Boasting in the Lord

At least a couple of times in his letters to the churches, the apostle Paul talked about boasting in the Lord. He paraphrased the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "Let the one who boast boast in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:31, 2 Corinthians 10:17; compare to Jeremiah 9:24). 

And in his letter to the church in Galatia, Paul says, "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).

So what does it mean to boast in the Lord? Usually, when a person boasts, they are glorifying themselves for some supposedly great thing that they supposedly did. But when a Christian boasts in the Lord, they are doing something different. He or she is not boasting about anything that he or she did. 

The Christian who boasts in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, is boasting about what someone else did. He or she is boasting about what Jesus did. And so the Christian is not glorifying his or her self. The Christian is glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is appropriate, since Jesus Christ is the One who saves us from our sin. We didn't do anything to save ourselves. All we can do is trust in Him to forgive us, take away our sins, and help us become the men and women that He created us to be. As Jesus Himself said, "I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). 

And as the prophet Isaiah wrote, "LORD, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our works in us" (Isaiah 26:12). The New International Version words it this way, "all that we have accomplished you have done for us". 

In verses 18-19 Isaiah says, 

"We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to the wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life. But Your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise - let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy - Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead".

This prophecy is then echoed by Jesus who said, 

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those that hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.

 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth - those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me" (John 5:24-30).

Some wicked, blasphemous people have mockingly compared the resurrection which is to come, with depictions of zombie apocalypses in Hollywood films. And perhaps it is silly to even give a response to such childish mockery. But the resurrection of life will certainly not consist of rotting corpses coming out of the graves. On the contrary, those who participate in the resurrection of life will be fully restored to the vibrancy of life. No tattered clothes, no deteriorated cells, tissues or organs. Just vibrant, healthy life.

Consider this excerpt from my other blog, Dr. Wreath, where a girl who has been dead and embalmed for three days is prayed over and rises from the dead:

And placing a hand upon Cor's overlapping hands, he began to pray:

"Most High God, give back the spirit of this daughter of Yours. And let the breath and blood of natural life be in her once more. I ask this of You in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ, who was dead and is alive".

Just as he spoke that last word, the whole congregation clearly heard Cor draw in a deep breath. The heart that lay in still silence, now resumed the rhythm of life. In place of the embalming fluids; warm, living, healthy blood began once more to make its round course through her body. And every deteriorated cell was restored.

But the resurrection that is to come will actually be greater than Cor's temporal resurrection, described above. That resurrection is comparable to those of Lazarus, the widow's son at Nain, or Jairus' daughter in the Gospels. All of those people, having died and been brought back to life; were restored only to this mortal life that you and I have today. And that means that they eventually died again.

But in the resurrection of life that is to come, those who have trusted faithfully in Christ, will be given something entirely above this mortal life. It will be like the resurrection of Jesus Himself, after He had been crucified. Christians will be raised to immortal, eternal life. There will be no more pain, sorrow, or mortality for those who partake of this resurrection.

Again, there is nothing that any one of us could do to earn this salvation. It is entirely by His grace and forgiveness of our sins. This is why we Christians ought not to boast in ourselves, but in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the resurrection and the life. Without Him, we can do nothing. So it is to Him that we give thanks and praise - forever.

Now these things may seem far out to some readers. But I find Christianity with all its teachings to be far more believable than that irrational myth that atheists tout. Their myth claims that the universe, which operates according to orderly sets of laws, encoded with complex information in its cells and atoms, came not from an orderly Creator and sovereign Lawgiver, but from random, mindless, unguided processes.

Insensitive?

I have heard of the accusation; that devote and faithful Christians are mean and insensitive. And maybe some of us are. Maybe I am. However, that accusation is one that cuts both ways. 

Take for example, Simon Peter. Jesus said to his disciple, who argued with Him about His impending crucifixion, that he was not being mindful of the things of God, but the things of men (Matthew 16:23).

Peter was oh so very sensitive about the well-being of the Messiah. How cruelly did the idea stab his heart; that his Lord should have to "go tho Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed..." (Matthew 16:21). "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" he cried (Matthew 16:22). 

He was sensitive to the wrong things. He was sensitive to his own notion of what should happen to Jesus. But he was not sensitive to the will of God; the need for the Messiah to suffer and die before entering His glory (Isaiah 53, Daniel 9:26, Luke 24:25-27). He was not sensitive to the need for Jesus to give His life as a ransom to save sinners from eternal ruin (Matthew 20:28).

And now what about those who mock and ridicule Jesus and His followers. What about those who reject Christ. Do they call us insensitive because we tell the truth: that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus? (Romans 3:23-24). Are we insensitive be cause we tell the truth: that God now commands all people everywhere to repent (turn away from sin) and be saved, by Jesus, from the judgement to come? (Acts 17:30-31).

Do the unrepentant not know that they are the ones who are insensitive to God who is love, and who made humanity in His own image before the Fall? It is irrational for them to think that the universe, operating according to orderly laws, its behavior guided by intelligible information on a cellular and atomic level, came not from an intelligent Creator and sovereign Lawgiver; but from random, mindless, unguided processes. 

And if the physical universe did not operate according to orderly laws, science would be impossible. Our own brains would not operate according to orderly laws, enabling us to think and to make valid observations. Yet, one must also be blind not to see that this is a fallen, corrupted, sinful, broken world we inhabit; in need of a Savior. And it requires a hard, insensitive heart to reject the truth that Jesus is that Savior. 

The unrepentant, because of their depraved spirits, are irrational, and spiritually blind; having hard, insensitive hearts. They are the ones who are insensitive to the things that matter to the Maker/Owner of the universe. They are the ones who are insensitive to the love of Jesus, who died for their sins. He offers eternal life; restoration taking away the brokenness of sin's curse, eternal peace, joy and love. And they reject it all. 

The unrepentant do not want to be reconciled with their Maker, whose Son died on the cross to save sinners. They want to remain fallen creatures. They think it is enough for them to manage their fallen nature as they see fit. But they are fallen creatures with a corrupted view of what is good. They say that they are "good without a god", but they are not good. They only think that they are good because they are too corrupt to even know what is good. To be without God is, by definition, not good. 

When humanity turns his back on God, and sets up his own fallen, corrupted standard of "right" and "wrong"; it inevitably leads to every kind of evil. It led humanity to crucify the perfect Son of God who is love, and who made humanity in His image before the Fall. And it continues to lead humans to mock and despise Him and His followers to this day. It even has lead to the widespread acceptance of infanticide in the name of "women's rights"; disregard toward human life in the name of "human rights". They think they are good, but they are not good. They are evil. They are the insensitive ones. They are mean. 

They are insensitive to the filthiness of their own rebellion against God who is love. They are insensitive to the stench of their own depravity. They are the insensitive ones who refuse to be reconciled with God through His Son Jesus Christ.

As for me, I too have been insensitive to the heart of God. I have, at times, chosen to be sensitive, instead, to the thoughts and feelings of fallen humanity. And as a result, I have thought and said and done things that are wicked and insensitive to God who is love. For, as Jesus Himself said, "what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15). 

I am sorry for the ways in which I have dishonored God. I repent. And I ask Him to forgive me. And I thank Him for His mercy, as He helps me to practice the righteousness of the new nature which is in Christ.

"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12-14). 

Life and Death (The Relative and the Absolute; and Mutual Exclusion)

Eleven Winters ago, I wrote a song that expresses what I had been thinking about during the course of the preceding Autumn months. That song is called "Till I Reach the Other Side". To explain what the song is about: at all times, through the duration of this life, I ought to be drawing nearer to God the Father, and the Son, in the Holy Spirit. I ought to be doing the kind of works that Christ did; works of love toward God first, and to other people second. And this means that I ought to be continually in the process of having all my fallen, sinful, human nature put to death; with all of its unrighteous, un-Christlike inclinations. So that's what the song is about.

And this death must take place in order for the new life, which is in Christ, to come to fruition. And in the Morning when I arise as a new creature in the presence of my Savior who died for me, and in whom I have been put to death, then I will share also in His eternal life. And every day is a step in that procession. Each time that I look to Christ in worship, and set aside the old nature to practice the new nature; the old nature dies a little more. And the new nature becomes a little more alive. I become a little more like Jesus.

In the beginning of chapter eight, book four of Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis tells us that this is the entirety of what Christianity is all about. He goes on to accurately paraphrases Christ as saying "I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it...I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours". He wrote, "[Jesus] never talked vague, idealistic gas. When He said 'Be perfect,' He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment".

In chapter nine, book four of Mere Christianity; Lewis goes on to say that "Some people seem to think this means 'Unless you are perfect, I will not help you'; and as we can not be perfect, then, if He meant that, our position is hopeless...I think He meant 'The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing less...Make no mistake' He says, 'if you let Me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that'". The last sentence of chapter reads, "The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said". 

And in the first paragraph of chapter ten, book four, Lewis writes, "The change will not be complete in this life, for death is an important part of the treatment. How far the change will have gone before death in any particular Christian is uncertain. 

Now, since the time that I wrote "Till I Reach the Other Side", I have often considered that that song was perhaps the most personal song I'd ever written. I wrote it as a prayer because of my awareness of my own shortcomings. 

And in the last eleven years, there have been times when I have turned around and fed the old nature, which is of the flesh; instead of the new nature, which is of the Spirit. And the result of that has always been trouble and misery. And in my spirit I have felt, at times, as though I might as well be dead. To be alive to sin is to be dead to God; and vice versa.

And so I image, in my mind, a great Curtain hanging down and separating two Expanses. The Expanse on the left is the "life" that this world has to offer. It is the "life" of the old nature. And it corresponds to this mortal life in this fallen world. On the other side is the Life of the new nature, which is Christ. This Life corresponds to the World into which Christians are passing until they have entered it at the end of this "life" (Colossians 3:1-4). 

And the Curtain between them, is called "Death".  And so, in order to cross over from either side to the other would be a process of dying. When Jesus took on human form and was born in Israel, two thousand years ago, that must have been like a kind of death for Him, even though He remained sinless. 

He left behind the ineffable glory of His heavenly kingdom with the Father, to be born into a cold, fallen, broken world. He took upon Himself the whole human experience, which means He bore the same curse of sin that is upon all humanity, even though He never committed any sin, nor did He have any sin in Him. He
bore our griefs and sorrows, and He died on a Roman cross for the sin that we have in us (Isaiah 53). 

And for us to become alive to the new nature requires us to die to our old nature. "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Romans 2:20). We have to go through that Curtain.

So to be alive to God is to be dead to the world with its desires. And to be alive to the world with its desires is to be dead to God. Paul the apostle wrote:

 "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14; NKJV). 

 I also like how it's worded in the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB). 

"But as for me, Heaven forbid that I should boast about anything except the execution-stake of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah! Through him, as far as I am concerned, the world has been put to death on the stake; and through him, as far as the world is concerned, I have been put to death on the stake".

Now no one can be living to God and sin both at the same time. The two lives; the "life" of the world with its desires, and the Life of God, are mutually exclusive. But here, relativity must give way to the Absolute. Here is the superiority of the Life of God. The Life of God is truer and better than the "life" of the world and its desires.

The "life" of the world with its desires is a false life. It is both fake and fleeting. It is a cheap imitation. Its reward is eternal damnation; eternal destruction, atrophy, ruin, and death! The Expanse on the left, the "life" of the world with its desires, is True Death. Those who partake of it grow in depravity and dehumanization.

The Expanse on the right; Life of God, is True Life. His reward is eternal grandeur, blessedness, joy, peace, love, and real, everlasting Life! Those who partake of Him grow in the perfection of who He is.

To understand this, it may be of help to remember that a word can be used in more than one way. For example, the word "light" can refer to a light-source, such as a flashlight, or even the moon. 

The moon is an indirect light-source. It reflects the sun's light onto the earth. That is the purpose for which it was created by God, on the fourth of the six literal days of Creation. And therefore, it can rightly be called a light.

But the same word, "light", can also be rightly used to refer to the waves/particles of light that  come from the light-source.

And it is the same thing with this word "death". It refers to the Curtain through which we Christians must pass to enter the Kingdom of eternal life. And the same word, "death" also refers to the process of going through the Curtain; a process that every Christian in this mortal world is in right now. 

And the same word, "death" also refers to the result of passing through the Curtain, except that if one were to pass from the Kingdom of eternal life, to this side, they would be approaching, and entering into real, absolute death. Whereas, one passing from this side to the other is going to be met on the other side with real, absolute, eternal life.

One might even be right to think that the Curtain itself is a  projection of this fallen, broken world on this side. If this world, on this side of the Curtain were not fallen, there would be no Curtain between this world and that Kingdom.

And now I am reminded of the curtain in the Temple at Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified. This curtain seperated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. And at the moment of Christ's sacrificial death, the curtain was turn in two.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews, in the New Testament, says that this literal event is also symbolic of the fact that Jesus, entering through the curtain of death, had opened the way for all of us who trust and follow Him to do the same, and enter the Kingdom of God.

And why does the Christian's death have a different result than the non-Christian's physical death? Because the one who remains alive to sin, when he passes through physical death, will be confronted by a holy, righteous, perfect God. That sinner then will be met with condemnation, and ruin.

The Christian, in this life, is going through a deep process of having the old sinful nature put to death, so that when we stand before God in His Kingdom, He will see the righteousness of His own So in us. And so He will meet us with His approval. As the author of Hebrews tells us, we can, therefore, approach Him with confidence in Christ.

Here are the lyrics to my song which I wrote eleven winters ago:

 "Till I Reach The Other Side"

In the evening when the sun goes down

And You look down on me, do You where a frown?

Did I do all the things You wanted me to do?

Or in my heart, did I fail to stay true blue?

'Cause I don't know which way to go

And then when I know

It's just a hard row to hoe

Let me be a tool in Your hand

And make me useful to Your plan

Fill me with Your Spirit Lord, and let me walk with You

Till I reach the other side

And in the autumn when the leaves are brown

And all the dead things are falling on the ground

Is my heart turning around

Death to Self, Life to God; truly found

'Cause I know well which way to go

But though I know

 It's just a hard row to hoe

Father, make me like Your Son

And let me not vainly run

Drive Your dagger deep into my heart and set me free

From the selfish part of me

EPIC GUITAR RIFF: RIGHT HERE

And in the Morning when I rise

Lord, deliver me from lies

Let Your word give light to my eyes, my eyes

And let me gaze into You big blue sky

Teach me, Lord

Which way to go

And when I've learned, help me to hoe the row

Jesus, fill me with Your love

With peace and joy from above

Drive Your dagger deep into my heart and set me free

From the sinful part of me

Let me be a tool in Your hand

And make me useful to Your plan

Fill me with Your Spirit Lord, and let me walk with You

Till I reach the other

Till I reach the other

Till I reach the other side

The Dehumanizing Power of Sin

In chapters five - seven of his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass wrote about the time he became the slave of Mr. and Mrs. Auld of Baltimore, Md. When he first came to that house, Sophia Auld was a very kind and tenderhearted woman. Douglass wrote that she treated him "as she supposed one human being ought to treat another".

He describes her in chapter five as having a "face beaming with kindly emotion". She began to teach Douglass to read and write. Over time, however, Douglass describes how slave-holding proved to have a dehumanizing effect on her. She became even more cruel than her husband. So Douglass showed how slavery not only dehumanizes those kept as slaves, but also slave-holders.

My reason for bring this up is that it is an illustration not only of the dehumanizing effects of slavery, but the dehumanizing effect of all sin. This is why the villain in C.S. Lewis' Perelandra is referred to as "the un-man". This is also consistent with the words of Jesus: "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin...Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:34-36).

Humanity was originally created by, and in the image of our holy, righteous God who is love. This is why we, as human beings, even have a concept of love. But then humanity fell into sin and became corrupt. All of us are born with a fallen, corrupted, sinful nature; inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve. And so sin and death came into the world though one man (Romans 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:21-22).

But sin would quickly prove to strip humanity of more than just immortality. Within only one generation, the first son, Cain, murdered his brother, Abel. But it didn't stop there. As the inhabitants of the earth grew in number, they also grew in wickedness. Turning away from the heavenly Father who lovingly created us in His own image, the people of the earth made their own gods in their own fallen image. And so they made idols in the image of created things rather than worship and love and obey God who is love, and who created all the universe (Romans 1:18-24).

For approximately one and a half thousand years, human nature did not change. The earth was filled with idolatry, violence, and every kind of evil. But one man, Noah, along with his family, was saved by grace (Genesis 6:1-8). At that time God justly sent a Flood to cover the whole earth. Many of the geological features that are observed today were formed by that Flood. But He warned Noah to build a 500 ft. long, 75 ft. wide, 45 ft. high Ark to preserve himself and his family, along with two of every "kind" (not species) of animal.

~~~~

A species is a sub-set of the original created "kinds". There is diversity within the created kinds; but, as suggested by the findings of Reginald Punnett, one kind can never give rise to a completely new kind. The feline kind can never give rise to a bird kind, and the canine kind can never give rise to a reptilian kind; and so forth. And as I have already noted in this post, the human kind was created uniquely in the image of God. 

~~~~

So Noah did as God commanded him. And the rain fell for forty days, and all the fountains of the deep were broken open. The waters covered the earth for about a year and then receded. Noah and his wife; his three sons and their wives, came off the Ark and started life over again.

In time, (within approximately half a thousand years) humanity increased again in number, and quickly turned away from the one true God to worship man-made idols. And disobeying a simple command to spread out and populate all the earth, they decided to build a great Tower that was supposed to reach into the heavens. So God confounded their language and scattered them (Genesis 11:1-9).

But human nature did not changed. The Sumerians and the Egyptians; the Incas and the Mayans, built their idolatrous, pagan kingdoms. And God spoke to Abraham the Chaldean. He gave Abraham a son, Isaac, through whom the nation of Israel was born by the will of God. Israel, like the rest of fallen humanity repeatedly showed a propensity toward disobeying God. And like the gentile nations, they even committed idolatry, ritualistic prostitution, and human sacrifices.

And approximately two thousand years after the Tower of Babel, the Creator of all things came into the world as a human being, taking on human form, though without sin. He lived a life that demonstrated His perfect love for His creation. But His own creation rejected, persecuted, arrested, and crucified Him (John 1:1-14). This is the natural expression of fallen humanity's vile depravity, because sin is enmity with God (Romans 8:7).

And in the last two thousand years since then, human nature still has not changed. Wars, violence, and theft go on and on and on in every generation. Meanwhile students are taught that the natural universe, which operates according to orderly laws, was not made by an orderly Creator and sovereign Lawgiver, but arose accidentally from random, unguided processes. That is not a rational worldview. That's just the madness of fallen, corrupt, sinful humans.

Divorce, adultery, and promiscuity are prevalent. Families are turbulent and broken. And many people grow up angry, rebellious, without godly council, and full of angst. Truth and virtue become objects of ridicule. Greed, lust, pride, and self indulgence are major motivators of a humanity that is sick and dying of its own wickedness.

And though many people know that these things are wrong, they still do not turn to be reconciled with the one true God who created all things; and who revealed Himself to humanity through His prophets and His Son, Jesus Christ. God's word is widely mocked and ridiculed; and disobeyed by everyone. No one is without sin (Romans 3:23).

Those who desire to live godly in Christ are also despised and mocked; even executed in many parts of the world. And that blood-shed will probably eventually spread to the West as well. Infanticide is widely defended and proudly advocated in the name of "women's rights"! Human life is devalued and discarded in the name of "human rights"!

And marriage is desecrated in the name of "equality"; even though Jesus Himself, when asked a question about marriage, said "But from the beginning of creation, God 'made them male and female'" (Mark 10:6). And even many of those who claim to be in Christ are willing to distort His word to accommodate sin. Yes, even in the Church there are those who, in many ways, outright defy what is good and right in the sight of God.

But through all of this, God's nature has never changed. He remains our holy, just, and righteous God. And He will rightfully pour out His righteous judgment on the unrepentant, who reject the absolute truth of His word and cling to their own filth.

But He also remains God who is love. And there is no limit to the mercy and grace that He will continually display toward those who, in reverent faith, turn to Him for forgiveness. He has made salvation available to all who are willing to be saved by His grace through faith in His Son Jesus Christ alone, who died on the cross for our sin (Romans 3:23-24, 5:1-2, & 6:23).

God's purpose was fulfilled despite (even by way of) humanity's obstinacy. As God revealed to the prophet Daniel about five hundred years beforehand: "Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself" (Daniel 9:26). It was for our sin that Jesus died.

And at the time it seemed to everyone that He had accomplished nothing. But He was accomplishing a salvation that nobody else's efforts ever could. He who had no sin, took our sin upon Himself; so that those who trust in Him, having no righteousness of our own, may take His righteousness upon ourselves. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

But for those who reject this salvation, THERE IS. NO. OTHER. "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5; also see Hebrews 2:2-4, & 10:26-27).

Made in the Image of God Part Two - The God of Music

On July 18th, 2013, I published Made in the Image of God; based on my favorite syllogism. That biblical syllogism is this: God is love (1 John 4:8). God made humanity in His own image (Genesis 1:26-27). Humanity is made by, and in the image of God who is love. And that is the reason that we as human beings even have a concept of love. 

The capacity and need for love is hardwired into us by our Creator. It is an essential part of the design of who we are. Love is who God is. And we are created in His image for the purpose of love. These days I try to repeat this syllogistic teaching, or at least allude to it as often as I can. 

After all, Jesus said "'Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:37-40). He was quoting from the books of Moses (Deuteronomy 6:5 & Leviticus 19:18). 

And I want to point out that this is also the reason for music. God is the God of music and song. He is the God of all the universe. He existed from eternity past; before the universe existed. He created it. He owns it. It belongs to Him. It is His. Everything, and every being that exists belongs to God who is love. God who is love owns the universe. 

And so He is the God of music. In God's word, the Holy Bible, we are often instructed to use music and singing in our worship of God. The psalmist wrote:

I will be glad and rejoice in You;

I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High

(Psalm 9:2).

Praise the LORD with the harp;

Make melody to Him on an instrument of ten strings.

Sing to Him a new song:

Play skillfully with a shout of joy

(Psalm 33:2-3).

Also with the flute I will praise You -

And Your faithfulness, O my God.

To You I will sing with the harp

O Holy One of Israel

(Psalm 71:22).

It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
And to sing praises to Your name; O Most High
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And Your faithfulness every night,
On an instrument of ten strings,
On the flute,
And on the harp,
With harmonious sound.
For You, LORD, have made me glad through Your works;
I will triumph in the works of Your hands
(Psalm 92:1-4)

King Solomon wrote a book of the Bible that is known interchangeable as the Song of Songs and the Song of Solomon. It is an extended, poetic dialogue between a bride and groom, with choruses provided by the friends of the couple. Some theologians like to think that the Song of Solomon is an allegory, or parable of the love between Jesus Christ and the Church as a collective body. 

The New Testament does refer to the collective body of believers metaphorically as the Bride of Christ. And husbands are commanded: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her" (Ephesians 5:25). So the poem can be read that way. But personally, I prefer to simply appreciate the Song of Songs as a glad celebration of the love between a man and a woman in holy matrimony.

In the New Testament, Christians are taught to "speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:19-20). 

And "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Colossians 3:16). 

Rather than an attempt to fabricate some illusory feeling of peace or purpose or meaning; music is meant to be an expression of the peace, purpose, and meaning that one already has from our Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ. Music was intended to be an expression of our love for God, and our love for each other in God. And it was meant to be an expression of our gladness, and gratitude and thanksgiving to God. And since the Fall of humanity into sin, music can also rightly be an expression of the lamentations of the human spirit in our trials and our longing for restoration in Christ.

Our holy God who is love created us with the capacity and need for love. And stemming from that, we are created with the ability to appreciate music and find in it an expression of our inward spirits; our love toward God and each other, our brokenness and sorrows, our repentance, our longing for all good things which come from God, and our praise and gratitude to God who is love. 

And in music, we can perhaps even hear some whisper of the beauty and glory and love of God who is love. As the Scriptures tell: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning" (James 1:17).

Sadly though, in this broken world many people choose to reject God. If they use music,they use it to glorify their own fallen selves, or fallen, corrupted humanity as a collective body. They do not use it to glorify, or express love for God. And the love they do express is not a true, Christ-like love, because they reject God who is love. Jesus, the Son of God, lived a life of devotion to the heavenly Father. But their hearts are far from Him. They love the gift, but they despise the Giver.

Two thousand years ago, the Creator of all things who is love revealed Himself as a human being. Jesus of Nazareth was born of the virgin  Mary, in the city of David - Bethlehem, Israel. He took on human form and lived within the time and space of human history. But He was without sin. He lived a perfect life. And as the Christmas carol tells us, "Truly He taught us to love one another". And He taught us to love God (Matthew 22:37-40). 

And He taught us this love, not only by words, but by deeds. He lived a life of humility and sacrifice; of devotion to the heavenly Father, and the salvation of His creation. And then He willingly laid down His life, dying on a Roman cross for my sins and yours. 

He paid the penalty. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). And "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23-24).

Those who hear of His salvation, and go to the grave rejecting Him, demonstrate their lovelessness toward their Creator; the hardness of their fallen, corrupted heart against God who is love, and their worthiness of the condemnation that awaits the unrepentant.