Poe and the Prophet

Some time back I learned about the poem by Edgar Allan Poe called "The Raven." After some dialogue between the poet and this dark raven perched on a doorpost, who spouted only hopelessness, Poe asked this question, "Is there, is there balm in Gilead?" The raven's response was the same as it had been throughout the poem, "Nevermore."

When God's people went astray in the Old Testament He declared their impending judgment since they refused to repent. He described their hearts this way, "they we not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush." Jer. 7:12

Jeremiah (the weeping prophet) grieved and asked of God, "Is there no balm in Gilead" Is there no physician there?" Jer. 8:22 His question was one of hope. He was asking if, when God has broken them, will there be any healing?

As the pages of declarations go on, there is a hint of an answer to that exact question. "I will restore your health to you' and your wounds I will heal, declares the LORD." Jer. 30:17

We find similar language in the prophetic 53rd chapter of Isaiah in verses 4 & 5. Verse 4 ends, "with His stripes we are healed." The healing to look forward to for Jeremiah's people or for any of us is spiritual. It comes through the crushing of another for our sakes if we believe Him. And He arrives on the scene as God in the flesh, the man Jesus of Nazareth. He took the stripes I deserved and I am healed by faith in Him.

I love His balm. It is sweet to me.

5 Solas

Was the Reformation necessary? I believe it was not only necessary but that it isn't over. "Semper Reformenda" (always reforming)is still the cry of the thoughtful.
The Reformation acknowledged our dependence on grace and not merited favor, sola gratia (grace alone). "...being justified freely by His grace..." Rom 3:23
We realized that the instrument of saving grace was "sola fide" (faith alone) and not the working of any sacraments or any other experience or rite or ritual. "...a man is justified by faith and not the deeds of the law." Rom 3:28
The reformers understood the "...Holy Scriptures lead you to salvation..." 2 Tim 3:15 and are the only sufficient authority for faith and obedience. The church is an ordained support to that truth but not another authority in and of itself. They said "sola Scriptura" (Scripture alone).
The central Person of all the Bible is Jesus the Christ who accomplished redemption for all who believe. "...the redemption that is in Christ Jesus..." Rom. 3:24. So our faith is in a Person Who is God, "solo Christo" (Christ alone) and not another such as Mary or any organization etc.
"I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another..." Is. 42:8 The glory of God is central to the purpose of God and ought to be the passion for the church. "Soli Deo Gloria" (God's glory alone) is the purpose of all the above.
By grace alone, through faith alone, on the word alone, because of Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.

"Life Together"

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) wrote a book titled "Life Together." It is the book on the community of the New Testament church. There are thoughts and applications of "body life" found there not to be found in any other writings on the subject from what I've seen. I love the church. I love the idea of the church and by church I mean the committed, local gathering of believers.
It is in and from the local assemblies of the faithful that we practice all the commands of brotherly love and the Christian life of following Jesus. Bonhoeffer died in effort to love his neighbor.
Before he was imprisoned Bonhoeffer pastored a group of students and they called it the "Confessing Church". This was to differentiate them from the churches of Germany at the time which failed to foresee the dangers of and stand against the march of Hitler's ideas. In dangerous times the local church loves dangerously. She must.
It is in the local church we are faithful corporately instead of individually or even as individual households. The winds of the Spirit of God blow across a corporate gathering of worshipers in ways that it does not when we are alone. When we are "saved" we are necessarily saved out of ourselves and into community. It cannot be any other way. By definition a Christian is part of a community of believers. We love Jesus there in ways we cannot alone and find Him in our brothers and sisters there.
I love the church. God thought it up! He died for "Her." She is His bride. But she is only manifest, not in the universal idea of the church but in the local body of believers. She is not seen in the theological concept of the faithful of all times and places all being part of that bride but in the community where they worship, work for kingdom purposes and love as fools in love and unashamed.
Bonhoeffer wrote, "The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the heart of his brother..." I love what He died for and who He died for and I need them.
When I am among them there is no place on earth I'd rather be. They are a priority to me in such a way that I have no other thing worth doing until our gathering is over. I grow there, love there, seek and find there and delight in service there. It's necessarily who I am in Him. For these reasons I stay where He is and where those He died for are. I find Him in them there.