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As long as man lives in this world and in his present condition, there
will be the struggle between the holy and the profane. We can no more
rid ourselves of it than we can of heaven and hell, of God and men, or
of sin and salvation. No sooner had God given the Law at Sinai than we
see Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10) offering strange fire in the holy
place. This was no trifling act with God for He struck them dead
immediately and then instructed Moses and Aaron to teach the people
to put difference between the holy and
unholy, between unclean and clean (Lev 10:10).
The history of Israel (and of the Church also) is a history of
understanding the holy and the profane. Uzzah was killed for putting
unclean hands on God’s ark; fifty thousand people died in Beth-shemesh
for treating the ark in an unworthy manner; Ananias and Sapphira died
before the church for lying to the Holy Spirit. When the Israelites
went into captivity, Ezekiel wrote, Her
priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they
have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they
shown difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their
eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them (Ez. 22:26).
The good news is that God will remedy the antipathy in the end. Even
Ezekiel describes the kingdom of God on the earth when Christ will reign
in righteousness, And they shall teach
my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to
discern between the unclean and the clean (Ez. 44:23). God’s
goodness is superior to (and prior to) Satan’s evil and will reign
victorious after all sin and evil has been judged and put away forever.
In our present time, we must deal with the conflict between good and
evil by following God’s instructions carefully. That is why parents
teach manners to their children, or why governments make laws, or why
wars are fought. There must be constant vigilance on all levels in this
battle between the holy and the profane. God has often revealed
specifics for His people to follow: the Temple was His house and it was
not to be made a den of thieves; the Church is God’s body and it should
not be given offense; and our bodies are the Temple of the living God,
and they are to be holy and acceptable to Him.
When the
unholy is brought into the holy
God protects those areas where He places His glory and holiness and so
should we. We have a number of words and expressions that the Bible
uses to describe this transgression.
Profane.
But refuse profane and old wives’
fables (1 Tim 4:7); But shun profane and vain babblings (2 Tim 2:16);
Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one
morsel of meat sold his birthright (Heb 12:16). In English our
word “profane” means “before the temple” or to bring something into the
holy place that doesn’t belong. That is translated from the Greek word
beblelos, which means “to cross
the threshold.” To profane something is to bring something unholy
across the threshold into the holy place.
To use profanity is to let words come out of our mouths that shouldn’t
be crossing our lips. James rebukes those who praise God with their
tongue but turn around and curse men who are made in God’s image (Jas
3:9-10). The name of God is never to be used in “vain” or in such a
profane way. We will be held accountable for every idle word that
proceeds out of our mouths.
Obscene. Though not used in our
English Bible, the English word means “off the scene” or “off-stage.”
This is something that would not be worthy to be spoken in front of
others and would be banned in any public speaking. Gene Veith, Jr., in
discussing the pathetic state of contemporary television and films,
explains, “In ancient Greek drama, certain actions could not be
performed onstage for fear of violating the decorum, the appropriate
aesthetic effect, of the play.”1
Today it seems nothing is obscene, for anything at all may be said in
any public place. Even among Christians there seems to be little or no
difference from the world. As a pastor I am often shocked at the words
Christians will use in my presence or in the church without so much as a
blush.
Vulgar. This word has to do with
the language of the common man. It means “of the mob” or “of the common
people.” The Latin Bible is called the “Vulgate” because it was first
made in the common language. Our Greek New Testament is “Koine” or
“common” Greek. In language it is the opposite of manners or
politeness. It even seems snobbish by today’s standards to speak of
language that, though it is used in the street or locker rooms, has no
place in public.
The current rating system for television (G, PG, etc) supposedly keeps
younger people from watching something vulgar, but unwittingly only
allows older people to do so with impunity! How sad that Christians
have followed the world’s standard of decency by following these
instructions. The truth is, if something is vulgar for one human being,
it is vulgar for every human being.
Pornography. This word is made
up of two Greek words, pornō
from porneia meaning
“fornication,” and graphō
meaning “to write.” In most dictionaries the English word will be
broken down as “the writing of harlots.” It is the writing out, or
making public, what is private. It is not that nakedness is itself
evil, but rather that it is private! Marriage and its behavior is
between a husband and his wife.
Blasphemy. Blasphemy is the
overt denigration of God and His name. This word is a combination of
“evil” and “speaking.” “Blast” used to be a vulgar word by itself, but
when such things are directed toward the holy God of heaven, it is truly
“blas-phemous.”
Jesus was often accused of blasphemy by the Scribes and Pharisees
because He said things that, if said by a mere human, would denigrate
God’s name. If you or I proposed to be equal with God, it would be
blasphemous; if you or I claimed to be able to forgive sins, it would be
blasphemous; but if Jesus was God and therefore could forgive sin, it
was revelation! Those who claim to speak in God’s name but say they are
divine, or equal to Jesus Christ, or can become a god through some
process, are guilty of this blasphemy before Him whose name is above all
names!
When the
holy is brought into the unholy.
It is hard for us to see the outside of the bowl when we live on the
inside, but the larger picture of the holy and the profane is that the
universe is filled with God’s holiness and has penetrated our little
unholy world from time to time. Oh, it is true that all of God’s
creation declares His glory, but the truly miraculous has been a rare
event in this world. When it has happened it brings light and life to
all it touches. We also have words to describe this phenomenon.
Incarnation. Something that
eats the flesh is “carnivorous,” or that is fleshly is “carnal,” or that
is entertaining is a “carnival.” Yet something that takes on flesh, or
becomes flesh, is an “incarnation” embodied, personified as a human
being. The only time this has happened was when God became a man.
Humans can’t be said to have experienced incarnation because we were
nothing before we existed in our flesh. But,
The Word was made flesh, and dwelt (“tabernacled”)
among us, (and we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (Jn
1:14).
Revelation. The manifestation,
appearance or enlightenment of God to man is a “revelation.” The
biblical word is “apocalypse” or apo-kaluptō,
to “un-cover.” The Book of Revelation was an uncovering of information
that had been withheld from us. So the coming of Christ into our world
was a revealing of things we did not know.
No man hath seen God at any time; the
only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared
(“exegeted”) him (Jn 1:18).
In these last days [God] hath spoken
unto us by his Son (Heb 1:2).
Transfiguration. There were
times in Jesus’ life that His deity burst through into the darkness. No
time was so stunningly obvious than on the mount of transfiguration.
There Jesus was transfigured, meta-morphōthē,
a “metamorphosis.” It is true that the deity of Christ shown through
from the inside to the outside, but this was also a glimpse of the
outside world bursting through to the inside. Moses and Elijah were
there, talking with Jesus about His own departure back to the outside
world. How could there not also be a radiant light, as on the Damascus
road, when such a thing occurs?
Emmanuel. In the Old Testament
the name is spelled with an “I” in Isaiah 7:14 and 8:8;
a virgin shall conceive, and bear a
son, and shall call his name Immanuel . . . . The stretching out of his
wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. Once in
the New Testament the name is used, quoting Isaiah,
and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us (Mt 1:24).
Never was there a moment like that moment! God with us! The Holy One
coming into the world of the unholy and profane, the obscene and
blasphemous. Christ by highest heaven
adored; Christ the everlasting Lord! Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb: Veiled in flesh the God-head see; Hail the
incarnate deity, Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.
Christmas. Though not used in
our Bible, this common description has been lost to commercialization
and bad theology. It is easy to see the Christ in “Christmas,” but it
is not so easy to see the incarnation, the coming of the Holy One into
the unholy world. The Roman church uses the word “mass” to describe its
sacrament of Eucharist. Christmas is the “Christ-mass.” In the mass,
or Eucharist, they believe that Christ has again become incarnate, the
bread and wine becoming His literal flesh and blood and
(“blasphemously”) they crucify His flesh and blood again and again.
I am not for forfeiting the word Christmas because of bad theology on
their part. Though we do not believe in sacraments, and therefore do
not participate in a mass, we certainly do believe that,
when the fullness of time was come, God
sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Gal
4:4). When we say “Christmas” we are glad we can still use a
word that has “Christ” in it! The commercialization of the season of
our Lord’s birth has caused our avaricious country to sell its Christian
birthright. We will take the word “Christmas” and place no other
meaning on it than what we believe: that God was incarnated into human
flesh, revealed as the true God to a lost world, transfigured in light
before our eyes, understood as Emmanuel, miraculously and eternally
known as God with us!
And So . . . .
One of my favorite writers from a generation ago described the birth of
our Lord in a similar way, when the sacred broke into the profane:
He was the earthly child of a Heavenly Father and the heavenly child of
an earthly mother. If men had arranged His birthplace they might have
chosen a palace; God chose a barn. Men might have prepared a royal
crib; God prepared a feed trough. Men might have provided silken robes;
God chose the swaddling clothes of a poor peasant. Men might have
selected choice perfumes and spices; God came in the malodors of a
stable. Think of it! The Prince of Glory couldn’t find room in a
Bethlehem boarding house! The King of kings, the son of a carpenter’s
wife! What a rebuke to our pride that He Who was so rich became so
poor, when we who are so poor pretend to be so rich!2
O holy night! The stars are brightly
shining.
It is the night of the dear Savior’s
birth;
Long lay the world in sin and error
pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its
worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world
rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious
morn;
Fall on your knees, Oh, hear the angel
voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was
born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
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