The King's Kingly Love, Nov 4, 2018 скачать в хорошем качестве

The King's Kingly Love, Nov 4, 2018

Ruth 1:1-18; Psalm 146; Mark 12:28-34 The King's Kingly Love is the extension of his justice throughout the land. This justice is administered in and through the law of God written on the human heart, and the gleanings of what some have called 'natural law' or prudential wisdom gleaned through nature. He rules the church in and through the total witness of Scripture. Though different, both are means by which he orchestrates history toward the final end, which is His glory. Of the three major religions, Irving Singer, in his three-volume opus on Love, has unequivocally stated that love belongs to Christianity. Not in an exclusive sense; that would be absurd, but in terms of its defining ethos, and that's what we find here in Mark's gospel. What is the greatest of the commandments? LOVE. What is the greatest thing humans can undertake? LOVE. You see, in that sense, love belongs to Christianity. It is its heart and soul; it is who God is. But this love is a kingly love. It is a holy love. Love is not defined by unlimited diversity anymore than it is defined by an unqualified tolerance. Unqualified tolerance is libertinism and it leads to anarchy. God's kingly love has standards. His love has form and substance. It discriminates between truth-claims. The book of Ruth is sandwiched between Judges and 1 Samuel. The book that ends in lawlessness (Judges) and the eventual enthronement of the true king of Israel - David, a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel). Elimelech 'left' the promised land, because of famine. He sought strength and sustenance outside of the promised land. Likewise, Saul, the first king of Israel sought to implement God's kingdom through his own wisdom and strength - outside of God's promises. He sacrificed the best animals after holy war, when God had strictly told him to destroy everything, and save nothing. Canonically, Ruth is place between Judges and 1 Samuel to affirm the Davidic throne and promises of God to his people. It hints at Gentile inclusion, as Ruth, a Moabite, displays unwavering faith in the God of Israel. Of course David failed too, but typologically he pointed forward to the second Adam (1 Cor 15:45-49), the one who would NOT fail, but who trusted perfectly as the God-man. That man is Jesus Christ.