Powerful Answers to Prayer in Judah - A Monumental Request

See 2 Kings 17-19, 2 Chronicles 32, & Isaiah 36-37.


The northern kingdom has fallen.  The Assyria armies have taken Samaria. 

Something like these words no doubt reached the ears of King Hezekiah of Judah, and their reception would excite a definite measure of concern for his tiny kingdom.  Hoshea, king of Israel, had defied Assyria years before, and quickly found himself imprisoned and his kingdom besieged.  Three gaunt and bleak years passed before Israel succumbed and was carried into distant exile - such was the strong and settled resolve of the Assyrian host.

Hezekiah, a king rare and conspicuous in his humble servitude of the one true God, a man blessed with manifold successes by the Lord, had also defied Assyrian rule and refused to pay tribute.  For three tenuous years, Israel had absorbed Assyria's martial energies - for three fleeting years, Hezekiah's defiance was suffered by the Assyrians as Israel's resistance wore away.  Now this buffer was dashed to pieces and swept away.  What would come now?  We gather from Isaiah 28 that, against the wishes of the Lord, the rulers of Judah treated with Egypt in a bid for greater military strength, but the next eight years were met with an ominous silence from Assyria.

We have received reports, my lord, that Sennacherib has fielded a vast army and they are moving along southward along the coast.¹  It is impossible to discern their objective at this point.
 
The Assyrian host has shifted its advance eastward.  Even now they are crossing into Judah.

It is as we feared.  Our fortified cities are being overrun.

Lachish has been sacked.

Mareshah cannot hold.

Adullum is under attack.

We have lost Hebron.

There are no free strongholds left in Judah, except Jerusalem.

The southwestern region of Judah was by no means the soft underbelly of the country, militarily speaking.  It had been strengthened extensively by Rehoboam (2 Chron. 11:5-12) and others, but it may as well have been shored up with straw as King Sennacherib gobbled up city after city.  If there was an alliance with Egypt during this time, Egypt did not stir.  Hezekiah stood alone in a shrinking territory.  He could not fight Sennacherib on equal terms, and Judah's weakness was showing day by day - she was dying.  The noose was tightening.  The Assyrians could push to Jerusalem in mere days, and there was nowhere to retreat.  The councillors stood silent; the generals were grim.  What can we do?  What remains to be done?  Send to Sennacherib; tell him we have erred in defying him.  Offer him anything, anything, and beg that he might desist in his bloody campaign. 

Sennacherib demanded 30 talents of gold, and 300 of silver.  Alas that Hezekiah's forebears had trodden this same dolorous path several times before (2 Kings 12:18, 16:8), and Judah's treasuries lay emaciated.  This total could not be extracted from them.  Hezekiah conceded to empty the house of his Lord of its silver articles, but even then, he wanted for gold.  There is gold on the doors and doorposts of the temple.  Let it be stripped off.  How his heart must have grieved to make this pronouncement, as he himself had clad the temple in such splendor!  The gold that he had dedicated to his holy, precious God, he now freely took back in order to fearfully deliver it to a pagan king who lived in utter defiance of God.

Twice Hezekiah had conceived plans to save his land apart from faith in the intervening hand of the Lord, and the first, his alliance with Egypt, had come to nothing.  His hope in the second would also prove disastrous as an envoy of Sennacherib came to Jerusalem, demanding Hezekiah's surrender, in spite of the painful tribute that had been proffered.  There is nothing to save you.  Other nations have beseeched their gods, and their gods have all utterly failed them.  So it will be with Judah. 

No earthly recourse lay at hand - no alliance, no armies, no wealth, no negotiations could intervene.  Hezekiah's hands were finally emptied.  Such times are often used by the Lord, are they not?  In the face of our faithless acts, He will at times systematically remove all options until we are obliged in helplessness to remember Him and to look to Him.  For Hezekiah, the temple of the Lord (which now stood stripped bare - not by Judah's enemies, but sadly by his own decree) became his place of refuge, and he prayed earnestly and humbly to his Lord.  O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.  Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.  Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.  Now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God. (2 Kings 19:15-19)

This is a very comely prayer indeed, and we must note several features in passing.  First, it does not reproach the Lord with any note of sourness, as in "Why have You not labored with me in the plans I have made?"  Where it could be accusatory, it is instead worshipful:  it acknowledges wholeheartedly God's unique and independent sovereignty over all things.  Neither is it presumptuous; its requests are not demands.  Finally, it transcends the immediate circumstances and looks ultimately not at the plight of God's people, but at the glory of God's name.  Hezekiah words righteously importune, "Vindicate Your holy name, O Lord," and not "Vindicate Your obviously deserving people, O Lord."

This is not a formula by which we unlock the power of God to work on our behalf, of course.  Our omniscient God cannot be coerced by any means.  Rather, this is a mindset whereby we submit ourselves to the perfect will of the living God.  If His mighty hand moves on our behalf, we are glad; if, for reasons all His own, it does not stir, we are not offended.  We wait confidently on His good pleasure. 

The Lord did not hesitate to send His answer through Isaiah:  God had purposed from before time to give Assyria its strength for toppling cities and kings; however, their rebellion against Him had made them worthy of defeat, and the time had come.  The Lord declared that He would lead Sennacherib back to his own land, and furthermore, that he would neither set foot in Jerusalem, nor lay siege to it, nor fire arrows into it, nor assault it.

To put it more bluntly, after Hezekiah had exhausted his own paltry options, to absolutely no avail, he humbled himself before the Lord, and the Lord responded that He would surely deal with Assyria, and in such a way that Judah would not by any stretch be able to claim any part in that victory.  Assyria would be turned aside even before it could move upon Jerusalem.  Assyria's strength and Judah's helplessness would both contribute to God's amazing glory in this matter.

Hezekiah's prayer to God prompted Him to unveil yet another brilliant gem of glory as well.  God raised up the Assyrians and allowed them to perpetrate their massive conquests.  In so doing, he used them to show the falseness of local idols throughout the region as city after city was overthrown, despite the prayers offered to gods of man's handiwork.  How incredible, then, that God should bring these overwhelming conquerors, these idol-killers, against Himself, and use their efforts to demonstrate beyond doubt that He is very real, and insurmountably powerful, and always sovereign!  Hezekiah's prayer brought an incredibly glorious answer from the Lord of glory Himself!

Most are familiar with the particular form that this glorious response took - in the span of a single night, the Lord Himself, the pre-incarnate Christ, came and simply killed 185,000 from Sennacherib's army - specifically all the valiant men and all the leaders.  This constitutes more soldiers than the entire Allied force that invaded Normandy on June 6, 1944.  It is more soldiers than those who fought at Gettysburg - on both sides.  Our search, and indeed, Sennacherib's search, for an explanation apart from divine intervention, is definitively confounded.  This was an act of God - pure, divine, and simple.  Judah was saved by the Almighty on that day, and Sennacherib quickly withdrew, never to return.

How wondrous it is that such a response should come after a prayer given by an imperfect man who had acted faithlessly not so long before!  I need hardly mention the incredible trove of grace, patience, power, and authority that this event reveals within our God, but I would urge you to consider this wonder, to rejoice at it, and to marvel at how strongly our God responds to prayers from people not unlike ourselves.  We will, I think, find both glad adoration and steadfast prayer close at hand as we do so.



¹ So says the Beitzel's New Moody Atlas of the Bible in its various maps of this campaign.

The Art of Daily Self-Evangelism

When my eyes open in the morning, I endeavor to make that first moment one of thankfulness to the Lord.  Depending upon the hour, this may be genuinely difficult, and I cannot claim uniform success in this (nor, at times, can I remember it clearly later), but indeed there is something wonderfully pleasing about beginning one's day in this context of gratitude. 

Pleasing though it is, there is surely more that may be done in those first moments of wakefulness to help in recalling us to our duties and our unique station in this life as believers in the one true God.  I submit that it would not go at all amiss, were we to preach the saving gospel of our Lord to our own hearts every morning. 

Why say this?  Does it save us anew?  Impossible.  Does it, however, help to frame our day?  Absolutely.  Before we break our fasts at our paltry morning tables, let us feed our souls with the unspeakably rich bread of life (John 6:35)!  Let us refresh our thirsty souls (Matt. 5:6) with the living water that comes only from Christ (John 4:14) before we raise any glass to our lips.

Weigh out the benefits of this daily "self-evangelism," as it were, dear fellow believer.

1.  It calls to mind the greatness of God.  You knew of this when salvation first came to you; how much better do you know it now?  Has His indescribable grace grown to your thinking less dear or more, less essential or more, less urgent or more, less constant or more, and less sufficient or more?  We have far grander, more sweeping vista of His fathomless goodness now than even we did in that first great moment when He gave His precious salvation and breathed into our hearts new and startling life. 

He is the God of the universe, but He is not enthroned in heavenly halls so remote and austere that He is not aware of you; He purposed to save you personally, along with all of your brothers and sisters, before He created a single molecule, and He now resides with you and in you.  He is your God in every sense of the word, and your Father in ways too powerful to describe.  He who created you, saved you, and keeps you is worthy of your daily remembrance and devotion, is He not?

2.  It brings us to remembrance of our own weakness and sinfulness.  Again, this was in your truest thoughts when you were saved, but do you not understand this still better now?  Having contended with temptations of all sorts, across a spectrum of biblical mandates, the totality of which we could not perceive upon salvation, it certainly does not fall to us to congratulate ourselves for our own righteous worth.  If anything, we echo the true words of the seasoned apostle, righteous but pained, who cried, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24)

We rely solely upon the Lord for our righteousness, and we daily remain His happy slaves, like Paul and Timothy (Phil. 1:1).  As we remember Christ's gospel, we gird ourselves for service to Him above all, and we apprehend the pollution that always poisons our souls when we dare to elevate our own thoughts and opinions to reside alongside, or even above, God's clear testimonies.  We needed the Lord as unbelievers, and we need Him no less now.

3.  It brings the gospel to the fore of our thinking.  The gospel reminds us of who our God is, and who we are, and it also draws our attention back to the things which make for peace.  How fitting, when our hearts are prostrated before Him, and we have fitted ourselves for His service, that our hearts should be full of His gospel!  Oh, to be gospel-minded as we embark upon our interactions with the world around us!  To be settled in the convictions of our hearts concering His gracious salvation as we meet with people who so desperately need it, and who can, this very day, hear it from our lips!  Not only are we more likely to speak of saving grace when we have been reflecting upon its wonder, but we are more likely to believe in its efficacious strength in that moment, so that our speech does not falter and the weakness of our proclamation does not belie the precious and immeasurable power of the gospel. 

Drink in the riches of your Savior's gospel, my friend.  Drink deeply and daily, and serve your King with a glad and full heart!

The Final Blow of Scriptural Authority - Complete Authority

Yes, I know I had called this little series "The 1-2 Punch of Scripture Authority," but, admittedly, after a snappy 1-2 combination, a boxer likes to have a final, devastating punch (for the record, in spelling the word "boxer," I have just depleted my entire fund of knowledge surrounding boxing).  With this in mind, there is a third sort of authority which the Bible enjoys, according to 2 Timothy 3:16-17.  Consider it a postscript.

We have looked mainly at verse 16 thus far, but verse 17 brings it all to a close:  "...so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."  The Bible is divinely authoritative, and it is universally authoritative, in order that it may thrust into the hands of all believers any and every spiritual tool needed "for every good work."  It is, therefore, completely authoritative; that is, it is by itself sufficient to guide us in all matters of righteousness.  When we open its timeless pages, we throw wide the doors of the only arsenal we will ever have or will ever need in this struggle for holiness, and every weapon is divinely powerful and eternally sharp.

Consider the lasting comfort that should infuse our souls as we take this in.  All of our righteous needs have been gathered into one definitive source, and are there protected against the incursions of unrighteousness.  We are kept, then, from the ignoble listlessness of pursuing human solutions to problems that our imperfect natures simply cannot surmount.  The world is fully crowded, in every corner and crevice, with methodologies that endeavor to promote righteousness apart from God and His effusive transcendence, which is itself the only way to defeat and overcome sin.  We expect this of the world, but we must throw off these foolish tendencies as God's children.  Should the utter failure of the world to deal with unrighteousness not suffice to cause us, both as individuals and within our churches, to cling with a fearful tenacity to God's Word?  Should it not prove to us a hundred times over that the world's methods can only oppose and mock scripture?

So the Bible has much to say, then, about avoiding evil and embracing good.  What of those deeds, though, that are neither good nor evil?  What has our Lord to say about morally neutral works?  Interestingly, this is a concept that is entirely foreign to the pages of the Word.  Paul demonstrates this truth in 1 Corinthians 10:31 - "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."  In other words, there is a moral component of every act, because God can be remembered or forgotten, acknowledged or scorned, blessed or cursed, in everything we do.

Thus God's Word diffuses its brilliance to every last circumstance and choice that confronts us, and that brilliance comprehends every decision we must make.  Praise be to our Father, who would lavish us not with an unbroken chain of events in which we might both praise Him and grow to trust and love Him, but with His own book, which will never fail to steer us from the rocks of moral folly!

The 1-2 Punch of Scriptural Authority - Second, Universal Authority

(Continued from Part 1 of the series found here)

Let us extract another truth about the Bible's authority from 2 Timothy 3:16-17, this one a bit less obvious.  First, a reminder of the passage itself:  "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

We see that God's Word is "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" for the "man of God."  Note the communicative quality of these four actions; these actions are visited upon a person by another person.  In the case of the Bible, of course, the person originating these actions may well be the Holy Spirit, but it is important to establish that people, God's subjects, are called in the Word to carry out these sorts of things as well.  Says Paul to Titus, "But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine" (Titus 2:1), and the word translated "doctrine" is the same is Paul's word for "teaching" in 2 Timothy 3:16.  We all recall, of course, how Paul urged fathers to raise their children "in the discipline and instruction [training, in 2 Tim. 3:17] of the Lord." (Eph. 6:4b)

The import of this line of thought is that we cannot approach 2 Tim. 3:16-17 without understanding that people, God's people, do this teaching and reproof and so forth.  To be sure, the Holy Spirit is behind all such endeavors, and He does work directly from scripture to the believer's soul, but He is also present and active as the preacher preaches, as the brother admonishes, and as the sister encourages, if these actions are founded in God's Word.  If this were not so, there would be no call for spiritual gifts, and no commands in scripture to exercise them. 

Here is the substance of the matter, at long last.  There are those for whom the Word of God is to their hearts like a cloud is to their eyes, whose vaporous form may be regarded as any of a thousand distinct shapes.  To such people as these, scripture may whisper one word of truth to one person, and quite another, perhaps even the opposite, to a different person, and how could we name either as untrue?  Who are we to suggest that this could not be the case?  Do we dare set up ourselves as experts on how God uses His own divine Word? 

Fortunately, we need not be experts at all; we need only read what His Word actually says.  If, as we have discussed, believers are to teach and correct and train one another, and if indeed scripture is useful for all of these purposes (as it has purported itself), then, quite plainly, scripture is universally authoritative.  It does me no good to try to teach my fellow believer from the Bible if he can in turn deftly repudiate my words merely by saying, "Yes, but this is not what the Word means to me!"  It must bear precisely the same significance and meaning for all of us, or else we cannot employ it for any useful purposes with one another, and it becomes, then, nothing but a sad lie.  To take things still further, if we cannot utilize the Bible for useful purposes with one another, then neither can we utilize it for loving purposes!  Consider this for a moment.

There are two key conclusions from the Bible's universal authority. 

First, it shapes our hermeneutics.  I find, all of a sudden, that my own opinions have absolutely no bearing on the meaning of scripture, because I have stopped working to unlock its personalized meaning just for me, myself, and I, and I have begun instead to think about what it means to its divine Author.  There must be some common basis by which all of us might unlock the meaning of scripture, and our quest to find this out tends to evict fanciful intruders from our thinking. 

This is the reason we lean so completely upon such ideas as the literal interpretation of scripture.  While a literal understanding establishes itself on the immovable bedrock of the text, any sort of figurative approach languishes in the mirey muck of human opinions, and so is endlessly debatable.  This is not to suggest that some figurative approaches are not superior to others, or that no portions of scripture are figurative, but we will permit our literal understanding of the Word inform us when it is being figurative.

We also must consider the human authors of scripture - how they used vocabulary and grammar, and how they developed their ideas.  We also examine the original intended audience; what would this letter have meant to them?  We look at the whole of scripture, of which God is the superintending Author; we know it must be in total accord with itself.  Context, language, history, theology - we cannot divorce scripture from these crucial components and expect to come away with a right or complete understanding of God's Word.  Beware, then, of any preaching that pointedly ignores these - many a pastoral hobbyhorse has been ridden across this very terrain, and it is an arid terrain indeed.

Second, it changes our accountability.  I do not maintain that the hermeneutic upheld above clothes us in scholarly invincibility, but this approach makes it clear that we are endeavoring to allow God to speak through His Word, not ourselves.  Thus conviction, but not pride, should be our familiar companion as we hold to our understanding of God's Word:  we believe what we believe with clear reasoning and humbly-sought certainty, but we are ready to unflinchingly amend our understanding if careful study of scripture shows it necessary. 

On one hand, a passionate, assured, humble, literal hermeneutic should help to prevent us from jealously guarding ideological strongholds which the Lord has never even entered.  On the other, as we discuss the things of the Word with those who hold to different hermeneutics (and so maintain very different beliefs), it tends to turn every biblical disgreement into a discussion on how we interpret scripture, which is, of course, the more fundamental issue - the one that must be resolved if certainty and steadfastness are to come. 

The 1-2 Punch of Scriptural Authority - First, Divine Authority

As believers devoted to God's Word, we are not afraid to beat the drums that have been sounded throughout the life of the church.  We know that the truths of scripture are never worn out, exhausted, or depleted by anything, be it time, culture, science, human progress, demonic intrigues, or all such things en masse.  Scripture is just as fresh, urgent, and applicable to our lives as ever it was in ages long past, so we gladly tread the selfsame paths that our fathers have beaten through a hundred generations.

With this in mind, I do not in the least mind sharing a few thoughts that are, if not novel, at least crucial and basic and cherished.  Peter did this very thing in his day, did he not?  Consider 2 Peter 1:12-15.  At any rate, were the truth told, in such a day as this, when we fight off the double envelopment of liberal scholarship and relativistic apathy, these truths may come as novelties - not because they are new, but because they are not heard nearly so often as they once were. 

We will say some words about the authority of scripture, then, using a classic text.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 makes several categorical statements regarding the authority of God's Word:  "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."  I would like at this time to briefly consider the more commonly-celebrated element of scriptural authority here; namely, its divine origin. 

If scripture is inspired by God, or, as the English Standard rightly has it, "breathed out by God," this means of course that its origins lie, incredibly, with a God who cannot be false (Titus 1:2).  Although sinful, finite men lifted their pens and wrote the Bible from their own hearts and minds, yet God superintended its creation with such utter precision and specificity that His flawless character and omnipotent care sponged away any traces of fallibility, such that the end result was a divine revelation without error.  Do we trust this work of grace that we call the Bible as much as its divine origin would demand?  Do we believe its truthfulness in all matters?  Are we glad in our hearts; do we marvel that the Word of God is truly the Word of God? 

And do we obey it as the Word of God?  This is another matter, but one of the first importance.  The Word of God is not one man telling another what to do; nor yet is it an earthly sovereign decreeing laws for his or her subjects.  This is the holy, sovereign Deity, whose anthropomorphic hands encompass all the universe, immovably laying down His commands for the whole of mankind.  He is Creator; He is King; He is Judge - and He did not deliver His book to us as a trifle.  "But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word." (Is. 66:2b; ephasis added)

When Paul therefore makes statements like, "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God" (Rom. 13:1), it is necessary for us to muzzle both the scornful disbelief of modernity and the clamor of excuse in our own hearts.  This statement, along with all of its fellows, did not originate in the mind of Paul; it came first from God Himself.  We find ourselves mocking the divine with our disbelief; indeed, we say, even as the serpent said, "Indeed, has God said...?" (Gen. 3:1) The unchanging and holy Father clothes Himself with an immeasurable glory when He suffers His children to question His Word, even as Adam and Eve questioned it so long ago, without responding to us as He did to our earliest progenitors. 

Patrick Henry once famously said, "Give me liberty or give me death."  We Christians may well say, "Give me scripture, or give me death," for without the divinely-appointed Bible, God is silent.  Salvation is an indiscernible vapor because we do not understand God and His holy character!  How could we ever perceive our need for a Savior without knowing what God expects of us?  How could we discover such a Savior?  We have made many attempts to guess over the years - survey the false religions around us - but our sin-choked hearts assure that this effort amounts to naught but blasphemy.

Gladly, though, God's Word is real and authoratative.  For the one who knows and affirms this, Psalm 119 becomes the glad and perpetual anthem in all seasons of life, for by His Word are we given reverence for God (v. 38), delight in His commandments (v. 47), the pure way of living (v. 9), revival in affliction (v. 50), divine wisdom (v. 24), continual thankfulness (v. 62), illuminating direction (v. 105), hatred of sin (v. 128), worship of God (v. 164), and still far more.  When we understand that God gave the Bible in order to deliver to us a divinely authoratative account of Himself and His glorious character, how wondrous are the results!  This is our lifeline to God, and our only true testimony about Him!  No heart that truly knows this and humbly seeks out the one true God in His Word will be disappointed.

(The series is continued here)

The Independent Gospel

"What is this chlorophyll in my milkshake, Mom?"

This is exactly (or approximately, at least) what a child would say if he or she were handed a chocolate milkshake into which a floret of broccoli had been blended.  It would not go unnoticed and it would not be appreciated.  This, however, is how many churches and individuals treat the gospel.  To such as these, the gospel may not be pleasant, but it is good for a person - much like a plate of lima beans.  It needs some sugar to sweeten its allure.  And so these peddlers of false hope couch the precious gospel of Christ amidst enticements calculated to bedazzle even the most worldly of sinners.

To pronounce this tragedy as devastating is understating the case.  The gospel is looked upon almost as a necessary evil, or else it is dispensed with altogether.  Such treatment for the dearest treasure to ever grace our sin-worn world!  How do we treat this gospel, the only avenue to eternal life we will ever see?  It is enough to make a grown man weep, to consider how pastors or music groups or fellow believers tiptoe around the gospel and mention it so guardedly that it becomes almost the Christian version of an inside joke - without the humor. 

May these words of Paul, long esteemed by the church he helped to found, serve either to encourage or to convict us in this matter:  "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Rom. 1:16) These words resonate with a tireless and burning spiritual potency, and they should clamorously issue from our own hearts with an unrivalled earnestness and faithfulness such that we daily thrust our very lives into the hands of our sovereign Lord, to use always and only as He sees fit!  No matter how beleaguered we may grow, these words hold faithful and true in all things.  If nothing else, be encouraged in reading this.

A few brief considerations on this verse:

1.  The gospel is God's power unto salvation, not ours.  This is not a scepter we can pry from His omnipotent fingers.  The Lord calls us to give His gospel to an unbelieving world, and as we do so, we can and should command all the tact, wisdom, gentleness, and love which we can muster, but this never extends to altering the gospel itself to force a result within someone.  We proclaim it in fullness and God in turn unleashes the power of salvation according to His own inscrutable will.  We must know both our place and His in this work.

2.  It is the power of God unto salvation only for those who believe.  Here is how God has determined where the power of salvation will go.  Belief (also translated as "faith" in the Greek) itself is a heavenly gift, imparted by God alone so that any boasting on our parts is an utter lie (Eph. 2:8-9 - what believer does not know these verses?).  Without this gift of belief, the gospel will not come in power, and would not be received, even if it were. 

There are no handholds, loopholes, or back doors that allow for human interference here.  God grants belief.  He opens the heart of the sinner to feel the offense of sin before God, and then convinces this sinner of the reality of Christ's saving work until the sinner can do nothing but cry out for salvation.  God then sends the power of His salvation.  These acts cannot be duplicated by mere humans - can we enliven a dead heart to turn inexplicably toward the God it has always despised (Rom. 3:10-12)?  Can we explain things to a heart that only the Spirit of God can disclose (1 Cor. 2:10-14)?  So it is less than worthless - it is downright dangerous - to expect people to be saved by a weak or false gospel, and it is fully blasphemous to suppose that God might honor belief in such an abomination. 

3.  There need be no shame in the gospel.  It is a simple thing to regard the rich and full gospel as something that can only bring confusion and rejection to an unbeliever, and ridicule upon the believer.  This is how we allow ourselves to be ashamed of the gospel.  Paul Himself wrote that "the word of the cross is foolishenss to those who are perishing" (1 Cor. 1:18), but this fact did not compel him toward shame, exactly because this gospel which the world regards as foolish is God's unfailing power unto salvation!  It does its work precisely as God intends it to - for those whom He enlivens, it turns from complete foolishness to precious, live-giving, unfailing hope!  What shame could there be in so perfect a work from so perfect a God?  Far from prompting a debilitating, dishonoring shame, the reality of God's gospel should spur us toward greater service of Him in seeking the spread of His kingdom of glory!


There is no place for a weak, vague gospel in which God's avowed power is replaced for a wholly inadequate, ineffectual human substitute.  This is, to be honest, the best possible news for His children, as we do not have to bear the burden of being the unbeliever's only hope.  We passionately proclaim the message in love and faithfulness, and our God works through that as He desires.  We have our simple, happy, loving work, and God has His glorious, effectual, sovereign work.