“…the Bible which from cover to cover is designed that Jesus come into the world to put holiness on a foundation of grace. That’s the point of the Bible”
from UCCF’s Table Talk 4: Justification
We may easily be intimidated into not claiming things with conviction in or to our relativistic society
Here are some deep truth reflections that are liberating: saying “I don’t know” is not ultimate humility.
See especially Piper in 5:25-6:03:
I was recently told that there is not much of a future in my line of work in my country (Sweden). This was not the first time I hear this.
Semitists in general are unasked for and Hebraists seem particularly unwanted.
I am told that unless one ‘diversifies’ professionally with theology, then there is not much I could do with Hebrew in this country. As if we are not all called to have our theology straight as Christians. Apparently I must become a professional Christian… 
Well, the key word apparently is “my country (Sweden)” for I’m told I would stand greater chances elsewhere – that is in the truly English speaking world, or as the French would say, in the world ‘Anglo-Saxon’.
Why is that? In many other countries Hebrew is more than a grossly unnecessary, long dead language which happens to be the language of the largely irrelevant Old Testament.
In other countries Hebrew is a profoundly Christian language. Hebrew is considered even more Christian among the Semitic languages then even Syriac and Ge’ez.
This is because there is a Christian culture , scholarly and popular, of the Old Testament being foundational for the understanding of the only trinitarian God and for his promised Gospel (good news). The OT is not considered a loose and obscure prelude to the ‘real thing’.
This Christian culture does not feel the need to, at every cost, approach the OT ‘scientifically’ by assuming, like secular scholarship, that Christ has nothing to do with the OT since OT is B.C. Rather, this culture acknowledges the Christ-centered nature of the Old Testament, and does not fail to see the marks of this in the Hebrew language.
Therefore Hebrew is important, relevant, interesting, exciting – you name it.
So, if God calls me for service in Sweden, there is some preparation of that ground that needs doing.
Attitudes need to change towards the OT and thus people’s grasp what the Bible is about, who God is and so on.
When this happens it will be a source of excitement for many in their Christian lives.
And they will want to learn some Hebrew…
But, how does one bring about these kind of long term attitudes in a nation? Any takers?
Here is my Easter sermon of 24th April this year 2011. It is my 2nd sermon ever preached. This time I thought I’d do it without notes and ‘just’ follow the text. So this time there is no script, just the audio. The first time it was the opposite. The text is awesome!, of course. I can’t say I’m perfected as a preacher…:-), but to my defence the the service was bilingual and I removed the simultaneous Swedish translation. It is hard to get a flow in preaching with interpretation, but I suppose it takes some skill…
For Christians today the answer is simple:
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
9because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom. 10:9)
The BIG question is: Has it always been this way?
How were the Old testament people saved?
The answer to this question is not merely academic. One area that is affected by the answer is how gentile Christians today think of Jewish non-Christians today.
I recently came across a “Messianic” organisation with ex-Christians having rejected the idea of Jesus being both God and Man. They think of Jesus as the Messiah but not as God. For them this is a logical consequence of the way they read and know the Old Testament. There is a longing for a red thread through the Bible. They have understood that the Bible must be coherent – that the God of the Old Testament remains the same in the New Testament.
They argue that if the Old Testament is Jewish, then the New Testament must be Jewish. ‘Jewish’ is defined as rabbinic Judaism defines it. God is a singularity, a monothone. God is one person as he is in Islam. God remains the same.
And yes, they are right – God remains the same. But rather than the faith being ‘Jewish’ all along, it is ‘Christian’ all along. The faith of the Bible – the whole Bible – centres on the gospel of Jesus.
‘Jewish’ was and is a national identity. Many Jews were and are Christian (Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, Paul…), which is the faith of the Bible and the identity of the God of the Bible (trinity). As a rejection of Jesus the national identity of ‘Jewish’ with time became equalled with a separate religion.
Lets look at how the New Testament views the faith of the Old Testament (my emphasis added):
1 Pet. 1:8-12 as it:
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
Peter in Acts 10:42-43:
42And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Paul writes to Timothy (2 Tim. 3:14-15):
14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Paul writes in Rom 3:20:
20For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 21But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Paul gives the example of Abraham’s faith in Rom. 4:10-11:
10How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well,
Gal. 2:15-16:
15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Gal. 3:16-17:
16Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
God is true to his word. He makes a promise and he keeps it. This is the frame within we must try to understand the historical development of the Bible. The giving of the Law cannot have changed the promises given to Abraham.
Gal. 3:21-22:
21Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Paul’s simple yet irrefutable point is that if the law could have imputed righteousness to its doers, then Christ would not have had to die.
Gal. 2:21:
I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
This key OT verse is quoted by Paul:
Habakkuk 2:4:
4“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
Rom 1:17:
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
The way to salvation is and has always been through faith in Christ and Christ alone.
This is glorious since it frees us to under no circumstances need to seek to earn our salvation since it is impossible.
And so what we read first is of course an eternal truth:
John 14:6:
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The first word of the Bible is בראשית. This word is made up of two morphemes, ב meaning ‘in’ and ראשית meaning ‘beginning’.
Taking a closer look at the word for ‘beginning’ we see that it has the same root (basic consonants) as the word for head, ראש.
This is a natural use in many ways: a person is usually born head first and we tend to say “form top to toe”, not vice versa.
Col. 1:15-18 about Jesus:
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
So, Jesus is both ‘head’ and ‘beginning’. These words are not similar in Greek, but Paul doubtlessly knew how the two go together in Hebrew.
The same thought of ‘firstborn’ and ‘head’ is elaborated in Eph 1:20-23:
20that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
And let’s not forget Revelation 22.13:
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
It starts and it ends with Jesus.
I’ve been wanting for some time to write something about the Bible’s connection between the heart and the mouth.
Here are some relevant passages:
We have seen this one in a previous post on psalm 141:
3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips!
4 Do not let my heart incline to any evil,
to busy myself with wicked deeds
in company with men who work iniquity,
and let me not eat of their delicacies!
Prov 4: 23-24
23Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
24Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
Prov. 10:20-21
20The tongue of the righteous is choice silver;
the heart of the wicked is of little worth.
21The lips of the righteous feed many,
but fools die for lack of sense.
Deut. 30:14
14But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
Job 31:26-28
26 if I have looked at the sun when it shone,
or the moon moving in splendor,
27and my heart has been secretly enticed,
and my mouth has kissed my hand,
28this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
for I would have been false to God above.
Job 33:3
3My words declare the uprightness of my heart,
and what my lips know they speak sincerely.
Ps. 12:2
2Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
Ps. 17:3
3You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night,
you have tested me, and you will find nothing;
I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.
Ps. 19:14
14Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
Ps. 49:3
3My mouth shall speak wisdom;
the meditation of my heart shall be understanding. -
Prov. 15:28
28The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,
but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.
Prov. 23:33
33Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart utter perverse things.
Ecc. 5:2
2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. -
Isaiah 32:6
6For the fool speaks folly,
and his heart is busy with iniquity,
to practice ungodliness,
to utter error concerning the LORD,
to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
Jer. 9:8
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
it speaks deceitfully;
with his mouth each speaks peace to his neighbor,
but in his heart he plans an ambush for him.
Jer. 12:2
2You plant them, and they take root;
they grow and produce fruit;
you are near in their mouth
and far from their heart.
Jer. 20:9
9If I say, “I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,”
there is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones,
and I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
Jer. 31:20
20 Is Ephraim my dear son?
Is he my darling child?
For as often as I speak against him,
I do remember him still.
Therefore my heart yearns for him;
I will surely have mercy on him,
declares the LORD.
Ezek. 3:10
10Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.
Mal. 2:2
2 If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.
Matt. 12:34
34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Matt. 15:18
18But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
Luke 6:45
45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. -
Rom 10:8-10
8But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
What of all this then?
There is a deep connection between heart and mouth and thus between what they represent
Ultimately Jesus is the Word of God.
Jesus is introduced as such in Gen. 1:3, as explained in John 1:1-5:
3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
This is why the connection with the heart and the mouth is so vital in the Bible.
God the Father speaks. Jesus acts. In the power of the Spirit.
In other words, the intent originates in the heart, is expressed by words through breath as we speak.
This is a Gospel image.
The Words of God, as expressed in Jesus, resounds with the very intent of God, with God’s heart, with the initiator – God the Father.
We will do well as Christians to live this Gospel image and in so doing to give testimony to our God, within whom there is no discrepancy between intent and action.
Let’s not be hasty to speak. And when we do, may we be able to stand by what we say:
Prov. 25.11
A word fitly spoken
is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
This verse from Titus 1:1 (NIV) is a powerful call for discipleship:
1Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—
The connection that is being made between ‘knowledge of the truth’ and ‘godliness’ is stunning.
Meditate on it.
We cannot expect godliness without knowing the truth. It is in the Bible where we find truth.
We cannot expect to be sanctified without direction by what God has communicated in his word.
This may be obvious, but many times we may be lured into thinking that our ‘conscience’ is a fair judge of what is good/bad.
Consider this section on sanctification from 1 Thessalonians (4:1-8):
1Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. 2For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour, 5not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
Is. 66:2b:
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.
We are born again by the Spirit, and the Spirit guides us as we consciously conform our lives to the revealed Word.
Our church has developed a website for our ‘Cross Culture’ services and groups, which is much like an international congregation within a church.
We’ve also uploaded some recent sermons and the idea is that our series through Luke will appear there during the autumn term.
Please check it out and give feedback and tips on how to make the site better!
If you or anyone you know is travelling to Uppsala, Sweden, we would be delighted to make you feel welcome in an international Christian fellowship!
The address is: www.cross-culture.tk There is also a permanent link in the sidebar.
This is a pressing subject for Christian mission today: What God do we believe in?
The Apostle Peter writes (NIV 1 Pet. 1:18-21):
18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
It is through Jesus that we believe in God. Any god without Jesus is a false god.
It is probably the secular world and philosophy that has grouped religions as Judaism, Islam and Christianity as all believing in ‘God’.
Orthodox/conservative believers of all three faiths are well aware of the differences.
On one level it is a mere terminological issue. The recent Muslim controversy in Malaysia over whether Christians could be allowed to call God ‘Allah’ (which means ‘God’) is a case in point.
On another level the cross where the God-man Jesus died is an offence – even to liberal Christians. The result is that the concept of God hovers above and beyond anything ‘revealed’ in any specific religion. Since this is supposedly the case, all fumblings in the dark about God (such as in the Quran, the Bible etc.) all lead to the same God. In my estimate there are more such deists about than atheists.
Would it not be helpful to abolish the word ‘god’ as the generic term for some higher force? Possibly.
What is more pressing however is for Christians to emphasise that we believe in the triune God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit and that we believe that he is the only God.
The Gospel flows naturally out of that fact.
See this clip with Rev. Dr. Paul Blackham on the subject:
Mark Prentice preached this wonderful sermon on Daniel 6.
Highlighting the Christian dilemma of living in the world but not by it, Prentice suggests that the Biblical answer is deep disciplined devotion – three times a day.
This was Daniel’s practice, and although it seems to have been the cause of the persecution against him, it was also his strength in troubled times.
After all, did not Jesus promise persecution for his followers? (Lk 21:12)
As Prentice points out, it was the very nature of the regularity with which Daniel had his devotions that made the evil schemes against him possible (Dan. 6:10):
10When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
This is not legalism but discipline. It may be hard at times to distinguish between the two but much to often in protestant circles we decide something is legalistic when it is a matter of discipline – is it our flesh or our sensitivity to the Spirit that makes that decision…?
We really need to look at ourselves as Christians – I certainly do – and ask ourselves why we do not make time for these devotions. We emphasise the personal relationship that is possible with the living God, then why don’t we spend time with him regularly?
After all, there seems to be far more to loose by not having deep disciplined devotion.
Summer jobs and travel has got the better of blogging for a while… Thought I’d might warm up for the autumn term:
Here is another post on obedience, see also this.
Proverbs 28:9:
If one turns away his ear from hearing the law,
even his prayer is an abomination.
Or as the TNIV interprets it:
If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction,
even their prayers are detestable.
First a little excursion on Bible translations:
As a Hebraist I generally prefer and advocate as literal Bible translations as possible. The Word must not be bent or distorted. Indeed, any translation necessarily involves interpretation to some degree.
Paraphrases and certain amplifications can however be helpful at times when reading the Word in order to release us from unhelpful connotations or bring us into, for the context, more appropriate semantic fields.
J. I. Packer gives some advice on choise of Bibles in God has Spoken that seems to me sound and balanced:
I suggest that you try, as I do, to get the best of all worlds by having four Bibles at hand – the King James, with its majestic language and hallowed associations; a paraphrase; a word-for-word version; and one from the the middle – and regularly comparing them. In any case, however, concentrate on one version for reading and memorizing. This brings most benefit with least confusion. (p.21)
Maybe NIV seems to a younger generation to have enough ‘hallowed’ connotations, or maybe even one day the Message for that matter 
Now, looking at this verse from Proverbs, the word ‘law’, although it is the correct immediate translation of the Hebrew word ‘torah’, brings with it more than anything connotations of legal affairs.
But God’s law is his instruction first and foremost, something to live by, to live out. It is not an obstacle put out to trip us up.
Or like Paul writes to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 2:15-16a):
15For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.
This is how it is with Jesus: the name has condemnation for those who refuses to put their trust in him but life, instruction and freedom for those who trust him and follow him.
Proverbs 28:9 slams ‘ICE Christianity’ (In Case of Emergency) which is so common in increasingly secular, former professing Christian countries.
God requires obedience to his word and adherence to his law – which witnesses about Jesus.
Jesus says in Matt. 5:17:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.”
Indeed, the Bible tells us that Jesus is the Word, John 1:1:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
We must let that Word, that fulfilment of the law speak to us and change us by the power of the Spirit.
God is no one-armed-bandit and so we cannot expect a relationship with him if we treat him a such.
Instead, as we are saved by grace we need to let the Word transform us: our behaviour, our thinking, our priorities.
All for the Glory and Honour of God: Father Son and Holy Spirit as our lives communicates the Gospel.
This is the Glorious Gospel (good news) which this blog is all about:
16“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
The verse above is written in the book of the Jesus’ disciple John, chapter 3 and verse 16 (John 3:16). This verse is often said to summarize the subject of the whole Bible! This is what Christians are so excited about.
But; Why do we perish if God does not give his son? Who is the Son? Paul the Apostle writes the following in the letter to the Roman Christians in chapter 6 verse 23 (Rom. 6:23):
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Our sin alienates us from God, but God (the Father) loves us so much that he sent his son who himself is God to take the punishment for our sins – he died in our stead. If we put our trust in Him, in Jesus Christ, we have eternal life in him.
The Holy Spirit who is the third person of the Trinity (=God), helps us to conform into the image of Christ as we submit to God’s word, which is the Bible.
In this way, Christian good works flow out of having been forgiven of our sins on account or Jesus and can never contribute to the forgiveness of our sins.
Let us repent of our sins, believe in Jesus Christ and be forgiven and seek to live a life of discipleship in obedience to him by the power of the Spirit!
Prov. 1:23 (TNIV):
23 Repent at my rebuke!
Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
I will make known to you my teachings.
It is only as we repent from our sin – our evil thoughts, words and deeds that we can receive the word of God in to our lives.
Once we have acknowledged our basic sinfulness and received Christ in our lives we should continue to pray that the Holy Spirit shows us areas where we need to repent so that we can open up more to God’s word so it will transform us and conform us more to the image of Christ.
Also we should pray that non-Christians should be moved by the Spirit to come to an understanding of their sinfulness and repent from evil – first then will Scripture truly make sense to them, and the very thoughts of God will be revealed and make sense to them.
John the Baptist called for repentance at the outset of his ministry in Matt. 3:1-2:
1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Jesus too started his ministry by preached repentance in Matt. 4:17:
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The ‘kingdom of heaven’ is being saved by grace from the punishment our sinfulness deserve and living with Jesus as King, letting his thoughts and teachings shape you to become more like him.
And this will happen if we repent at his rebuke.
What an awesome promise!
The way the verb ‘to hear‘ functions in most modern languages is merely denoting the brain registering sound via the ears.
This is not how we are to understand to hear when we read it in the Bible. Whereas translators in many instances take this into account for the obvious situations, it is helpful to keep this in mind when looking at the less obvious ones.
Both the Hebrew equivalent שמע (in the OT) and the Greek equivalent ακουω (in the NT) have a wider meaning which should be taken into account.
This post looks at the Hebrew and the Old Testament. A separate post will follow on the Greek and the New Testament.
Below are some examples of passages in the OT where שמר has the transparent meaning of ‘to obey‘. The instances are marked in bold.
1 Sam. 8:7:
7And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.
Deut. 4:30:
30When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice.
Josh. 1:18:
18Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”
Jer. 3:13:
13 Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice,
Judg. 2:20:
20 So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people has transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice,
It is transparent that in these instances the more precise translation is ‘to obey‘ and not the simple ‘to hear’, just as the ESV has translated.
Here follows some passages where the ESV has translated ‘to listen’ or ‘to hear’ when in fact the implication of what is being said is ‘to obey’. The instances are again marked with bold:
Jer. 11:3:
3You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant
Gen 3:17:
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
1 Kings 12:24:
24‘Thus says the LORD, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel. Every man return to his home, for this thing is from me.’” So they listened to the word of the LORD and went home again, according to the word of the LORD.
Ex. 6:12
12But Moses said to the LORD, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?”
There is a reoccurring sense in which listening means much more than just hearing, in our sense of the word – obeying is being implied. In Jer 11:3 it is understood that the one who does not obey is cursed, not the one who does not listen. This is confirmed in Gal 3: 10 when Paul quotes this verse:
10For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”
Also in Gen 3:17, Adam committed no sin in listening to Eve, but is was by obeying her that he came to eat of the fruit and sin. In 1 Kings 12:24 they did not listen to the word of the LORD only to go out and fight but they obeyed the word of the LORD and did not go up to fight. The same is true for Ex. 6:12; surely the people had heard Moses, the issue was that they did not obey him.
There are of course many cases in which there is no deeper meaning to שמר than ‘to hear’ such as Gen 3:8:
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Other instances are more complex such as Deut. 6:4:
4“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
There is nothing to obey, only something to listen to. However, the passage continues with commands that are to be obeyed. (Deut. 6:6-9):
5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Thus the “Hear, O Israel…” encompasses both meanings in the imperative: Hear!, Obey!
Another meaning of שמר in Hebrew is ‘to give heed‘ or ‘to consent‘.
Gen 42:21:
21Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”
Judg. 11:17:
17 Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh.
Lev. 26:14:
14 “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments,
Job 15:17:
17“I will show you; hear me, and what I have seen I will declare
As we see the line between consent/give heed and obey is fine. For example, it could be argued that Lev. 26:14 is about obedience if it is seen as a mere prelude to “do all these commandments…”.
What is clear however is that except for instances with the plain meaning of hearing a sound, all other uses of שמר that we have seen has that in common that a response (or lack is) is implied with the word.
When you hear you either obey or disobey, give heed or ignore.
The Bible, within which we’ve been looking at this word, teaches us that it is so with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Once heard it does not leave anyone neutral – it demands a response.
And we are all either saved or condemned on the basis of what that response is.
Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?
Although God reveals something (that is makes something known) at a certain point in history, it does not mean that things where different before they were revealed – they were only not revealed.
This might seem obvious, but considering how the relationship between the OT and the NT is severed in liberal biblical scholarship, this point has to be made.
At the center of this controversy is the expression progressive revelation.
As J. I. Packer points out in his book God has Spoken, the term means something quite different in liberal theology than it does to evangelicals.
Whereas evangelical hold, writes Packer, that:
Then, in New Testament times, just as all roads were said to lead to Rome, so all the diverse and seemingly divergent strands of Old Testament revelation were found to lead to Jesus Christ, prophet, priest, and king, mediator, sacrifice, and intercessor, crucified, risen, and coming again. (p. 81)
Liberal theologians have an evolutionary outlook on revelation. God did not disclose himself to a greater and greater degree, but instead explains Packer:
…liberal theology has used the word [progressive] to express the idea that the history of revelation is really the history of how Israel’s thoughts of God evolved from something very crude (a tribal war-god) through something more refined (a moral Creator) to the conception of God taught by Jesus (a loving Father… (p. 81
As Packer goes on to note, this leaves them getting rid of the Old Testament as the New Testament, in their view, contains an evolved understanding of God. The later refined conceptions of God cancel and over-ride the former crude conceptions and so the OT is much like a scrap-book full of mistakes and the NT is the finished product.
Two conclusions can be drawn from this:
- Either this is governed by a naturalistic outlook where God doesn’t really exist, or if he does we can’t know anything about him. In this view ‘progressive revelation’ equals ‘evolved conception of God’.
- Or it is God who does the revealing but there is a progression from crude to refined, and what he revealed previously about himself was untrue.
This is of course heinous conclusions. For as Packer writes:
The New Testament revelation rests at every point on the Old as its foundation, and to remove the foundation once the superstructure is in place is the surest way to dislodge the superstructure itself. Those who neglect the Old Testament will never make much of the New. (p. 82)
There are eternal truths, there is no progression of truth or reality.
What is being talked of in the OT takes place in the NT.
Reading J. I. Packer’s God has Spoken I came across this from an argument for the necessity of verbal revelation:
True as it is that the incarnate Christ was not only God for man but also Man for God and that in Him we not only hear God speaking but also watch God blessing and man obeying, and that this is richer revelation than words alone could ever give, yet the centrality of verbal revelation remains, and it is precisely to the divine words that the Gospel calls us to respond. (p. 70)
We all fall into the trap of over emphasising either the human or the divine aspect of Christ at some point or other, at the cost of what is not being emphasised. This has partly to do with who we are; how we were brought up and what circles we move in.
I have often insufficiently marveled the aspect of Jesus being human in the sense of in him seeing how humans should behave towards God.
This has of course been picked up in the WWJD armbands (what would jesus do) that are being carried (mostly) by youth with a desire for holy living.
This has however been criticised, and rightly so. The story of Jesus is not primarily a textbook of holy living but a display of God acting on behalf of humanity. It is through our union with Christ – in His death and His resurrection – that we are saved. That is the Good News. We cannot be saved by asking our selves ‘what would Jesus do?’ and doing likewise. Jesus’ example, no matter how awesome, is no Good News to us, simply because we cannot live up to it.
When this has been said and emphasised however, we cannot only see Jesus as our representative, but also as our model for how to live in communion with God as a human being. A tree shall be known by its fruit (Mt. 12:33) – God requires holy living. And so we do have to ask ourselves ‘what would Jesus do?’.
In fact that is what our whole life is about – conforming to the Word of God – that is to Jesus – by obeying by the Spirit (Rom 12:2) what God has spoken in the Scriptures.
We have earlier looked at how revelation is trinitarian, and how this is apparent in the Old Testament.
Paul Blackham held this sermon one Trinity Sunday. What follows here is similar to it.
Isaiah 48:
12“Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
I am he; I am the first,
and I am the last.
13My hand laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I call to them,
they stand forth together.14“Assemble, all of you, and listen!
Who among them has declared these things?
The LORD loves him;
he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken and called him;
I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16 Draw near to me, hear this:
from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit.
As Blackham points out, this is a key passage is for Jewish Christian understanding of Trinity in that it shows that the God of the OT is no different form the NT – he is Trinity and has always been Trinity!
Let us first note, and this is pivotal, that although present in the ESV translation above, there are no quotation marks in the Hebrew original.
The quotation mark in the middle of v.16 reflects the translators’ interpretation of the text rather than what the original really communicates. The NKJV contains the whole verse within one quotation:
“ Come near to Me, hear this:
I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
From the time that it was, I was there.
And now the Lord GOD and His Spirit
Have sent Me.”
And the ASV does away with all quotations:
Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his Spirit.
The ASV does this because there are no actual textual indicators of quotations and thus by dispersing with them they are on the safe side in not having to ‘take sides’.
The NKJV on the other hand does use quotation marks and includes the whole verse as a single quotation based on the semantic content of this verse as well as the surrounding context (i.e. other verses).
Can one person of the Trinity speak of another person of the Trinity in 3rd person? This happens all the time in the NT! (Father about son: Mt. 3:17; 17:5, Son about Father: Jn 2:16; 4:21; 5:17, Son about Spirit: Lk 11:13; 12:10; 12:12; Jn 14:26 to name a few). It also occurs in the OT e.g. in Ps. 110:1 and Gen. 19:24.
There is thus an overwhelming evidence of one person talking about another in the NT and since God is unchanging (Mal. 3:6), this must also be true for the OT, as the OT passages indeed show.
What makes this verse, Isaiah 48:16, special is not the articulation of Trinity as such, nor is it the explicit persons of the Trinity but the fact that the verse explains for us the roles of the Trinity and as such the nature of God (who is Trinity). By revealing who God is it also reveals what he does and so it tells of the future (see verses 3-5 of the same chapter).
The ESV without the quotation mark goes:
16 Draw near to me, hear this:
from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
from the time it came to be I have been there.
And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit.
Jesus is the One Sent by the Father. This is emphasised time and time and time again by Jesus in John’s Gospel (5:23; 5:36; 5:37; 6:44; 6:57; 8:16; 8:18; 8:42; 10:36; 12:49; 14:24; 17:21; 17:25; 20:21).
The Spirit is told by Isaiah to be upon “the shoot from the stump of Jesse” (11:1) when he comes (Is 11:2):
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
The Spirit rests publically on Jesus at the onset of his ministry with the Father speaking from heaven (Lk 3:22). We are also told that it was the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead (Rom. 8:11).
Isaiah 61:1 also mentions the Spirit:
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
In Luke 4:20 Jesus actually claims to be that ‘me’ on whom “the Spirit of the Sovereign LORD” is upon.
What is more, when quoting another part of Isaiah (Is 6:19), John the Apostle writes that (Jn 12:41):
Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
If Isaiah saw Jesus’ glory and spoke of him then we can expect him to know the character of God (i.e. Trinity) and to know what he is talking about in 48:16.
In fact, what is outlined in Is 48:16 is how God always operates: All God does is always from the Father, by the Son and in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is how the world was made (Col. 1:16)!
Jesus speaks to us through Isaiah the prophet about the nature of God, about Trinity. This is a reality that we see in part in the OT and that is fully revealed when the Son was sent by the Father with the Holy Spirit at a certain point in history.
This is why this verse is so precious to us!
More will follow on why Is 48:16 is not expressing future, when the historic event of the Father sending the Son to earth evidently lay in th future from the perspective of Isaiah…
Evangelical theologian Don Carson says something in a talk that I listened to recently that was really helpful.
So often we hear how people’s view of the God of the Bible is that he is revealed as a God of wrath in the OT and as a God of love in the NT.
In a Sweden of liberal Protestantism the so-called ‘love command’ (supposedly the four Gospels in a nut-shell and hence the reason why these books have the highest status…) has become the commander-in-chief for all doctrine. Anything is silenced with: “but God is love, he could never…” you fill in the rest; i.e. whatever you don’t like.
I remember during a class of religion in high school one Christian student tried to distance herself to the OT by saying that the God of wrath of the OT was not her God.
It was our non-Christian, atheist, teacher who pointed out that God is very merciful in the OT too and that she was misrepresenting the Bible.
I think this misconception of the Bible stems from several things:
- No personal Bible reading
- Church teaching exclusively from NT
- Suppressing what we don’t want to hear
Carson’s point was that in the OT God is shown to be both a God of judgement and mercy. In his dealings with Israel, God is exceedingly merciful despite their rebellion. This is the LORD speaking concerning idolatry in Deut. 5:9-10:
9You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Now, does that not come down on the side of merciful?
Contrast this with Rev. 14:19-20 talking about judgement:
19The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
Or Jesus’ own words from the Gospels:
Matt 13:41-42:
The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mark 9:47:48:
And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
Don Carson points out that we are much more prone to worry about the judgements of the OT; famine, pestilence and sword, then we are of judgement in the NT – eternal hell.
Why? Because we don’t believe in hell!
Carson says that rather than mercy replacing wrath in the NT, we see how the revelation of God’s love is in the OT is “ratcheted up” in the NT – it is amplified. Now God no longer focuses on earthly blessings but in the famous words of John 3:16:
16“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Equally the revelation of God’s wrath is ratcheted up, amplified in the NT. The imminent threat is no longer exile or sword or pestilence, as in the OT, but eternal hell fire.
It all comes together of course on the cross. Nowhere is God’s wrath and God’s love simultaneously demonstrated as on the cross.
God was so angry with sin that he let his Son die to pay for the sin.
God so loved lost sinners that he let his Son die to save them.
We have earlier looked at what Jesus says about this in another Gospel. Here is Matt 15:17-20:
17Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
In this psalm it says in verses 3 and 4:
3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips!
4 Do not let my heart incline to any evil,
to busy myself with wicked deeds
in company with men who work iniquity,
and let me not eat of their delicacies!
In Matt. 15 Jesus is picking up the theme in these verses and points to the link between the mouth and the evil of the heart. David asks for the LORD’s help against the threat from within – the heart and the expression this takes in words spoken by the mouth.
The verses that follow in the psalm are an awesome Gospel witness (v.5-6):
5 Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness;
let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head;
let my head not refuse it.
Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds. 6When their judges are thrown over the cliff,
then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant.
If we take correction from a righteous man it is good for us. This is true in part of our human experience – we are ready to receive rebuke only from people who practice what they teach! But what man is truly righteous and without fault? Who can we entrust to assess our whole life? No one!
Well actually one – Jesus! He was, and is truly righteous. If we let Him rebuke us and correct us, it is a blessing that is to our benefit in the long run. However, if we reject and rebel against is words, and stumble on account of Him, then we will waste away in our own ignorant and foolish ways.
Interestingly the translation of v. 6 can look quite different, as indeed the alternative translation of the ESV suggests: “When their judges fall into the hands of the Rock”. This is the most straight forward translation of the Hebrew, and in my view as such it is the better one.
Not only is it closer to the Hebrew, but with the alternative translation of the verse makes more sense: When the evil rulers fall into the hands of God – the Rock – then all will hear the plight of the oppressed.
What we call the ‘Old Testament’, consisting of the Law, the Prophets and the Writings is the foundational Scripture of Judaism. It is also the foundational Scripture of Christianity. As Jerusalem was sacked in 70 AD the Temple of the LORD was destroyed and the means and place vanished where Jews could have upheld the sacrifices prescribed in the Law, the five books of Moses. Out of this Rabbinic Judaism developed with the Mishnah (Oral Law) and the Talmud as a commentary and explanation of what was laid out in the OT.
Temple Judaism could not be practised in the absence of the Temple. True, this started before the Temple was destroyed by worship and Bible reading in local synagogues. The first Christians were Jews from the Galilee who, just like everyone else, met in these synagogues. However, there was never such a desperate need for revising theological principles as after 70 AD, something that was started at Yavne.
What was to become the New Testament is also a commentary and explanation of the OT in a similar way. The former out of necessity as the Temple was no more, the latter out of belief that the Messiah of the OT finally had come and fulfilled what He had promised. For these the Temple had played its role and was needed no more. Christ had been the ultimate sacrifice.
Let us label these two streaks of continued OT-religion as Israelite faith 1 (Rabbinic Judaism) and Israelite Faith 2 (Christianity). Terminology sometimes plays tricks with our minds. It is often perceived that present day rabbinic Judaism equals the faith of the OT, and that Christianity broke out as a sect, like many before and after. This is simply not the case. As seen by the above, OT-religion was forced to pick a route at the cross-roads in the first century – two main ways resulted, and let us call them as above to keep our mind free from bias: Israelite Faith 1 and Israelite Faith 2.
So, from a secular historical pint-of-view, these are the two ways of ‘dealing’ with the crisis of the destruction of the Temple. As has been indicated, circumstances speak favourably for Israelite Faith 2 since it chose route some decades before it would have been forced to, as opposed to Israelite Faith 1 which was left no other choice.
Maybe it was not so much a turn at the cross-roads that Israelite Faith 2 took, in the first half of the first century, but rather continued in the curve along the intended path, fulfilling OT-religion.
Maybe Israelite Faith 1 continued straight not taking heed of the curve, and ended up at the cross-roads in 70 AD.
Thus, viewing the coming into existence of the NT as the natural, God-intended continuation of the OT rather than some random off-shoot from OT orthodoxy (divinely inspired or not) restores the dignity rightly due to the OT.
And what is more, it makes sense of the NT.
The following has appeared elsewhere, so I apologize for any repetitions. This post continues to argue the importance of the Old Testament for Christians.
Approaching the OT
Is approaching the Old Testament in light of Jesus just another ‘reading’ of the Old Testament? Are we awarding meaning to the biblical text? In the 70′s Marxism was a popular ism to read into the context of the Bible, and in our present day, feminism is another such ism – a popular screen through which we are encouraged to see what is being told. The most absurd things emerge as a result of this. Marxism had it that the Israelites obviously were the slave class of the Canaanites rebelling and making up the Exodus story to create a raison d’être. Feminism sees Mary as violated by God, having the virgin birth forced upon her.
In this manner the Bible is being read ‘in the light’ of something else, exterior to the text itself. These isms are held to be totally legitimate concepts of truth without constituting any imposition on the text – everything is now, obviously, to be seen and judged in the light of gender theory as it was obvious and true to judge all in the light of Marxism 30 years ago. It is held that the respective isms explain and expound the real nature of all it comes into contact with.
Are we now then attempting to read the Bible ( or more specifically the OT) in the light of another such ism – in the light of Christianism? Are we in turn awarding meaning to stories concerning people who lived long ago, far away? Contrary to the relativism in 20th century literary criticism, the author does have a say concerning the interpretation of a given text. The reader is not omnipotent.
As should be apparent to the Christian, Christ is the light of the world. It is in this light we must ‘read’ or understand everything, the whole world and all history. The Bible systematically presents a Christological metaphysic, if one is to employ modern philosophical language. The Bible only seems obscure, contradictory and incoherent if Jesus does not constitute the context within which we read it. As someone said (and as I have earlier mentioned), leaving out the Son of God and thus the Trinitarian God, the only true living God is like watching the film ‘King Kong’ with the main character ’King Kong’ digitally removed. As indeed is trying to live life without Jesus.
No wonder things do not make sense.
I have earlier argued that the whole Bible is about Jesus and that since that is the case, the Gospel can be preached from the whole Bible.
I think more can be said.
Although revelation comes to a fulfilment in the New Testament, and that part of the Bible is an indispensable part in that it sees the promises of the OT come to fulfilment, there is no original idea in the NT that has not been presented in the OT.
Jesus and the Apostles do not go beyond the Old Testament. Rather, the Old Testament is the Blueprint for all that is being said – all that is being more explicitly revealed in the New Testament.
The NT is in that sense a divine commentary of how the OT is to be interpreted – as well as fulfilment of revelation.
This introduces a new category on this blog ‘OT in NT‘. In such posts I will be looking at concepts in the OT which are explicitly picked up in the NT.
Why is this important to emphasise? I live in and am active in a country where the authority of the OT is undercut. Things are generally not as bad in the Anglo-Saxon world, however this is a pattern that is prevalent wherever liberal Protestantism has influence. If the very foundations of the NT had been made void, it is no difficult thing to topple also the authority of the NT, or at least – to use a Swedish term – make the Bible into a smorgasbord with little dishes of your choice.
There is a danger in considering the OT as merely the Jewish spiritual foundation.
Christian rootlessness stem from loosing touch with its roots, loosing touch with the Old Testament.
This verse is a Christological gold mine. This is how the TNIV translates it:
I will bow down toward your holy temple
and will praise your name
for your unfailing love and your faithfulness,
for you have so exalted your solemn decree
that it surpasses your fame.
What is so Jesus-centred about that?, you may well ask.
How does the ESV have it?:
I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.
With some imagination one could probably extrapolate something from this – but is it clear? No.
How does the Hebrew original have it?:
אֶשְׁתַּחֲוֶ֨ה אֶל־הֵיכַ֪ל קָדְשְׁךָ֡ וְאֹ֘ודֶ֤ה אֶת־שְׁמֶ֗ךָ עַל־חַסְדְּךָ֥ וְעַל־אֲמִתֶּ֑ךָ
כִּֽי־הִגְדַּ֥לְתָּ עַל־כָּל־שִׁ֝מְךָ֗ אִמְרָתֶֽךָ׃
Literally this translates: I bow down to the temple of your holiness, I thank your name on account of your steadfast love and faithfulness, because you have made great over all your name your word.
The KJV is spot on:
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
The names of God are his characteristics, his attributes – they tell us who he is, what he is like. This is standard for names in the OT: Abraham = father of many, Israel = struggle with God, Adam = man (i.e. representative for mankind) etc.
John makes it clear that the second person of the Trinity, the eternal Son, Jesus is also called the Word (John 1:1).
Paul writes the following of Jesus, the Word and makes clear just how exalted he is (Col. 1:15-20):
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
All was made for Him!
Also, the pinnacle of revelation is in the Word of God – Jesus (John 14:9):
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
So, for anyone who ever doubted – there is something very special about Jesus (gross understatement…)!
See related post “Trinitarian Revelation“.
This post is highly related to yesterday’s post.
Jesus to the Pharisees in Mark 7.11-13:
But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”‘ (that is, given to God) then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
Interpret the Scriptures wrongly and it paralyses your understanding of Scripture. This will in turn paralyse you as a Christian.
Our traditions can actually make void the word of God.
The Pharisees had snowed in on the outward expression of religiosity, on the laws and regulations without regarding the context in which these were originally set up. They had got their priorities wrong.
When reading the Bible we must have our priorities right.
Just as the Pharisees of Jesus’ day had been handed down traditions from their ancestors, so we 21st century Christians have been handed down traditions of all sorts in the Church.
We have to read the word of God in the light of, and in accordance with the rest of the word of God. The way we interpret the Bible may be one of the most important and therefore most critical traditions. If we get this wrong then whatever we read will may be void.
In our churches today we must ask ourselves: Do we interpret the Bible the way the Bible interprets itself?
The answer is, alas, in many cases ‘no’.
Jesus is the stone that we either build our foundation on (cornerstone), or the stone that makes us trip up (stumbling block).
We just cannot make sense of the OT without seeing that it ties to the Gospel of Jesus. In fact, we can’t make sense of the NT either – what is Paul talking about? Why do they all talk about the OT?
Someone once made the analogy that the reason life seems so empty for non-Christians is because their lives are like the movie King Kong with King Kong himself digitally removed – not much of a movie! Things just don’t make sense.
I’m convinced the same is true for Christians when reading the Bible – if Jesus does not take centre stage in all Scripture, then it is all very empty, even dull (read Leviticus…).
If the Gospel of Jesus does permeate our understanding of Scripture however, then all makes sense, all comes together.
Sooner or later.
Although I’m not an experienced preacher, my recent debut makes me think about preaching.
I believe that there is a principle with regards to preaching that cannot be emphasised enough.
I think this is the kind of thing that is obvious for some and shockingly provocative for others.
The whole Bible, Old and New Testament, is telling the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In short, the OT is anticipating the incarnation of the Son of God, and in the NT the Son becomes incarnate.
Because of this the following can be stated:
- The whole Bible can be used to preach the gospel.
- Every sermon should in one way or another preach the Gospel (see previous post).
It may sound whiny and it may only be me, but I believe we have in many churches a situation where the Gospel is not preached most of the time, but Scripture is at best used as points of departure for personal thoughts and speculations or historical expositions. When the Gospel is refered to it is almost exclusively when reading from the 4 evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).
Our starting point when approaching Scripture must be: “How does this part relate to the Gospel of Jesus?” If we can’t figure that out, we must recognize that the fault is in us and not in the Bible. It is neither a question of faults in the Bible, nor is it a matter of some parts having nothing to do with Jesus. We must instead ask other Christians and pray that the Spirit opens our eyes to the text.
Having this reality of the Gospel centeredness of the entire Bible at the forefront of our mind makes Bible reading and Bible study and preaching so much more exciting! We no longer have to ask ourselves if the text has anything to do with the Gospel, but rather how it has to do with the Gospel.
Ascension Day last Thursday – how glorious!
It is glorious for many reasons, one reason is that Sweden – the worlds most secular country – actually seems slightly holy in that Ascension Day is a public holiday here… For what it is worth for Sweden…
We were reading the text that Rev. Paul Blackham calls the ‘obvious ascension day reading’, Lev. 16:15-17:
15 “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. 16Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. 17 No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel.
There is an enormous comfort in that fact that the Old Testament is the blueprint for a greater reality; not only can we se how things were fulfilled in the New Testament, but we also know what to expect of things that have not been fulfilled.
Why did Jesus leave the earth? Can we really trust he is coming back?
Yes we can trust that. To start with the angel promised he would (Acts 1:11), but also the OT blueprint foretells it.
Just like Aaron came out of the Tabernacle (representative of heaven) after making atonement for the people at the mercy seat (representative for God’s throne), so Jesus will come back from heaven after having presented himself – the lamb that was slain for our sins – to the Father who sits on the throne.
And therein lies the answer to why he ascended: to complete the work of atonement.
The Cross was site of the sacrifice – the Ascension was when it was brought before the Father.
And every day we are waiting for our great High Priest to re-appear in Glory!
Here is the outline of my first Sunday sermon ever, preached yesterday. What a privilege – God is good! The reading was Luke 7:36-50:
_____________
Last week we heard about how the Pharisees and the experts of the Law stumbled on account of Jesus and did not accept him because their expectations of him did not meet up with reality. But the crowds and the openly sinful people such as the tax collectors did accept Jesus.
In this week’s text Luke zooms in on an occasion when Jesus interacts with a person from each of these categories: a Pharisee and a ‘sinful woman’.
Jesus is invited to a Pharisee called Simon and a woman comes in, weeps and cares for Jesus’ feet.
When I read this, I ask myself: What on is going on in this text?
Why does this woman come in? Why is the she crying? Is she sad or happy?
When this happens Simon thinks to himself:
“If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of a woman she is – that she is a sinner”.
Simon is distinguishing himself from her: “she is a sinner”.
He is looking down on the woman.
Jesus reads his mind and has something to tell Simon on account of these thoughts.
Interestingly the fact that Jesus reads Simon’s mind is another event in the Gospel told by Luke, indicating Jesus’ divinity. Only God can read the mind. Not even the devil does that. We read in Daniel that the magicians of the king could not read the mind with their demonic power.
Daniel 2:3-5 and 2:10-11:
He said to them, “I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means.” 4 Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” 5 The king replied to the astrologers, “This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble.
10 The astrologers answered the king, “There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. 11 What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men.”
Jesus IS the true God and he DID live among men!
__________
Jesus does not confront Simon directly. Instead he tells a story of two people who owned money:
“Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both.
Jesus asks “Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
Jesus points to three things that the woman has been doing since she came in which all concern Jesus’ feet, the dirtiest parts of the body:
1. Cry on his feet, dry with her hair 2. Kiss his feet 3. Anointed his feet with ointment.
With each of these things, Jesus points out to Simon how Simon neither washed his feet, nor kissed him nor anointed his head.
Jesus has now told his story and made Simon aware of what she had done for Jesus since she came, and that Simon had done none of these things.
Now Jesus is going to bring the argument home – make his conclusion.
Jesus says:
“Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven– for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
The ‘sinful woman’ – her sins have been forgiven! The Greek expression indicates an event in the past!
Then comes the sentence: “for she loved much”.
Does this mean that she was forgiven because she loved much?
Although this may seem to be the case, the answer is NO. The woman was not forgiven because she loved much.
Now, the wording of v. 47 is key. If you are attentive you realize that the interpretation of the whole statement hinges on the word ‘for’. The way the NIV that we just read from renders the Greek does not give justice to the Greek word in its context.
As most of you will know, words are bendy and meanings does not always correspond one on one between languages.
The word ‘for’ in Greek can be translated ‘for’, just like the NIV does it, but it also translates ‘for this reason’[1]. This alters the meaning of the sentence diametrically, but is in harmony with what Jesus is actually saying.
Let us put this alternative meaning of the Greek word ‘for’ and see what we get:
“Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven– for this reason she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
Wow!
Like this, the woman’s love is no longer the cause of forgiveness but the result of it. X2
This is in harmony with the story Jesus just told about the debtors who loved much because they had been forgiven. The moneylender did not cancel the debt because they loved him – they loved him because he cancelled their debt.
To prove to you that I’m not forcing the text to say what I want it to say with this word ‘for’ in Greek, let me read how the TNIV, the updated NIV translates it:
“Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Our passage ends:
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Since there is no indication that Jesus spoke to the woman before he spoke to Simon, it is most probable that Jesus had met the sinful woman and forgiven her sins before coming to Simon’s house. Now she comes to Jesus in thankfulness.
Why does Jesus say that she is forgiven in v. 48 if she already has been forgiven?
We are not to view Jesus’ pronouncement of forgiveness in v.48 as the moment of forgiveness but a public declaration to emphasise for the other listeners that he as authority to forgive sins. This is done elsewhere in Luke.
This is another ‘hint’ and indication to the divinity of Jesus – only God forgives sins. This is why Jesus proclaims it publically.
This was Jesus’ response to what Simon was thinking. Now;
What does this tell Simon? And what does this tell us?
The answer to this lies in the nature of sin, or in the words of Jesus’ parable, the answer lies in the nature of ‘debt’.
If the woman represented the debtor owing 500 denarii, who didn’t have to pay and who loved much, then Simon, who as Jesus pointed out, did not love much represents the debtor own 50 denarii.
1 denarius was about a day’s wage, and so both the debtors owed much money.
One of them owed very much – almost 2 years of wages!
But – was it only the 500 denarii debtor who couldn’t pay? NO! None of them could pay! It says: Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both.
Whether they owed much or little money – none could pay!
In Jesus’ story Simon actually had a debt that he could not pay. Simon thought to himself: “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is– that she is a sinner.”
Simon is calling the woman sinful in his mind, but Jesus tells Simon that he too had a debt with the moneylender – that is to say: Simon, you are also sinful in God’s sight.
Simon had not actually asked for forgiveness and repented and so he did not love, but Jesus indicates that he would receive forgiveness if he acknowledged his own sinfulness, asked for it and repented.
So, how was Simon sinful, what was his “debt” so to speak?
There was a world of a difference between a sinful woman and a Pharisee.
She may have been a prostitute, and Simon was one of the most respected members of society, living zealously to do all religious duties that God had commanded his ancestors to do.
Yet, Jesus insinuates that Simon is sinful.
Both in the Hebrew and the Greek the word for ‘sin’ implies ‘missing the point’/’missing the target’.
The Bible teaches that there are actions that are against God’s will/against his law which we call sin. This is probably the most common view of sin.
Most of us have heard about the 10 commandments. Some people think this is the whole definition of sin.
This was probably Simon’s definition of sinlessness – to keep the Ten Commandments.
But the Bible makes a difference between sinful behaviour on the one hand and sinfulness of heart on the other.
We see this by actually looking at the very same 10 commandments! Look at the 10th command in Ex. 20:17: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
We have all broken this commandment!
We are all under judgement.
No one is without guilt.
Jesus emphasises the seriousness of the sinfulness of the heart in the Sermon on the mount in Matthew 5 (5:21-22; 5:27-28):
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca, ‘is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
So thinking that I can be perfect is actually self-righteousness – God himself says in the Bible that I can’t be righteous.
With this in mind Simon, as well as the ‘sinful woman’, is in need of receiving forgiveness from Jesus who proves to have the authority of God – and is in fact God himself.
So the one ‘who is forgiven much’ is not only the one who has a long list of sinful actions but the one who realizes the darkness of one’s heart – then one who realizes who extremely sinful one is in the sight of a holy God even without committing any actual sinful actions!
This is not a bad thing – this is a good thing! We can have confidence that God is totally pure and holy, unlike us.
God does not compromise with sin.
The Apostle Paul compares his former life as a Pharisee with his life as a Christian when he writes to Philippi (3:4-9):
If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. 7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ– the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
Just like Simon, Paul was faultless in regard to legalistic righteousness. But God looks to the heart. Paul even considers his own god works as rubbish compared to the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ.
Paul had previously been trying to establish his own righteousness instead of submitting to God and have the true righteousness that is in Jesus.
Isn’t that true for so many of us? We try to be good in the eyes of God.
The truth is that we can only be righteous if we are counted righteous on account of Jesus.
Therefore any self-righteousness is in fact a huge insult in the face of God who sent his son to die for us so that we can be counted as righteous through his righteousness.
Jesus did not only outwardly keep God’s law, but also inwardly – Jesus never sinned.
If the literal meaning of ‘sin’ is missing the goal, then the question is:
what is the goal? – The answer is Jesus.
Jesus is the only true righteousness we will ever have.
Therefore both sinful actions in rebellion to what God has commanded as well as bad thoughts and self-righteousness is missing the goal – missing Jesus.
The woman knew that she was sinful, and she was so happy to receive forgiveness, because she saw how bad she was in the sight of God.
Simon too was in need of asking for forgiveness because he was sinful in his heart.
Simon thought he could earn salvation by being good, but
Good works are born out of thankfulness for forgiveness as seen with the woman and the parable – it is not what merits salvation. Nothing we can do can merit salvation.
The Apostle John sums up the human condition with a promise: 1 John 1:8-9:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
This then will make us followers of Jesus and cause us sinners to love him just like the sinful woman.
___
Maybe you are a Christian, but with time the sense of fresh joy over God’s sweet grace has faded.
Maybe you parade your good works instead of giving all glory to Jesus – HIS grace is sufficient.
Or maybe you love the Lord but you feel you are not good enough – his grace is SUFFICIENT
Or maybe you are here tonight and you’re not a believer but you feel that the something has been stirred up in your heart to awaken a sense of your sinfulness. Jesus is standing with open arms, welcoming you into his grace, just like he welcomed the sinful woman in the text, and all who repented and followed him.
Let’s take a moment in silence before the throne of grace and pray that the Lord shines his light into the depths of our hearts to show us where we need to repent and turn to him and be forgiven, that our love may flow back to Him.
[1] (Friberg: BW) or ‘for that’ (Liddell-Scott: BW; Abbot-Smith 1937:326). (Friberg: οτι is used to introduce a cause or reason based on an evident fact (JN 20.29)
It may just be me (my wife thinks so!) but I am somewhat appealed by a little discovery I made in Greek grammar during a lesson recently.
Many Christians (me included) defend the historicity of the Bible. The events told of really happened at a certain place and at a certain time.
There is a looming danger however of feeling that history is shrouded in mystery and uncertainty, and so the flawed position can end up being something like: “We don’t know who wrote it or if the events recounted actually happened – Jesus may not have risen from the dead, the important thing is that he is risen for me. All we know is that it is God’s word and that it is written in the Bible“.
In fact it is this last phrase that struck me in Greek. It occurs 64 times in the New Testament about what is written in the Old Testament (e.g. Matt. 2:5; Mark 1:2; Luke 2:23; John 6:31).
The Greek word used is perfect and passive: γεγραπται.
This literally translates ‘it has been written’ but the logic of it is that if something ‘has been written’ it can at present be said to ‘be written’.
Although both translations carry the same semantic meaning, there is a pragmatic difference that is helpful for me. I suppose it has to do with the connotations of past as opposed to present that the two renderings have.
Knowing that ‘it is written’ actually reads ‘it has been written’ seem to anchor the word of God in history. Perfect is a past-tense.
Of the Gospel of Luke, for example, we can say “as it has been written” i.e.: long ago by the historical person Luke, not merely “it is written” now, in the sense of: we can’t deny the fact but who knows who really wrote it and when.
Does anyone else find this detail reassuring somehow?
My sister graciously gave me an awesome Bible recently. Don’t get me wrong, all Bibles are awesome, but for someone aspiring to read the Bible in the original languages, this one-volume A Reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible from Zondervan is something out of the ordinary.
Not only is the OT in Hebrew (and Aramaic), and the NT in Greek, but less common words are footnoted which facilitates reading enormously. All words occurring 100 times or less in Hebrew, 30 times or less in Greek and 25 times or less in Aramaic are footnoted at the bottom of the page, using definitions form standard lexica.
This is definitely a more devotional Bible than the scholarly BHS and UBS4 with their critical apparatuses which may divert attention form the text. A Reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible is a good compliment to the BHS and UBS4 (or vice versa!) The editors have also indicated whenever text differs form the BHS or UBS4 which facilitates comparison.
Other attractive features include European leather binding, full colour maps and glossaries for words in Hebrew (occurring more than 100 times) and Greek (occurring more than 30 times).
I highly recommend this Bible for anyone who has some Greek and Hebrew and want to get going reading more, or for anyone who intends to start with these languages at some point!
Check it out here:
The LORD calls Samuel during the night but Samuel thinks it’s Eli calling. This is repeated three times until Eli realises that the LORD is calling the boy. Then it says in 1 Sam. 3:7:
Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
Although it is not crystal clear, it is natural to interpret the second clause as an asyndetic circumstantial clause to the first. The Hebrew allows for the word ‘for’ or ‘because’ to be understood: ‘for the word of the LORD had not yet…”. Although this interpretation is possible, it must be granted that it is not obvious in context. The two clauses could be independent to one another. Biblical teaching however gives support for interpreting it as an asyndetic circumstantial clause, as we shall see.
Now, this verse has lots to teach on revelation. The following can be deduced:
- Samuel could not know the LORD without revelation.
- Revelation happened at a specific time (as is clear later in the story).
- It is the word of the LORD that reveals the LORD.
- ‘Revelation’ has the meaning of ‘uncovering’ which is the meaning of the Hebrew verb used, גלה (galah).
- ‘Uncovering’ means making known something that has been a reality all along. That is, revelation does not spring something into existence but rather into conciousness.
The word of the LORD reveals the LORD. Who are they?
We read in John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It is made clear that this Word is Jesus.
Jesus (the is the Word of God) says in John 14:6-9:
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Here Jesus himself states plainly in the Gospel of John that Jesus makes the Father known, through himself.
Therefore the Word of the LORD reveals the LORD, as 1 Sam. 3:7 points out.
So, to complete the picture; what reveals the Word of God? That is, what reveals Jesus? The Holy Spirit!
As Jesus says in John 14:24b-26
And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
The Holy Spirit guided and helped the Apostles and other biblical authors to faithfully and accurately write down what God spoke. This resulted in the Holy Scriptures which reveals Jesus Christ. Jesus reveals the Father: The Scriptures reveal God as trinity in presenting revelation as trinitarian.
God is Trinity.
Revelation is trinitarian.
This verse spoke to me afresh a while ago (Mark 7.20):
And he [Jesus] said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.
I’ve always taken this to mean the direction of that which defiles us, and also the fact that it is not primarily the physical that defiles us but the non-physical, i.e. our thoughts or our words (but also our actions which are physical).
But on a deeper level Jesus is pointing to the origin of evil. He is not primarily pointing at the direction of evil coming out of us or to the non-physical nature of what defiles.
I might say: “Jesus is right; what comes out of me defiles me: my words my thoughts”. Having said that I go away rationalizing about how this evil got into me in the first place so it could later defile me when it came out.
By thinking this I’m effectively saying that the evil that comes out of me and defiles me does not originate in me but external to me. That is; I would be saying that the cause of me being evil is external influence: bad childhood, bad family, bad friends, bad colleagues, bad work, bad marriage, bad children, bad teachers, and so on – we make the list endless.
Jesus points to our hearts. We have bad hearts. The cause of defiling things coming out of us is ultimately an internal matter of each individual’s heart. Therefore we cannot blame circumstances but instead we are in a desperate need of a new heart.
Therefore is God’s promise as in the book of the prophet Ezekiel 36:26 (also 11:19) so awesome:
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
This is what happened on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit was given to believers.
Through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit we can grow more Christ-like as Christians. This is not ni order to earn salvation – no one can do anything towards his salvation – but to honour and glorify the living God by becoming more like him in obedience to him.
Only then can we fulfil the command of Leviticus 11:45:
You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
This is accomplished, external to us by God putting a new heart in us. Then His goodness can flow out.
Elijah is at Mt. Carmel and challenges the prophets of Baal in a duel to publically display that the LORD God is the only true God. Elijah makes a proposal to the people (2 Kings. 18.24):
And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.”
It was Elijah’s suggestion but the people agreed: The God/god who answered with fire would prove himself to be the real God.
We know the story: after much time and desperation it is evident that Baal is not going to answer. He is a false god.
Elijah however starts his part in the duel by drenching the slaughtered bull, that the fire is supposed to consume, in water and thus making it utterly impossible to set the altar and the sacrifices on fire by human means.
When Elijah prays to the LORD, fire does come from heaven and consumes, not only the bull but also the water, the wood and even the stones!
This axiom, stated by the prophet Elijah and universally agreed upon by his enemies, that “the God who answers by fire, he is God”, still stands today.
Paul writes to Timothy (1 Tim. 3:16):
Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:
He appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory.
How did the Spirit vindicate Jesus? Romans 8:9-11:
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
The Spirit was freely given to Christians on the day of Pentecost in the shape of fire (Acts 2:1-4)
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
This was the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, and so proved him to be the son of God, and totally righteous.
Fire from heaven proved who is the only true God on the day of Pentecost. And we know His power still today.
This post is a follow-up to another post on the same subject.
Another instance of someone’s judgement being a metaphor for that person’s character occurs in the book of Judges 13:12.
And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?”
On the first part of Manoah’s question see this post on God making his Word come.
The latter part of the question literally reads “what will be the boy’s judgement and his work”?
Just like in 2 Kings. 1:7, referred to in the first part of this post (link above), we understand this to be mean: “what will he be like and what will he do?”
Again, how you judge defines your character.
While reading some in the book of Job, I came across the Hebrew expression for ‘sparks’.
Eliphaz utters these famous lines (Job 5:7):
but man is born to trouble
as the sparks fly upward.
The literal wording for sparks in Hebrew is ‘sons of flame’.
I find the expression exciting in the light of the Spirit being poured out on believers at Pentecost (Acts 2), in the form of tongues of fire, i.e. flames.
And, isn’t it by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit alone that makes Christians sparkle?
Here is a lovely passage from psalm 85.11:
Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
Parallelisms such as this one is used in Biblical Hebrew poetry to indicate when two things are connected in some way.
But, what is the link? Righteousness belongs to heaven, granted – but one does not readily associate the earth with faithfulness.
Paul the Apostle (Rom 3:9-18) makes it abundantly clear that there is no one righteous (quoting Ps 15, Ps 53 and Ecc 7). Humans are also notoriously faithless and adulterous throughout the Bible and in our own experience.
So, what faithfulness can possibly spring forth from the ground?
The Root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:10; Rom 15:12): Jesus
The the righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel, in the person of Jesus (Rom. 1:17), and Jesus himself being God, is seated at the right hand of the Father, looking down from heaven.
God has done it all. Jesus was faithful to his Father. Jesus was found righteous.
We too can be found faithful and righteous if we are found in the God-man Jesus.
Judges 8:4-8 teaches us something of what the writer of Hebrews is talking about in chapter 11 verse 1: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”:
And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the 300 men who were with him, exhausted yet pursuing. So he said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”
And the officials of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?” So Gideon said, “Well then, when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.”
The same thing is then repeated with the city of Peniel. The LORD does of course deliver on his word and the judgement spoken of by Gideon over the cities does come about. (These are the same 300 men treated in another post on God’s strength manifested in weakness.)
The cities of Succoth and Peniel refused to hold God’s word to be true. they wanted proof, proof they could not get.
Jesus will come back to judge the living and the dead - the Scriptures tells us so (Acts 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:1; 1 Pet. 4:5).
Will we trust Jesus’ words to be true? Will we trust the Bible to be true?
Just like Gideon stretched out his arm towards the cities of Succoth and Peniel to receive, so Jesus is reaching out his hands to sinners, not to receive something from us but to give us eternal life if we receive him, and trust him. Will we receive him?
One day, when he returns in victory it will be too late. And he will return.
He said so.
Gen 45:7:
But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
These words of Joseph could have been spoken by Jesus.
Paul writes to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 15:20) :
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
And later(1 Cor. 15:23):
But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
Just like Joseph, Jesus too was handed over for evil purposes, but God had a bigger, glorious purpose behind what seemed so bad – saving a remnant. For Joseph on a national scale, but for Jesus on a cosmic scale.
Leithart has a good post here on more of Joseph as an image of Christ.
When studying Greek one comes across lots of familiar words used in everyday English such as psychology, helicopter and hippopotamus…
With Hebrew it is different. Alas! For anyone coming from a Bible reading background, there will however be some familiar words.
Some of these may be: ‘Amen’, ‘Sabbath’, ‘Cherubim’, ‘Hosanna’ and ‘Hallelujah’.
The meaning of some of these words are self explanatory or just apparent in context such as Sabbath and Cherubim.
Other words are not so clear, such as the word ‘hallelujah’, which is so frequently used in worship by Christians all around the world. Many who use it have a vague idea that the term is an act or worship, glorifying God.
The word consists of two parts: 1. ‘Hallelu’ meaning ‘Worship’ which is plural imperative and 2. ‘Yah’ being a short form of the divine name.
In the words of Psalm 105:43-45:
So he brought his people out with joy,
his chosen ones with singing.
And he gave them the lands of the nations,
and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil,
that they might keep his statutes
and observe his laws.
Praise the LORD!
God is best glorified when sinners repent and turn to him.
We worship God in calling others to praise the LORD – that is evangelism.
2 Kings 1.7:
NIV: The king asked them, What kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you this?
The Hebrew wording in this verse reveals some interesting details of how the language is connected to a deeper Gospel reality.
The Hebrew literally has it: “What [was] the judgement of the man who went up to meet you…?”.
The implied meaning of this however is seen in the English translation above: “What kind of man…?”.
So, the way Hebrew works, you can judge a man from his judgement. How a man judges says something of the man.
This is what Jesus teaches all along. If you are too quick to judge others, you may not realize that you are not faultless either…
In Jesus’ words of Mt. 7.1-3:
1“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
If we are not gracious to our fellow men, we scorn the fact that God has been gracious to us while we were sinners.
I must call other people to repent from sin, absolutely – but only after realizing that I am the greatest sinner of all, saved only by grace through the blood of Jesus.
That will say something about me as a Christian. In this way the Gospel judges character.
The Old Testament is all about Jesus.
For some Christians this may be no news, but for others it may be as revolutionizing and energizing as it was for me once and still is today. The Apostle Peter says in Acts 10.43:
All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
Here are some common (and mostly modern) Christian/non-Christian misconceptions about the OT that Peter puts to shame in the passage from Acts:
- That God revels himself impersonally merely as ’God’ in the OT
- That only some prophets spoke of the coming Messiah
- That these prophesies about the Messiah were vague and unspecific as to why he would come
- That the OT way of salvation is through works of the Law
Acts 10.43 puts us straight: “All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
- The OT testify about Jesus as the promised one
- All prophets spoke of him, not only some prophets
- The prophesies were very specific, totally stating the Gospel – Jesus would come to redeem
- Salvation comes, and has always come, by faith in the name of Jesus, not by works of the law
The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, 2 Tim. 3.14-15:
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
The ‘Scripture’ referred to is the Old Testament. Paul says it can make us “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”.
Now, let’s always read the OT in this way – the way it is intended.
Let it preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Judges 7:2:
The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her
This OT passage is a very practical example of what the Lord tells Paul the Apostle, alluded to in the title of this post (2 Cor. 12.7-10).
It is never about human efforts and strength but about the power of Jesus. Paul asked God to take away something that inflicted pain on him, and logically, from a human point of view Paul would be more effective for the Lord in his evangelism if the Lord removed this ‘torn in the flesh’. But the Lord says:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
It is not our own hand that saves us but the hand of the Lord. It is He alone who has paid the price for our sin on the cross. We cannot add to or subtract from that.
Gideon looked weak with his 300 man band, being up against well over a 100.000 enemies. Gideon’s God looked weak too. Didn’t Gideon and his God have enough support to muster more soldiers? But God won the battle with 300 men.
And never did Gideon’s God, the living God look so weak as when he wielded his strength to the ultimate degree, dying for us on a cross.
Some cunning questions on Gen. 35:
1. Where did Rachel die?
2. What was she doing when she died?
3. What did she call her son?
4. What did his father re-name him?
Answers: 1. Near Bethlehem 2. Gave birth 3. Son of my suffering (Benoni) 4. Son of my right hand (Benjamin)
Near (or in) Bethlehem another boy was later born. His mother saw her son suffer in life and death, but his Father later seated him on his right hand in heaven.
The story of Rachel’s death preaching the Gospel of Jesus.
This is an awesome formulation by Paul Blackham of the Biblical definition of sin:
Sin is any and every action or thought or word or desire that opposes the actions, thoughts, words and desires of the most holy God who made us and will judge us. Our attitude to Jesus reveals how we stand because Jesus is the definition of the actions, thoughts, words and desires of the most holy Father.
Good, isn’t it?
For more resources with Blackham, see the All Souls Sermons arcive and the Tarelton Farm Fellowship as well as his website.
ps. does anyone remember the reference for this quote, i.e. in what sermon he said this?
Judges 2.10-13:
After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
Joshua (heb. for Jesus) is taken from the people he has led. Soon enough Joshua’s whole generation, those who had lived their life under his guidance and leadership, passes away too.
Tragically, with them dies also the knowledge of he way of the Lord. The Israelites fills this void with influences from the surrounding peoples – they go and serve other gods. These are of course no real gods, but their worshippers serve them diligently, forsaking the real, living God.
As a generation of believers do not take their task of seriously evangelizing their children, their children will become those “who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel” (Judg. 2-10). These will then i turn go astray and serve other gods, be it Buddha, Allah, Money or Human Intellect.
The Gospel must NEVER be assumed in preaching. In that sense one can never ‘preach to the choir’ – everyone needs to hear the Gospel and Christians should be very willing to do so. Either there will be someone who has never heard the Gospel and who can receive it, or there will be someone who can be refreshed and encouraged and built up in the way of the Lord by hearing it.
It has been said that the Church is only one generation away from extinction. Although this is technically true, and as such a shocking statement, God would never allow for the Church to die out, no matter how rubbish we are to ‘pass it on’. But for the sake of the souls of our children, our grandchildren and coming generations we must take a passage like Judges 2.10-13 very seriously.
Will we make sure that the generation after us has a good grasp of the Gospel? Will we make sure that they know our Lord Jesus Christ?
I’ve been reading the Book of Judges in Hebrew lately and as always when studying the Hebrew Scriptures one literally trips over christological gold nuggets that does not always come though in translation.
One of these is Judges 13.12.
Samsons father Manoah has just been promised a son (Samson) by the Angel of the Lord (!). Manoah wanders how the boy is to live his life when the LORD delivers on his promise and gives him a son.
Different Bible translations renders this differently:
NIV: “When your words are fulfilled… ESV: “Now when your words come true… ASV: Now let thy words come to pass: MSG: “So. When what you say comes true…
The ways to translate what Manoah says of which the gest is ’when you deliver on your promise’, are diverse.
The Hebrew literally has it: ’ Now, in the coming of your word (i.e. when your word comes)…’.
Thus we see, amazingly, that the very expression for delivering on a promise in Hebrew is to ‘make one’s word come’.
God’s big promise of the Old Testament is the coming of the Messiah, the Saviour, in whom we need to trust. And God really makes his word come (i.e. delivers on his promise) by the literal ’coming of His Word’, our Lord Jesus Christ!
So, I’m finally a blogger, taking my thoughts and ponderings on the Bible, theology and related things into the public sphere.
The purpose of this blog is to contribute to a greater understanding of the Gospel and love for our Lord Jesus Christ. Please correct me if I ever stray from doing so!
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