“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
EPHESIANS 2:1-3
The Irony of Christ’s Trial1
The soldiers plunged the crown of thorns into Jesus’ head, undoubtedly rendering a skin-piercing agony. They placed Him in a scarlet robe, handed Him a scepter, and with malicious sarcasm, they hailed Him. They struck Him and asked Him to prophesy who had done so (Matt. 27:27–31; see also Mk. 15:16-20; Lk. 22:63-65, 23:9-11; Jn. 19:1-16). Later, on the hallowed ground of Calvary, Pilate hammered the sign above Jesus’ head that read “’Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews’”. When asked to change what he had written to something less offensive, perhaps something less prone to misinterpretation, Pilate did not oblige (Jn. 19:19–22).
All of this harmonious cacophony served as a terrible yet joyfully juxtaposed irony. Those involved in Jesus’ trial knew not what they did, as our Lord prayed with dying breath (Lk. 23:34). But what they did was, in one sense, accurate. They crucified the Lord of Glory (1 Cor. 2:8) but also crowned Him. They placed Him, the true King of kings and Lord of lords, in a scarlet robe (Rev. 17:14). The one prophesied to be the ultimate and true Davidic King who would shatter rebels with a rod of iron was handed a scepter (Ps. 2). The one asked to prophesy who had struck Him would be in a little while struck by His Father for the sins of His people (Is. 53:4). The one who hung on the cross as bystanders walked by and gazed at the sign above His head will, at the end of time, be rightly hailed as the King of the Jews by knee-bending humanity (Phil. 2:9-11).
Therefore, even in the depraved mocking and evil actions of wretched mankind, there shone this peculiar divine irony of what was to be: salvation for mankind, wrought by no other than the King of kings. Based on this wrought salvation, if the soldiers had faith in Christ, as the centurion presumably did (Matt. 27:54), then this irony became actuated in their lives in glorious salvation, in the transfer from the arena of darkness into Christ’s kingdom (Col. 1:13-14). If the soldiers did not, then their actions only furthered their condemnation. The incarnate Word, full of grace and truth (Jn. 1:14), stood before them, and in their blindness, they rejected His gracious figure.
The Irony of the Pride Flag
Analogously, when the LGBTQ movement flies their rainbow flags to proclaim moral depravities (Lev. 18:22, Rom. 1:26–27, etcetera), they know not what they do. They ironically fly a flag that symbolises God’s grace (Gen. 9:8–17). It is by this grace alone, from the wellspring of the covenantal Triune God who in eternity purposed the plan of redemption, by which we can be saved. The rainbow represents this covenantal grace. Yet the LGBTQ movement uses it to promote and sanction that which God will judge in His perfect justice (1 Cor. 6:9). The gracious sign by which God promised Noah that He would not again destroy the earth by flood is thrust into the air in sanction of rebellion, that if left unmitigated and graceless (Eph. 2:8–9), will rise to the level of depravity conducted by those in antediluvian times and be judged in the life thereafter (Gen. 6:5, 2 Cor. 5:10).
Thus, this flag bearing a Biblical symbol declares implicitly either the condemnation or the salvation of those who fly it. Therefore, the LGBTQ community fly a flag displaying this dual reality that they do not yet comprehend. But this is a solemn reality that they will come to comprehend, either in this life by the Spirit’s regenerating work, wherein they recognise the amazing grace of God and the punishment from which they were saved, or in the next by hellfire, weeping, and teeth-gnashing (Luke 13:28).
The Gospel Hope
For every individual, in terms of ultimate salvation, there are two options: heaven or hell (Matt. 7:13–14). There is no middle ground or fence-sitting, no annihilation, no reincarnation, and no second chance after death. Man dies once and after that comes judgement (Heb. 9:27), whereupon he will stand before a perfectly righteous, just, and holy God (Ps. 97:2; Is. 6:3). And this is the very problem for humanity: that the character of God cannot be reconciled with the sinfulness of humanity (Is. 59:2). But it is by grace abounding that God exercises His justice in two different ways.
For the unsaved, God is just because He pours out His eternal anger on those who reject Him and His rule. By nature, we all reject God (Eph. 2:1). When we perpetually disobey God in countless ways, we are guilty (Rom 3:23). We incur that guilt in proportion to the one we act against. When that one is God, infinitely and resplendently holy, the one before whom the seraphim shielded their faces and feet because they did not count themselves worthy to see Him or stand in His presence, then they bear great guilt indeed (Is. 6). This guilt is satisfied in hell for those who do not believe in Christ Jesus (Matt. 25:46). Some say that hell is the absence of God’s presence. This saying is false. God is fully present in hell, for He is omnipresent (Ps. 139:7–12), but He is not present in grace or mercy. Those in hell have rejected His grace and mercy. They looked at the cross, shuffled their feet, and walked away (Eph. 2:2). God is present in hell in full, wrathful justice (Rev. 4:9–11). The God of the Bible is not the God of the liberal theologians: a wrathless God is an impotent God, and an impotent God is no God at all.
But there is hope (Eph. 1:18). When the Triune God speaks in sacred Scripture, He speaks with not only a message of divine judgement, but also a message of redemption (Eph. 1:7). He does not leave us stranded. This redemptive message is Christ: His whole person, not abstracted from His blessings. This message is Christ’s incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension unto the right hand of God (Phil. 2:5–11, Heb. 4:15, 1 Pet. 2:24, 1 Cor. 15).
Christ humbled Himself, taking on human nature, fully and truly man, fully and truly God (Jn. 1:14, 1 Tim. 2:5), living a perfect life (1 Pet. 1:19), dying an atoning death with our sins (I am talking about the sins of believers here: those who have faith in Christ) imputed onto His shoulders. The full wrath of the Father was poured out onto His Son until it was satisfied (Is. 53:5–6, Mk. 14:36, 1 Jn. 2:2). Jesus’ righteousness is imputed as a covering for us so that when God looks at us, He sees us as really, truly righteous (2 Cor. 5:21). There is now no condemnation (Rom. 8:1).
Christ rose again on the third day, a historical event situated in space and time, a confirmation that His atoning work had been accepted (1 Cor. 15, Rom. 4:25). He ascended unto the right hand of God (Ac. 1:6–10), from where He is currently ruling and reigning (Ps. 110:1). Christ is King.
We are to respond to Him in faith, recognising that it is His grace and mercy alone by which we can be saved (Eph. 2:8–9). This faith consists of recognising the facts of the Gospel, intellectual assent to them, and reposing our trust in the Christ to whom these facts point. Subsequently, we are to live in light of that justification and forgiveness (Eph. 2:10), proclaiming the Gospel and the excellencies of God to a dying world (Matt. 28:18, 1 Peter. 2:9).
Conclusion
There is a peculiar irony in the flying of pride flags. The soldiers knew not what they did when they crucified Christ. In one sense, they confirmed their damnation (without God’s grace) because they rejected the very God of very God who stood before them. In another sense, they ironically corroborated the possibility of their salvation. The one who was handed a crown, scarlet robe, and scepter, hailed and signed as King was indeed King, and because of this King’s blood, His Father could be propitiated for the joy of His people (Rom. 3:23–25, Gal 5:22-24).
In like manner, when pride flags are flown, and when those in the LGBTQ community display the symbol of God’s grace that He showed Noah, they may be confirming their damnation by flying God’s symbol — His rainbow — in service of sexual perversities. They fly the symbol of the very grace that they reject through their sinful lifestyle. Conversely, they may fly the symbol of God’s grace such that they display the very grace which, through grace, they may come to accept. This grace is the grace manifested in the hope of the Gospel, the good news of the Triune God proclaimed to a dying humanity.
My intent for this article is not a mere cute observation. My intent is to remind us that if Christ is King, and He is (Matt. 28:18), then there is “no maverick molecule”.2 That, therefore, includes the molecules that constitute a pride flag. Within the usurped symbol lies a frightening reality: without salvation, we are judged, but with salvation, Christ is judged for us. This salvation is obtained through faith alone, by grace alone (Eph. 2:8–9).
It is my urgent plea to you, dear reader, that if you have not done so already, you would place your faith in Christ. Read the Scriptures. Immerse yourselves in them. Meet the risen Christ through its living and active pages (Heb. 4:12). Pursue God as if your life depended on it: because it does. Repose your faith and trust in Him. It will cost you your life and everything you deem essential (Lk. 9:23-25), but you will be ushered into a far greater reality (ponder Eph. 1!). I have written things that seem harsh, but I do not intend to stir up controversy. I intend to point to my Saviour.
And unto Christ and the Triune God, the God of all things, rainbows included, be the kingdom, power, and the glory, world without end. Amen.
Epilogue
The original platform that I published this article on, Medium, ironically did not desire to act as a medium for this article and subsequently removed it for “hate speech”, a term as societally odious as it is conceptually nebulous. This removal did not surprise me, and providentially led me to writing here, where I am in the good and respectable company of allegedly hate-filled religious bigots.
I received a few responses concerning the language I used. Take “depravities”, for instance. Is not such language harsh, hateful, divisive, and altogether evangelistically unnecessary? While it would take a book to qualify the language a Christian can use (see Douglas Wilson’s Serrated Edge for such a book, the review by John Frame, and Wilson’s response to that review.), I can offer a few remarks. These serve as a qualification of the aforementioned, not a mitigation. I will not mitigate what Scripture says.
Firstly, I would, without hesitation, extend such negative language to myself. I, by nature, am totally depraved, dead in my sins and trespasses. Without grace, I would be mouldering in a mountain of iniquities, a mere rotting corpse. Even now, I live simul justus et peccator3, in this terrible paradox that all Christians surely experience (see Rom. 7)
Secondly, it is not harsh to call a spade a spade, especially if that calling involves Biblical terms. It is not harsh to call homosexuality a perversity or an abomination. That is the language the Scriptures use. That is the language that the Holy Spirit Himself inspired. What is harsh is to restrict negative language to homosexuality alone, as if that is the only sin. What is harsh is to utilise this language to declare a message of hellfire and brimstone and man’s separation from God without the accompanying message of the God who bore that punishment in our place.
Thirdly, connected to the second point, the intensity of the Scriptural language shows the intense depravity of all of humanity. It would do no good for the Triune God, and I do not mean this irreverently, to say, “Well, you humans really are not doing so well. You could do slightly better.” The Triune God who speaks in sacred Scripture declares the abominable, depraved, spiritually dead, Satan-serving state of humanity.
Fourthly, it is awfully hard, and I do not say this sarcastically, to accommodate every reader who will read this article. Pastoral wisdom would dictate that one talks differently to a confused twelve-year-old navigating through the iniquitous cesspool of the LGBTQ movement than one would talk to a LGBTQ pundit who launches polemical attacks against anything that reeks of Christianity. For the former, compassion, gentleness, and love are necessary. For the latter, these virtues are also necessary, but these virtues manifested in a different form, a form reminiscent of Paul’s divine anathema (see Gal. 1).
Fifthly, one cannot impute feelings of sinful hatred (there is a godly hatred, see Ps. 11:5 and other related passages) to an author based purely on his language. I harbour no hatred in my heart for the LGBTQ community. It would do no good for me to say that it is for God alone to know whether I have such hatred, for hatred hidden within the depths of the heart manifests itself in works visible to others. But the reader ought to harbour a healthy agnosticism as to the hateful intent of the author, especially if they do not know the real identity or everyday actions of such an author.
These are five qualifications. I could add more. If you still are not pleased, then ignore me and reckon with God’s Word and the incarnate Word, Christ Jesus. This reckoning will be infinitely more transformative than anything I can say or do. I know this because the reckoning transformed me.
Footnotes
- For this section, I am indebted to the ideas of D. A. Carson.
- This phrase comes from the pen of the inimitable R. C. Sproul.
- Latin for “simultaneously just and sinner”.