theo #2 - May-June 2021 by TheoMagazine

#2 | MAY-JUNE 2021

VOICE OF THE BRIDE What is biblical feminism?

SPACE INVADERS C. S. Lewis’ sci-ﬁ trilogy

HEAVENLY HAKA Why we should sing the Psalms

WALL-E AND THE NEW CREATION Relearning the labor of love

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THE IMPOSSIBLE BOOK Why does the Bible have to be so difficult?

VOICE OF THE BRIDE What is biblical feminism?

SPACE INVADERS C. S. Lewis’ sci-ﬁ trilogy

HEAVENLY HAKA Why we should sing the Psalms

Big ideas without the big words.

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READING THE BIBLE IN 3D Theology Accelerator

WALL-E AND THE NEW CREATION Relearning the labor of love

OMG The hidden power of Groundhog Day

WISDOM

THE IMPOSSIBLE BOOK

MICHAEL BULL

Q: Why does the Bible have to be so difficult?

of human endeavor, whether it be construction, medicine, technology, or the arts.

A: Well, why does a crossword have to be so difficult?

Those whose life’s work has given humanity the greatest benefits were not motivated merely by a problem that needed to be solved. Achieving difficult things and answering tough questions is a form of exploration. And we explore things in the hope of the joy of discovery. But where did we get that hope?

also put it there for us to explore—that gave us a solid reason to work things out.

It was the Christian worldview— based on the Bible’s teaching that a sensible God not only made a universe that makes sense, but

Likewise, when you read a mystery novel, watch a puzzling movie, or even do a cryptic crossword, you spend the time

he answer to both questions is, of course, that human beings love a challenge, and we also enjoy the satisfaction that comes from figuring something out. The same goes for every sphere

We explore things in the hope of the joy of discovery.

CONTRIBUTORS Michael Bull, Andrew Becham, David Regier, Joshua Jenkins, Brian Sauvé, Remy Wilkins EDITORS Michael Bull, Jared Leonard, Andrew Becham | DESIGN Michael Bull | ART 6-7 Ernest Normand, Esther Denouncing Haman To King Ahasuerus | 10 Lilian Broca, Queen Esther’s Banquet and 13 Queen Esther Holding Evidence of Haman’s Guilt | 14 James Lewicki, Eve of Perelandra | 18 Predella in the Cathedral of Saint Patrick, Dublin, King David

| CONTACT editorial@theo-magazine.com

All material is copyright of its respective authors and cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

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because you are confident that, as in a video game, somebody has been there before and planned it all out for your benefit. If it were easy, not only would it be no fun, and leave us without any new skills, but the lack of any actual demands would rob us of the satisfaction of achievement. In one of the earliest Christian commentaries on the Psalms, Origen (AD185–254) shared a comparison that he heard from his Hebrew teacher: The Bible is like one big house with many rooms. All the rooms are locked, and at each door there is a key. But the key at each door is not the key to that particular door. So, the Bible is difficult because it was designed to be explored and discovered. Today, we have the benefit of the work of great theologians over the centuries, but there is still much to be done. Of course, the Bible is not one big riddle. Its detractors use the dark sayings as an excuse to ignore what is as plain as day. Thus, according to Charles Spurgeon, “The worst sort of clever men are those who know better than the Bible.” But as Mark Twain (may or may not have) said, “Some people are troubled by the things in the Bible they can’t understand. The things that trouble me are the things I can understand.” Only God could write a book 4

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God’s book is both bread for children and wine for kings. that is bread for the simplest of children and wine for the wisest of kings. Yet, the question remains; why did God bury so many glorious truths in layers of enigmatic symbols and riddles? For the same reason He put gold, silver, and precious stones in the earth. The most beautiful things in the world are made even more valuable to us when their possession requires hard work. That includes finding a wife (Proverbs 18:22). Indeed, like the Bible, the book of Proverbs begins with a woman who sells herself and ends with a bejeweled woman whom no man could afford—the New Jerusalem. She had to be purchased with the blood of Christ. Even considering that deep, precious truth is too wonderful for the mind of Man. While we “moderns” have concerned ourselves with wondrous inventions, in many ways we have lost our sense of wonder in the extraordinary and impossible riddles written into the so-called “ordinary” world.

Three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a virgin. (Proverbs 30:18)

That is why C. S. Lewis wrote, “Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.” So, be encouraged. However impossible the Bible might seem, it was designed for you—for your instruction, your growth, your enjoyment, and your satisfaction. And if you know Christ, He has even sent you His Spirit to serve as your illuminating guide.

What’s inside… Discover what the Bible says about the empowerment of women, then take a rocket flyover of C. S. Lewis’ deep sci-fi trilogy. Four authors sing the praises of the Psalms (the more the merrier), the Theology Accelerator leaves the launch pad, and Edenic themes in the movie WALL-E shed light on modern life. Finally, we bring you home with some exciting news about boring things. Enjoy! n

“THE ‘CITY’ IS IN THE FEMININE GENDER IN MOST LANGUAGES. BOTH OF THE CITIES AT THE BIBLE’S END ARE FEMININE, AND BOTH ARE SYMBOLIZED BY WOMEN.” — RICHARD BLEDSOE

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SEX ROLES

VOICE OF THE BRIDE WHAT IS BIBLICAL FEMINISM?

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The continued push for equality between the sexes has been a disaster—not because equality is a bad thing, but because it is a good thing, and good things only come from God.

ike the movie Thelma and Louise, feminism has been a tragedy in three acts. Abuse of women led to recklessness, then to further abuse, and now, despite continued calls to turn around, third wave feminism, as a vehicle of liberation, has shifted gears and is driving off a cliff. But why is there a cliff at all? It is because escape is not a solution when there is nowhere to escape to. Freedom from reality is not really freedom, and a feminism that disregards God’s design for men and women is not reality. Real-life evidence comes, strangely, from the failed UK reality TV show Eden. In an experimental attempt to create a new utopia, the participants were left to fend for themselves for a

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year in remote countryside. But instead of proving that the differences between the sexes are the result of nurture, not nature, the differences quickly reasserted themselves. The men became lazy brutes, the women were treated as maids and sex objects, and the show was cancelled. While it is easy for men to demonize feminism because of what it has now become, the independence for women that it achieved means that there is no going back. However, the agenda will accelerate into oblivion unless the Church can offer a better destination. Providing that “Promised Land” is, ironically and inescapably, the job of men.

Dominion, not domination That land is not the men’s rights movement which formed to protect men from being abused by women who now have the law on their side. Instead of a light filling the earth with abundance, the “Manosphere”—like the Death Star—is a pale moon in a distant orbit with a chip on its shoulder, circling society like a pirate ship. Since the battle between the sexes is actually a troubled marriage, ongoing conflict makes everyone a loser. Men exploited women, now women exploit men. Men respond by inventing new ways

to exploit women. This is not the joint dominion promised by God, but domination, grappling for authority instead of receiving it as a natural outcome of humble obedience. Priesthood always precedes true kingdom. In agricultural terms, it is the choice between seizing land in impatience or learning to farm it until you inherit it in due course. As a response to feminism, “men’s rights” boils down to Adam snatching Eve’s half-eaten fruit. Like feminism, the men’s rights movement desires what is good but is disqualified by its method (2 Timothy 2:5). It simply entrenches the conflict and makes things worse. Intimidation is the death of intimacy. Theft is the death of grace. Men calculate and women manipulate, demanding from the other what can only be obtained as a gift. And as soon as it is seized, it becomes a worthless counterfeit. What was intended to be a spring of intoxicating joy becomes a toxic, deadly leak. To preserve what was intended to be sacrificed is to kill it. He who would save his masculinity will lose it. She who would be delivered from masculinity will be made more vulnerable to it. God made a world in which equality can never be taken but only bestowed. I know a married couple who have lost all reason.

He goes out of his way to love and spoil her, far beyond what she could ever possibly deserve, and she respects and honors him far beyond what he could ever possibly deserve. It is almost comical. Neither of them seems to realize how insane they are. The source of all inequality in the world, and its remedy, are found in the relationship between the Father and the Son by the Spirit. For Adam, Jesus, and by extension Eve and the Church, equality in any sphere is not something to be grasped but received (Philippians 2:6-8). The forbidden fruit always comes to us freely from God’s hand when we are ready to freely give.

The abolition of Adam

Feminization has brought a creeping sterility to Western culture, a barrenness that is not limited to birth rates. Gone is the support of the local community that mothers build and sustain. The workforce shrinks as the population ages. It gains the women now but loses many future generations, which neuters the economy. The world needs masculinity. Adam was designed to make both Eve and the world (the

Equality can never be taken but only bestowed.

Satan’s offer to the Woman was intended to trap the Man that they might both be cut off by God. Feminism delivered women from bad men by emancipating them from womanhood. But being free of the chains of nature makes women something unnatural, something sexless. As a result, feminism also “desexed” men. The masculization of women not only emasculates men, it also feminizes the world and alienates men from it. Increasingly, we are a society of male and female eunuchs. What we have stolen from each other has turned to ashes in our mouths.

womb and the land) fruitful. But males displaced by feminism and alienated from the world resort to the virtual masculinity of pornography and video games. The ones who stay in the real world fetishize masculinity and settle for cosplay. A beard, tattoos, smoking, masculine dress, or outdoor pursuits can be little more than a disguise. Selfconscious masculinity is little more than anti-drag. It looks into the mirror for validation instead of into the Word of God. When it

comes to the hearts of men, God judges the book and then designs the cover. Ask Adam. His use of externals—a cloak of dead leaves to hide the absence of fruit—was the sort of hypocrisy that is now described as “virtue signaling.” The outgrowth of husbandry— the fruit of a life given to being food and shelter for others as a tree of righteousness—brings forth manly attributes naturally. These masculine ideals are not merely skin-deep. That is why the words “virtue” and “virility” begin with vir, the Latin word for “man.” It is not masculinity that is toxic but the lack of virtue.

A man’s world The Spirit of God harmonizes things that were set at odds by sin (truth and love, man and woman, priesthood and kingdom), but the world fights disharmony by homogenizing things, that is, stripping everything of whatever makes it unique. The “solution” to gender inequality is thus an attempt to desex the entire culture. But men are still men, and women are still women. The gifts of God can never be revoked. The Man’s headship can be abused but never abolished, and his responsibility for the Woman can be shirked but never evaded. The only real alternative to patriarchy (“father rule”) is theo MAY-JUNE 2021

“patrianarchy,” the fatherless world of abandoned, vulnerable women and delinquent children that we have unwittingly enabled. A man does not merely have a mission, he is a mission. His life itself is a tour of duty. Born as a drawn bow, his God-given potency can bring life or death, and this energy causes tension. But since there is no safety from evil without masculine virtue, classifying it as a threat to safety is a deadly mistake.

IMAGE Lilian Broca www.lilianbroca.com Used with permission.

A man’s identity is indivisible from his purpose, which is why the pent-up, puffed up potency of men’s rights without reference to God is ultimately impotent. In contrast, a Christian man, whether single or married, is never without purpose. The single life is priestly and the married life is priest-kingly. In either case, and in any domain or pursuit, submission to heaven as a son of God brings dominion of the earth as a father to people. We are to be passive before heaven that we might be active upon the earth. We see this one-and-many in Jesus’ ministry of prayerful solitude before He preached in public. A godly man mediates between heaven and earth. His strength, like his mission, comes from above. In its attempt to deal with rogue males, however, the Church has made the same mistake as the 10

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world, confusing passivity with godliness. By divorcing Jesus’ priestly ministry from His subsequent enthronement as king, the Church has beaten men into submission in the name of “servant-leadership.” Men are subjected to women as their servants rather than serving

them as guardians. Under God and women, passive men receive conflicting orders and inevitably end up disobeying God. While the Woman’s miraculous intuition was given to complement the Man’s logic (the feminine gift is connection), the Man represents God to her.

And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you…” (Genesis 3:17)

True servant-leadership is priestkingdom. Jesus now possesses all authority because priestly humility qualified Him for kingly rule. A priestly man is not a butler but a guardian. He has the authority required in order to serve, but it is still authority. Moses, the meekest man who ever lived, was no pushover. Our rights as heirs will always entail priestly responsibilities. A fixation with rights turns everyone into an accuser and results in discord. A focus on responsibilities, however, makes us advocates and harmonizes the world as God designed.

The Bible is the problem The sexual hierarchy established in Genesis 2 was not, as some claim, a result of sin. Yet, like the firmament in Genesis 1, it is indeed a tension that aches for resolution, a temporary, dividing veil that was made to be torn. The conservatives rightly argue that the entire Bible presents male headship as the norm. The progressives rightly argue that the Bible itself demonstrates a gradual shift towards equality

between the sexes. As in a domestic dispute, both parties have legitimate grievances, and both are able to justify their positions from the Word of God. So, the Bible itself presents us with a contradiction, an unsolvable puzzle. Is there a solution that takes both male headship and female equality in its stride without violating either one? Most certainly, and it is the key to God’s purpose in history. The union of the Man and the

The Bible itself thus presents us with an unsolvable puzzle. Woman pictures the ultimate union of heaven and earth. What God made is good but He intends to make it great. He is not saving us from history but using it to prepare us for glory. Just as bearing fruit requires strong branches, so carrying the weight of kingdom calls for the development of broad shoulders (Isaiah 9:6; Hebrews 2:10). God allowed Adam and Eve to be tempted in the Garden for the same reason that Israel was tempted in the wilderness—to

prepare them to rule the Land. The call to priest-kingdom is thus a call to “grow up.” But we are not to take shortcuts as Adam did. As “trees of righteousness,” our Father matures our faith slowly, preparing us for glory by getting us out of our comfort zones. This applies especially to men, those who protect and provide. The layout of the Tabernacle, a tent of sacrifice, was not only “man-shaped” but shaped like a man on a cross. This was because a man is a house designed to be inhabited by God (John 1:14; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17). The Man was created as a human tent but the Woman was built as a human city. Adam was cut so that God could construct his bride. This was involuntary. But he was then called to “empty himself ” voluntarily as a safe space for his wife and children. If Adam was a faithful priest, his house would become a kingdom. Adam would then speak as God’s legal representative—a prophet. The roles of priest, king, and prophet also shaped the history of Israel. As a process of growth to maturity, they also explain the three waves of feminism, but, like the harlot in Revelation (firstcentury Jerusalem), this “city” is a counterfeit founded upon the lies of false prophets. The only true and lasting means of safety and freedom for women and theo MAY-JUNE 2021

children is a society of priestkingly men like Jesus instead of selfish cowards like Judas or abusive usurpers like Herod.

The throne of Eve In the Bible, there are kings and queens, and prophets and prophetesses, but there are no priestesses. This is because the empowerment of the Woman depends upon the prior faithfulness of the Man. Like the Man, the Woman was designed for glory, but she requires a godly enabler. This is biblical feminism.

Exodus 20, the Woman is treated as a chattel, but in Deuteronomy 5 she is a co-ruler of households in the “resurrected” Israel. The book of Esther tells a similar story. Like Eve, although married to the king, Queen Esther was little more than a possession until after the defeat of Haman. Likewise, Revelation begins with “Adam” (Jesus as a Tabernacle) and ends with His “Eve” (a City). Once enthroned, the ascended Christ (as the Lamb-Lion, that is, the Priest-King) sent His Spirit to gather His Bride, the Church.

Discernment requires “male” logic and “female” intuition, but in that order. Women are prone to striving for inclusion and connection at the expense of truth. Thus, if a woman takes the office of priest, she is sawing off the very branch upon which she sits in safety (Isaiah 47:7-9).

This “Woman” could not be deceived since her Adam was no longer the “Man of sin” who ruled the old Jerusalem (Matthew 24:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4). But only after the beast was defeated could the saints be enthroned with Jesus as Esther was enthroned with her king.

The Old Covenant priesthood was entirely male because the Sanctuary was not safe for the Woman. Likewise, Jesus’ twelve disciples were men, and the Last Supper was an “all male” table because the serpent had not yet been crushed by the Man. After the resurrection, the book of Acts repeatedly tells us that “both men and women” were included in this new priesthood of all believers.

So, if Adam had been faithful, both he and Eve would have been robed in righteousness as co-rulers and joint-heirs.

We see the same progression in the Ten Commandments. In 12

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Since God always works through a process of planting and harvest, sex roles, while distinct, are not static. As elements of our mission, they proceed from promise to fulfillment. God gives us a “firstfruits” taste of coming glories, a downpayment of grapes or wine or even the Spirit of God, and prepares our shoulders for the glorious weight of wise

government on His behalf. So, the difference between secular feminism and biblical feminism is that feminism steals (or manufactures) what God has in store while biblical feminism receives it in God’s time. Biblical feminism sees the Woman exalted to the status of co-ruler via the faithfulness of the exalted Man. Feminism seizes the throne, appoints selfinterested male flatterers, and alienates those men who would truly protect the people.

The voice of the bride A church governed by godly men will be filled with empowered women. Sadly, while progressives counterfeit the glorious end, conservatives are stuck at the beginning, defining the role of women in terms of what it is not. If women must be silent in the church, why are there so many vociferous women in the Bible? The answer is that this is not a question of why but of where and when. The women at the tomb were commanded to speak, but it was a testimony about the resurrection of a Man. Their domain, as a response to the Word, was outside the Sanctuary, an image of the testimony of the Bride of Christ to the nations. The light of the bridal city is the Lamb of God. Only a “lamb”— a self-sacrificial man in the

Garden—is worthy to open the scroll, as a light to all men and women. A “priestess” removes the linch-pin decreed by God for the safety of the Sanctuary.

Every God-given role requires faithful speech as representatives of Christ. Since women perceive things that men do not, godly women have plenty to say to godly men as confidantes and

Conclusion At the core of the debate over equality between the sexes is our failure to understand that the good things we desire cannot be grasped but only given to us. This is the very heart of the Bible. Jesus Himself was offered all the kingdoms of the world but would only receive them from the hand of His Father (Matthew 4:8-10). The only way to receive good

IMAGE Lilian Broca www.lilianbroca.com Used with permission.

But if there are prophetesses, why can a woman not be a priest? The answer is that all roles are prophetic. The faithful priest will speak for God. The faithful king and queen will speak for God. The faithful prophet and

righteous indignation, would have wisely advised him to crush its head. By God’s design, women are deep springs of love but also, if misled or betrayed, seething cauldrons of untold fury.

prophetess will speak for God. The Bible is filled with wise, wily women, yet not a single one of them was a priest. The “voice of the bride” in the Bible is always a response to the “male” Word, and most often it is a brutal song of vengeance and victory. Esther’s testimony led to the exposure of the “serpent” and the execution of his “seed.” If Adam had testified against the devil, it is likely that Eve, full of

advisors. But some women are also singled out by God with a gift of prophecy. The Word flows out of them as a spring of life. To be encouraged, edified, or rebuked by one of these ladies is to hear from God Himself. Yet not one of them would ever dare to darken a pulpit. The source of their glory is their submission. They are empowered because their deference to God’s way enables Him to bestow His power upon them.

things is through patient faith and obedience—not because we are earning them but because we are being prepared to bear them. This includes true and lasting equality between the sexes as co-rulers of the world under the heavenly kingship of Christ. Until the Edenic lie of freedomby-revolution is exposed in our culture, the Man and the Woman will continue to crush each other under foot. Let us pray. n theo MAY-JUNE 2021

IMAGE James Lewicki, Horizon Journal, May 1959

BOOKS

SPACE INVADERS C. S. LEWIS’ SCI-FI TRILOGY

Before he wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis authored a trilogy which suggests that exploration of other planets by sinful humans might actually do more harm than good.

ewis cleverly fuses science, classical mythology, and biblical themes in a potent mix that provides a deep reservoir of imagery from which to draw in order to serve his narrative purpose. In other words, anything can happen. The trilogy traces the story of Dr. Elwin Ransom, a university professor like Lewis himself. So as Ransom is caught up into the third heaven, we might consider the books to be our vehicle for a journey into Lewis’ own mind. In Out of the Silent Planet,

ANDREW BECHAM Ransom travels to Mars and meets alien life in the form of native peoples. They possess a deep history stretching back to antiquity, and since Ransom, like Lewis, is gifted when it comes to language, he learns how to communicate with them. The planet, which the locals call Malacandra, is threatened by two earthly professors. They intend to expand the domain of the human race beyond the bounds of Earth for the sheer purpose of survival.

The planet’s eldil (ruling angel) tells Ransom the story of earth’s fall into darkness under the influence of its “bent” eldil (Satan), resulting in its being sealed off from the rest of the heavens as the “Silent Planet.” The eldila had not heard what had happened on Earth since the Fall, except that Maleldil (God) became a man to rescue mankind from the darkness. Until the evil is completely defeated, the contamination on Earth must remain contained. Ransom and the professors are permitted to return to Earth. The professors are unrepentant, but Ransom carries with him a new perspective. Now aware of the bigger picture, he gives himself to the mission of serving Maleldil on Earth as part of the war for the cosmos. Time passes, and in Perelandra, Ransom is brought to Venus, a new and unpopulated world, Edenic and full of potential. The only person he initially meets is their mother of the living, the planet’s Eve figure. Ransom discovers that his task is to dissuade her from falling in the same way that mankind fell under the temptation of the serpent. In this case, the tempter is the Unman, who slithers onto the scene in the body of one of the professors from the first book. The Unman discovered

The Unman slithers onto the scene in the body of one of the professors. that he could attach himself to someone willingly devoted to him, and since the professor can pass through the barrier between Earth and the heavens, the Unman was able to pass through as well. He immediately begins to tempt the Eve figure to disobey God. After a number of philosophical encounters before the audience of the Queen, Ransom confronts the Unman to prevent the corruption and ensure the future life and glory of this new planet. But success can only be achieved through an act that is beyond human willpower. That Hideous Strength introduces a married couple, Mark and Jane, whose once-idyllic English university town is now a construction zone for a research facility: The National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.). Mark is enticed to leave his newly-acquired university fellowship for an undefined position within the organization. But as he climbs the social ladder

within the spheres of the N.I.C.E, he realizes that he has become trapped in the belly of a beast. At the bottom, Mark was subjected to petty manipulation, and forced to perform seemingly pointless errands. Now at the top, he is exposed to N.I.C.E.’s beating heart, a toxic cocktail of ruthless scientific progress and occultic spiritualism, with the grotesque aim of overturning all of the “old” ways of life. Since Mark now knows too much, he faces a fate worse than death if he attempts to leave. Meanwhile, Jane joins a band of rebels, a small fellowship of townsfolk and university men. Though they are externally unremarkable, their virtue and valor are rooted in the old ways, the order that is under threat. The resistance operates under the leadership of Dr. Ransom, himself under the guidance of the eldila. These dissenters are sharpened into a strategic force that tactically tracks the movements of the enemy. As innocent as doves, the rebels slowly become as wise as serpents—and ready to strike. But can the N.I.C.E. actually be defeated? And will Mark and Jane, separated by the conflict, ever be reunited? That Hideous Strength pushes to fever pitch Lewis’ premise of the need to know one’s enemy. theo MAY-JUNE 2021

Despite the universal nature of the threat, Lewis’ trilogy reminds us that science fiction doesn’t have to be bleak. Like the original Star Wars movies, he proved to the masses that stories about traveling through the heavenlies can be told as a mythic journey. When Lewis paints his picture of “space,” it is anything but empty.

successfully remind the sons of Adam of the glory of the living God. Every night declares afresh that God is glorious, that his power, wisdom, and justice are not only unparalleled and undeniable, but also inescapable. As the spiritual sons of Abraham, the “stars” that were promised to him, the stars are also a promise and an encouragement to us.

to win it. He is more than willing to lie, to cheat, to steal, to destroy —to do whatever it takes—to achieve his goal. The added value in Lewis’ trilogy is the instinctive way in which it presents us with the same progression of evil that we observe in the Bible. In Out of the Silent Planet, the devil is invisible, represented only in the deluded worldview of

IMAGE John Chillingworth, Picture Post, 1950

If sin is not stopped at the beginning, it will grow in strength.

While the stories of earth are the most glorious—where else did the Lord Jesus take on flesh and dwell?—the heavens have stories too. In Lewis’ cosmos, the planets are alive with love and warfare. The light is pure and forceful, free of the corruption in the air of our fallen world. Psalm 19 tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God. This is not a mere metaphor for their beauty. They constantly and 16

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They remind us that every struggle or crisis we encounter here below is a battleground for that matchless glory. Whenever God presents us with a bigger battle to fight as part of His great mission, it is always given with a stellar twinkle in his eye. As mentioned, Lewis’ main challenge in these books is for us to understand the need to know our enemy. Satan declared war upon God and he is in this fight

the two professors, whose desire for expansion boils down to an interplanetary version of Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest.” In Perelandra, he “takes on flesh,” having possessed one of these unscrupulous men in an attempt to curse another world by plunging it into sin and death. Finally, in That Hideous Strength, the delusion and possession become “corporate,” multiplied

in the beastly force of the N.I.C.E. as it organizes to take over the entire world. As the Bible demonstrates, if sin is not stopped at the beginning, it will grow in strength and its destructive power will escalate. This is the story in every human life, every family, every society, and every civilization. The deceptive serpent in the Garden

becomes a murderous dragon in the Land, and finally a manyheaded beast that crushes and devours all life in the World. Satan is shrewd, and Lewis shows how he targets our sensibilities. We value community, so he hides sins within a bureaucracy. We value progress, so he blinds us to the eternal. We think principles ought to be incorruptible, so he discourages us with a reminder that our best work is imperfect.

Ransom, as Lewis’ man of God, really does resist the devil so that he flees—practically, habitually, and deliberately. In Perelandra, resisting Satan involves actively hunting him down. Passivity is not an option. Ransom’s progress in sanctification is dynamic because the mission demands every part of his life. Like the Bible, literary works

such as this are intended to open our eyes, to enable us to discern what is going on in the world. For instance, the nature of the subtle conspiracy of the N.I.C.E. in That Hideous Strength has a lot in common with the current alliance between government agencies and branches of the scientific community while society suffers from various kinds of division. Lewis was wise enough to notice during his

lifetime the seeds of the harvest that we see around us today. The most important thing to remember is that we know how stories go. As a Christian, Lewis knew how the Great Story of the cosmos ends, so his dystopia is not a world without hope. He realized that although the West, in its atheism, would become more hostile to the Gospel and

all its riches, it will one day be reawakened and put to right. In the meantime, the gods of the earth want us to be fearful and desperate. But what our culture desperately needs, is a Church that fears only God, trusts His provision, and stands boldly against the lie. That’s the play we must run. And we do so knowing that the seeds of a New Heavens and Earth are being planted, right now, in all our labors. n theo MAY-JUNE 2021

The Bible’s words inform and inspire our words. The Bible’s songs inform and inspire our songs. But when our words replace God’s words, and our songs replace God’s songs, our prophecy and our praise lose their power.

WORSHIP

HEAVENLY HAKA WHY WE SHOULD SING THE PSALMS

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MICHAEL BULL DAVID REGIER JOSHUA JENKINS BRIAN SAUVÉ

In Our Mouths MICHAEL BULL

lthough God gave King David the blueprint for the Temple, he was not the man to actually build it. The reason given is that he was “a man of blood” (2 Samuel 16: 7-8; 1 Chronicles 28:3). Although he was cursed as a butcher by those who were loyal to King Saul, the only bloodguilt David actually bore was for the murder of Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba. But, in God’s mercy, even this was atoned for by the loss of David’s first son to the woman he had stolen. Although David himself was spared, he had behaved like a Pharaoh (Genesis 12:11-12), so his firstborn died. What, then, was God’s actual reason for delegating the task of construction to David’s heir? The fact that Solomon was also born to David by Bathsheba gives us a clue. Just as Seth replaced Abel (Genesis 4:25), so Solomon was a “resurrection” of the dead son. The tough love of justice gave way to God’s special love for this

Sacred songs are a response to God’s works and promises. new boy, and the Lord even gave him a nickname, “Jedidiah,” as a term of endearment. While David’s name means “beloved,” this boy’s divine nickname was “beloved of the Lord.” When David died, Solomon would be the new and greater David. So, since building a house is like the process of sacrifice, David did all the kitchen prep—the gathering and cutting up—and Solomon took all of the raw materials (including the songs of the warrior king) and presented the glorious result to God. What does all of this have to do with singing the Psalms? The answer is that the same symbolic pattern of death and resurrection is found throughout the Bible. Adam was a bloody “tabernacle” who “died” that Eve might be theo MAY-JUNE 2021

“constructed” like a holy temple or city. The nation of Israel itself “died” in captivity in Egypt and in Babylon, and in both cases a very different (and better) Israel rose from the “grave.” In Egypt, Jacob’s family became a nation. In Babylon, that nation became a spiritual nation, one freed from the spiritual bondage of idolatry, and whose entire city was now referred to as “holy.” In each case, the necessary sacrifice of blood (death) led to a sacrifice of praise (resurrection) —just as the flesh on the Bronze Altar outside the house provided access to the fragrant Incense Altar inside the house. The Psalms show us that sacred songs are a response to the works of God in the past and His promises for the future. The Church responds to Christ as a bride who responds to the selfsacrifice of her bridegroom. The mourning of the “head” who purchased our redemption becomes the joy of the “body.”

We worship a God for whom even judgment is a song. response to the Law of Moses, the result of careful meditation upon the Word. That is why music is not a prominent feature of worship until the priestly era ends and the era of kings begins. Peter Leithart writes: Priests blew silver trumpets at the tabernacle and Jericho. Otherwise they seem to be a quiet clan. Along come Israel’s kings, and suddenly there’s music everywhere. Saul knows he will become king when he meets a band of prophets singing and playing music, and he joins them. David sings and plays while he’s on the run from Saul.

For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. (Ephesians 5:23)

Everywhere, kings make and inspire music. When a king takes his throne, his people sing and play music. Kings ascend to their thrones on the praises of the people, like the Lamb whose appearance in heaven sparks thunderous song.

God speaks and man replies. You can see this “word and response” pattern in some church services. The “wisdom literature” (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon) is thus a

Music is a royal art. To sing, you must rule your body and breath. To make a musical instrument, you have to take dominion over a portion of creation and shape it into something beautiful that makes beautiful sounds.1

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David’s work as a man of blood was a necessary part of the foundation of Solomon’s “bridal” kingdom of peace. So as you read the Bible’s narratives, take note of the placement and subject matter of its songs, especially the songs of victory sung by women. This pattern is also the reason why the Church, unlike Israel, does not wrestle against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12). As another iteration of the “resurrection” of Israel (this time, as a Jew-Gentile body, like the mixed worshipers at David’s “resurrected” Tabernacle), the old Davidic Israel eventually gave way to a truly spiritual nation under the rule of Christ. Our “new Jerusalem” is not the one rebuilt by Nehemiah but the one founded in heaven (Galatians 4:25-27). Because of this, our swords are like the flaming sword of Jesus—they are in our mouths. And like the prophetic sword of Jesus, our swords have two edges—blessing and cursing. When God comes to set captives free, He always does so by judging the captors. Just as Moses and David collected plunder for the houses of God, so the new temple and city always come at the expense of the old—whether it be Egypt, Babylon, or even old “Jerusalem below.” The worship songs we write focus on blessing, but God’s songs also

include cursing. Vengeance most certainly belongs to God, but the songs He gave to us include calls for His vengeance upon tyrants who refuse to repent. The book of Revelation is a prime example. It is a worship service! We worship a God for whom even judgment is a song. (If this seems “un-Christian,” we must remind feeble saints that our battle is spiritual and thus our enemies are far more subtle, deadly, and effective than any of the flesh and blood threats faced by the ancient nation of Israel.) The words and the songs in our worship shape us for interaction with the world, so this is a facet of worship that we must not shy away from. If our worship is one-sided, so also will be our witness. John the Baptist ate locusts and honey because his tongue would bring both curses and blessings to Israel, dividing the nation in two like a sacrifice. As Paul says, our Gospel is a fragrance of life to some and the stench of death to others. The Psalms, then, were given to us as heavenly hakas, a rite of preparation for spiritual battle. The divine lyrics that encourage, comfort, inspire, and terrify are carried upon the chariots of melody—holy “ear worms” that enable the Spirit to come along side us throughout the week as we engage in holy war.

It is amazing to hear people sing truths they have never sung before. Relegating the Psalms to mere reading and “redacting” those deemed to be obsolete or bloody results in spiritual anemia. Psalm-singing puts the solution to our weakness and fear “in our mouths” (Deuteronomy 30:14). Robust singing of God’s songs rallies the saints and terrorizes the sinners. But what does this look like in practice?

The Vocabulary of Worship DAVID REGIER

s a songwriter for the church, I have always used the Psalms as source material. My heart had long ached for a

way to put the actual words in the mouths of the congregation, so around 2013 I began writing “through-composed” Psalms for our church choir—taking a full Psalm and setting it to music without any adaptation. The response from both the choir and the congregation was powerful. It takes time to learn to sing a new melody with confidence, so I had always been daunted by the task of teaching our congregation 150+ new songs in such a way that they would be able to absorb the words they were singing. In 2017 I was at a conference on congregational music listening to Ligon Duncan speak on the importance of singing the Psalms. As he was speaking, the complete thought came to me at once that I should versify the Psalms and put them to tunes that the congregation already knows. Of course, I was dimly aware that I was some 400 years late to the idea. But I realized that if the congregation knows the tune, they can sing and absorb the message of whatever words are before them. So I began that evening to put the Psalms to meter, and the church began singing them the following week. The Psalms are now part of our vocabulary of worship. It is amazing to hear people sing truths they have never sung before in church, and theo MAY-JUNE 2021

to see the light in their eyes as they begin to lay hold of those truths, straight from God’s word, in their hearts.

Songs of the Future JOSHUA JENKINS

ith its foot stomping, shouted chants, and movements that are basically stylized violence, the haka was a war dance designed to attract the friend and repel the foe. The corporate nature of Psalmsinging is also magnetic. Made in the image of God, we are made for communion. Our worship must be less like watching a performance and more like participating in a pre-match rite which not only gets the adrenaline pumping but also softens our hearts before God. Throwing ourselves into fullthroated worship that includes our bodies in corporate sitting and standing prepares us as a body—a holy army—ready to throw itself into a common mission and purpose. 22

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What we need is not just a haka. We need a heavenly haka. As powerful as a haka may be, it is only about flesh and blood, lacking the transcendence of the divine. Made in the image of God, the human soul needs more than just a common mission with others. Christian worship, as a communion of saints, unites us by the eternal Spirit with all believers of the past, present, and future. What we need is not just a haka. We need a heavenly haka. Despite their origin in a particular kingdom at a specific time, the Psalms were inspired by heaven to be a book of heavenly songs for God’s people on earth in every age. They are not tribal chants sung in the defense of a small plot of land. They are the songs of a throne that pictured Christ’s universal reign over all the earth. They are the songs that are sung when God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Haka dances are a relic of the past, but at least they served their purpose. In contrast to the gritty realism of the Psalms, most modern worship songs are

escapist in nature, presenting a heavenly ideal while they minimize the trials of earth. Being too thin to satisfy or equip the soul for life on earth, they are in fact not heavenly enough. The Psalms are songs that challenge and change us, and we do not like to be challenged or changed. The Psalms are often ignored because they are confronting, but that was the point. They were written from the gut, both in times of comfort and times of conflict. They connect to the deepest depths of human experience. Although they were written by those with access to the courts of God and kings, and sung by priests and warriors, they describe an experience of humanity that is common to all. In this way, the Psalms were made to last. Although our best efforts do hang around for quite a while, songs written by men will come and go. The future songs of the Church are the ancient songs of the Church, the songs given to us by God. If the Psalms were obsolete, Paul would not have commanded the saints to sing them. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16)

When we sing the Psalms we are not only obeying God, we are also praying to God with words given to us by the Spirit. Various Psalms call upon God to act on our behalf, to rise up and save, to judge and defeat His people’s enemies, just as He promised. If we gather to sing these sacred songs, God will respond and answer these worshiping prayers. Could it be that one of the reasons the Church in our day is surrounded by enemies, and wicked men seem to prosper, is that the Church has not used the Psalter as she once did? In a very real way, God’s purposes and Christ’s kingdom will advance as

The future songs of the Church are the ancient songs of the Church. we sing the Psalms. They not only bring true comfort to the saints but also warn the tyrants who oppose the kingdom of God. The Psalms are not just for times of trouble and conflict. They were also composed for times of rejoicing. They rightly direct our

gratitude and love toward God and provide a means of expressing our emotion in its highest form. “Is any merry? Let him sing psalms.” (James 5:13, KJV)

God has not only given us wine to gladden our hearts (Psalm 104:15), but also the songs of joy to hide in our hearts so they are ready to sing to Him when we need them. Since I have begun singing the Psalms in my home and church, whenever we celebrate a holiday, or have any occasion for feasting and joy, I want nothing more theo MAY-JUNE 2021

than the joy of singing Psalms with God’s people. It is the crown jewel of our times together.

Martin Luther referred to the Psalms as the Bible in miniature.

Having said this, the Psalms are not merely a collection of songs given to minister to fallen men and women, they were also the expression of Christ’s own heart. The Psalms were frequently on His lips, even in His greatest hour of suffering. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1)

The Psalms are the ultimate expression of Christ. They are His Words, His prayers, and His songs. The suffering and the rejoicing of all men found their perfect expression in the life of the ultimate “blessed Man” (Psalm 1).

out “Psalm 110!” That was a moment I will never forget. The Church desperately needs another reformation, and a crucial part of that will be a return to singing the Psalms.

One night as I was reading a passage from the New Testament to the family, he recognized the words and called 24

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In spite of all of this, it wasn’t until I was well into my 20s that I remember singing a Psalm in church for the first time. In fact, I was actually a pastor before I remember singing a whole Psalm from beginning to end. In retrospect, that such a thing is possible is as crazy as attending church for a few decades without hearing a quotation of Scripture from the pulpit. Yet I fear that my experience is not unique, and there are several reasons that this is a great tragedy—one that needs to be remedied as soon as possible. First, and most obvious, God commands the singing of Psalms. But once you understand what the Psalms are and what they do, the why behind the command comes into focus.

Nothing in my life has caused me to dwell more upon Christ or has stirred up my love for Him more than constantly singing Psalms in my mind throughout the day. If the Psalms affect adults in such a way, imagine the benefit for raising godly children. Our three-year-old loves to sing Psalms with us as a family. His favorite is Psalm 110, the Psalm quoted in the New Testament more often than any other.

working at the church, both as a custodian throughout the week, then as a worship leader for the regular evening service.

Songs Worth Singing BRIAN SAUVÉ

t’s hard to recall a Sunday in my entire childhood that I wasn’t in church for at least half the day. We arrived early and left late, attended mid-week functions, and rarely went more than a few days without doing something at the church. I even ended up

The Psalms put forth a grand and sweeping theology—so much so that Martin Luther famously referred to the Psalms as the Bible in miniature. In the Psalms, we learn the difference between the blessed and cursed man (Psalm 1). We discover God’s reaction to the frothing of the nations and human tyrants (Psalm 2). We learn what to do with opposition, when our foes encircle us on all sides (Psalm 3).

The Psalms point us to the Good Shepherd when we feel the looming specter of death and hear his rattling breath over our shoulder (Psalm 23). They teach us how to receive the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37), how to repent of sin (Psalm 51), how to worship with joy (Psalm 100), how to avoid being fools (Psalm 119), and much, much more. They not only point forward to the Lord in stunning clarity (Psalm 2, Psalm 110, etc.), but also show up on his very lips, even in the depths of his suffering for our sin (Psalm 22, Matthew 27:46). Further, the Psalms help us escape the narrowness of our own cultural moment, especially in how we approach the Lord in worship. For example, in an age of effeminate worship ballads— breathless with sugary trivialities and inanely predictable lyrics, the Psalms have a keen, masculine edge. And, in contrast to songs which can’t decide whether they are addressed in worship to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob or a love song for a fickle boyfriend in the sky—the Psalms often burn with godly imprecation, teaching us how to pray for true justice. “Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the

Men love to sing, provided you give them manly songs. cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.” (Psalm 3:7)

Church is unappealing to men not because men won’t sing, that’s for sure. Civilizations were built by singing men—men sailing wooden ships across vast oceans, belting out sea shanties as their boats rolled through the breakers; men singing work songs as they cleared fields, planted crops, and brought in harvests; men singing in public houses after hard days at work, pint in hand. Men love to sing, provided you give them manly songs. Men will sing the songs of warrior kings and godly sages, songs written for war and conquest, songs written in awe of the God who is Himself a warrior. Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine. And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame. (Psalm 78:65-66)

The glories of Psalm-singing are best experienced. The thing is not to talk about it, but to do it, which is what our little flock, situated at the feet of the Rocky Mountains in Mormon country, determined to do some years ago. I began working to set various Psalms in meter—a regular rhythmic pattern for singing, following a set number of syllables per line—and put them to tunes that were fitting for the Psalm but not too difficult for our congregation, especially the men. A few years in, we now sing more Psalms than anything else on a given Sunday, even working our way up to the more intricate four-part settings you’ll find in something like Cantus Christi, a great hymnal you can buy from Canon Press. But you can start, as we did, with the simplest of settings. The Lord has given us a book of songs, songs that we as a church would not trade for a thousand modern songs or even traditional hymns, no matter how good— songs worth singing. n

1 Peter Leithart, Theopolitan Liturgy (Theopolis Fundamentals)

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“I KNOW NOTHING MORE EFFECTIVE FOR QUIETING A CHRISTIAN SOUL AND GETTING CONTENTMENT THAN THIS, SETTING YOUR HEART TO WORK IN THE DUTIES OF THE IMMEDIATE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT YOU ARE NOW IN...” — JEREMIAH BURROUGHS

THEOLOGY ACCELERATOR

READING THE BIBLE IN 3D The Bible cannot be understood if it is treated as a collection of isolated facts. Like a “magic eye” puzzle, the mass of colored dots only makes sense when you take the time to look at it cross-eyed.

MICHAEL BULL

Shaping the reader

f reading the Bible is about extracting essential “moral truths” from each story and throwing away the “cultural packaging,” most of the text is rendered useless. Is it any wonder that so much teaching and preaching never manages to get even one finger on its pulse? We need to know why the text was arranged the way it was, why the author chose to include all of those “useless” details, and why he chose to use those exact references, symbols, and images.

Instead of reshaping the Bible, we must allow it to reshape us. These unexplained “relics” are the reason we get the feeling that we are not really “on the same page” as the author. We are imposing our own agenda upon the text, squishing it into theo MAY-JUNE 2021

our own mold, which is why it feels like it is resisting us with all its might! Instead of really listening to the text, we are dismembering it and picking out the bits that prove what we already think we know. So, we haven’t learned anything new, and all we are left with is the same list of abstract facts with which we began. People who interpret the Bible in this way are not really interpreting it at all. Instead of letting the Bible have an impact on them, which is the purpose of all good literature, they are making the Bible conform to what they want to say. Instead of reshaping the Bible, we must allow it to reshape us. Poetry, symbolism, and repetition are potent weapons in the hand of a good writer or director, and the Bible uses them as an important channel of communication. Unfortunately, the well-meaning modern Bible teachers who revel in abstract facts have taught us to ignore these features of the text, or treat them as merely ornamental. As every good writer or director knows, these literary tools are the very things that affect and change us in deeper ways than mere statements of fact ever could. This means that the remedy for our problem is already built into modern 28

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If we pay attention, the Bible teaches us how to read it. culture. We just need to make use of it. Technology has shifted communication from mere printed words (perhaps with a few illustrations) to words-andimages—especially moving images—along with a greater use of “story.” Just ask any advertising agency. People love novels and movies and music, and the Bible communicates in the same “multichannel” way. The Bible speaks in a “visual” and living way, one that requires us to listen to it as we would listen to any good story, or any good music. And, like all worthy works of art, its true depths are not obvious at first. They only become apparent as the contours of the text itself shape the reader. In other words, if we are paying attention, the Bible itself teaches us how to read it.

Making connections One of the ways this is achieved is through the use of “narrative comparison.” That is, if the story

you are reading has the same shape as an earlier one, you are expected to notice this and compare the stories to each other, noting their similarities and their differences. Years ago, a friend noticed that “about three thousand” Israelites disobeyed and were executed at the first Pentecost (Exodus 32:28), and “about three thousand” believed and were saved at the last Pentecost (Acts 2:41). He questioned whether such an observation was valid, yet this is precisely the sort of connection that the Bible’s writers expect us to make. If we keep one eye on Exodus 32 and the other on Acts 2, we start to get the full picture. This is “cross-eyed” reading, or “reading the Bible in 3D.” These are the sorts of “unseen” or “unspoken” connections that a child might make when hearing a bedtime story, so why do we frown upon the practice? Modern science asserts that the world is simply an arrangement of physical material, with no “unseen” component. This has led to the belief that the true essence of something can be discovered by cutting it into pieces as small as possible. But the end result is a knowledge of what things are made of, not an understanding of what they mean. Modern theologians have applied a similar “scientific” approach to

the Bible. If a connection could be made between two things but is not explicitly written into the text, it cannot be analyzed. If it cannot be analyzed, then any deduction is not scientific. Like God Himself, it is “unseen” and therefore rejected as a possibility. But the Bible is not a university essay. It is a literary epic. Like a good novel or an intriguing movie, the Bible does not spoonfeed us. Like all the best books, it presents us with information and expects us to make most of the connections ourselves. Every good writer knows that “Show, don’t tell” is the best strategy. Telling summarizes but showing dramatizes. Instead of spelling everything out for us as a lecture, the Bible deliberately withholds and hides information. We ourselves are forced to make the connections, and to do this we must enter the writer’s mind. As we enter his mind, we ourselves become part of the story. In this way, an author not only engages but also transforms the mind of the reader. As we read the Bible, we are constantly being shown things that deliberately enchant, challenge, and puzzle us. Instead of discarding the bits that don’t make sense, we take note of them in the confidence that the Author is planting things for a payoff later in the story. Jesus Himself

Every good writer knows that “Show, don’t tell” is the best strategy. did many things that would not make sense until later on. Indeed, the entire Bible is structured around “seedtime and harvest” patterns—and that includes Jesus’ death and resurrection. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)

The first and last Pentecosts served as “bookends” of Moses, “the beginning and the end” of the Law. The first was about death and the last was about life. Another example of bookends is the beginning and end of the primeval world. Just as the dry land rose out of the water during the Creation Week, so it rose again at the end of the Great Flood (another “resurrection” image). So, the question we are expected to ask in each case is: “What is the same, and what is different—and why?” In this case, one similarity is God bringing the animals to Noah as

He did to Adam. One difference is that there are four human pairs on the ark instead of just one. A more cryptic example of such comparison is the meaning of the offering described in Leviticus 1, and that brings us to the next level of “reading in 3D”—the comparison of sequences. Although the instructions are very specific, we are not told why the sacrifice had to be made in this way. We are expected to figure it out. If we are sensitive to image and rhythm, we might realize that the offering works through the pattern of Genesis 1. The conclusion is that, in this rite, the entire world was being “recreated” in miniature by being symbolically “destroyed.” As representatives of all humanity, the priests were “making all things new.” With that in mind, this strange text comes to life, and every sentence is suddenly bursting with meaning.

The Song of God But how could anybody make this connection? If we analyze the text, there is not a single clue! The answer is that God is not telling. He is showing. The hearer who could recite Genesis 1 from memory would recognize the shape of the sequence in the way that we recognize a tune. They would perceive that the actions of the priests were stylized theo MAY-JUNE 2021

versions of the actions of God— step by step, day-by-day—as He formed and filled the world. Any scriptwriter for film or TV knows that it is not only the soundtrack that is musical. All dialogue, events, and even the editing, are governed by dramatic “beats,” that is, a sense of rhythm in what is heard and what is seen. Just as a tune is the “railway track” that carries the “train” of song lyrics, so also a story must have a dramatic sensibility that makes it effective and memorable. This is precisely why all Bible texts have a poetic intensity that etches itself onto our hearts and lights up our imaginations. And they key to all of this is the fact that its first chapters not only lay down the rhythm tracks but also introduce the basic “song” of the entire Book. All societies have historically had work songs, and the first chapter of the Bible is a work song. Why do I say this? God could have made the universe in an instant, but instead He established a pattern for Man to follow. The process of “forming” (Days 1 to 3) and “filling” (Days 4 to 6), for the purpose of a “future” (beginning on Day 7) is the pattern of constructing and furnishing a house. Nobody moves their furniture in before they build the house! What is interesting is that the 30

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Once you know the Song of God you can sing along as you read. instructions for the Tabernacle, the first “house of God,” in the book of Exodus echo the pattern in Genesis 1. It is not exactly the same (so we must ask why) but it is as recognizable as any “cover version” of a well-known song. If we have been listening carefully, we will perceive that this strange, portable structure in the desert was a miniature of the whole world, a “micro-cosmos.” Likewise, the chapters that describe it are again carefully constructed like the stanzas of a poem or the verses of a song. The author intends us to remember the tune we heard in Genesis and make some conclusions about what is going on. Again, God is not telling. He is showing. The shape or “tune” of the text helps to communicate the meaning. Sadly, most modern readers are not trained to read texts in this way, and so we are deaf and blind to the amazing “bandwidth” of what we read. Now, here is where it gets really interesting. Much later, in the

early chapters of Ezekiel, we hear God singing the same tune once again, although this time it is not a happy song. It is in a minor key because the Lord is angry. He is going to tear down His house because it has become polluted. The visions given to the prophet concerning the destruction of Solomon’s Temple follow the familiar construction pattern, but each “note” in the tune is the opposite of what we should expect. This is an ironic inversion of the pattern, a deconstruction, a “de-Creation” that shows how this miniature “world” would soon be as though it had never existed. What was formed and filled would become “formless and empty” (Genesis 1:2). So, once you become familiar with how this all works, you can detect the intention of the Author through what he is showing you even though he hasn’t actually told you. As hard as this might be to believe, in a variety of wonderful ways, all the texts of the Bible are “riffs” on that first “forming and filling” track laid down in Genesis 1. It is a book of songs of transformation. And once you know the Song of God well enough, you’ll find yourself singing along as you read—even with passages that once seemed obscure or impenetrable. n

FILM

WALL-E AND THE NEW CREATION RELEARNING THE LABOR OF LOVE

The Pixar movie WALL-E draws upon many biblical themes to tell the story of a lonely robot who fulﬁlls the greatest commandment… the call to love one another.

REMY WILKINS

n an inverted Eden, a land

The humans were driven from

laid waste instead of a

the earth by a global catastrophe

fertile garden, a solitary

of their own making—a “flood”

being tends the trash.

of garbage. They departed in arks

There is none like him in all the

designed to keep them alive, but

world—inquisitive, playful, and

they left true life behind.

fascinated with the mysterious

Only WALL-E remains, the last

two-legged dancing creatures

WASTE ALLOCATION LOAD LIFTER

who once inhabited the planet.

– EARTH CLASS. theo MAY-JUNE 2021

As WALL-E navigates past robots that are now derelict, we realize that what set him apart from them was not only his ingenuity but also his love of the earth. Adopting the practices of humans, he has made a home for himself. He takes off his shoes, collects parts so that he can maintain himself and, most importantly, he rests. His rests are not the pragmatic powering-down kind, though he does that as well. His rest is in play. He collects doodads and thingamabobs and practices his dance moves, but he also takes time to study the numinous. What is the numinous? The word was a favorite of that intellectual spendthrift, C. S. Lewis, but it was made popular by the German theologian Rudolf Otto. He defined it as something beyond the merely awe-inspiring. In addition to invoking fear and trembling, the numinous also fascinates and compels. It is not impersonal—despite the awe there is a sense of communion with something wholly “other.” WALL-E yearns for the numinous in his nightly examination of Hello, Dolly. In its depiction of love, he sees hand-holding and fiddles with his own clunky hands. He records Cornelius and Mrs. Molloy singing: It only takes a moment To be loved a whole life long… 32

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Later he plays a snippet of the song as he stares into the night sky. Clearly he is looking for someone. He has Hal the roach for a friend but he has yet to feel the divine spark of love. WALL-E is dirty, dozer-ish, like Adam, whose name means earth. And as Adam named the beasts, he names the objects he finds: spoon or fork, sometimes spork. Then WALL-E finds something new and strange, a green plant, which at the end of the film

Wall-E has yet to experience the divine spark of love. becomes a tree of life. He places it in a boot, which refers to Man, for although WALL-E can dance, robots do not have legs or feet. It makes sense that he combines the two, the tree and the man. Suddenly, heaven touches earth and his world is set aflame. A ship has arrived, but it is not a ship for Man. He buries himself among the brimstones as his Eve emerges. She is a glorified being, white as a dove and shaped like an egg, presenting us with images of recreation and fertility.

She too is searching. She scans the wasted earth for life, but WALL-E has hidden it in a boot. Her coming terrifies WALL-E, but he is irreversibly struck when she sets aside her mechanical task and spins into the air, free as a bird and full of joy. It only takes a moment, the lovers of Hello, Dolly sang, and WALL-E, true to his solitary study of love, falls for her fast. He woos her, carefully, for her right hand is powerful, but her left hand, if he could just hold it… He shows her the treasure in his home, under the glow of Christmas lights. She shows equal interest and an even a greater ability to penetrate the mysteries. She ignites the lighter, she solves the Rubik’s Cube, but adventure begins only when WALL-E shows her his greatest treasure. EVE (an EXTRATERRESTRIAL VEGETATION EVALUATOR) embraces the plant and becomes its protector. She holds it safely inside her, in utero. Although there are not yet any serpents, if the Garden is to be reborn it will require both of them working together. This seedling was kept in a man’s boot. Boots are for taking dominion of the earth, and that task includes crushing the heads of serpents. Now that EVE has found life, her ship is triggered to return her to

the humans. WALL-E chases after his newfound love and is caught up in the air with her. They arrive at one of the arks—the Axiom— the word for a principle that is accepted as true without proof. Since robots do all the work for them, the humans have become lazy, fat, and gullible. WALL-E, as an agent of sacrificial love, transforms everyone he meets. First there is M-O (a MICROBE-OBLITERATOR) whom WALL-E toys with until he breaks free from his robotic lack of love. Then he brings together two of the humans, Mary and John, and their eyes are “opened” to the world around them. WALL-E and EVE eventually meet the ship’s captain, and WALL-E arouses the captain’s curiosity too. He begins to rediscover man’s role in the world, and learns about the forgotten art of labor. They also meet the spidery Auto (which means “self ”), a scheming, rebellious servant who has taken control of the ship. Auto steals the plant because a renewal of life on earth would threaten his control of the humans. WALL-E and EVE are imprisoned, and their mission becomes the saving of this “tree of life” from being jettisoned into space. Still enslaved to her directive, EVE is beginning to break free. To restrict her freedom, she is labeled as defective. Her heart is

made subservient to her robotic brain. WALL-E senses something is wrong and comes to her rescue. With the song Put On Your Sunday Clothes blaring, WALL-E frees himself from prison, along with EVE and the other misfits. Since the plant is, after all, EVE’s offspring, borne of her womb, WALL-E becomes EVE’s enabler in the founding of a new creation. He retrieves the plant and they are united in an electric kiss, the divine spark of love.

The use of light realizes the message of seeing the world as a gift. John and Mary, newly aware, find each other and are themselves reunited in this new spirit. EVE delivers the plant to the captain. He confronts Auto, and they fight over the plant. The humans become fearful of the “rogue” robots, but WALL-E continues to fight on their behalf. He is not only injured but also chooses to lay down his life for the people. Although EVE repairs him, he has become a mindless automaton. His personhood is

only restored when his relationship with EVE is renewed and her love is declared in the act of holding hands. WALL-E is remarkable not only for its memorable story but also for its clever use of technology to tell that story. It was one of the first animated films to reproduce the effects upon light caused by cameras and human eyes. Shots of the sun wash out the lens, the camera flares, zooms and racks focus, drawing our eye to the foreground or the background. Whereas earth is warm, rich and hazy, the scenes on the ship are flattened and alien. Rendered in sharp, clinical light, its visual sterility highlights the artificial life of the humans on Axiom. In this way, the film’s use of light cleverly, and beautifully, realizes its message: the art of learning to see the world as a glorious gift. WALL-E not only draws on many biblical motifs in order to tell the story of this lonely robot who teaches the world to love, it also reminds us that in God’s plan, every crisis for the believer is a door to a new beginning. No longer slaves to pleasure, the humans regain their role as chief caretakers. They labor alongside the misfit robots who are no longer slaves to their work. They partake with the humans in the wild joy and productive rest of a fruitful life filled with love. n theo MAY-JUNE 2021

DOMINION

THE HIDDEN POWER OF GROUNDHOG DAY Jesus’ strategy for changing the world is not revolution but transformation, that is, dominion by stealth.

theo MAY-JUNE 2021

his world and everything in it is designed to grow to maturity slowly. That is the way things are, so the modern compulsion to make everything “special” and

“entertaining” consistently falls flat. Since, like Adam, we want glory and we want it now, Satan offers shortcuts to the kingdom. But they are always a deception, counterfeits of the real thing, and they never last.

Children despise chores because they are no fun. But even the laziest child, when grown, faces the reality that those humiliating tasks with which humanity has been burdened are inescapable. No matter how many personal assistants he has, I suspect that even the world’s richest man brushes his own teeth. The events in Eden—where the man created to be the ruler of the world was assessed by his response to the call to be God’s gardener—show us that true power is only found in humility. As Winston Churchill has told us, responsibility is the price of greatness. Just as politics generally attracts exactly the wrong sort of people—“public servants” who behave like kings and queens—so also a church that attracts people with gimmicks will be not a congregation but a crowd. And it is bound to reach the bottom of its bag of tricks eventually. This method of ministry caters to the expectations of those who grew up in youth ministries that continually attempt to outdo the excitement of the last event with something even more exhilarating or outrageous. But things seem to be changing. Some youth ministries that are paring things back to basics and

MICHAEL BULL

studying the Bible have tripled their attendance. This is because they are working with the grain of the created order instead of against it. This is the path to true greatness, and it is also the means of raising children to deal with the world as it really is. In Genesis 1, God works. In Genesis 2, God calls Man to work. Man is not God’s slave, since God has already shown us in the creation of Man that He is “willing to get His hands dirty.”

The most mundane chore is the history of the world hidden in a riddle. Indeed, the verse that describes the creation of Man (Genesis 2:7) has seven parts that replay the “tune” of the Creation in Genesis 1. Adam is made of world stuff, so he, too, was “formed and filled,” just like the cosmos. Everything that Adam does in his work is also an act of “forming and filling.” Perhaps the most obvious example is the process of building a house. But even the most mundane chore is the history of the world hidden in a riddle. Our stewardship of every

OMG REDEEMING THE CULTURE

domain, no matter how insignificant, is an act of “keeping house” for God. There is dignity in all work because every task is not only an image of God’s attitude, but also an actual part of His actual project. When we feel impatient, we must remember that God always plays the long game. Every day might feel the same, but even in the movie Groundhog Day, where every day was the same day, there was a gradual process of change. True growth takes time. Progress is slow, but the “yeast” of kingdom is making things rise. God is a patient baker. We expect the kingdom of God to come as an “invasion” from heaven, but instead it comes as a harvest. And God is also a patient farmer. The repetitive grind of seconds, minutes, hours, and days, is a discipline that prepares us for eternity. That is why, as beings made of a world bound by evening and morning, even our sleeping and waking is a symbol of death and resurrection. Every day, as part of humanity’s incremental preparation for glory, is a new opportunity for dominion. This is why Israel’s possession of the Promised Land, as a pattern of creation, labor, theo MAY-JUNE 2021

maturity, and glorification, is not only another replay of Genesis 1, but also the basic pattern of a human work day. Genesis: You wake from sleep. Exodus: You go to work. Leviticus: You are instructed, Numbers: tested, Deuteronomy: and rewarded. Joshua: You return home. Judges: You eat and rest. Every day is a “new creation” because God has made us His world builders. We can be content with today because every day reminds us of the finished product—the ultimate goal of rest and rule with God. All this makes greater sense of some of Solomon’s statements in Ecclesiastes. He had experienced all that Israel’s best youth pastors could thrill him with, but he finally discovered the hidden, simple power in Groundhog Day. Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works. Let your garments always be white, and let your head lack no oil. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun. (Ecclesiastes. 9:7-9 NKJV)

Jesus is conquering the world not through political rallies, or even gospel ones; not through any dramatic action or newsworthy miracle. Without a word, He transformed Jacob’s 70 into a nation over a quiet 400 years. He brought the Gentile empires to harvest time over another quiet 400 years, between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New. Although there is no new Scripture, Jesus is likewise conquering the kingdoms of this world, and will continue to do so until all His enemies are under His feet. It doesn’t make the headlines, but every day, in every way, His kingdom is undermining, cracking, destroying, and replacing this world like tree roots under a derelict building. Even better, this tree of life is consuming the dead cultures of Man and redeeming them for God. Every day is an opportunity to measure out the heavenly blueprint upon the earth. This is what “Thy kingdom come” actually means. Christian maturity is never bored, never panicked. It is understanding that every small decision

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echoes in eternity. Even those godly conversations around the dinner table with your kids end up toppling godless empires. Jesus knows the hidden power of Groundhog Day. It is humble, faithful perseverance in the small things, beginning with the Word, prayer, and God’s table.

contributors this issue Michael Bull is a graphic designer and author who lives in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, Australia. His passion is understanding and teaching the Bible. Andrew Becham is an MDiv student at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He married his high school crush, works in home renovation, is a lifelong camper, and plays guitar. David Regier is a musician, wordsmith, and curmudgeon living with his wife and kids in California. He is a member of a very patient, loving, and kind Baptist church. Joshua Jenkins lives in Southwest Missouri with his wife Brittanie and two boys where he is a pastor at Hope Baptist Church. He enjoys singing Psalms with his church family and playing baseball with his boys. Brian Sauvé is a writer, musician, and pastor of preaching and liturgy at Refuge Church in Ogden, Utah. To date, he and his wife Lexy have ﬁve delightful children. Remy Wilkins teaches at Geneva Academy in Monroe, Louisiana, USA and he writes at home where his wife paints and his ﬁve boys raise a ruckus.

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