Courting Woman Wisdom

Proverbs chapter 8

Proverbs 8 · chapter mention

Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right.

For my mouth will utter truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

All the words of my mouth are righteous. There is nothing twisted or crooked in them.

They are all straight to Him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge.

Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.

For wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil, pride and arrogance, and the way of evil, and perverted speech I hate.

I have counsel and sound wisdom. I have insight. I have strength.

By me, kings reign, and rulers decree what is just. By me, princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly.

I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness.

My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.

I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.

The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His work, the first of His acts of old.

Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

When there were no depths, I was brought forth.

When there were no springs abounding with water.

Before the mountains had been shaped.

Before the hills, I was brought forth.

Before He had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world.

When He established the heavens, I was there.

When He drew a circle on the face of the deep.

When He made firm the skies above.

When He established the fountains of the deep.

When He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress His command.

When He marked out the foundations of the earth.

Then I was beside Him, like a master workman.

And I was daily His delight, rejoicing before Him always.

Rejoicing in His inhabited world, and delighting in the children of man.

And now, O sons, listen to me.

Blessed are those who keep my ways.

Hear instruction, and be wise, and do not neglect it.

Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.

For whoever finds me, finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord.

But he who fails to find me, injures himself.

All who hate me, love death.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

In last week's passage, chapter 7, verses 4 to 5.

The father exhorted his son this way.

Say to wisdom, you are my sister, and call inside your intimate friend.

To keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.

So the forbidden woman, which means literally strange woman.

It's a reference to a woman that doesn't belong to your family.

Someone that is not your wife, but your neighbor's wife.

If you want to be protected from the seduction of the strange woman, he told us that we ought to make wisdom familiar to us.

Wisdom, our family.

And if you want to remain estranged from the adulteress, you have to make yourself familiar with the wisdom of God.

And that's where Proverbs 8 picks up.

It gives us a portrait of personified woman wisdom.

As a contrast from the portrait of the forbidden woman from chapter 7.

And the main exhortation of this passage is that we should court woman wisdom in order to find divine favor and eternal life.

So in verses 1 to 11, we see the instruction of wisdom.

She instructs her hearers to learn from her.

And then in verses 12 to 31, we see the introduction of wisdom.

She introduces herself and explains her value.

And then finally in verses 32 to 36, we see the invitation of wisdom.

Where we are exhorted to seek her diligently.

So the instruction, the introduction, and the invitation.

So let's look at the instruction of wisdom in verses 1 to 11.

It says in verses 1 to 3,

So on the one hand, we were told already in Proverbs chapter 2,

Proverbs 2 · chapter mention

that we should call out for insight and raise our voice for understanding.

And that we were told to seek wisdom.

So on the one hand, we are to call out for wisdom and raise our voice.

But on the other hand, it's also true that wisdom herself calls out to us and raises her voice for us.

So it depicts wisdom as using these elevated platforms beside the way as our podium from which to teach us.

She stands at the crossroads, it says, where there is most foot traffic.

Where people are deciding which way to go.

And you can hear her, it says, beside the gates in front of the town at the entrance of the portals.

In contrast with the forbidden woman, the forbidden woman was a lurker.

If you remember from chapter 7, verse 12, she was lying in wait in every street corner,

as if to pounce on unwitting, I guess, unwitting bystanders, people that would come by.

And she also worked with traps and ambushes in the darkness of night, in the cover of night.

Woman wisdom, however, has nothing to hide.

So she walks out in the open, speaks forthrightly.

She's at the city gates, the center of public commerce and politics,

offering her insight to all who would listen.

And her audience, it says in verses 4 to 5, is all of humanity.

To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the children of men.

O simple ones, learn prudence, O fools, learn sense.

This is an instance of the grammatical convention that I mentioned a few sermons ago,

called the collective masculine.

Old Testament Hebrew, New Testament Greek, just like English and many other modern languages,

use the masculine noun and pronoun when it's referring to a group of both men and women.

And as we have seen, the book of Proverbs often employs the male perspective

because men were representative leaders in society and it's addressed to them.

And this is why, for example, you find warnings about the adulterous woman in chapters 5 to 7,

but no parallel warnings about the predatory man.

But this does not mean that Proverbs is only applicable to men

or that it has an implicit bias against women.

Just as it warns specifically against the adulterous with her smooth words,

it also warns specifically against men of perverted speech in Proverbs 2, verse 12.

Proverbs 2:12

It personifies folly as a woman in chapter 9,

but it also personifies wisdom as a woman throughout the book.

It has an entire section dedicated to praising a woman who fears the Lord in chapter 31,

who also appears to be schooled in wisdom.

And so Proverbs is written for a general audience.

It's written for the children of man that includes both men and women.

But here, there is a more particular audience than just all of humanity.

It says in verses 5 to 6,

Proverbs employs a variety of terms to characterize the fool.

Of those terms, the simple one is the mildest term.

It refers to those who are naive or gullible,

people who are easily duped.

They are duped by evildoers in particular.

And so they're still responsible for their naivete,

but their gullibility is not morally neutral.

They're still morally culpable.

But of the range of words that are used to describe the fool,

this one is the mildest.

It's the least problematic.

They're not settled in their foolish ways yet.

You can still speak to them and exhort them.

Hopefully, they will listen and gain prudence.

That's what they need to learn, prudence or shrewdness.

The term fool used here is the one that's most commonly used

to refer to the fool in the book of Proverbs.

It occurs 70 times in the entire Old Testament,

and 67 of those times is in the Proverbs.

It can have several nuances,

but its basic root meaning is to be thick or fat.

So it refers to someone who is thick-headed or obtuse,

and for that reason, short-sighted and foolhardy.

So then wisdom is particularly concerned

with instructing the simple-minded and the thick-headed.

If only they would learn prudence,

if only they would learn sense,

there is still hope for them.

And so a woman calls out to them in verses 6 to 9,

All of this is also a contrast

with the smooth and wily nature of the forbidden woman.

The words of the woman's wisdom are all noble,

right, true, righteous, straight.

There is no wickedness, nothing twisted or crooked.

In contrast to the words of the forbidden woman,

which were slippery, twisted, deceptive.

Wisdom is a straight shooter.

However, there is an important caveat.

Her words are all straight,

only to him who understands.

Her words are right,

only to those who find knowledge.

To those who do not understand,

to those who have not found knowledge,

even wisdom's unvarnished truth appears false.

Nowadays, a lot of people talk about cognitive biases.

And there's one of the popular ones,

the confirmation bias, right,

the tendency to interpret new evidence

as a confirmation of one's existing beliefs and theories.

And as much as people like to think

that they are cruelly rational and objective,

humans often take new data

and finagle it to fit their existing prejudices

and preconceptions.

And such is the case with the fool.

The fool is immune to learning.

He is impervious to instruction.

He never comes to understand.

He never learns.

Look again at verse 5

and the repetition of the word learn.

O simple words, learn prudence.

O fools, learn sense.

The Hebrew word that is translated as learn here

is the same word that is translated as understand in verse 9.

And notably, in the book of Proverbs,

this word is used only to refer to those who acquire wisdom.

The moment you learn, you cease to be a fool

because only the wise learn in Proverbs.

The fool has no use for learning.

Proverbs 12, 15 says,

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,

but a wise man listens to advice.

Learning wisdom requires patience,

self-discipline, humility.

It demands change, a reformation.

In contrast, folly comes easily

because it requires no self-discipline,

only self-indulgence.

It demands no change.

It preserves the status quo.

And this is why wisdom is a hard sell.

This is why woman wisdom needs to make

this compelling sales pitch.

She says in verses 10 to 11,

Take my instruction instead of silver,

knowledge rather than choice gold,

for wisdom is better than jewels,

and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

Wisdom has incomparable value.

Think for a moment about the things

that you desire in life,

things you wish you had or hope to attain,

perhaps traveling the world,

maybe fame or fortune,

a dream job,

a spouse or a family or a car,

a jewel or a laptop,

whatever it might be,

it does not compare with wisdom.

So you must choose wisdom over all else.

That's the exhortation of this passage

because in her we find divine favor and eternal life.

That's a nice transition to the second part of the passage,

verses 12 to 31,

which is the introduction of wisdom.

She introduces herself to us

and explains our true value.

And usually when people are trying to sell you

on the value of something,

they often mention that the thing is,

one, proven,

and two, that it is time-tested, right?

So we know that,

have that phrase,

proven and time-tested.

First, they mention that it has proven benefits.

This is the page with all the raving reviews

and endorsements.

And then second,

they mention that it's time-tested,

meaning it has been around for a while,

it has outlasted its competition,

it has demonstrated staying power,

it's been around longer than its rivals,

which means it has experienced a thing or two more,

which makes it more reliable or trustworthy.

And this is why people often prefer

well-established brands, right,

that have been around for a while.

And that's why they say,

well, we've been around since 1928

or established in 1942 and so on.

And similarly, in her self-introduction,

woman wisdom tells us of her proven benefits

in verses 12 to 21,

and then about her ancient origin

in verses 22 to 31.

First, she tells us of her proven benefits.

The second person pronouns of verses 4 to 11

give way to the first person pronouns here,

because wisdom is not talking for herself.

She says in verse 12,

I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,

and I find knowledge and discretion.

Her name is wisdom.

Wisdom, this word is used in other parts of Scripture

to refer to an expertise or a skill in something,

such as arts, war, judgeship, or governance.

So it's not merely bookish,

kind of theoretical knowledge,

it's applied knowledge.

That's what wisdom is in Scripture.

And wisdom, as it is used here in the book of Proverbs,

is about life.

So it's expertise in life.

It's skill for living in proper relationship

with God and with the world.

It's expertise that enables one

to navigate the complexities and difficulties

and the realities of life.

And woman wisdom discloses her close consorts.

She says she dwells with,

is accompanied by prudence,

knowledge and discretion.

Prudence is shrewdness,

which is the corrective to naivete.

Knowledge is the building block of wisdom.

It's you apply the knowledge

in order to have wisdom.

It's the corrective to ignorance.

Discretion is the quality of being careful

or considerate.

It's the corrective to carelessness

or impulsiveness.

And so she continues her introduction

in verse 13 this way,

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil

and pride and arrogance

and the way of evil

and perverted speech I hate.

This echoes the thesis statement

of the book of Proverbs

found in chapter 1, verse 7,

that the fear of the Lord

is the beginning of knowledge.

And the fear of the Lord

is another name for wisdom.

Notice the structure of verse 13.

It tells us about two things

that are hated.

Evil and then pride and arrogance.

Wisdom tells us that she herself

hates pride and arrogance

in the way of evil and perverted speech.

And she tells us that

the fear of the Lord

is hatred of evil.

So structurally,

wisdom and fear of the Lord

are parallel,

which suggests that to have wisdom

is to fear the Lord.

So that means you can't have wisdom

apart from relating to God

in a proper way.

To fear the Lord

is to relate to Him

and respond to Him

with reverent obedience

and humble submission.

Proverbs chapter 15, verse 33

Proverbs 15:33

confirms this.

It says,

The fear of the Lord

is instruction in wisdom

and humility comes before honor.

This is why wisdom

militates against pride.

A human being cannot simultaneously

have a high view of God

and a high view of himself.

Just as one can only take

in the soaring height

and the grandeur of a mountain

by looking up,

we cannot rightly appreciate God

and relate to God

unless we assume a position of lowliness,

a posture of humility,

and look up to Him in submission.

To be wise is to fear the Lord.

And woman wisdom

continues to demonstrate our value

by telling us about

our proven benefits

in verses 14 to 16.

I have counsel

and sound wisdom.

I have insight.

I have strength.

By me, kings reign

and rulers decree

what is just.

By me, princes rule

and nobles

all who govern justly.

It's by woman wisdom

that kings, rulers,

princes and nobles govern.

During this pandemic,

I have developed

a newfound respect

for our governing authorities

because even as a pastor

of a small local church,

I've had to wrestle

with both the spiritual

and physical consequences

of every decision

that I, along with the eldership,

have to make

to consider how certain words

and phrases

are going to land

on some people differently,

to anticipate cheers,

both cheers and jeers

from different sectors

of people

with various views

and opinions,

different political,

theological,

and spiritual sides

of the spectrum.

I've had to make

many decisions on the fly

from a place

of uncertainty

but nevertheless

have to live

with the certain consequences

of those decisions.

And that's the case for me

who's just a small

local church pastor.

I can't imagine

being a mega church pastor

with thousands of people

in their church.

I can't imagine

being a president

with billions of people

under his authority.

I'm sure the complexities

and weight of things

that they deal with

are orders of magnitude

greater than what I face.

And that requires

great wisdom.

And so woman wisdom

tells us,

you know how these rulers

do what they do.

Not the ones

that do it badly

but ones that

who do it with justice.

Do you know

what enables them

to govern justly?

She says,

by me.

All those who rule

and govern justly,

they govern by me,

says Lady Wisdom.

And woman wisdom's words

become increasingly

personally and intimate

in verse 17.

Personally and intimate

in verse 17.

I love those who love me

and those who seek me

diligently find me.

This is the language

of courtship

and covenant.

Woman wisdom

is inviting her suitors

to come.

Because already

in Proverbs chapter 4

Proverbs 4 · chapter mention

we were told,

do not forsake her

and she will keep you.

Love her

and she will guard you.

We are to set our love,

our loyal affections

on the wisdom of God.

And verses 18 to 21

give us the reason

why we should do this.

It says,

Riches and honor

are with me,

enduring wealth

and righteousness.

My fruit is better

than gold,

even fine gold,

and my yield

than choice silver.

I walk in the way

of righteousness

in the paths

of justice,

granting an inheritance

to those who love me

and filling their treasuries.

Earlier in verse 10,

woman wisdom said,

take my instruction

instead of silver

in knowledge

rather than choice gold.

But then here

she promises riches

and wealth

to those who choose her.

Paradoxically,

it is by pursuing wisdom

instead of riches

that one acquires riches

as the reward of wisdom.

If you make wisdom

your highest aim,

it enriches you.

But if you make wealth

your highest aim,

it corrupts you.

This is because

God has so ordered

the world

that wise living

and honest hard work

ordinarily,

generally speaking,

produces prosperity.

So even in English,

we have proverbial sayings

like honesty pays

or cheats never prosper.

Of course,

these sayings

admit exceptions,

but these exceptions

prove the general

applicability of the rule.

But woman wisdom

isn't merely

promising material wealth

since she says

in verses 19 to 20,

my fruit is better

than gold,

even fine gold,

and my yield

than choice silver.

I walk in the way

of righteousness

in the path

of justice.

Ultimately,

she promises

something far better,

righteousness.

And in verse 35,

she says,

for whoever finds me

finds life

and obtains favor

from the Lord.

Wisdom promises

divine favor

and life itself.

And these are

the proven benefits

of wisdom.

And in verses

22 to 31,

then woman wisdom

further communicates

her worth

by speaking

of her ancient

and divine origin.

She says in verses

22 to 23,

the Lord possessed me

at the beginning

of His work,

the first of His acts

of old.

Ages ago,

I was set up

at the first

before the beginning

of the earth.

If you're using

the English standard version,

there's a footnote

next to the word

possessed,

which says

that the word possessed

can be rendered

fathered

or begot.

So that's because

the Hebrew word

behind the translation

can mean a wide

range of things,

just like many English words

have a wide range

of meanings.

And this means

that we need to rely

on the context

to determine its meaning.

And in certain

specific contexts,

like Genesis 4,

Genesis 4:1

verse 1,

Deuteronomy 32,

Deuteronomy 32:6

verse 6,

Psalm 139,

Psalms 139:13

verse 13,

this word that's used

here clearly refers

to conceiving

or begetting a child.

And I think

that's what it means

here.

It's confirmed

by verses 24 to 25,

which say,

When there were

no depths,

I was brought forth.

Before the hills,

I was brought forth.

The word brought forth

repeated twice.

There literally means

birthed.

So it's continuing

that metaphor

of begetting,

fathering.

So verse 23,

again,

says,

Ages ago I was set up.

That literally means

woven.

And these verses

then have a close parallel

in Psalm 139,

Psalms 139:13

verse 13.

For you formed

my inward parts,

you wove me

in my mother's womb.

This is all referring

to the same idea.

The Bible has no hint

whatsoever

of the pagan ideas

of gods procreating

with one another

and with other humans

to bring about

other gods

and demigods.

It has no hint

of that at all.

However,

it uses the language

of begetting here

to convey the fact

that wisdom

has a divine origin.

She was birthed

from God.

And this makes her

qualitatively different

from the created world.

The world,

the earth was made,

it says in verse 26,

but wisdom was begotten.

When we make something,

whether it's a meal

or furniture

or webpage

or even a sculpture

that resembles us,

we make something

that is fundamentally

different from us.

We make things

that do not share

our nature.

But when you beget something,

you beget something

that fundamentally

shares your nature.

Dogs beget dogs,

right?

Cats beget cats.

and humans

beget humans.

And so it's significant

that wisdom

is begotten,

not created.

And as such,

she predates

all love creation.

The Lord fathered her

at the beginning

of His work,

the first

of His acts of old.

Ages ago,

she was woven

at the first

before the beginning

of the earth.

And she continues

in verses 24 to 26,

when there were no depths

I was brought forth,

when there were no springs

abounding with water,

before the mountains

had been shaped,

before the hills

I was brought forth,

before He had made

the earth

with its fields,

or the first

of the dust

of the world.

Before the sea depths

below were made,

before the mountains

up above were made,

before anything on earth

between the two

were made,

before even the first

of the dust

of the world

from which human beings

were made,

wisdom was there.

So when we look

at the earth,

it looks as though

the seas and the mountains

had been there forever.

And yet,

even before they were made,

wisdom was already

begotten by God.

And she not only

predates all of creation,

she was present

for all of God's work

in creation

and even participated

in it.

She says in verses 27 to 31,

When He established

the heavens,

I was there.

When He drew a circle

on the face of the deep,

making the horizon.

When He made firm

the skies above.

When He established

the fountains of the deep.

When He assigned

to the sea its limits

so that the waters

might not transgress

His command.

When He marked out

the foundations

of the earth.

Then I was beside Him

like a master workman

and I was daily

His delight,

rejoicing before Him always,

rejoicing in His

inhabited world

and delighting in

the children of man.

When God established

and separated

and filled

and ordered the cosmos,

wisdom was right there

beside Him.

She emphasizes

her participation in it

by saying,

I was there,

I was beside Him.

And this is confirmed

by Proverbs 3,

19 to 20,

which says that

Lord,

by wisdom,

founded the earth.

And,

this too,

highlights wisdom's value.

that's the point

of this section.

Because in the book

of Proverbs,

the elder is described

as being superior

to youth.

And the reason why

Proverbs describes

the elders that way

is because a longer life

usually confers

broader experiences

and deeper understanding

and learning.

And that's why

Proverbs 16,

Proverbs 16:31

verse 31 says,

gray hair is a crown

of glory.

Following that logic,

woman wisdom

should be heeded

because she has been there

from before the beginning

of creation.

She was there

as a witness of,

even participant

of God's work

in creation.

She has seen

all of human history

unfold.

So she has something

that Job didn't have.

If you remember

in Job's encounter

with God,

in the book of Job,

Job is complaining

to God

and accusing God

of injustice

because he,

for as far as he can tell,

was obedient,

he was righteous,

he was blameless

and yet God allows him

to undergo experience

unimaginable suffering

and he loses

all of his prosperity,

his crops

and all of his progeny,

his children as well.

And so he accuses God,

points his finger at God

and Job thinks

he is in the right

when he does this

but God finally answers him

in Job chapter 38,

Job 38:2–4

verses 2-4

with a simple question.

Who is this

that darkens counsel

by words without knowledge?

Where were you

when I laid the foundation

of the earth?

Tell me

if you have understanding.

And once God recounts

all his work of creation,

Job backtracks

and forfeits entirely

his claim to answer

back to God at all

in Job chapter 42,

Job 42:3

verse 3,

I have uttered,

he says,

I have uttered

what I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me

which I did not know.

I had heard of you

by the hearing of the ear

but now my eyes see you,

therefore I despise myself

and repent in dust and ashes.

Job realizes at that moment,

he understands that he

has an infinitesimally small part

of the created world.

He understands so little

and that his life

is an infinitesimally small piece

of the whole puzzle.

And so he concedes

that he was presumptuous

to try to counsel God.

Woman wisdom, however,

is far superior to Job.

She can answer that question

and say,

I was there

when God laid the foundation

of the earth.

And for that reason,

we ought to value

and cherish her counsel

because she has been

through it all.

She's been around the block.

This is who she is

and why we should cherish her,

the introduction of wisdom.

And after this,

we see in verses 32 to 36,

the invitation of wisdom.

And like a nurturing mother,

she addresses us as sons

and encourages us

to seek her favor

and learn from her.

And she goes back and forth

between telling us to listen

and the promising blessing

in verses 32 to 34.

Now, O sons, listen to me.

Blessed are those

who keep my ways.

Hear instruction and be wise

and do not neglect it.

Blessed is the one

who listens to me,

watching daily at my gates,

waiting beside my doors.

Watching and waiting

convey just eager anticipation.

We are to be vigilant

and diligent

in our pursuit of wisdom,

biding our time,

waiting with bated breath,

watching for her door to open

in order to seize

any and every opportunity

to learn from wisdom.

And in the same way,

verses 30 to 31,

wisdom was beside God constantly

and was filled with delight daily,

rejoicing before Him always.

We are now told

to emulate her example

by watching daily

at wisdom's gates,

waiting beside her doors.

And verses 35 to 36

provide the reason

why we should do this.

For whoever finds me

finds life

and obtains favor

from the Lord,

but he who fails to find me

injures himself,

all who hate me

love death.

Finding wisdom

leads to life

because it comes

with favor

from the Lord.

In contrast,

the failure to find wisdom

leads to injury

and death.

This is

an incredible promise

and a striking portrait

of woman wisdom

who represents

the wisdom

of God's Word.

If we heed

the wisdom of God

revealed to us

in the book of Proverbs,

it's saying that

it will impart

life to us.

But this promise

and portrait

of woman wisdom

goes beyond this book

and points to a person.

Wisdom described herself

this way in verse 14.

I have counsel

and sound wisdom.

I have insight.

I have strength.

These four exact attributes

are attributed

to God Himself

in Job chapter 12

Job 12:13

verse 13.

It says,

Not only this,

wisdom describes herself

as fathered by God,

begotten by Him

verses 22 to 25,

existing from before

the creation of the cosmos.

And so,

this depiction

of woman wisdom

in Proverbs

points to

and is ultimately

fulfilled by

the eternal

Son of God,

Jesus Christ,

who is described

in 1 Corinthians 1.24

as the wisdom of God,

who is described

in Hebrews 1.5

Hebrews 5.5

and 1 John 5

as the begotten one.

It says of Jesus

in John 1.1-4,

In the beginning

was the Word

and the Word

was with God

and the Word

was God.

He was in the beginning

with God

and all things

were made through Him

and without Him

was not anything

made that was made.

In Him

was life

and the life

was the light

of man.

Eternal pre-existence,

instrument of creation,

giver of life.

We can superimpose

Christ on all

the characteristics

of woman wisdom

described in

Proverbs 8.

And this really

is given

climactic expression

in Colossians 1.15-20

which we read

for the assurance

of pardon.

There it described

Jesus as

the firstborn

of all creation.

Meaning,

not that Jesus

is the first thing

that God created

because He's uncreated.

He's begotten.

However,

the verse itself,

Colossians 1.15

explains it.

For by Him

all things were created.

The reason why

Jesus is called

the firstborn

of all creation

is because

He is the one

through whom

all of creation

was brought forth,

was created.

And likewise,

that same passage

described Jesus

as the firstborn

from the dead

for the same reason

because it is

through Jesus

that all of God's

people are brought

forth from death

and are born again

into eternal life.

And that happens

because Jesus

died on the cross

for the sins

of His people

and He was raised

from the dead

promising new life

and that's why

He can promise

in 2 Corinthians 5.17

Therefore,

if anyone

is in Christ,

He is a new creation.

The old has passed away.

Behold,

the new has come.

That's why

He promises

in Revelation 21.5

that He's making

all things new.

And so,

this is the promise

that is in

Jesus Christ.

If some of you,

maybe you are not

yet a follower

of Jesus,

maybe you feel

dead inside,

maybe you know

what it means

when Scripture speaks

of being dead

in our sins

and trespasses.

You are living

without the abundant life

that God

has given.

But Christ

came to restore

all of that.

He came to bring

new life.

I found

a compelling

description

of what Jesus,

how Jesus lived

and what He did

from a writing

by a German theologian,

Jürgen Moltmann.

Because we often

think of when

Jesus is coming,

He's performing

miracles and signs

and wonders,

things that defy

nature.

But He puts it

this way instead,

that when Jesus

expels demons

and heals the sick,

He's driving

out of creation

the powers

of destruction

and is healing

and restoring

created beings

who are hurt

and sick.

The Lordship of God

to which the

healing's witness

restores creation

to health.

Jesus' healings

are not

supernatural miracles

in a natural world.

They are the only

truly natural thing

in a world

that is unnatural,

demonized,

and wounded.

Jesus comes

to restore

the natural order,

the goodness

of creation

that was there

when God

first created

by wisdom,

through the Word,

through Jesus Christ.

And ultimately,

death itself

is unnatural.

It was not

meant to be.

We were created

to live forever

with God.

And so God

sends Jesus,

His Son,

to die for our sins,

to pay the penalty

of death,

to absorb our penalty,

and to be raised

from the dead

in resurrection power

so that that life

and that power

may rest with us,

all of those

who put their trust

in Him,

and that may be restored,

that may be restored

to new life,

that we may be

new creations,

as this passage

speaks of.