Aftershadowers

I have been thinking and reading a lot about the church in the past few years, and I have been praying that our local church would be a shining example for our community and world. I have also been thinking about relationships lately, including and especially the marriage relationship. Today, I was reminded of a prophecy that helps me see another link between these categories.

In the Old Testament, Psalm 34:20 says, "He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken." According to the subtitle in the ESV, this psalm is "of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away." In writing this psalm, David is probably rejoicing that God protected even David's bones in this confrontation with his enemy, but he is also extrapolating from his circumstances to the circumstances of the righteous, making many proverbial statements leading up to this declaration of protection as he reminds the reader that "the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit," delivering the righteous out of all their afflictions.

If I read this Psalm on its own merits, I am encouraged to "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8), but I miss another level of meaning revealed by Jesus in John 19:36, where he quotes Psalm 34:20. John is describing the crucifixion of Jesus, when, at the request of the Jews, the Roman soldiers broke the legs of each of the thieves who were crucified with Jesus so that they would die in time to be removed before the Sabbath. When the soldiers approached Jesus, he was already dead, so they did not break his legs. John claims that Psalm 34:20 prophesies this event, but, without John's insight, I would certainly have missed that connection. In fact, in retrospect, my initial instinct is that John was grasping for meaning beyond the original intent of David in writing that psalm. After all, David does not explicitly identify his statement as a prophecy, and the context feels more like an exhortation to God's people to enjoy the benefits of their salvation from God as they live righteous lives.

In making this assessment, I am too near-sighted and too self-focused. I am reading the text to look for a personal application. I have forgotten that Jesus came "that the scripture would be fulfilled." All of the Old Testament is preparation for Jesus, looking ahead to Jesus, the Messiah who would save his people. In particular, Jesus was declared to be the son of David (Matt. 22:41-46) while also being David's Lord. Thus, David was a particularly important "type" of Jesus, his life and words foreshadowing Jesus. David's entire life was intended by God to foreshadow the coming Messiah, including the seemingly small detail that David's bones were not broken in his escape from Abimelech.

Now, I want to connect these concepts to the concept of marriage. In Ephesians 5:23, Paul writes that "the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior." Paul has provided us with an analogy, stating that the husband is the Christ-figure in the marriage relationship. Thus, just as David was used as a type, an example, a foreshadower, of Christ, so husbands are called to be examples or "aftershadowers" of Christ. David's example was not one of sinless perfection, but God used his life and circumstances to prepare his people for the coming Messiah and to explain the Messiah to those of us who live in the present age. In the same way, then, husbands are called to be "aftershadowers" of Christ, reverse prophecies that point back in time to Christ while also pointing to Christ in eternity, loving our wives as Christ loved the church so that the world will see our living examples and thereby "taste and see that the Lord is good."

What is Love?

What is love? In recent years, wise men have said, “Love’s not a feeling.” However, can the love of a man for a woman or a woman for a man be love if it has no feeling? I think not. Emotions are a gift from God. Even before the Fall, Adam expressed strong emotions about Eve. When Adam first saw Eve, he said,

“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”

The NIV sets this text apart from the surrounding prose as if this is not just a sentence; these lines are presented as a poem. The ESV translates the first line of this poem, “This at last…” It seems that Adam was announcing, with an exclamation point and even a sense of both relief and excitement that, finally, God had provided a truly suitable partner. Because of God’s provision of Eve, Adam may have uttered the first love poem from a man to a woman. Clearly, God wired us to have passionate feelings about our spouses.

While passion is important, I believe that life includes various phases where God works in our hearts and lives in different ways, focusing on some aspects of our soul rather than others. Perhaps a season of passion in a husband-wife relationship may be followed by a season of intellectual growth, for example. Regardless, our love must follow Christ’s pattern, in which his love ultimately fulfilled the law (Rom. 13:10). Christ’s love led to giving his life out of love for his people. Likewise, the husband must in essence lay down his life for his wife, and vice-versa. How? Before he gave his life, Christ taught that the law can be boiled down to two commands: love God and love others. Clearly, such love is expressed in a multitude of ways, by various means, in a relationship. Effective love for others is positive, encouraging, and helpful: “…love builds up." (I Cor. 8:1)

The Apostle Paul also teaches, “Let love be genuine…” (Rom. 12:9) Our world is filled with illegitimate love. The media promotes love of an image rather than true love for a person. Adolescent infatuation and unashamed lust have been substituted for the selfless love of the Bible. These are not true love and are devices used by the kingdom of darkness to prevent and destroy God-centered marriages.

The Sacrifice of Service

The following is an article from our family's annual Christmas newsletter. If you would like to read more articles like this and are not a current subscriber, post a comment or send an email with your request, and we'll send you one!

The Hickman family has been making a real effort to give time in service to others. Sometimes, they end up giving more than they planned. This past summer, Sarah, Dan, Luke, and Leah all worked in their church’s 3-year-old Sunday school class. One Sunday, three of them failed in body fluid management. During story time, one of the children sat on Dan’s lap for assistance and guidance in paying attention and sitting still. This student still wore Pull-Ups as a precaution, although Dan quickly realized that this safety net was being used as more than a precaution. This child had pushed his superabsorbent polymer to beyond its saturation point. The result? A soggy patch on Dan’s pants, just above his right knee. Later, Sarah was comforting a weeping little girl, holding her as she cried on her shoulder. Later, in the church service, Dan noticed that the tears on Sarah’s solid navy blouse had dried, depositing a dried film of snot. That same morning, Luke was proud to show off his medal of honor: smears of blood on his khaki shorts. Undaunted by their mutual contamination, Sarah continued in her role into the fall. She was the storytelling teacher, occasionally misunderstood by the wide-eyed toddlers. For example, a teacher in the second hour recently informed Sarah that, following Sarah’s lesson on John the Baptist, complete with visual aids that included desert flora, the children continued during the playtime to recount the adventures of the prophet in the wilderness known as “John the Cactus.” Note to be outdone, but absent from the body fluid super-Sunday because she was on a summer youth trip, Leah took her turn later that week. As a helper at the American Red Cross Safety Town for pre-kindergartners, Leah missed the announcement of the recent unplanned release and subsequent clean-up. Apparently, a child had sprung a wee-wee leak, which was cleaned and followed with a puddle of sanitizing fluid. Later, Leah entered the area and sat squarely in the puddle of sanitizer.

Our Family Trip to Colorado (Part 2)

We returned from Colorado last Monday, but the daily demands of life after a 12-day vacation prevented me from giving an update regarding our trip until now. On Wednesday (July 28), we left Estes Park and drove to Cripple Creek, which is now primarily a gambling town. I was personally pleased to see at least one or two casinos out of business. We had planned two activities for that afternoon and evening in Cripple Creek. First, we toured the Mollie Kathleen gold mine; at least the chemical engineer found that interesting. Then, after dinner in the car (prepared by Sarah), we went to the Butte Theater for a production of Gunslinger: The Legend of Billy the Kid. This was a small theater, with about 50 in the audience. The musical was written in the early 1900s. The cast did a good job, and we enjoyed the experience of an Old West melodrama. The show was followed by a "summer olio," which was hilarious, the highlight of the day. We would definitely recommend seeing this show.

On Thursday, we drove to the top of Pike's Peak. We encountered sleet (3 mm white balls of ice) just short of the peak, which resulted in an hour delay when they temporarily closed the road. That afternoon, we intended to visit the Garden of the Gods, but rain resulted in the postponement of that outing.

On Friday, we visited Focus on the Family's soda shoppe and bookstore. (Unfortunately, KYDS Radio was closed.) We then tried again to visit Garden of the Gods, with partial success. A torrential downpour terminated that visit prematurely. In the evening, we enjoyed a Chuckwagon Dinner at the Flying W Ranch.

Our last day before heading home was Saturday. We visited the Olympic Training Center, taking a brief but interesting tour and visiting the gift shop. We also visited the "living history" site at Rock Ledge Ranch.

On Sunday, we visited a good friend in Louisville, dropped off a distance runner at CSU in Fort Collins for the Jim Ryun Running Camp, and headed east.

Our Family Trip to Colorado (Part 1)

Yesterday marked the midpoint of our family trip to the Rockies in Colorado. We were in Estes Park for 5 nights. Thus far, this trip has been a wonderful opportunity to experience different topography than we Michiganders typically enjoy. We arrived Friday night, picking up Luke from this week at a Freedom Academy I, sponsored by the Foundation Economic Education. Saturday through Monday, we spent our sightseeing hours in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Before lunch on Saturday, we enjoyed a pleasant walk around Sprague Lake.

After lunch, we drove through the park on Trail Ridge Road, learning about the three different ecosystems in the park: montane, subalpine, and alpine tundra. Entering from near Estes Park, we turned around after reaching the Alpine Visitor Center.

On Sunday, we hiked to Emerald Lake via Dream Lake and Nymph Lake. What a beautiful hike!

On Monday, we drove to a different park entrance and hiked from the Wild Basin Trailhead to Ouzel Falls. At the Ouzel Falls, the kids and I extended the hike by climbing to the top of the falls. We would highly recommend each of these outings for others. The drive and the two hikes were each a 4-hour outing, including lots of stops for snacks, drinks, and photographs.

On Tuesday, we went on a whitewater rafting trip. The bus ride was long, about 80 minutes each way, but the rafting was fun. Luke came the closest to flying out of the boat, but the other three family members immediately grabbed him when he was first launched outward from his position on the front right of the raft. Leah was sore on Wednesday morning; she paddled hard.