Inan ancient book we have theinvitation "acquaint now thyselfwith him and be at peace" (Job22:21). Centuries later, Jesus ofNazareth echoed these words

when he said, "Come ... learn of me... and ye shall find rest unto yoursouls" (Mt 11:28, 29). Some degree ofknowledge is indispensable for everyliving person in order to survive andachieve, but have we considered suffi-ciently that in terms of our higher na-ture and potential, it is the knowledgeof God that we chiefly need?

If that be so, we might anticipatethat the great adversary would do allhe could to give us a false picture ofGod. How well he has succeeded!Think of your early childhood pictures

The Laughterof God

by Desmond Ford

of God and analyze your present ones.Poor God often comes out looking likea policeman in a white shirt, with hisbrow furrowed and his finger raisedwarningly. Such immature and inac-curate pictures, of course, conflictstrangely with such biblical passagesas, "Do not I fill heaven and earthsaith the Lord?" (Jer 23:24). "Like as afather pitieth his children, so the Lordpitieth them that fear him" (Ps 103:13)."As one whom his mother comforteth,so will I comfort you" (Is 66:13). "TheLord, the Lord God, merciful and gra-cious, long-suffering, and abundant ingoodness and truth ... forgiving iniq-uity" (Ex34:6,7). Should we not striveto have a more biblical and a more ac-curate picture of our Maker, Re-

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deemer, and Judge?Consider the challenge of Jere-

miah 9:23-24,RSV, "'Let not the wiseman glory in his wisdom, let not themighty man glory in his might, let notthe rich man glory in his riches; but lethim who glories, glory in this, that heunderstands and knows me, that I amthe Lord who practice kindness, jus-tice, and righteousness of the earth; forin these things I delight,' says theLord."

God Revealed in Nature

Everything that God has madetells us something about him. But thecatch is that nature has gone awry. Itno longer has all its original perfec-

tions. Though life is the dominant strain of existence,death has entered in as a cruel intruder. While origi-nally, according to Genesis chapter 2, animals cooper-ated with man and were nonthreatening to him, such isnot always the case since the Fall. Nature, therefore.speaks with two voices, and we need to keep in mindwhat the early Reformers said when they affirmed thatthe revelation of nature could only be read by the be-liever who was using the reading glass of biblical revela-tion.

Despite its vitiated record, for believers there is stillmuch to learn from the natural record. I was thinkingthat recently when out walking with Ebony the dog.Ebony was cavorting, not walking, along the road. Shedarted hither and yon, with excitement pursued any liv-ing thing, sniffed at this and at that, and all in all washaving a fine time. That was grand, for she was a lov-able puppy, only a few months old. "But," I thought,"does not this puppy tell me something about the greatCreator?"

If we sad mortals cannot watch puppies and mon-keys, and kittens, and calves without a warm glow of joyand half amusement, we are missing what the Creatorintended. His happy creatures reflect some of the sweet-est bars of the great melody of which he is the composer.

There can be nothing originally in any created thingwhich does not reflect something of its maker. Becausepersonality is the highest thing we know in the universe,we can be sure that the Author of all things is personal.Because it takes a mind to invent a mind, God must alsobe rational. Because our highest values are faith andlove and hope, accompanied by sympathy, empathy,etc., we can be certain that all these but reflect the heartand mind of God. In view of the biblical revelation, weshould gaze at the wide expanse of heaven above andrealize it is a parable of the infinite mercy that is overevery living thing, even sinners. We should see in theabundance of sunshine the riches of God's free grace in-tended for all.

Happy Communities

Sociologists and epidemiologists have much to teachus. Their books tell of communities (rare for the 20thcentury) where life is relaxed, where family ties are ex-ceptionally strong, and there is respect for the aged.There, despite tobacco and alcohol in moderation, lon-gevity is the rule and not the exception, and generalhealth is miles ahead of typical Western society. Alwaysan integral part of such favored communities is joy andlaughter.

Of course, the Author of Scripture said it long agothrough the mouth of Solomon: "A merry heart doethgood like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth thebones" (Pr 17:22).

Recently researchers into type A personalities dis-covered what they believed to be the chief flaw in suchpersonalities. It is not the time-consciousness, the haste,the driving activity, but the negative, unhappy cynicalthinking which is responsible for the devastating physi-

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cal impact of type A personality and the shortening oflife.

Fatigue in Modem Life

Experience should teach us the same. Most modernssuffer from recurring fatigue. This fatigue is not physi-cal in its origin, but psychological. Dr. AA Brill, whowas one of America's most distinguished psychiatrists,had this to say: "One hundred percent of the fatigue ofthe sedentary worker in good health is due to psycho-logical factors, by which we mean emotional factors."]

Another expert, J.A Hatfield, in his book The Psy-chology of Power, said, "The great part of the fatigue fromwhich we suffer is of mental origin. Exhaustion ofpurely physical origin is rare."

Mental conflict and negative emotions cause most ofour fatigue. Oh, if we could only believe that" All thingswork together for good to them that love God" (Ro 8:28)!If we really believed that God loves us and intends to dous good, then we would trust him as a child trusts a lov-ing father, and our ills and torments would be swal-lowed up in the glorious will of God. It was Dante whosaid, "In His will is our peace."

God Is Better Than We Think

We have slandered God so often in our thinking. Heis much better, infinitely better, than we have ever daredto imagine, despite the fact that we ourselves are muchworse than we have ever suspected. He's not only theGod of sunshine and life, of the dancing spray, and ofpuppies and birds, but he is the creator of melody, andsong, and laughter. He's a God who delights in the aes-thetic as well as the pragmatic and useful. He's a Godwho so made us that we actually rest more than wework-usually about eight hours at night and severalhours without appointed chores during each day. Eventhe heart rests more than it works. The really arduousthings of life, including most trials, are usually short-lived rather than protracted. But eating and drinking,resting and sleeping, fellowship with one another,laughter, all of these are continually recurrent. ArchPaley was right when he wrote, "Nightly rest and dailybread, the ordinary use of our limbs and senses, and un-derstandings, are gifts of no comparison with anyother."

The Laughter of Jesus

And what about our Lord himself? We think of himas a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief andthereby we think rightly. We would never find solace ina man who knew only laughter. That Australian paint-ing of a laughing jackass sending forth its song from atree branch over the carcass of a dead kangaroo, strikesus as incongruous because laughter and death clash soseverely.

Thus we're not told about the laughter of Jesus andyet Scripture does say that he was "anointed ... with the

oil of gladness" (Heb 1:9). Elton Trueblood, Quaker phi-losopher, wrote a volume called The Humor of Jesus. Heinvites us to consider the humor implicit in such sayingsas: "Why do you see the sawdust in your neighbor's eyeand not the log in your own?" "If the blind lead theblind, shall they not both fall into the ditch?" "Theystrain out a gnat, and swallow a camel." The only rea-son we do not laugh at such Scriptures is because wehave a feeling that it would be irreverent. Either that, orwe do not dwell upon them with our imagination to per-ceive all that is intended.

I venture to predict that in the preventive medicineof tomorrow there will be a special emphasis on healthyhumor. Already we know that 70 percent of diseases arediseases of choice caused by our own aberrant life-style.Unnecessary disease costs every government a verylarge slice of its budget.

Human beings were intended to laugh. We've beentold since childhood about how many less muscles ittakes to laugh than to frown. Should we not cultivatethe laugh of faith, rejoicing in the assurance that God isgood and more than good? He delights in our joy andhas made provision that it should be a joy unceasing.Should we not see in the experience of release thatcomes with laughter an indication of the wellspring ofjoy that the gospel furnishes? What greater joke couldthere be than that the king should transform his rebelsby sheer love and grace instead of in rage sentencingthem to a firing squad? Let the straws of humor in ourdaily experience indicate to us which way the wind ofdivine grace is blowing. 0

1 Cited in D. Carnegie's How to Stop Worrying and StartLiving, pp. 207-208

?????????????????????? Questions and Answers-Desmond Ford

Must I be baptizCld to besaved?

fl. We should carefully distinguishbetween salvation and "the things whichaccompany salvation" (Heb 6:9). The ex-perience of being united to Christ by thatfaith which is essentially trust, is salva-tion. All other good things merely accom-pany that primary relationship.

Centuries ago Henry Scougal wrote abook entitled The Life of God ill the Soul ofMall in which he pointed out that religionwas nothing other than the union of theheart with God. Religion is not primarilychurch-going or hymn-singing or mission-ary work though all these may "accom-pany" it. Religion is a oneness betweenthe sinner and the Savior. The Scripturesaith, "Whosoever believeth on him shallnot be ashamed" (Rom 10:11). First, ob-serve the "him." We believe not primarilyin a church or a doctrine but a Person.Second, observe the "whosoever" of thispassage. Whatever your past, whateveryour besetting sin or sins, whatever yourdifficulties-whosoever you are, salvationis yours by trusting Jesus Christ. Youhave eternal life the moment you believe(In 5:24). You are already counted asbeing in the heavenly places with the re-deemed (Eph 2:6). Christ's life and deathis put to your account (Rom 5:13,19 and 2Cor 5:21). "There is now no condemna-tion" (Rom 8:1).

Christ's atoning work and our takinghold of it by the empty hand of faith ac-complishes salvation. Faith is not a work,but the simple acceptance of a gift.Breathing does not of itself create life, butmakes life possible. Similarly with eatingand drinking. Faith is but spiritualbreathing and drinking and eating. It isthe grateful embracing of Christ's work.

What about baptism? The thief on thecross who was guaranteed Paradise wasnever baptized. And what about the Lord'sSupper? The Salvation Army does not keepit because of their special work for alcohol-ics. And the Sabbath? Many Christianshave not seen the need for a special day ofrest and worship. Keeping these institu-tions is not the cause of our salvation. Onthe other hand, worship can easily break-down in the absence of these reminders-baptism, the memorial of Christ's death andresurrection in our behalf; the Lord's Sup-per, the memorial of his body broken for us;the Sabbath, the memorial of divine crea-tion and redemption in Christ.

Christianity, like other ideologies, in-cludes spirit and form. Its essence is thespirit, but without the form the spirit can belost. In other words, form without spirit isdead, but spirit without form may fade.Therefore, we need these institutions thataccompany salvation, but we must neverconfuse them with salvation itself.

The person that has become one withChrist desires to please the Savior in allthings. As far as the believer's spiritualgrowth permits, they are one in ideals andobjectives and methods. As light dawns onduty it is the Christian's delight to walk init. He or she knows it is written, "If ye loveme, keep my commandments" (In 14:15).Therefore, whether the issue be large orsmall, the chief inquiry of the believer is:"What is God's ideal will for me in this mat-ter?" Having answered that, by the grace ofGod, obedience is spontaneous and glad-some.

Q. What was the mlZClning of theceremony with the red heiferdiscussed in "umbers 19?

fl. After the rebellion at Kadesh-Bar-

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nea, there is no evidence that Israel carriedout the Passover, circumcision, or theregular system of sacrifices outlined inLeviticus, until Canaan was reached (Num15:2). Cereal offerings were to accompanymost sacrifices, and this was impossiblewhile leading a nomadic existence. Thepurpose of the red heifer's ashes was toprovide for a means of purification thatwould not require continual sacrifices.The animal was a symbol of Christ. Itsredness pointed to his blood and likewiseits being without defect symbolized hisperfection. The fact it had never known ayoke pointed to the voluntary nature ofthe sacrifice of the Son of God. The redheifer suffered without the camp, as didour Lord. Calvary was outside the citywalls. Thus was symbolized that he diednot just for the religious Jews but for allmankind.

The ashes of the burned heifer wereplaced in a container holding water from arunning stream. Then one who was cere-monially clean took a stick of cedar andscarlet cloth and hyssop, sprinkling thevessel's contents upon both the tent andthe people. Thus was indicated that onlythrough the virtues of the death of ourSubstitute could sin be cleansed away. It issignificant that the cleansing water wassprinkled more than once to cleanse thedefiled person. We need the virtues of theAtonement continually. "The blood of Je-sus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin"(1 Jn 1:7). Observe the blessed presenttense. Because of our sinful natures, in-complete sanctification and a glorificationthat is still longed for, we ever "fall shortof the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). But westill stand spotless in his sight because ofthe imputation continually of the merits ofChrist. As we truly believe, we are alwaysperfect in the merciful reckoning of God.