Both Bob Dylan and I celebrated our 80th birthdays this year (2021).  He was born in northern Minnesota, where I now live, and I was born in northern Michigan.  We both come from iron mining towns (Hibbing, MN and Negaunee, MI).  We have both lived through some turbulent times… I well remember singing “Blowin’ in the Wind” in the late 60’s.  But that’s about where the similarities end…  Still, I wonder what Bob Dylan’s relationship is to Jesus Christ, particularly because I consider Dylan to be an American prophet speaking to the conscience of our culture. 

Francis Beckwith, who teaches Church-State Studies at Baylor University, has long studied Dylan’s music. “When you listen to Dylan,” notes Beckwith, “you can hear that he has been reading classic literature his whole life.  References to Dante and St. Augustine are as likely to show up as commentary about politics… he was quoting the New Testament [at various stages of his career]…Dylan has also soaked up generations of American music – especially folk, Gospel and blues.” 

Dylan’s title song from the 2012 album “Tempest” is about the Titanic.  “The captain, barely breathing, kneeling at the wheel.  Above him and beneath him, fifty thousand tons of steel…In the dark illumination, he remembered bygone years.  He read the book of Revelation and he filled his cup with tears…There is no understanding…the judgment of God’s hand.”   

Beckwith suggests that Dylan has created a religious narrative about “the arrogance of man” and the “brokenness of our world.”  Unlike our present “cancel culture” he isn’t into destroying or erasing history.  Dylan “keeps returning to ancient truths, traditions and books that many ignore.” He wants to learn from the past.  Instead of a lot of evangelical preaching today, Dylan’s music is filled with “medieval Christian images and literary references”.  I wonder how much of a voice Dylan has in our present “cancel culture” with it focus on “critical race theory.”   He seems to be skeptical regarding human motives and actions. 

You can feel the prophetic lament in Dylan’s words, like those of the prophet Habakkuk.  “How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?  Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’  but you do not save?  Why do you have me look at injustice?  Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife and conflict abounds” (Hab. 1:2-3). 

Bob Dylan has agonized over cultural conditions for over 60 years and expressed that agony in many ways.  Throughout his lyrics you can sense the voice of a biblical prophet.  He has not caved to “cancel culture.”  Rather, Dylan gives us a strong dose of lament.  He speaks to the “brokenness of our world.”  He challenges us to consider how we have lost our way.  Jeremiah laments, “But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me…They have stumbled off the ancient highways and walk in muddy paths” (Jer. 16:15).

Dylan is not afraid to speak to pride and arrogance in our culture.  Isaiah warns of pride.  “…The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day” (Is. 2:10).  Dylan gives fair warning of what is ahead if we don’t see our own pride and broken condition.

Prayer for today: Lord, give me eyes to see and ears to hear the pride and arrogance around me and in me. Help me speak in similar ways to “the arrogance of man” and the “brokenness of our world,” while holding fast to and offering words of hope that are rooted in Christ.    

The prophets of the Old Testament continually warned against false prophets.  In our day these are the voices that assure us that all will be fine with the direction of our nation, even as we disregard our Creator.  Listen to Jeremiah: “They have lied about the Lord; they said, ‘He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine.  The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them” (Jer. 5:12-13). 

“The prophets are all windbags.  They speak nothing but nonsense” (Jer. 5:13 – Message).  These false prophets with their deceptive words were simply full of hot air.  It reminds me of the “talking heads” predicting good outcomes for following their counsels. They give the people a sense of false security.  “They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The Lord says: you will have peace.’  And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you’” (Jer. 23:17).  This is what people want to hear.  

Jeremiah complained about these false prophets.  They were to blame for the apathy of the people.  “Oh, Sovereign Lord, look.  The prophets are telling them that you said, ‘You will not experience war or suffer famine.’ I will give you lasting peace and prosperity.”  (Jer. 14:13 NET).  The word for peace (shalom) “refers both to peace from war and security from famine and plague” (NET). 

The people were being conditioned to believe God will do nothing and not interfere in the affairs of the nation.  We read in Zeph. 1:12 of God finding those who seem to be “entrenched” in their indifference to God.  “At that time, I will search through Jerusalem with lamps.  I will punish the people who are entrenched in their sin, those who think to themselves, ‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes’” (NET).

“Entrenched” can be translated as those “who thicken on their sediment.”  If wine is allowed to remain on the sediment too long, it will thicken into syrup. “The image suggests that the people described here were complacent in their sinful behavior and interpreted the delay in judgment as divine apathy” (NET).  The cultural narrative in our day conditions even some of the faithful to believe that God is not active in history, expressed in the sentiment of the Psalmist, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees” (Ps 10: 11). 

Men, don’t allow yourself to become complacent by allowing the current cultural narrative lull you to sleep spiritually.   There is no doubt that the spirit of Antichrist is becoming stronger in our day.  Listen to Paul’s warning.  “You’ll also remember that I told you the Antichrist is being held back until just the right time.  That doesn’t mean that the spirit of anarchy is not now at work.  It is, secretly and underground.  But the time will come when the Antichrist will no longer be held back but will be let loose” (II Thess. 2:6-7 – Message). 

Men, I want to be vigilant, with my ear open to what is going on in the culture, while being alert to the sound of the trumpet.  Be prepared for that day. “Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill.  Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming” (Joel 2:1). 

As God is mocked, as his purpose for humanity is dismissed, and as ultimate reality – as expressed in his Word – is neglected, our heavenly Father will not allow such conditions to exist for the sake of his glory. Get ready.