A Little 40-Disputation on the Criminal Laughter of Fallen Sinners Concerning Jesus Christ

Dr. MA Petillo

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Come, ye thankful people, come,
Raise the song of harvest home:
All is safely gathered in,
Ere the winter storms begin;
God, our Maker, doth provide
For our wants to be supplied:
Come to God's own temple, come,
Raise the song of harvest home.
All the world is God's own field,
Fruit unto his praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown,
Unto joy or sorrow grown:
First the blade, and then the ear,
Then the full corn shall appear:
Lord of harvest, grant that we
Wholesome grain and pure may be.
For the Lord our God shall come,
And shall take his harvest home;
From his field shall in that day
All offences purge away;
Give his angels charge at last
In the fire the tares to cast,
But the fruitful ears to store
In his garner evermore.
Even so, Lord, quickly come
To thy final harvest home;
Gather thou thy people in,
Free from sorrow, free from sin;
There for ever purified,
In thy presence to abide:
Come, with all thine angels, come,
Raise the glorious harvest home.  (TH, 615).

1.  There was no one laughed at in human history more than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by spiritual fugitives in the revealed divine revelation of the unbroken Scriptures in supernatural history.

2.  The spiritual laughter against Jesus Christ is a sinful criminality, because fallen man scoffs at the real and good surprise of the Scriptural things of a holy Triune God.

3.  We found ourselves like Abraham that laughs at the miraculous supernaturalism of a holy Triune God in OT history (see Gen. 17:17).

3.  We do not laugh at most eschatological viewpoints because it is usually pessimistic rather than optimistic about the unavailing greatness of a holy Triune God saving an innumerable people in a real yet "laughable" post-millennial hope.  

4.  There is a laughter because of the sound of the things of God.

5.  There is a laughter by fallen man about the real miracles of God.

6.  Noah's Ark brings about the laughter of fallen man, but some laugh because it is "neat" the way God brings about His purpose while others laugh because it is scoffing at His supernatural Hand.

7.  There is a laughter of doubt where human beings become another Sarah, because they cannot believe a supernatural hope.

8.  A holy Triune God asks why people laugh at His plan, because He is asking an anthropomorphic question to get at her sin.

9.  Fallen man is another Sarah because we deny that we have laughed at the things of God due to its amazing holiness and supernatural works of a holy Triune God.

10.  Fallen man denies he laughs because it is doubt, but a holy God knows that His fallen people still have remaining corruption.

11.  The spiritual ears of fallen sinners are spiritually dear and we spiritually misunderstand through our spiritual dead minds.

12.  There is a real sense where God enables fallen sinners to laugh, but He turns it on its head so other people may laugh in a good sensed with another Sarah.

13.  There is a wicked laughter among wicked people.

14.  A wicked laughter is evidence of damnation: namely, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.

15.  There is a belly laugh from the good Lord at sinners seeking to destroy Him.  If this is the case with mere fallen worms, how much greater is it in regard to the powerful yet creaturely evil of Satan?

16.  God laughs at the wicked for He sees their end at hand.

17.  The laughter of the Triune Lord is a superlatively holy laughter according to His good pleasure.

18.  It is possible for a holy Triune God to make fallen sinners a laughingstock because other fallen sinners mock them.

19.  There is a sarcastic laughter of the chosen people of God regarding the cosmic end of "the wicked never-converted reprobates" because their pursuit is to rise above God continually in a treason that is a clinging rebellion to their very selves.

20.  The nations are at war with a holy God but He scoffs at them.

21.  The enemies of God also have a wicked laughter toward the holy people of God, because it is used as a corrective judgment.

22.  There is a laughter and shouting that glorifies God's greatness. 

23.  A holy God laughs at the trouble of the wicked, because they sought deliverance elsewhere but that deliverance never avails.

24.  It is possible to laugh in pain or to have pain in laughter.

25.  The foolish laughs at the wisdom of God's people.

26.  There is a laughter that is spiritual madness.

27.  There is a time to laugh but it must be in light of the honor of Jesus Christ in all things.

28.  Sorrow is better than laughter.  That is, godly sorrow leads to repentance, but laughter can be at times in light of doubt.  There is a godly sorrow unto mercy and a tormenting sorrow unto justice.

29.  The fool has laughter but it is futility but the righteous have joy because of the presence of Jesus as the essence of Spirit-led fruit.

30.  It is possible for the Lord to make His people a laughingstock.  He is working out His ultimate plan.  That is, He is all-wise and we are not.

31.  Nations can become a laughingstock among the nations of the earth, because of God's all-wise purpose.

32.  Sin makes fallen sinners a laughingstock by other fallen sinners.

33.  The parting of the Red Sea is a wicked laughter among the elites of education, but the people of God teach a supernaturalism over a comfortable naturalism.

34.  There is a laughter of arrogance and rebellion.  That is, there is a civil laughter among the wicked unto justice and there is a Spirit-approved laughter unto mercy.  A Spirit-approved laughter among adults may be that we ought not to be a "Special Agent like 007" but to simply think like Winnie the Pooh.  :-)

35.  Mt 9:24 shows us that Jesus was laughed at by the fallen sinners who He was there to help, but they expressed a laughter of unbelief.

36.  Mk 5:40 shows that Jesus was publicly laughed at, but He continued His mission no matter what, and healed.

37.  There is a joy that comes after weeping.

38.  Lk 6:25 refers to a evil laughter that is of this world, but it leads to a mourning and weeping of Esau.

39.  Lk 8:53 refers to people laughing at Jesus Christ, but instead of using it against them He pursued His mission of supernatural compassion to demonstrate His deity.

40.  There is a laughter that rejects repentance but there is also a laughter that has the simplicity of a good attitude that does not violate the things of God in His infallible Word.
 

Praise, Lord, for thee in Zion waits;
Prayer shall besiege thy temple gates:
All flesh shall to thy throne repair,
And find, through Christ, salvation there.
Our spirits faint; our sins prevail;
Leave not our trembling hearts to fail:
O thou that hearest prayer, descend,
And still be found the sinner's friend.
How blest thy saints! how safely led,
How surely kept, how richly fed!
Saviour of all in earth and sea,
How happy they who rest in thee!
Thy hand sets fast the mighty hills,
Thy voice the troubled ocean stills;
Evening and morning hymn thy praise,
And earth thy bounty wide displays.
The year is with thy goodness crowned;
Thy clouds drop wealth the world around;
Through thee the deserts laugh and sing,
And nature smiles, and owns her King.
Lord, on our souls thine influence pour;
The moral waste within restore:
O let thy love our springtide be,
And make us all bear fruit to thee.  (TH, 114).