Jesus Christ’s preeminence
In early August, I had the privilege of attending the memorial service for a remarkable man of God. Bob den Dulk served for several years on the Board of Trustees of Covenant College, on our President’s Council, and as a trustee of the Covenant College Foundation. Bob’s deep and enduring commitments to the gospel, the church, Christian education, and the glory of Jesus Christ in all things rightly prompt wonder and praise at God’s sovereign and gracious blessing on his people and encouragement and hope for following his example.
Bob’s life – and more pointedly his death – also rightly prompt us to acknowledge that our lives are always in God’s hands, that every breath we take is due to his sheer mercy and might in sustaining his creation for his gracious purposes. How sad and pitiful that we live our days with so little marvel and reverent awe that each morning rises and each evening falls, each life begins and ends, because of God’s gracious and purposeful providence.
This providence is a treasure to God’s people. It sustains us in the midst of tragedy and amid the undeniable horrors of a creation groaning with anguish to be delivered from the consequences of sin. It causes us to rejoice at happy blessings, and it causes us to worship even as we grieve in times of great loss. It provides us with depths of spiritual strength when we need it most, as we are reminded not of our own resources but of the inexhaustible supply of wisdom and compassion and enduring faith that flow from our Heavenly Father’s hand.
After the shootings at Virginia Tech last April, professor and poet Nikki Giovanni spoke these words to a grieving gathering of the VT campus community:
“We do not understand this tragedy. We did nothing to deserve it, but neither does the baby elephant watching her community being devastated for ivory. We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are the Hokie nation, Virginia Tech!”
And the crowd burst into the familiar chant, “Let’s Go, Hokies!”
A couple of weeks ago, the VT campus dedicated a memorial to the slain – a semicircle of thirty-two stones etched with the names of the victims, surrounding a central stone etched with the words “We Will Prevail. We Are Virginia Tech.”
While we can perhaps understand these reactions and responses, because of the Scriptures we realize both that the horror is much more devastating and that the hope is infinitely brighter than these memorial words express. We do understand this tragedy, as well as the sudden collapse of a bridge in Minneapolis, the horrific terror of a tsunami, the deaths of two of our own sons, the death of Bob den Dulk. Oh, I don’t mean we understand why here, why now, why these and not those. I mean we understand that the entire creation is racked with the pain and judgment and suffering and death that are the result of the sin of our original parents, which is also your sin and my sin.
And we understand that the answer is not that we will prevail because of our strength or bravery or innocence or courage. The answer is that our lives are always, ever, only in God’s hands, and that in Jesus Christ he is reconciling all things to himself, so that as our hearts groan along with all creation longing to be delivered from sin’s grip, we can know now his forgiveness and redemption and hope, and we can know that one day sin and suffering and weeping and death will be no more.
What a horror – and what a hope!
This is how Christian parents and spouses and loved ones live with their daily fears for soldiers serving in Iraq. This is how Kathleen and I live – the only way we can live – with the awareness of our oldest son’s commitment to participate in a church-planting enterprise in a community on the west side of Chicago where, just a few weeks ago, in the alleyway next to his apartment, an eighteen year old was shot to death by Chicago police, prompting a massive confrontation of community residents and almost two hundred officers. This is how parents send their children off to college for the first time, knowing that whatever protection and care they have provided thus far will diminish as God calls and leads their sons and daughters far and wide.
This is what the founders of Covenant College had in mind, I believe, when they wisely settled on Colossians 1:18 as the college’s motto: “In all things Christ preeminent.” He is preeminent in joy and in sorrow, in success and in failure, in our comings and in our goings, in our life and in our death.
This is the testimony of Bob den Dulk’s life and death: Jesus Christ preeminent in all things. I want to live and die that way.
Published on 17 Sep 2007 at 7:33 am. 3 Comments.
Yes, Bob was a grand man who selflessly gave of his “milk money” to the Kingdom and glory of God. The reformed world should know more about his selfless giving that strengthened so many ministries and shepherds. May his descendants continue this service to the Lord. Thanks, Niel, for turning his death to the purpose of death–and life.
Tim Bayly on 26 Sep 2007 at 9:36 am.
Thank you, as well, Niel. These are profound and profoundly helpful words.
(On another note, I am so thankful for the brothers and sisters of Grace Covenant Presbyterian and RUF in Blacksburg, VA, who bring these same gentle and prophetic words to a confused Virginia Tech campus.)
Jeff Hutchinson on 26 Sep 2007 at 12:51 pm.
Dr. Nielson, I look forward to your posts, and will link to your blog from mine.
Lane Keister on 28 Sep 2007 at 11:51 am.