Come Lord Jesus

The prophet Isaiah saw God on his throne and heard the seraph with six wings cry out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
 
Isaiah cried, “Woe is me!” (Isa 6:3,5).

God’s holiness exposed Isaiah’s sin and his desperate need for forgiveness. God graciously sent the six-winged seraph to touch Isaiah’s mouth with live coal to take away his guilt (6–7). Isaiah could stand in God’s presence. It was a glimmer of what God would do when he graciously and mercifully sent the Son Jesus Christ to atone for human sin. Believers in Christ can join the seraphim singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord; the whole earth is full of his glory.” But without Jesus we cannot stand in God’s presence. Without Jesus, we cannot recognize the evilness of sin and Satan.

Psychology Permeates American Culture

Once a sociology professor introduced me to the importance of human cultures. He said, “Imagine yourself in a helicopter looking down at traffic below. Lines of cars flow in an orderly way because they are regulated by speed limits, stop signs, and traffic lights. Without them, we would run into one another. Cultures are like that—they organize our life together. Instead of stop signs, culture have laws and norms that are prescriptions and proscriptions of what members can and cannot do and say. People who violate norms are isolated, shunned, and rejected. Those who embody them are honored and promoted. Families, churches, communities, and cities have cultures, and each is influenced in some way by the larger culture. Cultures that endure change slowly. Others crash and burn.”[1]

God created us for relationships, and social isolation and rejection are strong incentives to conform to the culture. For many years I conducted a private practice in individual, marriage, and family therapy. Beginning in the 80s I heard phrases from the recovery movement enter mainstream culture. Soon after I heard psychological terminology such as PTSD, OCD, and narcissism used to explain human suffering and bad behavior. At lightening speed, psychological theories became the preferred explanation for human suffering and dysfunction. The man who randomly murdered a young woman must have suffered terribly as a child. People must find their “voice” and express themselves—emotionally, intellectually, physically, sexually, and spiritually. Biblical teaching on quintessential evil, whether sin or Satan, is not fashionable. Instead, people make mistakes.

Popular Culture

Meanwhile sin and the demons appeared in popular culture. The academy award winning KPop Demon Hunters featured three girls who battle demons to prevent them from inhabiting people. The film Sinners took place in 1930’s Mississippi where vampires attacked the innocent. Routinely in films, men and women connive and kill. Passionate sexual scenes occur between heterosexual and gay couples who barely know each other.

Benefits of Psychiatry and Social Sciences

No doubt psychiatry and the social sciences have improved the lives of people living with debilitating illnesses and in desperate situations. We remember the dreadful conditions in the insane asylums before the 1960s and the dramatic changes in treatment after the discovery of the first psychotropic drugs such as Thorazine. Therapists and counselors have heightened awareness of the need to protect and treat those physically and mentally abused, whether a spouse, child, or the elderly. Recovery movements have helped the bereaved, disabled, and those addicted to drugs, pornography, and gambling.
 
But Christians understand that normalizing sin cannot solve the problem of evil. If sins are in fact mistakes that people can self-correct, then why did Jesus suffer the wrath of God and die on the cross to redeem us? Though helpful, psychiatry and the social sciences can never fully explain or address the human condition.

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all (1 Jn 1:5).
 
The Holiness of God
To understand the human condition, people must know God—his holiness, wisdom, love, and his relationship to his creation as described in the Bible and affirmed by the Holy Spirit in every Christian.
 
Only when people know God can they acknowledge the evilness of sin and Satan. Without him, such knowledge is simply too much to bear, and human wisdom steps into the void. But in Christ, Christians can stand with him and withstand the pull of cultures, no matter how strong..
 
The very good news is that God’s revelation of himself shakes people to their senses. Sinners see themselves laid bare when God reveals his holiness, power, and majesty. Peter, James and John were terrified when Jesus transfigured before them (Mt 7:1–8, Mk 9:2–8, and Lk 9:28–36). 
 
Fear of the Lord is a good thing, for it knocks us off our high horse and brings us to repentance before Holy God. When pastors and bible teachers speak of sin and the demons, they reflect a biblical worldview—one based on worship of holy God. They drink in his grace, love, wisdom, guidance, and belief that this is his world and one day he will come in glory to take us home.

Christ came to save sinners who are under control of the Evil One (1 Jn 5:19). They must hear the Word preached as the Holy Spirit convicts and changes them deep within. They must worship the Good Shepherd who loves and cares for them in this life and the one to come.
 
Come, Lord Jesus. This Easter, reveal your holiness and love to people in desperate need of your grace. Amen.

[1] Dr. Thomas Drabek taught “Sociology of Complex Organizations” at the University of Denver.