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Hobbiton. Shire Year, 1389. - Bilbo Baggins was born in 2890 S.R., and remained a bachelor for the entirety of his life. This was all well and good for him but meant, too, that he had no heir, a fact that was not of terribly great import prior to his adventure with the dwarves and the accumulation of a substantial (but not inexhaustible) amount of wealth. Bilbo’s handsome (but comparatively modest) inheritance changed, however, with his successful trip There and Back Again, as recorded in the first section of the Red Book of Westmarch. Upon his return here in 1342, the Sackville-Bagginses came into a position to inherit not only Bag End but whatever remained of Bilbo’s captured treasures. And so they would have, had it not been for an event this year.

It was in this year that Bilbo, now 99 years of age (but looking no more than 50!), called his cousin Frodo Baggins to him and announced that he had chosen to make him the heir to Bag End and all else that Bilbo still possessed. Frodo, himself born not until 1368 S.R., was quite alone when Bilbo summoned him, only a short time having passed since the untimely death of his parents in a tragic, albeit mysterious, boating accident.

To accomplish this transfer of inheritance, Bilbo officially adopted Frodo:

When Bilbo was ninety-nine he adopted Frodo as his heir, and brought him to live at Bag End; and the hopes of the Sackville-Bagginses were finally dashed. Bilbo and Frodo happened to have the same birthday, September 22nd . . . At that time Frodo was still in his tweens, as the hobbits called the irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at thirty-three.” – LOTR, p. 21

To be precise, Frodo was twenty-one years of age when Bilbo adopted him (being thirty-three at Bilbo’s going-away party and fifty when he set off from here to take the Ring to Rivendell).

The Adoptions of Sons

Obviously, Frodo’s adoption as an heir was quite significant and determinative in his life; similarly, the adoption of Christians by the Father is profoundly significant and eternally determinative for us.

Romans, Greeks, and Jews all had rites of passage for their boys that clearly declared them to be adults. For Roman boys, this usually happened during the boys’ late teens; for Greeks, it occurred at the age of eighteen. Jews, however, chose (and some still choose) to conduct a ceremony shortly after the boy’s twelfth birthday that officially made him a “child of the Law” instead of just a child of his parents.

The same ceremony (I think, though it might have been a different one) also marked the official adoption of the son by his father, meaning that he was now a legal heir to his father’s fortunes, whatever those rights and riches might be. This privilege is behind Frodo’s adoption, of course, but also behind Paul’s teaching to the Galatians:

Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything . . .

“Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” – Gal 4.1, 7 (NASB)

Paul explains that, before we were adopted by God as sons (for only sons normally inherited in that time), we were “excluded from the commonwealth of Israel” and “strangers to the covenants of promise” (Eph 2.12). Because of God the Father’s adoption of us, however, this is no longer true: now “you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household” (Eph 2.19).

To the Romans he wrote,

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” – Rom 8.16-17a

Free from our slavery to sin, impurity, and elemental things, we are now heirs with Christ of all that God has prepared and provided for us. Our adoption as sons is a glorious and rich aspect of the Good News that was made possible by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Like Frodo, we may travel a difficult and perilous path as a result of our inheritance but – also like Frodo – we will one day pass from this path to the Undying Lands and our heavenly rewards.

[Note: This post originally appeared on May 3, 2006.]

Hobbiton. Shire Year, 1401. - Before beginning the tale of the War of the Ring, as chronicled in The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien presents his readers with a Prologue that introduces Middle-earth to those who perhaps have not read The Hobbit. So rich is the Prologue that even those who have read and re-read the latter find a wealth of information and background concerning pipe-weed, the ordering of the Shire, the finding of the One Ring, and – most importantly – of hobbits themselves.

In the telling of the history and prosperity of hobbits, Tolkien provides the following information and insight into this seemingly insignificant people. After he records how the hobbits first came to the land west of the Brandywine River, he goes on to note: (more…)

Hobbiton. Shire Year, 1401. - Even as the Creator is revealed in His creation, so too is the subcreator reflected in his subcreation. Much can be learned of mankind by spending time with that and those which we have conceived and affected. No single being, action, or artifact will inform us totally of ourselves but every individual person or thing tells us something. Of hobbits, in particular, this is certainly true.

Hobbits are an unobtrusive but very ancient people, more numerous formerly than they are today; for they love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favourite haunt. They do not and did not understand or like machines more complicated than a forge-bellows, a water-mill, or a hand-loom, though they were skilful with tools. . . .

“Though slow to quarrel, and for sport killing nothing that lived, they were doughty at bay, and at need could still handle arms.”

There is much to be admired about the character and nature of hobbits, although there is admittedly some things not so deserving of praise. There are clearly attributes that reflect how believers should and (in some cases) do exist; in this capacity they serve as a telescope through which we may garner a glimpse of what God desires for us. There are also those qualities and mannerisms of our hobbitic relatives that are more in keeping with manifestations of our fallen nature; this perspective provides us with a mirror in which we can see our own flaws and failings.

Hobbits “love peace and quiet and good tilled earth, thereby fulfilling Paul’s admonition to the Thessalonians: (more…)

Before beginning the tale of the War of the Ring, as chronicled in The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien presents his readers with a Prologue that introduces Middle-earth to those who perhaps have not read The Hobbit. So rich is the Prologue that even those who have read and re-read the latter find a wealth of information and background concerning pipe-weed, the ordering of the Shire, the finding of the One Ring, and – most importantly – of hobbits themselves.

In the telling of the history and prosperity of hobbits, Tolkien provides the following information and insight into this seemingly insignificant people. After he records how the hobbits first came to the land west of the Brandywine River, he goes on to note:

While there was still a king they were in name his subjects, but they were, in fact, ruled by their own chieftains and meddled not at all with events in the world outside . . .

“There for a thousand years they were little troubled by wars, and they prospered and multiplied after the Dark Plague (S.R. 37¹) until the disaster of the Long Winter and the famine that followed it. Many thousands then perished, but the Days of Dearth (1158-60) were at the time of this tale long past and the Hobbits had again become accustomed to plenty. The land was rich and kindly, and though it had long been deserted when they entered it, it had before been well tilled, and there the king had once had many farms, cornlands, vineyards, and woods.

“Forty leagues it stretched from the Far Downs to the Brandywine Bridge, and fifty from the northern moors to the marshes in the south. The Hobbits named it the Shire, as the region of the authority of their Thain^2, and a district of well-ordered business; and there in that pleasant corner of the world they plied their well-ordered business of living, and they heeded less and less the world outside where dark things moved, until they came to think that peace and plenty were the rule of Middle-earth and the right of all sensible folk. They forgot or ignored what little they had ever known of the Guardians^3, and of the labours of those that made possible the long peace of the Shire. They were, in fact, sheltered, but they had ceased to remember it.” – LOTR, pp. 4-5 (emphasis mine)

¹ S.R. = Shire Reckoning. Year One began with the crossing of the Brandywine River
² A ‘Thain’ was a chieftain chosen by other Hobbit chieftains to serve as a ‘CEO’ for the Shire and to oversee administrative responsibilities – which were few.
³ The ‘Guardians’ of the Shire were primarily the Dúnedain and Gandalf, likely assisted by the Elves.

It is from the emphasized portion of the preceding quote that the present post is drawn: the experience of the hobbits in many ways parallels the lives of millions of Christians who have either forgotten, ignored, or not been informed of the “Guardians” of the Church.

We need look no further than the Book of Hebrews to begin to discover those that have faithfully transmitted the truth of God and faith in Him to subsequent generations. Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Rahab, and many, many others are listed in chapter 11. Eventually, as though overwhelmed by the faithful believers of the past, the writer to the Hebrews says,

32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,
33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,
34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;
36 and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated
38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised,
40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.” – NASB

The description from v. 35b to the end is especially noteworthy: there was no happy ending in this life for such men and women. They did not receive what was promised in this life – receiving their reward instead in eternity – but were willing to forfeit themselves for the hope they had in God. It is because of the faithfulness of such men and women of the Old Testament that Christians today have a record of the creative works, the decisive interventions, and the interactions of God with His people. The author opens the next chapter with the exhortation,

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also . . .”

Because of their lives, the author says, Christians should “also” live faithfully as God’s children and elect people. Such faithful predecessors need to be remembered and thanks given for them.

In like fashion, the pages of Church history provide a plethora of loyal witnesses, both identified and unidentified. From Stephen to modern-day martyrs, from Peter on the Day of Pentecost to Billy Graham in New York City, from Augustine to N.T. Wright, the history of the church is filled with those who have faithfully discharged the stewardships entrusted to them by God. Included are those disciplined, devoted, anonymous priests who for thousands of years meticulously copied the manuscripts so that we have today the New Testament, as reliable and accurate as the Old Testament.

These, too, should be called to memory and thanks be given for the work they faithfully did and the preservation of the Bible to the present day.

There is a third company, however, that may be more similar to the “Guardians” of the Shire than either of the two preceding groups. This third group battles tirelessly and constantly for the sake of the Church body and each individual member of the Body of Christ. They are ever on-guard, diligently and vigilantly protecting Christians against the efforts of the enemy.

This third company consists of the elect angels of God, those spiritual beings that did not succumb to the temptations of Satan to join in the rebellion against Yahweh. Their care for us is mentioned throughout the Bible: Paul makes reference to the presence of angels in the worship of the church (1 Co 11.10), Heb 1.13-14 tells us that they “render service” to believers, and Ps 91.11-12 declares,

For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways.
They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone.”

Three additional passages pull back the curtain even more and give us a glimpse of the work of angels in their care and guardianship of believers. The Books of Daniel and of Jude reveal:

Da 10:13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.
Da 12:1 Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.
Jude 1:9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’”

The first reference is a statement made by an angel sent to answer a prayer of Daniel. The angel or messenger explains that he was resisted and prevented from progressing further until Michael the Archangel came to assist him. The second passages illustrates the interventions and activities of angels in the affairs of this present world, while the third reveals the battle that raged between Michael and the devil concerning the body of one of the saints.

Angels are all around us, protecting us, guarding us, fighting for us, and participating in the work of God in our lives. More than the saints of the Old Testament or the New, they ought to be a cause for thanks giving.

Like the hobbits of Middle-earth, it is easy for us to fall into thinking that a life of prosperity and pleasure – for such is the life of anyone who owns a computer compared to the majority of the world – that such an existence is something to be expected, as though we are entitled to it. We fail to recall those that have gone before us and fought battles that we do not have to fight in our day; especially do we overlook the sacrifices and efforts of angels who do battle in the invisible, spiritual realm where the real war is being waged (Eph 6.12).

This is not to suggest that any of us should give thanks to the angels anymore than we would give thanks to the saints of the Old and New Testaments. Like the saints of yesterday and today, angels are servants of God. These elect angels serve us only because they are ordered to do so by God Himself. Thus, it is to God alone that thanks should be given.

In the giving of thanks to God, therefore, we should be mindful of those who have both gone before us and even now travel with us. The “Guardians” of our lives, albeit only servants, should not be ignored or forgotten when we thank God for His work in our lives. Let us thank God for the saints through whom He worked in the past and for the angels who continually serve as faithful ministers of His purposes.