Wednesday, August 31, 2022

 

Wednesday, August 31, 2022


Psalm 83

Zephaniah 1:1-13

1 John 2:12-17


Observances: John Bunyan, preacher and spiritual writer (d. 1688); Aidan of Lindisfarne, bishop and missionary (d. 651)


Those who do the will of God live forever.


Back into the minor prophets we go, but look how well compiled is the lectionary: Hezekiah and Josiah are now old friends of ours, so when Zephaniah says he is the fourth generation after Hezekiah and preached during the time of King Josiah, we know his context exactly. Being able to line up the historical accounts of Kings and Chronicles with the Prophets is very helpful in learning more about how God interacts with people and societies (and, more specifically, God's people and God's societies).


But let's return to John for now. See how he dances around his central point according to his Jewish method of logical reasoning? “Children... fathers... young men” are stand-ins for three stages of spiritual development. The central point is that our sins are forgiven on account of the name of Jesus. This then extends into everything else.


As spiritual babies, we know God the Father, in whom there is no darkness, the giver of all good things. When we grow in the faith, if we hold to correct doctrine and the word of God, we will be protected from Satan and all evil spiritual attacks. When we finally come to spiritual maturity, we will “know him who is from the beginning”. As John concludes this section, he returns to the main point, which is typically Johannine: love. The means and objective of all things is to love God. Contrasted with the “love of the world”, John is referring to an all-consuming love that places that which is loved at the highest pinnacle of the heart's desire. John knows that God made the world and called it good (see how he wrote the first chapter of his gospel as a reference to Genesis 1). What he wants us to aim for is a loving relationship with God that defines who we are, that moulds our very personality. This is something worth working towards for all of us.




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