Even as God’s people get the humility part right, they must also get the triumph part right. For as the Christmas story continues, it leads us through condescension and weakness and humility and death, to glory and sovereign power and total triumph

In my last posting, I focused on the ironies of the Christmas story: that God chose to use surprising means – which “normal” human wisdom would probably find futile and even ridiculous – in order to accomplish his redemptive purposes for his world: an ironic person in an ironic place, in an ironic situation, with an ironic faith, as means to his ironic salvation. In fact, God delights to work through the weak and the foolish and the humble, those who are poor in spirit, who fear him, and who believe and obey his word.

How easy it is to get this wrong, to come to think that we must seek out extraordinary positions and do extraordinary things – that we must aim to be extraordinary leaders and “movers and shakers” in order for God to get his redemptive work done.

These thoughts have been especially important for us at Covenant as we seek to prepare our students for the pathways of God’s callings – not necessarily in positions of visible leadership, although God will surely choose to lead some in that way, but more often in ordinary paths of daily work and service and sacrifice and contribution. The phrase extraordinary callings in ordinary places captures our conviction, pointing to the reality that all callings from God are, indeed, extraordinary, flowing as they do from his sovereign, gospel purposes, and yet lived out for the most part in beautifully common and even mundane manner.

After that posting in mid-December, I came across another posting, this one on the Gospel Coalition website and written by pastor Kevin DeYoung, in which DeYoung rightly critiques Christian college marketing schemes which appeal to only-too-common obsessions with how “special” we are and how indispensable we are to God’s accomplishing his purposes.

One presentation he does not mention announces a college’s intentional focus on “the ruling disciplines,” implying, I assume, that its graduates will invade the loci of power and leadership and “rule” for Christ.

As Covenant’s president, I readily acknowledge the desire to present the College as a worthwhile place to attend – a good investment, a context for real learning and growth, and a sound preparation for “making a difference” in the world. The fact is that I passionately believe this about Covenant, and I am grateful for the opportunities we have to demonstrate these truths again and again.

But DeYoung is surely right: Our marketing should be consistent with our mission, which flows from the mission of the gospel. It’s certainly something we think about and work toward, and I welcome accountability on it.

And yet there is perhaps another irony here, for this encouragement to think of ourselves rightly in light of God’s sovereign, gospel purposes must also include the Scriptures’ full picture of our gospel calling and gospel destiny.

The Christmas story includes not only the expression of God’s condescension, in the clothing of his eternal Son in human flesh and in his pleasure to work his will through human weakness, but also the thrilling display of the trajectory of all this: the glorious destiny of his Son, through suffering and death and resurrection to his eternal reign over all things, and his people’s reign with him.

While many Christmas carols remind us of the humble conditions of Jesus’ birth, others declare powerfully the glory that is his and that will be his when he completes the mission that his Father gave him. Think of that final stanza of “Once in Royal David’s City” –

Not in that poor lowly stable, with the oxen standing by,
We shall see him, but in heaven, set at God’s right hand on high;
When like stars his children crowned all in white shall wait around.

In the last few weeks you have likely heard the prophetic word of Isaiah 9:7 –

Of the increase of his government and of peace,
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.

The testimony of the Old Testament prophets concludes with these words from Malachi-

For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. (4:1-3)

This theme of Jesus’ grand destiny continues in the gospel account of the Christmas story, for example, the angel’s words to Mary, recorded in Luke 1:32-33 —

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,” and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

The New Testament continues to carry us along the path from Christ’s humble birth, to his demonstrations of kingly power and glory – signs of who he is, where he came from and where he is going – to his arrest and crucifixion and death; and then to his rising from the tomb, his ascension to the throne of heaven, his current reign at the right hand of God; and soon his coming again for his people and for the comprehensive consummation of God’s salvation. The apostle Paul describes that final end in 1 Cor. 15:20-28-

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

While the coming glory of our reigning Lord is abundantly clear from these texts, what might not be so readily clear is that his redeemed and glorified people will reign with him. His triumph is ours, by the grace and power of the gospel. Not only was he raised as the firstfruits of all in him who will rise to eternal life, but also, as Revelation 20:4 and 22:5 so powerfully express, his eternal reign will be eternally ours as well –

They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

The carol got this right, painting the picture of our Savior seated at the Father’s side and surrounded by “his children crowned.”

And we will not only reign, but also judge, as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 6:1-3 —

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life?

What a destiny – his and ours!

The point is this: Even as God’s people get the humility part right, they must also get the triumph part right. For as the Christmas story continues, it leads us through condescension and weakness and humility and death, to glory and sovereign power and total triumph. And it seems to me that, while some believers may be inclined toward an unbiblical triumphalism, others are just as inclined toward an unbiblical anti-triumphalism.

Triumph seems to carry bad connotations for Christians these days, and for good reason. Many are weary of the so-called culture wars, of the urge toward an over-reaching triumphalism in politics or values issues or even some types of evangelism. We can come to desire a quieter life and witness, setting aside words and deeds which carry connotations of war or conquest or victory.

In To Change the World, James Davison Hunter has recently urged Christians to pursue a manner of life which he terms “faithful presence,” and he does so in direct response to efforts of Christians over the last decades to “win” the culture, from the perspective of either the right or the left.

There is certainly truth in such reflection and in the call to set aside, for good biblical reason, the craving for power and control and the ascendancy of our faulty and incomplete ideas and means for accomplishing God’s purposes in the world. So this reflection takes nothing back from my last posting and its caution about thinking too highly of ourselves, our gifts, and our importance to God’s getting his will accomplished.

But while we should reject unbiblical conceptions of conquest and triumph, we must not miss the Bible’s own clear depiction of what was happening in that Bethlehem stable, and what it would lead to for us and for all of creation. There is a biblical triumphalism which we must embrace, even and especially at Christmas, for only if we understand and embrace it will we understand and embrace our gospel calling rightly and pursue it in light of the entire trajectory of biblical history.

This is, I believe, a time (probably like every time) when Christians are tempted to become cowed and intimidated, either by a world increasingly hostile to the gospel of Jesus Christ or by their own inadequate grasp of God’s purposes for his people. We are inclined to draw in our gospel horns and to become quiet and quietistic and cautious, i.e. “faithfully present” in the wrong ways.

The Christmas season ought to prompt us to marvel at the incarnation, the descent of God himself to our humble station; we must rejoice in his power made perfect in weakness. But Christmas ought also to prompt us to marvel at the entire panorama of this grand story, from glory to glory, from reign to reign, with the crucified and risen Lamb who is the Lion judging and ruling, and his people judging and ruling with him.

That is our gospel destiny, assured by the authority of the Scriptures. It is not by means of politics or social justice, or effective evangelistic and church planting methods, or even Christian colleges, although all of these have roles to play in God’s redemptive purposes during these days. It is accomplished through the words and works of our Savior, applied and empowered by his Spirit through his church, according to the eternal will of God.

A biblical and gospel-defined triumphalism ought to renew our passion and energy for gospel ministry, in bold proclamation supported by faithful demonstration. It ought to fire us up for the work of the church and our callings, knowing as we do that the Christ born to die died and was raised and reigns and will reign forever, and we with him. It ought to inspire in us big hopes and dreams, and big prayers and sacrifice, for what God is up to in the world and for how we might become engaged with his gospel mission.

In this regard I recommend Dave Harvey’s fine book, Rescuing Ambition, in which he defines “ambition” biblically and challenges readers to embrace the gospel mission of Jesus Christ as our mission, his means as our means, his destiny as our destiny, and to step up for the great work that he has for us, until he comes again.

May we find joy and hope and energy in the ironic shape of the biblical story – that our sovereign God chooses the weak and foolish and humble things of the world to bring about his glorious triumph over sin and death and the devil. For our Lord, the story led from heaven to a cradle, to a cross, to a crown. As his people by grace through faith, we ride the down and up of his story, witnesses to his gospel and looking forward to the day when his triumph, and thereby ours, is finally final.

Happy New Year!

All Scripture References are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

Neil Neilson is a Ruling Elder in the PCA. He is the President of Covenant College (PCA) in Lookout Mountain, Ga. This article first appeared in The President’s Blog at www.covenant.edu and is used with permission. Source: http://president.blogs.covenant.edu/2011/01/04/biblical-triumphalism/#more-348

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