On this day... George Scott Railton

On 10th March 1880, George Scott Railton arrived in the USA, "invading" New York in a work that launched the Salvation Army in North America.

Most of his quotes are too long to fit on a portrait, though I do like the one shown. However, my favourite is...
 

I intend carefully to instruct my children that if at any time they see The Salvation Army a wealthy, respectable concern, the majority of whose “soldiers” simply go where they please to attend its’ “ministrations,” leaving the godless undisturbed to perish; and if they see another set of people, however they may be clothed or despised, who really give up all to go and save the lost, then they must not for a moment hesitate to leave the concern their poor old dad helped to make, and go out amongst those who most faithfully carry out what the founder of the Army laid down in his writings and acts, may God preserve them from such a day by keeping the Army free from the love of money and ease.

George Scott Railton, An Autobiography, Full Salvation, Jan. 1, 1894.

 

 

Three stories... One story

Yesterday at Nunhead Salvation Army Corps, we looked at Mark 15:33-39. This is the passage which deals most closely with the actual death of Jesus. At the start of it, he is already on the cross; by the end, he is dead. 

³³ At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ³⁴ And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

³⁵ When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.” ³⁶ Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.

³⁷ With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

³⁸ The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹ And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” 

I have often been struck by the fact that the passage records three things which to most people in Jerusalem at the time would have appeared to be unrelated. The darkness. The

death of Jesus. The tearing of the temple curtain. If there had been a newspaper available the next day, I have no doubt that the three stories would each have had a separate headline.

But for Mark, they belong together. They are one story. He doesn't explain how or why they fit together, but by placing them together in one narrative, he allows them to speak to and interpret one another. In fact, that is his theological method: he doesn't usually explain or expound - he places narratives together, connecting them so that the reader can think and see the Truth in the story for themselves.

In this case, it seems to me that the only words we hear from the cross, in Mark, explain the darkness, and the darkness gives depth to the words. Or the darkness is the demonstration of the truth in the words. 
 

In the Old Testament, God's presence and blessing were often associated with light, while darkness is associated with chaos, sin and judgement. For an excellent brief treatment of this Biblical Theological theme, see here. The Aaronic blessing in Numbers 6 makes this connection, and was familiar to every member of God's community:

²⁴ The Lord bless you
    and keep you;
²⁵ the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you;
²⁶ the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace.

 As the darkness falls and we hear the appalling words from Psalm 22, Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?, what we are witnessing is the inversion of that blessing.

The Lord is not blessing him
and is not keeping him;
the Lord is turning the light of his face away from him
and is cursing him;
the Lord is turning his face away from him
and taking every last drop of peace away.
 

We are seeing the Man on the cross being abandoned by God. Every last blessing that was bestowed through the covenant, every last encouragement that came through the priests - all, all is now withdrawn. And beyond that, the eternal fellowship of Trinity - God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in eternal "face to face" fellowship - that fellowship is broken. A great tremor is felt in the universe, because a great awfulness is felt outside of an over and above the universe. Something is happening which breaks a bond which is at the heart of all existence. Abandonment.

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And then he dies. And Mark pulls right up against that verse the fact of the tearing of the temple curtain. He doesn't explain, but the juxtaposition is Theology. It speaks.
 

From Genesis 3 onwards, the Old Testament is a book of barriers. There is a sword to stop Adam and Eve returning to the garden. The people come to Sinai and Moses is told to make a very clear boundary so that nobody touches the mountain of God's presence. The tabernacle is set up, and the boundaries have become three - the outer palisade, the curtain leading into the Holy Place, and then the curtain sealing off the Holy of Holies itself. As the book progresses into the era of Solomon's temple and beyond, the number of "layers" increases - courts of gentiles, of women, one after another like an onion. The central concept is that the closer you get to the very presence of God, the fewer people there are allowed to go there, and then only with blood sacrifice. The Holy of Holies only sees the High Priest, and only once a year.

 

There is some discussion over the temple curtain - which is it - that which seals the Holy Place off from the court of the priests - this one would have been more visible to male Jewish worshippers who happened to be in the temple at the time - or the great final curtain which separated Holy Place from Holy of Holies? The latter would only have been visible to any priests actually serving in he Holy Place at the time.

Either way, the point is this: the barrier has gone. It has been torn. It has become irrelevant. And the apparently insignificant detail torn from top to bottom tells us that this was not the result of some kind of priestly tug of war, trying to rip a curtain - the only "hands" to reach the top were God's. He has done the ripping. 
 

The Man on the cross is abandoned by his Father. This is not because the Father is cruel or unkind. It is because this is how the enemies of Father and Son will be welcomed home. The cross is an act of love. there is an abandonment there, but it is ultimately the abandonment of giving; the Father gives his Son, the Son gives himself. They do this, together, so that you and I may go in. The veil is torn. The barrier is gone. A new and living way is open. So let's go in!
 

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Most people who are there at Golgotha are clueless as to what is going on. Even when Jesus shouts "Eloi!" there are people who claim to "know their Bibles" who think the whole thing has to do with the promised "second coming" of Elijah. Frankly, they are so in mockery mode that the solemn supernatural darkness and heaviness of the scene is not weighing on them. Or perhaps they are trying to shrug it off. 
 

But for one man, there is revelation. The centurion, probably the soldier in charge of the execution, Jesus' own killer, sees something. We can't be totally sure how much he understood by Surely this man was the Son of God!  but he got something. While others saw nothing because they were intent on seeing nothing, Jesus' official killer saw that this man was special, he was unique, and that God had been at work in him. And he sees that specifically through witnessing the actually manner and moment of Jesus' death.
 

Do you want to know God? Do you want to know what he is like? Then look at the Man on the cross. Here God gives himself. Here God saves us. Here God opens a way and welcomes us home. Here God reveals himself.

Be amazed. Be glad. Be thankful. Enter in! 

And then be a giver in his likeness!

On this day... Richer and Chartier arrived in Brazil

On the 7th of March, 1557, Pierre Richer and Guillaume Chartier arrived in Brazil, the first Protestant missionaries in the New World. They arrived in order to provide spiritual care to the French colony ("French Antarctica") in what is now Rio de Janeiro, begun less than two years earlier. But they were also sent explicitly to contact and share the gospel with the indigenous people of the country. Others soon joined them. These men were French Huguenots, sent by the church in Geneva, where John Calvin was the leading Pastor.

The picture here is of the statue in Rio, commemorating the first Protestant celebration of the Supper in the Americas. This was just a few days after Richer and Chartier's arrival.

Sadly, the mission was not a success. The leader of the French expedition, after initially welcoming the preachers, appears to have turned (or been turned) away from the Protestant faith and ended up killing those missionaries who did not manage to escape back to France. You can read more on the details of the story here.

When I was in Brazil, I always found the account of the Richer and Chartier and their colleagues interesting and immensely moving. And also useful. So often, Brazilian students of more Arminian background would tell me, in authoritative tones, that Calvinism has no interest in missions or evangelism. As I was myself a missionary of Calvinistic hue, this seemed to make not a lot of sense, but even more so in a country whose first protestant preachers were sent by John Calvin himself. 

Far from being opposed to mission, Calvin was deeply and personally involved in the training and sending of missionaries - principally to France which was deeply dangerous territory at the time, as the oncoming Bartholomew's Day massacre would demonstrate.

Here is a range of quotes from his sermons:

On Ezekiel 18:23:

God certainly desires nothing more than for those who are perishing and rushing toward death to return to the way of safety. This is why the gospel is today proclaimed throughout the world, for God wished to testify to all the ages that he is greatly inclined to pity.

On 1 Tim 2:3-5:

Thus we may see what St. Paul’s meaning is when he says, God will have His grace made known to all the world, and His gospel preached to all creatures. Therefore, we must endeavour, as much as possible, to persuade those who are strangers to the faith, and seem to be utterly deprived of the goodness of God, to accept of salvation. Jesus Christ is not only a Saviour of few, but He offers Himself to all. As often as the gospel is preached to us, we ought to consider that God calls us to Him: and if we attend to this call, it shall not be in vain, neither shall it be lost labour. Therefore, we may be so much the more assured that God takes and sees us as His children, if we endeavour to bring those to Him who are far off. Let us comfort ourselves, and take courage in this our calling: although there be at this day a great forlornness, though we seem to be miserable creatures, utterly cast away and condemned, yet we must labour as much as possible to draw those to salvation who seem to be afar off. And above all things, let us pray to God for them, waiting patiently till it please Him to show His good will toward them, as He has shown it to us.

On Acts 1:7:

Now we know that God prizes nothing above his honour, which lies mainly in men’s knowing him and poor souls’ being brought to salvation. So let us not be surprised if our Lord wants his gospel to be proclaimed with such diligence that nothing can hinder its course. For the only way men can come to salvation is through instruction in what the Bible teaches. Now since this is God’s will, let us follow it.

The story of the Geneva mission to Brazil is a story of failure, but it is an important one, and always moves me because I love the country. And obliquely, the simple fact of Calvin sending those pastors still speaks today.

In the Salvation Army I can't but feel that some of the Founders' theological discussions and even the framing of Doctrine 6 betray a nervousness that Calvinism would inevitably stunt evangelism and, specifically, destroy the possibility of a free offer of Christ to the "whosoever". That may be understandable given the number of non-evangelistic Hypercalvinists around in the 19th century, but with Spurgeon seeing such blessing just south of the river, and Whitfield's ministry not long out of memory, the Booths were not without evidence that Tulip people can be passionate evangelists.

Tragically, it is now in the historic Arminian churches of the UK that it is has become harder to hear the message of Christ offering himself to all. It would be good to make this prayer of Calvin's our own:

“Seeing that God has given us such a treasure and so inestimable a thing as His Word, we must employ ourselves as much as we can, that it may be kept safe and sound and not perish. And let every man be sure to lock it up securely in his own heart. But it is not enough to have an eye to his own salvation, but the knowledge of God must shine generally throughout the whole world.”

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My sources on Calvin and missions were principally: http://founders.org/fj33/john-calvin-on-evangelism-and-missions/ and http://spindleworks.com/library/deddens/mission_ref.htm

On this day... Amy Carmichael

On this day in 1901 Amy Carmichael came into contact for the first time with Preena, the child who alerted her to the temple prostitution which was then rife in India. That contact grew into a large-scale ministry, reaching many hundreds of children.

For more information, look here or, better, look for this book.

On this day... George Muller and the Scriptural Knowledge Institution

On this day in 1834, George Muller, one of the greatest and most eccentric Christians of the 19th century, founded The Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad. He was a godly man who was also somehow very real, flesh and blood. His commitment to a distinctive approach to funding his work was in striking contrast to William Booth, with whom in other ways he had much in common. For a phenomenal biographical sketch, see John Piper's article here.

Prayer changes things

I am not sure how prayer works. 

I have no doubt that it does - I have seen and experienced too many things in my own life which I have had to see as answers to prayer. But I don't know how it works. 

When Abraham intercedes for Sodom, how does it work? The conversation wrestles back and forth, the numbers game is played, but I for one am none the wiser as to whether the outcome for the city and for Lot is one iota different as a result of the conversation. What I do know is that, through that conversation, God was choosing not to hide but to reveal his plan and purpose and so to share more of himself with his Covenant Man. Who instigates and who responds in the conversation is by no means as simple as we may think at first sight. 

When Elijah prayed for fire from heaven to come on the sacrifice in his battle with Baal, that worked, for sure. But when he prayed for drought, or for rain after the drought, wasn't he simply moulding his words into what God had already said he would do in cursing and blessing his covenant people as they worked out their cycles of disobedience and repentance? What came first, the Prayer or the Word?

When Jesus prayed that the cup might pass from him in the garden, wasn't he expressing the agony of his heart in honesty before God, while knowing that the prayer would not be "answered" in the simplistic sense of the word? He knew that he was walking into a dark valley where it would "please the Lord to bruise him". Nevertheless, he told it like it was, and his prayer was heard, not by the removal of "the cup" but by strengthening in his sufferings. 

In what we call the Lord's Prayer, we are taught to pray along the lines of a range of things where we know what God's ultimate will and purpose will be. His will will be done. His name will be honoured. His kingdom will come. He does forgive our sins. He does provide our bread. The relationship between our asking for these things and the answer is not a simple one. We are praying for what God wants to give - and it is God himself who is teaching us to pray in that way.

The point is that prayer surely changes things, but how that happens is by no means straightforward. God is not a slot machine - pop your prayer in and get your product out. In fact, as one good friend once said, of her own beginnings of God-consciousness, "the only God I could possibly believe in was one who could say 'No' to me."  Even in striking biblical accounts of answered prayer, like Elijah, the content of the prayer and God's answer are all pre-shaped by the prior revelation of his will.  

When we pray, or see someone praying, we are seeing evidence of God at work already. No one truly prays who doesn't know grace, who doesn't have the Spirit. When we pray in conscious awareness of the character and will of God as revealed in scripture, we are orienting our thoughts, like filings near a magnet, to his person and purpose. Or, to put it another way, he is orienting us. 

Because that is how prayer always changes things. Sometimes answers are striking ones - fire on sacrifices, healings, provision for Kingdom projects. Sometimes they are by no means so obvious. But what always happens when we pray is that we become reorientated. We loosen our grip on the value systems and ways of thinking of the world around us, the constantly pressuring mindset of World, Flesh and Devil, and realign, retune to the melody and harmony of our Father and his purposes in Jesus. And that does us more good than words can express. 

Prayer changes things. 

Starting with me. 

On this day... John Wesley´s death