable.  When your opponent swings a sword or a club at your head, putting a large piece of wood or steel between your skull and that strike is obviously beneficial to your survival.  Very rarely, though, do we understand the offensive capabilities of this marvelously simple tool.

The culture of ancient Israel and the Greek, Roman, and Near East cultures Paul spoke and wrote to would be well aware that the shield was not just a defensive weapon.  It was also used to pummel and batter your opponent.  A shield is a bludgeon, and it can kill as effectively as a mace.  Roman soldiers used their huge scutums to push and bully their opponents, and they often brought the edge of their scutum down on the heads of grounded enemies to finish them rather than using their gladius.  Spartan soldiers used their bronze shields to knock their enemies to the ground and the sharp edge to slash, wound, and kill.  The buckler was used as a steel fist, the bosses of many types of shields were used similarly, and the Scots even attached a steel spike to the boss of their targe.

The common knowledge in those times of the shield's offensive use in combat should help refine our view of the shield used in Scripture.  Paul tells us to, "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one" (Ephesians 6:16).  The shield of faith is used to push forward and engage the enemy, to stand and fight against the darkness.

We have been shown the glory of God as He has spoken to us through His Son in these last days.  Our response to such love and grace is faith and trust in who Jesus is.  James reveals that the natural outworking of faith is works, "I will show you my faith by my works" (James 2:18b).  For more on this, see Faith That Works.  Faith is not passive.  Faith does not simply sit still and defend what we know is true.  It is active.  The world tells us believing in more than the visible is foolishness, and the shield of faith slams itself against such ideas.  Strong faith refuses to relent.  It refuses to give in.  It presses forward despite resistance.  It extinguishes flaming arrows.  It turns blades.  It pushes through obstacles.  It slashes, smashes, and crushes the evil that stands before it just like a strong shield.

God has given you a powerful weapon in faith.  Use it.  Push forward.  Be relentless as you seek righteousness.  When Satan tries to throw doubt and fear at you, let it bounce off your faith, but do not stop there.  Let your faith in the Bright Morning Star crush it to the ground and deal the death blow.  Fight the good fight.  Stay the course.  Keep the faith.

Round Shield with Boss

Scottish Targe

Roman Scutum

Spartan Shield

The Perfect Sword

The perfect sword is an absolute work of art.  It needs a high degree of tensile strength in order to take a sharp edge and make an effective strike, but it also needs the flexibility to to hold up in battle and return to form after each blow sustained.  There is no one metal that has all of these properties, so the best blades are composites made of steels.  The samurai's sword is a good example of how these different characteristics can be molded into one blade.  The steel is folded, peened, and tempered to get a very hard blade, but the backside of the sword is kept softer to give the blade its flexibility.  They accomplished this by covering the back of the sword with clay when they doused it in water during the tempering process.  This caused the edge to cool rapidly for hardness while the back cooled slowly and retained flexibility.

This world is a battleground (see Battlefields).  Two sides wage war against each other for the souls of men, and neither God nor the Enemy is willing to give in.  It is important for each believer to know what they are, precious to God but also a weapon to be used in this war, "Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness" (Romans 6:13), and, "Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle" (Psalm 144:1).  "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the tearing down of strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:4).

The hard edge of the sword is wisdom.  The wise know when and how to act.  They know when to speak and what to say.  They know when to hold their tongue.  The right words in the right situation can bring light and clarity, peace and harmony, "The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death" (Proverbs 13:14).  If we are to be light to this world, we must speak with wisdom, and it is not the wisdom of this world we should give, "But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.  This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace" (James 3:14-18).  If you desire to have a sharp edge, "The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor" (Proverbs 15:33).  Do not think of yourself more highly than you should.  Listen and learn from those who have walked before you in the faith because, "The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise" (Proverbs 15:31).  Seek out those who are strong in the Lord and spend time with them, absorbing all you can.  Read and meditate on the Scripture, "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple" (Psalm 19:7).  Proverbs has a lot to say about the attributes of the wise, and you can find wisdom in every chapter, whether the actual word is there or not.  Go sharpen your blade.

The flexible and durable backbone of the blade is faith.  If it is healthy and strong, it will take unbelievable damage and return to true form as if nothing touched it.  It will not shatter when the issues and problems of life try to smash it.  A catastrophe may bend it, but it will never stay bent, "For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith" (Romans 4:13).  Abraham was able to believe the promise of God by faith.  He knew who God is and that God is faithful to keep His promises.  This faith was accredited to Abraham as righteousness.  The same is true for us.  Abraham looked back on how God had worked leading him out of Ur and into a new land.  He looked forward to what God was going to do as the Messiah.  We look back on when God bough us with His blood.  We look back on how He has already worked in our lives to bring us out of sins and addictions, saving us from danger, and giving us purpose in this life.  Knowing His faithfulness gives us the ability to look to the future and trust Him when He says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11).  When the world tries to break us, we can hold onto this promise.  We may flex, but we will not break.

To be the perfect sword in the service of God, the believer must be wise and strong in faith.  Every one of us knows we are not perfect, and if we are honest with ourselves, we know that we can always be better than we are no matter how far we advance in this life.  So, increase in wisdom and faith by drawing closer to Jesus.  He is the source of both.  Paul said, when talking about striving to attain Jesus above everything else and considering all else garbage in light of Christ, "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.  But one thing I do:  forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.  Only let us hold true to what we have attained" (Philippians 3:12-16).  Follow Paul's example.  Wisdom and faith flow from Christ.  He is the master of the forge upon which you will be crafted into the perfect sword.