Ashes to Righteousness

When Job and Isaiah saw God, they each gained profound moral insight about Him, and therefore about themselves.  

For Isaiah, it was the dirty mouth speaking from a dirty heart:

See Isaiah 6:1-8

For Job it was his presumption that he could understand the ways of God:

See Job 42:1-8

In each case, these self-accusations of weakness and depravity are regarded by God to be truth-speaking.  As a consequence, these men are immediately put into greater service to God:  Isaiah as a greater prophet, and Job as priest for his friends who have spoken so brazenly and self-confidently to Job about God's ways.

See:

42:1 Then Job answered the Lord and said:

² “I know that You can do everything,
And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.
³ You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
⁴ Listen, please, and let me speak;
You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’

⁵ I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,
But now my eye sees You.
⁶ Therefore I abhor myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.”

⁷ And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.

So, repenting in dust and ashes at the vision of God is the act of persons whom God calls righteous.

Christian Suffering, Spirituality and Eschatology (revised 5/28)

This is the first post of what may be an occasional series of posts on the interrelationship of Christian Suffering and Eschatology.  

The basic thesis of these posts, which I will try to support over time, is this:  The age-long continuance of Christian Suffering is such a significant emphasis in the New Testament, that a view of the progress of this age which sees a gradual end to suffering by the time of the Second Coming of Christ must be an eschatology which is seriously at odds with the New Testament.

A few points are:

1)  The general cast of the New Testament is opposed to gradual entrance of conditions of such spiritual and experiential peace and plenty such that the transition to the eternal state is not catastrophic.  Put another way, the eternal state does not come by a process of development, or spiritual evolution, in either extent or quality.  I do not deny by this that the current age has a path of spiritual development, and that that development tends to the sharpness of the distinction between good and evil, nor do I deny that the preponderance of Christianity, and its effects, increases.

2)  The experimental suffering which is put forth as the norm in the Bible as a whole, and especially in the New Testament, must be the experience of all believers in this age, until the end of the age.  The maintenance of Christian spirituality depends on this.  Therefore, a view of the end of the age in which spiritual conditions approach conditions in the Eternal State is inimical to the New Testament vision of the spiritual value of the suffering that characterizes the present age.

3)  The whole Bible narrative of the believers' experience shows that an easy life is spiritually harmful to those still in the un-resurrected flesh.  Our fidelity to God is only guaranteed through spiritual struggle.  Christ, the perfect man, learned obedience through suffering.

4)  The spiritual purity and "separation" of the church from the world, so important in the text of the New Testament, is at stake.  The only way to maintain our testimony and actually have an effect on the world is to maintain this separation.  The liberal churches have simply identified their eschatology with popular political and social progressivism in all its methods and results, and thereby demonstrate the result of this kind of "postmillennialism."  A theonomic replacement of the world's carnal "law" with God's Law will not fix this problem, because the problem is spiritual in a way which transcends "law."  The Church is a New Creation, not simply a renovation of the Original Creation.

5)  Finally, the "proof-texts" for the evolution of gradual spiritual perfection do not support this picture.  Any sustained argument built up from the full revelation of the New Testament will show the continuing threat of apostasy -- even a final apostasy, and the spiritual warfare between the wheat and the tares will not end until the harvest.

Good and evil will "come to a point" at the harvest at the end of the age in such a manner that Christian suffering will remain the Christian lifestyle until the end of the age.  Our hope is in the Eternal State, not some near-perfect manifestation of God's Kingdom before that time.  To focus attention and hope on the pre-Eternal State as capable of containing the near-full manifestation of God's Kingdom is to lose the eschatological vision, and potentially to fall into the trap of worldliness which is condemned in the New Testament.

Our expectations in this age must be properly focused, lest the spirituality and separation of the Church from the World be lost.  If the spirituality and separation of the Church is lost through some kind of "gospel reductionism," and if the central focus of the hope of fulfillment in an Eschaton which transcends the current aeon and its ways of life is lost, the result will just be "liberalism" again.

Following Christ the Savior

^{John 12:20} Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. ²¹ Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” ²² Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. 

²³ But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. ²⁴ Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. ²⁵ He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.  

²⁷ “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify Your name.”

Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” 

The inquiries of the Gentiles provoke our Lord to think of the sine qua non of his mission, the sacrifice of himself.  The overflow of the church into the whole world is now called for.  In fact, the world has come "knocking."  Therefore, our Lord must not shrink back, but die -- and multiply.  He preaches to himself, but also to us!

In this, we see our Lord as the author or pioneer of our salvation.  He does not ask us to go where he has not gone before.  He leads the way!  All we need to do is to follow him.  We do not go alone, but in the company and footsteps of the Great Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep.

What ambition, what riches or fame in this dying world counts compared to the fellowship of the Son of God?  He who loses worldly riches, fame or comfort gains eternal riches, fame and comfort in the family of God the Father!

Our Lord, paradoxically points out that his suffering is his glory!  What we shrink back from instinctively, just as a soldier shrinks back from death in his feelings, our Lord shrinks back from, too!  But, he also recognizes that in his suffering he is glorified.  Like a soldier-hero who gives his life for others, our Lord lays down his life under the wrath of God, enduring the pains of hell in body and soul which we shall never see, and all for his love of poor sinners such as we are!

Shall we not trust him with our souls and bodies?  Shall we not follow him, even in his sufferings?  Let us serve him and be with him where he is, forever!  Glory and honor from God our Father await us!

Qualified for Ministry

Sincere men in any kind of Christian ministry (and the believer-priests, too) mourn often over their lack of spiritual qualifications -- a fact which is especially evident to themselves.  How can it be that God has called me to ministry, when I view my efforts as pretty much a failure, not only because my skin is too thin and my ministry profitless, but also because it's obvious that my character and gifts don't match the requirements for this job!

This is a serious question, and it is a question tied intimately to our doctrine of sanctification.

I think the following train of thought may help.

There are two ways to respond to our lack of qualification.  The first way is to make it an idol.  The second way is to accept it, as we pray and work out our callings.

First, we have to recognize that "personal qualifications" can definitely become an idol.  It is intrinsic to the flesh to want to be "great" in all the ways that the flesh wants to be great, especially in religious leadership.  To see the prevalence of these things, think of those whose mouths speak about the word and worship of God, but whose hearts are far from him.  They are absolutely certain of their piety (until moral disaster strikes), but their piety is an unholy desire to please men rather than God.  This syndrome can masquerade as piety even among those who know the Lord.  We always want to be "greater" in our own and all other men's eyes than the Lord meant us to be.  We hate our spiritual poverty, and may even rage against it, but are blind to the hidden, fleshly motives lying behind our raging.  Perhaps this is a characteristic threat latent within any vision of piety which focuses on "self-development" by spiritual disciplines and instruction.  Luther, who had been the most zealous and repentant monk, characterized all of them as a class, as he had been himself, as being infected with this "Pharisaic" zeal to be perfect in the eyes of God and man, instead of accepting the gift of salvation made to sinners, which is received by sinners by faith alone. 

It's foolish, of course, to deny that we must fight sin in our flesh.  It's absurd to say that spiritual disciplines of Scriptural character are not needed, and it's insane to say we don't need instruction.  But, piling up all these things which we indubitably need does not focus on the central issue -- self.  Denial of oneself, in obedience to Christ, can become a "personal achievement," too.  Jesus surely did not mean that we should make it a personal project to focus on ourselves in self-abnegation.  He meant that we should stop following our own projects and start following his, even if it means a cross.  We should just forget our projects, our glory, our "qualifications," our accomplishment of duties, and our wonderful, Christian character, and instead think only of Christ's glory and Christ's project.  We should accept our spiritual poverty as a fact. As Luther said on his deathbed, "We're all beggars."

The odd thing is that when we thus forget ourselves while being engaged in our calling, that is, when we accept our weakness and lack of qualification as a "given" -- a quiet fact, to which we quietly and obediently submit, as we continue in our callings, that it will dawn on us one day that we have silently and quietly, even without our own knowledge, become "qualified."  This will happen -- and then pride will strike, and seeking glory in our personal qualifications will become a temptation again.

May all the believers rest in the gift of salvation to spiritual beggars, of whom they are chief, and thus unconsciously and quietly be truly qualified to speak for Christ's project, not their own!

This is the work of God in us.

The way up, spiritually, is the way down to the Cross.  The way down, spiritually, is the way up to human glory.  Stay away from human glory.

And, those qualifications in I Timothy and Titus?  Those qualifications are for other people to see (in you) -- not for you to see (in yourself).

Glory and Anti-Glory

We think too much in worldly terms concerning glory -- and other things, too.

1)  Paul is clear in 1 Cor 1 that it is God's intention to shame the worldly powers in all their greatness by means of those who are weak and shameful in the eyes of the world.  The world has one idea of what power and glory are, and the church has another, opposite idea.  From our standpoint, the world's power and glory are vain, but our power is glorious, because we know and are empowered in all our weakness by God the Lord.  The world, on the other hand, is empowered in all its strength by that fallen angel doomed to the Lake of Fire.

2)  Think about Christ's suffering.  He was doomed by the world, and the Prince of this World, to shameful death on the Cross.  Yet, from the standpoint of faith, our Lord on the cross reigned as from a throne!

3)  Think about our sufferings as we follow in the footsteps of Christ.  The world thinks that our hope in Christ in the age to come dooms us to lack of self-fulfillment in this age.  From our perspective, any hope of self-fulfillment in this age is futile.  The only real hope of any fulfillment lies in the age to come.

4)  The world thinks that disease and difficulty, and eventually death, are evils to be avoided at all costs.  Suffering, while occasionally seen by the world as heroic, is really looked upon as an unmitigated evil.  From our perspective, we learn obedience through suffering.  Our character is built through suffering.  In suffering we give thanks, and testify to the grace of God, because we know that we will be rewarded with eternal rewards for spiritual endurance through suffering.

These instances could be multiplied.  In every case the world's conception is opposite to ours.  What is glorious to the world is hateful to us.  What is glorious to us is hateful to the world.  The world fears the world to come, because they know they will get what they deserve.  We long for the world to come, where we will receive as a gift the full inheritance of all that God has to give.  It will be a day of fulfillment and glory, in the only world that matters, and our lives are now filled with joy and anticipation as we wait for it by faith.

Paul said that he was crucified to the world (in Christ), and that the world was crucified (subjected to capital punishment) with respect to him.  The Cross is the great separator that crucifies the relationship between this age and the one to come.

Christ was made sin for us, taking away our sins on the cross, and triumphing over death for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him by faith.

Therefore, believe and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling upon the name of the Lord!  Receive the Spirit of God who wages war against sin within us, and who fills us with all joy!  That Spirit is himself God's own down-payment to us from the inheritance we are destined to receive in the Age to Come!

Life Achievement (v4)

A saint near death writes in his will, commenting on his efforts to glorify God:

But alas! The desire which I have had, and the zeal, if so it must be called, has been so cold and so sluggish that I feel myself a debtor in everything and everywhere, and that, were it not for his infinite goodness, all the affection I have had would be but as smoke, nay, that even the favors which he has accorded me would be render me so much more guilty; so that my only recourse is this, that being the Father of mercies he will show himself the Father of so miserable a sinner.

One may marvel at the professed humility of such a saint, John Calvin, but unwittingly continue to regard these comments by Calvin as a wonderful sounding example of pious language on the part of a great Christian man.  But, this falsifies what the man is teaching in his final witness!  Because his example of real humility is not taken seriously, our own desires for greatness are not exposed as sin, and our own path to greatness is not revealed.

In fact, if Calvin's own self-image near death were ours now, then we would be more like him.  At the end of our lives, we should hope, like Calvin, to have finally achieved the true vision of our own humility and weakness -- and therefore to have finally rested in total reliance on the Grace of God.

What a goal!  A self-vision like this is a judgment on the idols of personal glory.  It is a real hope, that having learned obedience through suffering in the cause of Christ, we may in the end recline on our death beds, in the arms of Christ, and be carried by his grace to glory -- the glory reserved for those who rest on his finished work, and not their own.

Death Swallowed Up

We are familiar with the phrase in 1 Cor 15, that at the Resurrection death will be swallowed up in victory (quoted from Is 25:8).

It's meant to be noticed, I think, that death is not just canceled, negated or ignored by victory, though of course that's true.  The authorial intention is something different.  The entire state of death, including all the living tribulations that are so often tied in with the consummation in physical death are included in the concept.  What is being said is that all the death, all the tribulations, all the tears, all sweat and blood, all the terrors and horrors, all the persecutions -- all of it, for the believers, is swallowed up and incorporated into the eternal victory that is given us in Christ.  All that tribulation and death is turned to joy, not simply replaced by joy.  All the rewards of perseverance result in crowns of eternal glory!  God's work in us is not done in spite of tribulations but through them!  Even the tribulations resulting from our own sins are turned by the Lord's kindly discipline to more closely conform us to Christ's image.

Therefore, brethren, we ought to "count it all joy" when tribulations of flesh or spirit come our way.  It may be tears now, and joy only in faith, but it will end in eternal glory.

Apologetics and the "Theology of the Cross"

It is interesting to consider how apologetics functions within the Theology of the Cross.

Typically, apologetics tries to answer questions like:  Does God exist?  What is the source of evil?  How can we tell that God is good?  How do we know that the Scripture is inspired?  How do we vindicate the teaching that Christ was raised from the dead?  Etc.

But, if God always works his good under the guise of tribulation and distress in the elect and among believers, this makes it difficult or impossible to explain him and justify his ways to doubters and nonbelievers.  He intentionally makes his own "theodicy" impossible.  He hides the manifestation of his good, so that only the eye of faith and mind of the Spirit reveal it to us. The "good" amid our tribulations is hidden invisibly behind the "evil" of the tribulation, as the world sees it.  Therefore, in their eyes, laying down our lives for this Faith is obviously foolish.

One thinks, too, of our Lord's parables, in which he often hid himself to the nonbelievers; or of Paul's admonition in 1 Cor that not many mighty or learned are given the knowledge of Christ.  People can only come to God by believing the foolishness of what's preached.

So, is apologetics a waste of time?

One can examine Paul's presentation on Mars Hill (Acts 17) for an example of both its appropriate use and its limitations.

Apologetics ought to be used to convict of sin, to point to the need for the gospel, and to help the believers and those whom the Lord is calling to himself.  But, it is an assistance to the gospel, not a substitute for it.

The Opposition of God is Our Greatest Blessing (v2)

Life can be hard, what with all the opposition we face.  It appears on every hand.  Of course, we think that it mostly comes from men.  "They" don't understand me and are always standing in the way of the implementation of my dreams.  Truth is, our own flesh is a much bigger enemy than we like to admit.  Sometimes others oppose us to keep us out of trouble.  Then, there is the devil!  His mission is to destroy both body and soul.

But, it's useless to rummage over the list of these opponents, and to think faithless thoughts, because, as Luther takes pains to point out in his "Theology of the Cross," God Himself is our biggest opponent!!

Think of it!  Christ prayed that prayer in the garden to be delivered from the cup of sacrificial death.  But he wasn't.  Isn't this the only prayer of his that was answered "No!"?  Because he was opposed by his Father, sweated blood, and died as a reject under divine judgment, he became the Savior.

In my own life, I have been quite conscious that my biggest opponent in serving Christ the way I would wish to -- is Christ Himself!  As I have reread again about the "Theology of the Cross," it struck me again, and more fully -- This Is The Plan.  I'll never see the end of His Opposition, and therefore I will be always a sinner, always repenting, and always just.

So, let us have peace enduring the Divine Opposition.  Precisely within God's "alien work" of opposing us, is found his "proper work" of saving us.  In death we find life.  In weakness we find strength.  In tribulation we will find glory.  The eye of flesh sees only the alien work of God, but the eye of faith is finally brought to see, experience and understand the proper work of God!

Then, says Luther, we become theologians!

The Sight of Faith

The man born blind was sent by Jesus to the pool of Siloam to be healed (John 9). Later, after the man was rejected by the Jewish leadership council, Jesus found him, in order to reveal himself to him more clearly.  Here is the conversation:

John 9:35-39  Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"  And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."  Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him. 

Note the four words I have taken the liberty to underline.  The blind man had already "seen" Jesus before he saw him in the flesh.  He "saw" spiritually, though blind physically.  This story is just not fundamentally about physical healing.  The physical healing is a gift of grace, and an intimation of the integrity of the resurrection body that is given to the man who "saw" while blind.  But, the real "theology" is about spiritual perception.

And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind." Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?"  Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains. 

I reverently suggest that what Jesus means is this:  His coming into the world is to execute a judgment, in order that those who [recognize that they] do not see [spiritually] may see, and that those who [assert that they do see, but they do not] may be made blind.  That is, the spiritually dead and sinners are recovered to life by repentance and faith in Christ himself, but the unrepentant and those spiritually blind to Christ are further enslaved in their blindness by his own testimony, and as a result are condemned.

There is a lifestyle here.  This passage speaks not only of that great transition from death to life which is connected with conversion to Christ, but also with the way we go on in this life.  Being brought low before Christ by our tribulations brings self-abasement, repentance, faith, dependence on Christ, love, joy, peace, patience, the vision of heaven seen by faith, and power by the Spirit.  To the sight of the flesh, what appears to be the way up to spiritual greatness is the way to hell.  But, to the sight given by the Spirit, the way to heaven is the way down, to Christ in his sufferings in the world, to Christ in his manner of life in this world, and soon, to Christ as he is in his resurrection and glory.

Jesus Kingship -- Over this world, but not Of it

Jesus before Pilate (John 18:33-37)

Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" 

Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?" 

Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?" 

Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here." 

Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?"

Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

In this passage Jesus sets the tone for the nature of today's manifestation of his Kingdom, which he then carries out on the cross!  He has previously revealed the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to his disciples (while hiding this revelation from the spiritually non-discerning by means of parables), and he has shown that this new and glorious form of his Kingdom, not previously revealed, and oriented to the gospel, is a form of the Kingdom which paradoxically appears weak in the eyes of the world or to the carnally minded, while it is yet strong with spiritual power to demolish all strongholds against Christ.

It is well-known that the Jews expected the Messiah to expel the Romans when he came.  They understood the victory-motif in the prophets, and expected that the Great Prophet prophesied by Moses would carry this out.  Their assumptions were clearly that the politico-economic realm would simply be ruled according to the same laws (physical, moral and political) as it always had been, but that the law would be enforced by the political and military power of the Messiah.  This is why something like the Beatitudes would be so unintelligible, or even repugnant to them -- or why a Suffering Servant could not be King.  The fact that Jesus seemed to show no promise along the lines of temporal deliverance was one carnal reason for his rejection by the Pharisees, Zealots, and similar persons.

The use of the term "mysteries of the Kingdom" means that there were as yet unrevealed aspects of the promised Kingdom that were not known in the Old Covenant Scriptures.  Part of Jesus preaching ministry was to prepare his disciples, and ultimately his church, to understand these previously unrevealed aspects of the Messianic Kingdom, so that we can see the new glory in it, not be disappointed in our tribulations (which are our glory), have hope, and know what to expect and how to behave, as we wait for the manifestation of Christ at his Coming. 

Christ is the King.  He doesn't look like a King to the world, but he rules it.  We shall judge angels -- but we look like slaves to the world.  The gospel is powerful and converts the world, but appears foolish to the world.  God doesn't have a special love for worldly elites, or worldly manifestations of power, or man-made philosophy, or mighty man-pleasing rhetoric.  These are the weak things in his eyes.

It is the weak ones in the eyes of the world who are actually the strong.  Those who give up their lives for Christ keep the world running and receive the eternal rewards.  Luther thought that the sun rose because the Christians prayed.  Everything is upside down compared to the world's view, and we must see this.  The servant life, as slaves of Christ, is the powerful and effective life.  The quiet life, working with our own hands, is the foundation of culture.  The foolishness of the gospel is what converts the culture, in spite of its opposition.

This is very serious.  "Kingdom work" is God's work.  How he rules and increases the spread and power of the gospel is a mystery, but he does.  We do our little parts, tending and watering the Divine Project, as we live a quiet life of mutual love, and offer Christ to a lost world.  All our might that could be worldly, all our money that could be great, all our personal powers and education that could be impressive in the world, all our worldly status, all our personal gifts, must be put to use in this way.  All our ways of promoting the knowledge of Christ must partake of the lowliness exemplified in the life of Christ, because these means are the means empowered by God for victory!

Down to Glory (Psalm 3)

Every misbehavior of David's older sons has to wring from David's heart a confession of his own sin.  This is most likely why, when Absalom was killed, that David mourned so greatly and so pitiably.  If he, David, had died for his sin with Bathsheba, then perhaps his sons would not have died under the curse of evil and violence that God laid upon his family after that sin.  But, in the midst of the evil, and the reminder of his own sin seen in it, David cries out to God and paradoxically is saved and vindicated!

Psalm 3:  A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son. 

LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me.  Many are they who say of me, "There is no help for him in God."

Selah.

But you, O LORD, are a shield for me, my glory and the one who lifts up my head.  I cried to the LORD with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill.

Selah. 

I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustained me.  I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. 

Arise, O LORD; Save me, O my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.  Salvation belongs to the LORD. Your blessing is upon Your people.

Selah.

The last thing we should do with this psalm is to imagine David, sitting calmly in his theological complacency, so full of "faith" that his heart is untouched with pain or passion.

One can be sure that he feels the threat and hears the voices that testify to him that his case is hopeless, that his house is fallen, and that by his own fault.  In fact, he feels the threat of doom so strongly that he cries out to God.  He cries in faith, to be sure.  But he cries.  And, the cry is heard!  However far away that holy hill is (behind him in Jerusalem, now dominated by Absalom) or even that hill of heaven of which Jerusalem is only the footstool, his puny voice was heard, because he cried to the God of his salvation -- the God of promise who promised him the house and family that would lead to Messiah -- in spite of all present appearances.

David is shielded; he is comforted.  He sleeps well, because the comfort of his God has come to him.  Now he fears nothing.  He calls upon his God for deliverance, and expects it!  In fact, even as he flees, vindication is certain.  It has already come in the language of the psalm.  And, in the end, it will appear!

There is a curious consequence of the blessing and the curse that have fallen upon David's family.  It is this.  Both the promise and the curse falling upon David's family due to his sin eventually falls upon the Greater Son of David.  The promised Son, the "final member" of the holy and eternal line of Kings, dies too -- and for sin!  The promise of life, and the curse of death, meet in this Man.  Both the promise and the doom reach their complete fulfillment.  But, death is swallowed up in victory!  By omnipotence evil is made to serve the good!  There is total deliverance in glory!

So it is for us sinners to who trust in the Lord. David's experience is so often the "look and feel" of our own calling.  But, take heart!  No matter how black it looks, never stop serving the Lord!  Beyond the suffering, the despair and what seems to be personal failure is vindication for the believer and glory in the Lord!  Wait for it!

The Paradoxical Exchange of Glory and The Cross

Here is more on Luther's contrast between the Theology of Glory and the Theology of the Cross (all bracketed text or underlines are mine).

Luther's railing against good works is to be taken as referring to the self-glorifying and self-justifying attitudes about good works that were promoted in the theological environment in 1518:

21)  A theology of glory calls evil good and good evil.
       A theology of the cross calls the thing
       what it actually is.

This is clear: He who does not know Christ does not know God hidden in suffering. Therefore he prefers works to suffering, glory to the cross, strength to weakness, wisdom to folly, and in general, good to evil. These are the people whom the apostle calls "enemies of the cross of Christ" (Phil. 3:18), for they hate the cross and suffering and love works and the glory of works. Thus they call the good of the cross evil and the evil of a deed good.

God can be found only in suffering and the cross, as has already been said. Therefore the friends of the cross say that the cross is good, and works [for glory or justication] are evil, for through the cross works are dethroned and the "old Adam," who is especially edified by works, is crucified.

It is impossible for a person not to be puffed up by his "good works" unless he has first been deflated and destroyed by suffering and evil, until he knows that he is worthless and that his works are not his but God's.

Luther's definition of the Theology of Glory is a way of defining Legalism.  And how often isn't it the case, even as believers in grace, that we feel good about ourselves when we do well (as we see it), and feel bad about ourselves when we do poorly (we were surprised by it, and hate looking bad in the eyes of other men).

Legalists!  How can we be sanctified, when all our ways of understanding what sanctification really is are wrong!

----------------------------------------------------

There is a revolution here which comes from minds and hearts being refreshed by the Theology of the Cross, but this revolution keeps getting lost. We should pray for this vision to be renewed in our generation.  It was at the root of the greatest revival in the church since the Day of Pentecost.