Simple Answers

A good way to apply a theological question down to real life is to teach a pre-readers' Sunday School class.  My class at The Master's Community Church (themcc.org) is full of little people who have a great deal of energy, love to tell about all the things God made, and are learning how God keeps His promises to His people (amazingly, the exact same thing their teacher is learning!).  The class has put feet on a number of questions that have been in my mind for some time.

1) How do you teach Old Testament Bible stories of God's just punishment for sin and reward for faith without implanting a performance-based mentality in a child's mind?  This past week, the Bible lessons was from Numbers 21:4-9, the story of the Brazen Serpent.  Over the past several weeks we've been looking at the wilderness wanderings and noting how God blesses belief and disciplines unbelief.  On Sunday, I explained to the children that there was nothing magical about the snake on the pole; it was believing in God's promise that healed Israelites.  Someone asked if a person would be healed if he believed God but didn't look at the snake.  And here we were back at the performance vs. faith question.

2) How do you teach an Old Testament passage that the New Testament expands on?  Should you stick to the OT text or highlight the NT explanation of the OT passage?  The Brazen Serpent's significance is highlighted by Christ's reference to it in John 3:14-15: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  All the big questions of the New Testament's use of the Old Testament rushed into my mind.  Should I bring in the NT or stick to the OT?  If Christ used the Bronze Serpent as a picture of Himself, wouldn't it be doing the story injustice to leave out Christ's use of it?

3) What about passages whose meaning is dependent on your theological paradigm?  Upon further investigation, I discovered this was one of those passages.  What did Christ mean when He said that He would be "lifted up"?  Was it a reference to the Cross (John 8:28, 12:32-34), or was it also a reference to His glorification (Isaiah 6:1, 52:13).  There was a neat string of theology behind both views, and I wasn't ready to pick a position.

In the end, all three questions had much simpler answers than I was prepared for.  1) Someone who believed God's promises would look at the snake.  A person who believes God's promises obeys His commands.  2) Since Jesus used the Bronze Serpent to picture Himself, we should use the same picture when we teach the story.  3) Since John would have been familiar with Isaiah's use of "lifted up," it's possible that his use of the term included the Messiah's glorification from Isaiah.

The purpose of this post is not to say that these questions are not legitimately difficult or that I've found amazing answers to them, but that when it comes right down to explaining to pre-readers what the Bible means, the answers are amazingly simple.  Through prayer, submission to the Holy Spirit, and exegesis it is possible to know what Scripture means by what it says.

Creation, Light, and Re-Creation

Here is a beautiful theme in Scripture that I ran into yesterday while studying Christ's kingship.  It reminded me of God's creative use of word pictures to communicate something that is bigger than words.  The following paragraph came from a fat book of theology, so pardon the author's long sentences and enjoy the his content:)

Arise, shine, for you light has come,

And the glory of the LORD has risen upon  you.

For behold, darkness will cover the earth,

And deep darkness the peoples;

But the LORD will rise upon you,

And His glory will appear upon you.

Nations will come to your light,

And kings to the brightness of your rising.

Isaiah 60:1-3

"...Why is light underscored in Isaiah?  ...  The reference that "darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples," likely alludes to Gen. 1:2-4: "And darkness was over the surface of the deep....Then God said 'Let there be light'; and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness."  Isaiah 60:1-3 is depicting the coming restoration and redemption of Israel [New Covenant salvation, ed.] against the background of Gen. 1:2-4.  The reason for doing this is that Isaiah understands the future blessing on Israel and the world to be a recapitulation of the first creation, so that Israel's and the nations' salvation is painted as a new creation and emergence from spiritual darkness.  The same notion of new-creational light presumably is also in the mind of the NT allusions to these Isaiah verses.  The idea of new creation is conveyed in the NT uses is also indicated by Paul's statement in 2 Cor. 4:6: "For God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.""

- "Resurrection as New Creation and Kingdom in the Gospels and Acts" from 

A New Testament Biblical Theology by G. K. Beale

The Cross in Redemptive History

For the last several days, I've been thinking about how Christ and His cross are the fulfillment of so many Old Testament promises.  In my mind, I've always divided redemptive history into two categories: now (creation to the end of this physical world) and eternity.  However, although I still see two categories, the two categories now are the time of God giving promises and the time of God fulfilling promises.

From creation (Genesis 3:15) until the end of the Old Testament, God is continually giving promises.  Some of these promises were given to a nation whom God corporately elected and with whom he had a covenant relationship that was not necessarily salvific.  Others of these promises were given to His redeemed people whom He bound Himself to by covenant.  With the birth of the Messiah, the Branch, the King, the Shepherd, the Anointed One, Jesus Christ, these promises began to be fulfilled.  Jesus Christ's coming inaugurated the fulfillment of all of the promises of the Old Testament.  We may not see their fulfillment or the results of their fulfillment immediately, but their fulfillment was begun.  The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians in II Corinthians 1:18-20:

But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No.  For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us...was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes.  For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

The fulfillment of God's promises continues from the coming of Christ through eternity, for in the Eternal State we will still be experiencing and rejoicing in the fulfilled promises of our faithful, covenant-keeping God.

Thinking about redemptive history in these two categories has highlighted the centrality of Christ and the cross in my mind.  It is Christ and His cross to which God's promises point, and it is Christ and His cross which fulfill these promises.  Words like Christological and Christo-centric are making sense in a different dimension because I am seeing that Christ and the cross really are the focus-point of all redemptive history.  This is not to minimize themes such as the glory of God, for there is more in God's plan than just redemption, but the section of history that we as humans can best understand is the redemptive part, and Christ and the cross are turning point of redemption.  Whether it is the redemption of individual people or the redemption of the heavens and earth, redemption and fulfilled promises are only possible because of Christ and His cross.

The Valley of Vision nicely summed up centrality of the cross in daily life in the prayer "The Grace of the Cross":

I thank Thee from the depths of my being for Thy wonderous grace and love in bearing my sin in Thine own body on the tree.  

May Thy cross be to me as the tree that sweetens my bitter Marahs, as the rod that blossoms with life and beauty, as the brazen serpent that calls forth the look of faith.

By Thy cross crucify my every sin; use it to increase my intimacy with Thyself;

Make it the ground of all my comfort, the liveliness of all my duties, the sum of all thy gospel promises, the comfort of all my afflictions, the vigour of my love, thankfulness, graces, and the very essence of my religion;

And by it give me that rest without rest, the rest of ceaseless praise.

Want Something to Read?

Ever summer I set goals of books I want to read...and every summer I fail (!).  Not that I don't read anything during the summer, but my reading seems to be lighter; the brain is a bit fried after nine months of classes.  Last summer, the goal was Mortification of Sin, and then the entire summer was spent pulling weeds for the City of Hutchinson.  This summer's project is Life Together by Bonhoeffer, and the entire summer will probably be spent memorizing vocabulary lists.  (Actually, this summer's project was supposed to be Ladd's New Testament Theology, but that was a bit ambitions for a student attempting to learn Hebrew in ten weeks:)  


Since none of these lovely books are likely get read this summer, I am concentrating on finishing one of my favorite devotionals, The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prays and Devotions.  Returning to it this summer has been a great joy!  The authors seem to be able to express my own desires better than I can, and their honest, God-centered view of life is both refreshing and challenging.  If you are interested in something to add to your devotions this summer, you can find it at at http://www.amazon.com or http://www.monergismbooks.com/.


Here is several selections from a prayer that was a blessing to me recently.

Quicken me to call upon Thy name, for my mind is ignorant, my thoughts vagrant, my affections earthly, my heart unbelieving, and only Thy Spirit can help my infirmities.

I approach Thee as Father and Friend, my portion forever, my exceeding joy, my strength of heart.

I believe in Thee as the God of nature, the ordainer of providence, the sender of Jesus my Savior....

May the truth that is in Him illuminate in me all that is dark, establish in me all that is wavering, comfort me in all that is wretched, accomplish in me all that is of Thy goodness, and glorify in me the name of Jesus....

Teach me that Christ cannot be the way if I am the end, that He cannot be Redeemer if I am my own savior, that there can be no true union with Him while the creature has my heart, that faith accepts Him as Redeemer and Lord or not at all.

Philly Hall Adventures!

This summer, I'm sticking around here at school and working in the admissions department and starting seminary classes.  Since students can't stay in the dorm during the summer, I am experiencing independent life in an apartment on campus.  Here are some of the adventures that have filled this last week.

1. Getting all my stuff out of my dorm room, down the hall, down three stories, into the car, across campus, into Philadelphia Hall, up a flight of stairs, into the apartment, and (this part is still in process) into proper places.  Much more difficult than expected…J  Moving Figaro (my fish) was probably the most difficult part.  His was in his little plastic container inside his empty fish bowl, and his ride was rather jostling.  Twice he had a very bad scare, but he seems to have recovered and is devouring all of the fish food I drop into his bowl.

2. Learning to use the gas stove.  After some last minute “the-cafeteria-is-closing-tomorrow!” grocery shopping, I came home with enough vegetables and dairy products to sustain life until I could do proper grocery shopping.  The first evening, after shredding potatoes and carrots, adding ranch, adding an assortment of spices, and dumping the whole concoction into a skillet to cook until tender, I discovered I had never worked a gas stove before.  Fortunately, a helpful neighbor had shared her mad skills…

3. Making the queen size bed here is much more difficult than the twin I’ve slept in all my life.  You have to get up on the bed to smooth the sheets in the corner by the wall and that rumples the sheets on other parts of the mattress, and the process is, well, complicated.

4. Watching the family of Canada geese.  The parental geese keep a close watch over their four waggling, waddling goslings.

5. Supper time is very quiet.  So quiet, in fact, that I can hear myself chewing (that’s probably more detail than you wantedJ).  It doesn’t take long to eat or clean up the meal.  It takes a bit longer to prepare the food.  My window faces the road, so I entertain myself by watching the cars while eating.

6. Listening to R. C. Sproul while cleaning is a happy habit to make.  This past week, he was speaking on about important men in church history.

“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:” – Ecclesiastes 3:1

(Not) Understanding Theology

Do you remember times when you studied a Biblical passage and didn’t understand it?  Struggling to know what a passage means until you have a headache (usually above the right eye…).  Flipping through your Bible (or clicking through a computer program) to find cross-references that might clarify the passage.  And then, suddenly, it clicks.  Eureka!  Aha!  (Or whatever exclamation you use to designate a moment of discovery.)  Don’t you love those moments?

Over Easter this year, I noticed a verse from John that described an Aha! moment the disciples had:

“His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him” (John 12:16).

Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on a donkey in the Triumphal Entry.  The crowds were waving palm branches and calling out, “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ The King of Israel!”  Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 that said, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”  The disciples were seeing these things, and John notes that they didn’t understand what was happening until after Christ was glorified. 

Can you imagine what their Aha! moment must have been like?  Can you imagine witnessing Christ’s teaching and works, not understanding why Christ died (wasn’t He going to set up a physical kingdom and bring in a Jewish golden age?), and then have Christ’s work click in your mind?  Suddenly, Christ’s mission on earth makes sense!

Of course, I don’t understand everything Christ did in His earthly ministry.  His fulfillment of prophecy, His future role, and how all these things fit together theologically doesn’t make sense in my finite mind.  Trying to explain the infinite God and His plan into a finite theology to be understood by me is a hopeless task.  God is not obligated to explain Himself or His plan to me.  So, ultimately, my responsibility is to study very hard to understand what He has revealed about His plan, obey what I am commanded, and trust that in God’s mind His plan is consistent.

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

New Covenant Ministry

On Saturday, I was trundling all over the dining hall putting food on peoples' plates.  And it was the end of the semester.  And I had homework to do.  And I was tired.  And there were things on my mind.  And my legs were tired of trundling me all over for the last two hours.  Remember how your parents told you that when you memorize verses, the Holy Spirit can bring them to your mind when you need them?  Well, I can't claim that the Holy Spirit gave them these verses, but they came in my mind and helped me get through the rest of the dinner shift.

"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

This reminded me of the strength that God gives to complete daily tasks.  Christ's strength is absolutely sufficient for every weakness.  We receive sufficiency from God so that we may be sufficient New Covenant ministers.  Sometimes, New Covenant ministry seems like a very spiritual/theological concept somewhat detached from the dining hall and my tired trundling feet.  But these verses remind me that even putting vegetables on peoples' plates is New Covenant ministry if my sufficiency comes from God.


P.S.  You know what else I learned this week?  Never let things (aka, graduation stuff) take up more focus that Christ. Nothing works properly when the focus is off.

Theology as Useful Knowledge

While researching for an upcoming project, this quote reminded me of the purpose of studying God's plan: practical love for the God we study. We do not truly know God until we love and obey Him.

"God's self-revelation to us was not made for a primarily intellectual purpose. It is not to be overlooked, of course, that the truly pious mind may through an intellectual contemplation of the divine perfections glorify God. This would be just as truly religious as the intensest occupation of the will in the service of God. But it would not be the full-orbed religion at which, as a whole, revelation aims. It is true, the Gospel teaches that to know God is life eternal. But the concept of 'knowledge' here is not to be understood in its Helenic sense, but in the Shemitic sense. According to the former, 'to know' means to mirror the reality of a thing in one's consciousness. The Shemitic and Biblical idea is to have the reality of something practically interwoven with the inner experience of life. Hence 'to know' can stand in the Biblical idiom for 'to love', 'to single out in love'. Because God desires to be known after this fashion, He has caused His revelation to take place in the milieu of the historical life of a people. The circle of revelation is not a school, but a 'covenant'. To speak of revelation as an 'education' of humanity is a rationalistic and utterly un-scriptural way of speaking. All that God disclosed of Himself has come in response to the practical religious needs of His people as these emerged in the course of history" [emphasis added].

-Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology, 8

Holy Week, Pt. 2

"The New Covenant in My Blood"

Listening to J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion, I am reminded on another significant even during Holy Week: the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Of deep devotional and theological significance, the Lord’s Supper reminds believers of Christ’s sacrifice of Himself to the Father and of their beautiful place in redemptive history.

Old Testament believers looked forward by faith to the forgiveness of their sins by God’s Redeemer. In evil times of apostasy, the prophets reminded the Jewish people of God’s promise that someday their sins would not only be covered, but taken away. God called His promise the New Covenant.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 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. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27, ESV)

After celebrating the Passover with His disciples, Jesus’ words as He institutes the Lord’s Supper show that God’s Old Testament promise was about to be fulfilled:

“And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” (Luke 22:19-20, NKJV)

With Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, God’s promise was fulfilled. Today believers receive forgiveness, a new heart, and the Holy Spirit. Truly, Christ was the fulfillment of the whole law and the prophets, for it was Him of whom they spoke. The New Covenant, by which comes salvation through Christ’s blood, extends forgiveness to each of God’s people.

This Holy Week, meditate on the significance of “the new covenant in My blood,” the single greatest turning point in redemptive history

.

Holy Week, Pt. 1

Maundy Thursday commemorates the example of servanthood Jesus demonstrated by washing His disciples feet. As the first of the Holy Week celebrations, it reminds us of the purpose of Christ’s coming into the world:

“For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

Here is the account, devotionally paraphrased by Phillips:

Jesus, with the full knowledge that the Father had put everything into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from the supper-table, took off his outer clothes, picked up a towel and fastened it round his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel around his waist. So he came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" "You do not realise now what I am doing," replied Jesus, "but later on you will understand." Then Peter said to him, "You must never wash my feet!" "Unless you let me wash you, Peter," replied Jesus, "you cannot be my true partner." "Then Lord," returned Simon Peter, "please—not just my feet but my hands and my face as well!" "The man who has bathed," returned Jesus, "only needs to wash his feet to be clean all over. And you are clean—though not all of you." (For Jesus knew his betrayer and that is why he said, "though not all of you".) When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his clothes, he sat down again and spoke to them, "Do you realise what I have just done to you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘Lord’ and you are quite right, for I am your teacher and your Lord. But if I, your teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, you must be ready to wash one another’s feet. I have given you this as an example so that you may do as I have done. Believe me, the servant is not greater than his master and the messenger is not greater than the man who sent him. Once you have realised these things, you will find your happiness in doing them.

-John 13:3-17