Our First Arrow

(Posted by Xon)

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate. (Psalm 127:3-5)

I don't want to go into a whole polemic here about such controversial topics as contraception. There is no need to turn this happy time into an occasion for giving offense unnecessarily. I hope it will not be too offensive, though, if I simply say something about the attitude Christians should have towards children: they are a blessing from the Lord. Boys, girls; short, tall; all are from God. No other view of children is biblically acceptable.

The Psalm here speaks of having many children who will stand beside you to contend with your enemies in the gate of the city. While that image is perhaps a bit too militaristic for our contemporary tastes, the truth is that all Christians are at war--we battle against the powers of sin and darkness. Our weapons for fighting this war are not carnal, as the Scriptures so clearly tell us, but it is a real war. (Or, to put it better, it is the MOST real war.) There is an antithesis, as the Reformed often like to say, between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. And everyone must choose sides. You are either for King Jesus or you are against Him.

And in our world today many are against Him. This will not always be so, praise be to God, but it is so at present. The Church is called to be a light to the nations, to gather the kingdoms of this world into the kingdom of God and of His Christ. This calling extends to every area of life--religious observance, academia, pop culture, art, family life, politics. The Christian faith involves a commitment to a new culture of God, and this culture is to become (over time) the culture of the world. All the nations are to be brought in.

The Church is called to do this, but we still have a long way to go. How will this battle be won? What is the plan for success in the cultural conquest? Here again the Scriptures are clear--it is the Church that tears down strongholds, and so it is first and foremost the life of the Church as a Church which is where our victory must be found. When the Church worships God rightly, joyously, thankfully, boisterously--the powerful are being brought low. When God's covenant people assemble every week to share in God's meal, to initiate new members into the covenant via the washing of regeneration, and to absorb the living Word of God with their ears--kingdoms are overthrown. When the Church stands up as the house God has built for Himself and offers the world the good news that it can find protection within her walls--societies are revolutionized. The power of the Gospel is the very power of God to change the world.

But tucked up neatly behind this truth--the Church is central to fighting for the crown rights of King Jesus--is another truth which is also clearly taught in Scripture. We might categorize this not so much as a "strategy" for seeking the kingdom, but rather as a "fact of life." If God's covenant community has to be the center of God's power in the world, then this presupposes that there is such a thing as God's covenant community. In other words, in order for the Church to do what it is supposed to do there must be a Church.

And this is one of the most important reasons, then, that I rejoice to hear the news that my wife is with child, that she will bear me a son. Because he is not just a cuddly bundle, he is the future of the Church. He is part of the reinforcements that God is bringing into the battle. He will stand and fight alongside his mother and I, and when we are gone he will continue to fight. He will have children of his own, and they will continue to fight, and in a hundred years the world will have been further conquered for Christ than it is now.

This is a view through eyes of faith, a hope in things not yet seen. The world is a scary place for the faith, both in terms of external threats (lots of competing gods who also want our attention) as well as internal ones (i.e., our own sinful hearts). And yet God has promised that His covenant is with us, and with our children. With me, and with my children. With Katie, and with her children. What choice do we have but to believe this promise and cling to God in faith? May God do with Bradley Davin as He says He will do.

I am not adequate to the calling of fatherhood. I am still something of a child myself. I still harbor my own selfishness, my own blind ways of looking at the world, my own impulses to justify myself rather than to trust in God. Now I must raise a son. His spiritual state is on me. I am charged by God to raise him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It is too much! Yet God calls me to do it, and I am back to faith again. Trust in the Lord, and He will fulfill all his promises. The same God who can make stones into sons of Abraham can make our son into a warrior for the kingdom.

So bring it on, I say. And may God grant me a spirit of bold humility to be the kind of man that my son must become. And, if God is willing, may this be only the first arrow in our quiver. May Katie and I live to see our own little arrows become men and women of great faith, warriors who press upon the world the claims of the one true King.

One warrior at a time, though. This is how the Church is built, and it is how the world is turned upside down. One generation at a time. For our household, the next generation arrives in May. I can't wait to meet him.