Nathan E. Lewis

I know a man who has become so sick and tired of his habitual sin that he has taken drastic measures. He has taken to wearing a blindfold. He cuffs his hands, wears a chastity belt (his wife is keeper of the keys) and he shackles his feet. He hires a retired mendicant (they work for almost nothing) to read the Holy Scriptures to him, as his blindfold prevents him from doing his own reading. He reports that as long as he is subject to these constraints, he has not fallen to his habitual sins. He tells me that the Word of God has been the cause of the cessation of his sin. When I mention his cuffs, shackles, blindfold, and belt, he quickly insists that the Bible has provided all of these for his prevention of his sin. He is wearing these in obedience to the Word of God. He listens to the monk read and he does his best to memorize as much as he can, hiding the very Words of God so that he might not sin against God.
He has even memorized Psalm 119:105, “Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” I asked him if he had been doing much walking lately. “No, no I haven’t. When I get up and out of these shackles, I get into trouble. No I haven’t been on the path for a very long time. If I am going to stay away from sin, then I need to stay right here in my room, close to my Bible reading monk.” I told him I found it interesting that this memorized verse about the law of God enlightening our common life encouraged us to get up and out into the world where the Word of God could be applied to anything we might encounter. “Oh no! I am too sinful and weak for the world. I need to stay right here with my blindfold over my eyes, listening to the Word of God.”
“OK,” I said. “I am returning to the world now and when I return, I hope to find you in good health and spirits.” Continue reading »

In preparation to teach a group of teens a course on worldviews, I discovered Albert Wolters in his book, “Creation Regained,” citing Leslie Newbigin, missionary to India: “Leslie Newbigin tells the story of a learned Hindu scholar who once complained that Christians have misrepresented the Bible: ‘I can’t understand why you missionaries present the Bible to us in India as a book of religion. It is not a book of religion - and anyway we have plenty of books of religion in India. We don’t need any more! Continue reading »

The main story of the Bible is God redeeming his people. The following paragraphs outline the whole of the Bible showing how every bit of scripture points to Jesus Christ.
The Age of Adam: Adam is the one man who failed God, so the one man, Jesus Christ, came to represent all of us in his perfect obedience to God All of us who are united to Adam by natural birth, must be united to Jesus Christ for redemption and spiritual birth.
The Age of Noah: Noah preached the good news to a wicked generation. He and all his family were saved from destruction. All of us are to see Jesus Christ in the life and salvation of Noah, so that we might hear the good news and be saved from destruction.
The Age of Abraham: Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. All of us become spiritual children of Abraham, as we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the true Isaac, who has come to win the promise for us.
The Age of Moses: Moses, the great prophet and mediator of God’s holy law, led God’s children to faith and repentance in the face of God’s demand for perfection. All of us are driven to trust in Jesus Christ as we face the demands of God’s holy laws, taking comfort in Jesus, our one and only Mediator between us and our heavenly Father.
The Age of Prophets: The prophets delivered God’s judgment upon his chosen Israel, who had broken his covenant. The prophets announced the coming of the one, true Israel, the Christ, who would keep the covenant for all peoples of the world. All of us must heed the prophets’ warning and find refuge in Christ Jesus, who has kept the covenant for us.
The Coming of Christ: Christ Jesus came as the Son of Man, the divine second person of the Trinity, to seek and to save the lost children of God. Jesus Christ came as the Son of God, the second Adam, as our human representative, to perfectly keep the covenant and thus win the Father’s favor for all of us.
The Age of the Apostles: The Apostles were eye-witnesses of Jesus Christ, who were given the mission to preach the good news to the ends of the earth, to all generations in these last days. All of us must come under the authority of the Apostles, receive by faith their Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ, and join the mission until Jesus Christ returns to judge the living and the dead.
Biblical history places the person and work of Jesus Christ at its center. The Old Testament anticipates his coming, calling all those who lived before Christ Jesus to do so looking to Jesus by faith. The New Testament remembers his coming, calling all those who have lived after Christ Jesus to do so looking up to him by faith.