It seems unfair that in a time when “the word of the Lord
was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision”, that the Lord should
speak such a difficult word to a boy who was simply serving in the temple. Samuel had no idea it was the Lord speaking
to him, he was prepared to serve his master, Eli, to whom his mother had
entrusted him as soon as he was weaned. In the night he heard a voice calling
and presumed it was Eli. Only after
three times did the priest recognize this as the Lord speaking to the boy, not
some dream. The first thing this boy
hears from the Lord is a hard word against his master. Often the test of a prophet comes in this
way, not platitudes but judgment. Will the
prophet be loyal to God or to man? Samuel
didn’t want to deliver this word but he had to be truthful and
trustworthy. He passed the test. Eli knew it was coming, he had heard it too. One
wonders if he took any action to discipline his own sons after the Lord spoke
to him.
Jesus prophesies concerning the end times, that the temple
will be torn down and that there will be great natural disasters and signs in
the heavens of the impending doom of the earth and its inhabitants. No one could, from these words, determine if
we are in the “end times” because there always wars, disasters and heavenly
signs. The important thing is not these
signs but the prophecy concerning the persecution of Christians for their
faith. He says we will be hated for His
Name’s sake. In Germany, the prevailing sentiment
in the late 1930s and early 1940s was against the Jews and many Christians
failed to stand against society in this matter and were hated and
despised. Today, what Christians are
hated for the Name of Jesus? Those who
stand against the prevailing moral sentiment.
It is always the case that societal norms and mores are in opposition to
God’s, that is called sin and rebellion against God. A church that is approved by society is
possibly a church no longer standing against society, no longer a prophetic
voice.
Remember the sermon from Pentecost we read yesterday? Peter called out the people as having
crucified God’s Messiah. Here, we get
the response, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter could have soft-pedalled the message and not been so critical, but
what was at stake, the salvation of their souls, was too important an issue not
to be truthful and straightforward about.
The truly prophetic voices tell the truth, that sin creates an
unbridgeable gulf between man and God that can only be spanned by the
cross. Grace and truth are inseparable
from one another and when we forget that and focus only on acceptance and love
we fail to preach the Gospel at all. There
is no such thing as cheap grace, grace without sin, because it is then no
longer grace at all. Grace is grace
because sin and the consequence of sin are matters of eternal import. Whether that sin is avarice, greed, hatred,
sexual, or some other thing, we can’t have grace without telling the truth
about sin.
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