Rebecca Writes

 
Until I came north, everything I knew about ravens, I learned in Sunday school. (Okay, in Sunday school and from Edgar Allan Poe.) We had their close cousins, the crows, where I grew up in Minnesota, but I don’t remember ever seeing a raven. According to this map, there should have been some there, but I guess I missed them. 

It’d be impossible for a child to grow up in the Yukon and not notice the ravens. They are here and they are not silent.

Northerners tend to have a love-hate relationship with these big black birds. If we don’t lock the lids tight on our garbage cans, the packaging from our food waste will be spread all over the neighbourhood by trash-picking ravens. Can you see that the one in the photo (above left) is carrying a scavenged treasure? Once I saw a raven fly off with a whole package of cheddar cheese from a bag of groceries left in the back of a pickup truck in the supermarket parking lot. I’d like to have heard the conversation in that kitchen when it came time to make the grilled cheese sandwiches for supper.

 
It’s because ravens seem to relish life that we love them. When it comes to ravens, bird-brained isn’t stupid, and some of that raven brain power is used purely for amusement. Ravens love to swirl and roll in the air currents near the edge of the escarpment rimming town, performing stunt-pilot-worthy aerobatics displays. I have it on good authority that ravens have been seen sliding down snowbanks just for the fun of it. Another favorite pastime is playing “Nonny-nonny-nonny, you can’t catch me!” with my dog. Frankly, in an I.Q. competition between my dog and a raven, I’m not sure my dog would come out on top.

Their extreme cleverness shows itself in their hoarding behaviour. Sometimes ravens will store bits of stolen food in little caches so they can come back for it later, and studies have shown that they find their stockpiles again because they remember where they put them. They also spy on other ravens to see where they are burying their goodies, so that when the opportunity arises, the neighbour’s stash can be raided. Sometimes a hoarding raven will only pretend to bury food in order to throw the thieving spies and raiders off the trail. You might say that ravens are the greedy geniuses of the bird world.

But let’s get back to what I learned about ravens in Sunday school, way before any real-life raven encounters.  I learned, first of all, that it is God who feeds them.

Who provides for the raven its prey,
when its young ones cry to God for help,
and wander about for lack of food? (Job 38:41)

That’s a rhetorical question and we’re supposed to answer, “God does.” If you need further confirmation, see Psalm 147:9 and Luke 12:24.

God intentionally provides prey and other goodies for the ravens. Yes, they dumpster dive and trash pick and forage for berries and scavenge for carrion and hunt small rodents. They even eat carcass-feeding maggots and beetles. (How’s that for opportunistic snacking?) And this is how God  feeds them.

According to Wikipedia, the raven’s “diet may vary widely with location, season and serendipity,” which my dictionary defines as “the occurrence or development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.” It’s not quite serendipity, of course, if God feeds them, is it? But if we changed “by chance” to “by God’s intent” in that definition, we’d have a fairly good definition of providence. God intentionally controls the occurrence and development of events with a happy and beneficial result for the ravens.

So by providence, it is, that the ravens are fed. I leave the lid on my garbage can unfastened and it is God’s provision for them. The unguarded bag of groceries in the back of the pick up? Providence for the birds. Road kill? God’s good gift to the hungry young ones. Ravens have enough brain power to devise clever schemes for keeping their food finds all to themselves. This, as well, is God’s providence for them. All these things are good gifts from God who feeds the ravens.

Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2 And the word of the Lord came to him: 3 “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4 You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. 6 And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. (1 Kings 17:1-6) 

I’ve been tagged by Kim of Hiraeth for the passion quilt meme. Here are the instructions.

If you’ve read here for a while, you  won’t be surprised by where my passion lies.

The Cross 

This depiction of Christ being lifted up on the cross is by the French illustrator, Gustave Dore.

• For those who are redeemed by it, the cross of Christ will be an enduring passion, a passion that only increases in eternity. Christ’s work on the cross is the centerpiece of the new song:  
  
  

  “Worthy are you to take the scroll
  and to open its seals,
  for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
  from every tribe and language and people and nation,
  and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God…
  
  “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
  to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
  and honor and glory and blessing!” 

Click to read more ...

Click to read more ...

 …and imputed (or alien) righteousness.

From A Learned Discourse of Justification, Works, and how the Foundation of Faith is Overthrown:

the … only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords …

(1 Timothy 6:15) 

sov·er·eign·ty (sŏv’ər-ĭn-tē)
n., pl. -ties.

1. Supremacy of authority or rule as exercised by a sovereign … .
   

By definition, to be sovereign over something means to have the highest (or supreme) authority or rule over it. Therefore, there can be only one sovereign over any one thing, and sovereignty over any one thing can’t be shared, since there can only be one supreme authority or rule over any single thing.

If you accept this definition of sovereignty (and you should, since both the dictionary and the verse say so), and you believe that there is one Sovereign over all the universe (and you should, since this verse and others says so), then you must believe that this one Sovereign has the highest authority over every single thing in it. 

Given this definition of sovereignty and that God is the one Sovereign over all the universe, here are few absurd phrases seen on the Baptist Board this week in regards to God’s sovereignty:

• Christ’s resurrection means that we can be certain that we will be resurrected after we die:

  But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23 NET)

  In the same way that being included with Adam brought us death, belonging to Christ assures us that we will rise again after we die. Christ’s present resurrected life is a promise to those who belong to Him that they will be brought with Him into the same resurrected life when he returns.
  
  Christ’s resurrection included the resurrection of his body and so will ours. Paul tells us that the sort of body that Christ had when he walked the earth after His resurrection and with which He ascended and now rules from heaven is the same sort of body that we will have when we are raised at His coming.

  It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living person”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Corinthians 15: 42-49 NET)

  Our resurrected body will be a reproduction of the one the man of heaven has. Just as our identification with Adam brought us perishable bodies, our identification with Christ in his resurrected life will bring us imperishable bodies. The mortal will become immortal, so that we can sing along with Paul and Isaiah:

  Death has been swallowed up in victory.
  Where, O death, is your victory?
  Where, O death, is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:55)

  This is the hope we have. We will be raised with incorruptible bodies to live forever with the One who takes us with Him in His resurrection.
  
  
• Christ’s resurrection changes things for us right now in the life we live as believers.
  

  But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved! and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.. (Ephesians 2:4-6 NET)

  The resurrected life that comes into completeness at our glorification when we receive our resurrected bodies is already within us. We have been made alive together with Christ and  a new sort of life has begun—a recreated life:

  Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection. (Romans 6:4,5 NET)

  Our new life is grounded in our association with Christ’s resurrection. Because we are in Christ, we are new creation. We have begun our lives in the realm of the resurrection and sin no longer has dominion over us: the old things have passed away and the new things have come. The changed life we have—the life in the Spirit—comes to us through our inclusion with the risen Christ; and based on this new reality, we are called to live a new kind of life.

  Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him. So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth…. (Colossians 3:1-5a NET)

  We are urged to put aside the things we once loved and the passions we once followed as the old sort of person we once were. Now we have been clothed with the new person, one “that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it (Colossians 3:10)”; and we are called to have new loves and new passions, seeking heavenly things. We must clothe ourselves in the power of the resurrection and live according to the fruit the Spirit produces within us.
  
  As men and women of the new life, we need to “present [ourselves] to God as those who are alive from the dead and [our] members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness (Romans 6:13 NET).” We can do this knowing that there is no reason for sin to defeat us as we work out the victory over sin that has already become reality in Christ’s resurrection, a victory that will come to its consummation when we are raised with Him when He comes again.
  

• The resurrection is evidence that Jesus is the Promised One.
  David prophesied that the Messiah would not see corruption, and at Pentecost, the apostle Peter tells us this prophesy is fulfilled by the resurrection of Jesus: 

  … [T]he patriarch David … [b]eing therefore a prophet, … foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing… .
  

   

  Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2: 29-36 ESV)

   

  It is because Jesus was raised that we can “know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ.” His resurrection confirms his fulfillment of messianic prophesy, proving that he is the long awaited Promised One.
   
• The resurrection declares that Jesus is the Son of God in power.
  Jesus was born in weakness, and during his earthly ministry and perfect obedience unto death, we see his human frailty; but with the resurrection, a new phase of Jesus’ human existence has dawned. In his resurrection, Jesus is shown to be the Son of God in power. Paul tells us that Jesus was

  …descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord… (Romans 1:3,4 ESV)

  The resurrection announces to the world that Jesus Christ, who came and lived and died as one of us, has now been appointed to a position of power and authority.


• The resurrection is proof that Jesus is appointed Judge of All.
  The apostle Paul told the people of Athens that Jesus’ resurrection gives assurance to all people everywhere that he is the one whom God has appointed to judge the world:

  The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. (Acts 17:30, 31 ESV)

  We know Jesus Christ is the Judge of All because he has been raised, and the only reasonable response to the surety of this promise of judgment by Christ is repentance.

God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11 ESV)

You thought they were an extinct bird, didn’t you? Nope, they may be rare, but they exist, and the Baptist Board seems to have more than their fair share of them. Right now, I’m in a discussion with someone who doesn’t believe in duty-faith. In other words, this person doesn’t believe that the non-elect have a duty to believe, which is one of the classic hypercalvinistic beliefs.

Because they are rarish birds, the temptation is to ignore them. The problem in this case is that this hypercalvinist claims to be a Calvinist. Spurgeon, says he, is a “weak Calvinist”, while he’s the real sort. So there his posts stand, confirming all the suspicions about Calvinism that many noncalvinists already have, and it’d be a mistake to leave him unchallenged.

You don’t know what hypercalvinists are? They come in different breeds, but here are two common signs of a true hypercalvinist: