To Tell You The Truth

The Hebrew word translated ‘forever’ and ‘everlasting’ is owlam

owlam has various meanings:

• forever; everlasting – Genesis 13:15; 17:8
• meaning a very long time
• may cover a person’s lifetime – Exodus 21:6; 1 Samuel 1:22)
• a period of many generations – Joshua 24:2
• the time of the present created order – Psalms 73:12
• The term ‘forever,’ for a perpetual possession, means as long as the order of things to which it belongs lasts.” – Barnes
• …to the end of the present dispensation” – Clarke

If ‘everlasting’ always meant lasting forever, then we should still be observing:

• Circumcision – Genesis 17:10-13
• The Passover – Exodus 12:14
• The Feast of Unleavened Bread – Exodus 12:17
• The priesthood of Aaron – Exodus 29:9
• The Sabbath – Exodus 31:16-17
• The sacrifices, with their portions for the priests – Leviticus 6:18; 7:34-36; 10:15
• Fasting and animal sacrifices on the Day of Atonement – Leviticus 16:29-34
• The Feast of Tabernacles – Leviticus 23:39-42
• …and many other elements of the Law described as ‘everlasting ordinances’
• Deuteronomy 15:17 “then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise.” Better Translated: then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your maidservant.
• Jeremiah 25:8-11 – Israel would be a “perpetual desolation.” – “perpetual” from Hebrew word “olam.” – Jeremiah 29:10 and Daniel 9:2 demonstrate that this “perpetual desolation” was going to last 70 years. The promises to Abraham (Genesis 17:7-8, 13), were “forever” in the sense of “age-lasting” or “until the end of a given age.”

Yet the New Testament teaches such ordinances were not permanent. They were fleshly ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation – Hebrews 9:6-10.

• Circumcision is clearly no longer binding – Galatians 5:1-6
• Even Sabbath days are no longer bound – Colossians 2:14-17

What do you think?

Dr. Michael Horton discusses Christianity and Islam.

I admit it. My theological persuasion is a nuanced position. Here is the overarching story line I see in Scripture:

In the Beginning

• Man is created in God’s image – Genesis 1:26
• Man sins – Genesis 3:6-7; Romans 3:23
• God promises a Savior – Genesis 3:15

Called Out

• As a Gentile, Abraham is called out from among the Gentiles – Genesis 12:1; Hebrews 11:8
• A people who were not God’s people became God’s people – Hosea 2:23; Romans 9:25
• Israel is a national identity with a mixed people group (both ethnic Israel and Gentile¹ – Genesis 12:5; Exodus 12:38; Deuteronomy 29:10-15; Joshua 9:9-10, 27; Matthew 1; Esther 8:17; Isaiah 56:3-7

Cast Off

• Israel is cast off as God’s people – Genesis 21:10; Galatians 4:25-26, 30; Isaiah 29:13; Jeremiah 19:10-12; Jeremiah 29:9-10; Matthew 21:42-44; Matthew 22:1-14; Matthew 23:13; Mark 7:6-8; Mark 11:12-14; Hebrews 10:9-10; Hebrews 12:22
• Jesus is cast off in our place (a mixed group – ethnic Israel and Gentiles alike) – Galatians 3:10, 13

Jesus Is the True Israel

• Do The Promises Made To The Nation of Israel Still Stand? – Romans 9:4-5

All Who Believe in Jesus

• All people (ethnic Israel and Gentile alike) must believe in Jesus to be redeemed – John 3:16-18; Acts 3:25-26; Galatians 3:8,16; Romans 1:16
• Romans 4:13 says, “It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.” I would suggest the following translation: “For not through the torah would come the covenant promise to Abraham (or to his seed) of his inheritance of the earth, but [it came] through the covenant participation of faith.”

All in Christ are Abraham’s Offspring

• Both ethnic Israel and Gentile alike – Romans 4:16; Romans 9; Galatians 3:15-29; Hebrews 2:16

In Christ All Are Blessed

• Gentiles receive the blessing of Abraham – Galatians 3:14; Ephesians 1:3; Acts 3:25-26; Galatians 3:8,16
• This blessing is both physical and spiritual –

It appears that premillennial views, acknowledge the earthliness of the land (not spiritualizing it away), nevertheless fail to connect the dots of Christ’s fulfillment to the original purpose of God in creation. God’s gift for man was that he exercise dominion over all the world (Genesis 1:26-27). The fall created a dominion-vacuum. God’s call and covenant to Abram was to undo the fall. While Israel failed, True Israel, Jesus, fulfilled Israel’s role. Jesus, thus, is the new Adam or last Adam, shaping a new humanity made after His image. The universal dominion of Christ now ensures that Christ is the true landlord, the True Man “appointed heir of all things” (Hebrews 1:2). It will not do to put off His dominion until the Second Advent (Matthew 28:19-20). That is precisely what Paul asserts is happening now as the family of Abraham (renewed image-bearers) expand to be “many nations” (Romans 4:17). N.T. Wright says, “The covenant is fulfilled in the creation of a worldwide family marked out by Abraham-like faith.”

More on the land promise in another article.

Christ Himself Fulfills; All Who Believe in Him Receive All That is In Him

• For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. – 2 Corinthians 1:20; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Galatians 3:16; Hebrews 8:6; 2 Peter 1:4

This is why Revelation 7:9 will happen

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands

Jesus fulfills (as True Israel) All that the Nation of Israel Failed to do
See Do The Promises Made To The Nation of Israel Still Stand?

This is why I can confidently say Acts 2 is fulfillment language. Jesus fulfilled it and both ethnic Israel and Gentiles alike receive the blessing of Christ’s fulfillment.

So, it is not so much that the Church is fulfilling things, so much as, the Church receives the blessings of the fulfillment.

References
¹Who Is Israel?

We’ve discussed the Kingdom before. Let’s do another quick look:

And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed ~Daniel 7:14

And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them ~Daniel 7:27

Jesus expresses this same idea to Pilate that His kingdom is not of this world, (John 18:36); He told the Pharisees the same thing in Luke 17:20-21:

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

One of the major cornerstones of Christianity is God Himself.

The big question we must answer is, How do you view God?

Michael Reeves writes,

I want readers to know God and grow in their enjoyment of him. God is triune, and so pressing into the Trinity is not an eccentric sport for Christians with too much time on their hands: it is the very epicentre of the Christian life. This is what we have been saved for! Jesus said, ‘this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent’ (John 17:3).

On top of that is my fear that many Christians are too often functionally Muslim in that the God they believe in looks like a single-person God. Now belief drives behaviour, and so if a Christian believes like a Muslim, their Christian experience and life must look Islamic. At root that will mean that instead of a heartfelt love for the Lord their God they can only know that external ‘submission’. Such a Christianity must be joyless – and must be unattractive for the watching world. I’d love to see some readers liberated from all that, for them to have their minds relieved and their hearts won by the truth of a God who, being Trinity, is unutterably beautiful and good.

Read the rest of this great interview with Michael Reeves. It is a great interview (and book !! Check it out, too)

The fact that we must try harder after we’ve failed the first time demonstrates how desperately we need salvation. If we could save ourselves, we wouldn’t need to do something a second time.

We must understand salvation only happens by grace, not by works of the law:

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law (our doing and trying harder), although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation (appeasing and satisfying God’s wrath on our behalf) by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. ~Romans 3:20-26

“Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Hebrews 9:22

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Romans 10:4

“For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.” Romans 2:13

“For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.” Romans 2:14-15

“Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” Romans 3:27-28

“Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” Romans 3:31

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.” Romans 4:13-14

“That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,” Romans 4:16

““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” “and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.” “and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” “And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” ” the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,” Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:21; Matthew 20:19; Luke 9:22; Luke 18:33; Luke 24:7; Luke 24:46

“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,” Romans 5:20

And this is what makes Christianity unique and True: Jesus came to save all those who believe in Him by fulfilling the law for us and in our place. And it is by grace we are saved through faith in Jesus. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. ~Ephesians 2:8-10

What other religion can offer you salvation that does not require you to do anything but believe in Jesus?

Dispensationalists have certain hermeneutic foundations that establish their unique viewpoint.

• Hard distinction between Israel and the Church
• Old Testament priority over the New Testament
• Essentially woodenly literal approach to reading Scripture

Personally, I do not see the hard distinction between Israel and the Church. I do not see Israel as strictly ethnic, although, I see it as national (Old Covenant); and the continuity is Israel, made of both gentile and ethnic Israelites together, is brought into a New Man in Christ (Ephesians 2:11-22). Not to mention the father of the Israelites, Abraham, was gentile (Genesis 15).

Secondly, I see the New Testament taking priority over the Old Testament because of the Person and Work of Jesus. Dispensationalists claim their position is the position that places God’s glory most on display. I disagree because a Christocentric interpretation places God’s glory on display most because God’s glory is seen most clearly in the face of Jesus– the Mediator between God and man and the Word of God made flesh to whom the written Word of God points.

Thirdly, the biblical Authors did not use language in a woodenly literal fashion. Because of this, Dispensationalists must break their own rule of interpretation in order to keep their hermeneutic approach in tact.

These reasons, at least to me, demonstrate their hermeneutical foundations flow from a preconceived notion rather than Scripture itself.

To deny how Scripture interprets Itself on any point is to reject Scriptural objective literalism, which in turn, is a rejection of the authority of Scripture Itself.

When Scripture itself interprets Scripture “literally” then we go with the literal interpretation; but when Scripture interprets Scripture non-literally, we go with the non-literal interpretation. Interpreting Scripture literally because Scripture interprets Scripture literally 75 or 80% of the time is not a good rule of thumb. It is taking hermeneutical cues from a preconceived philosophical construct rather than Scripture.

Interpret Scripture literally when Scripture Itself interprets Scripture literally and non-literally when Scripture interprets Scripture non-literally.

What about Acts 15:13-19?

My friend Nathan White writes concerning this passage:

The rapture, millennium, etc. can be discussed all day without making progress, but I think this passage really gets to the heart of the disagreement here. I say this because the passage speaks of the rebuilding of Israel, and the manner in which James interprets it is pertinent to the ‘literal or figurative’ discussion as well.

So, here it’s clear that James is using the OT prophecy to describe what was presently taking place and why they should not prohibit Gentiles from turning to God. He both interprets the prophecy figuratively (according to some, though I’m sure we define that term differently), and he claims that the restoration of Israel had already taken place. Both of these claims, IMO, strike at the core of Dispensational error.

From a dispensational standpoint, they are relegated to saying that James is quoting a still-future prophecy that will be fulfilled during the millennium, and that he quotes the prophecy to argue that ‘since Gentiles will be accepted then, we should accept them now too’.

But it seems to me that taking a literal fulfillment of this prophecy, and/or pushing it’s fulfillment to the future, completely undermines James’ point. The whole reason he quotes the passage is to say ‘this is happening right now!’, and it loses its thrust and application when delegated to the future.

So – we are to let scripture be our guide in determining when and how prophecy is fulfilled, we are to recognize that this is often not ‘literal’ as we like to define things, and that if we see what scripture has already said on the issue, Gentiles are part of the same body, same tree, and indeed make up with the Jews the true Israel of God.

The typical question we hear is, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

But we’re asking the wrong question:

In an attempt to discredit Chick-fil-A, one website writes this post to wit,

This is the problem with every single right-wing Christian in America. You cannot claim that one part of the Bible is absolute and ignore the others you don’t like. If you’re going to use your religion to deny an entire group of people their rights as citizens of the United States, you had better be ready to follow every stricture in the Scripture.

But this is only a piece of the issue. This poster neglects the New Testament passages which, in essence, supercede various Old Testament passages.

Matthew 5:17, Romans 10:4 and Acts 11 speak to this:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes

Jesus is the one who fulfills the law; meaning, He has fulfilled and completed everything the law requires of us– who believe in Him.

Jesus fulfills the passages like Leviticus 11:8, thereby, Acts 11 is applicable to Christians today.

This is why we can go eat at Chick-fil-A guilt free. And love it.

Wow, I’m hungry for a chicken biscuit now.

Creation is foundational to Christianity.

But what are we to understand from Genesis 1?

• God made all things — v.1
• God created all things out of nothing (i.e. ex nihilo¹ — v.1
• God established order and time — vv. 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31
• Each species had progeny after its own kind; No cross species progeny — vv. 11, 12, 21, 24, 25, 26
• Mankind was made in God’s image (i.e. imago dei) — vv. 26-27
• Creation was called very good — vv. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31
• God made everything with its own purpose
• God’s Word creates life
• God establishes hierarchy — vv. 16, 26
• All life has freedom within established parameters — vv. 20-21

Genesis 1

1:1 In the beginning, Elohim (God) created the heavens and the earth.
1:2 The earth became chaotic and vacant and darkness was upon the surface of the chaotic deep, and the Spirit of Elohim (God) was hovering over the surface of the waters.
1:3 And Elohim (God) said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
1:4 And Elohim (God) saw the light was good, and Elohim (God) separated the light from the darkness.
1:5 And Elohim (God) called the Light, “day” and the darkness, “night”, and it became evening and it became morning, day one.
1:6 And Elohim (God) said, “Let there be atmosphere in the midst of the waters,” and He separated the waters from the waters.
1:7 And Elohim (God) made the atmosphere and separated the waters under the atmosphere from the waters above the atmosphere and it was so.
1:8 And Elohim (God) called the atmosphere, “sky”, and it became evening and it became morning, day two.
1:9 And Elohim (God) said, “Let the waters flow together under the sky in one place and let the dry land appear,” and it was so.
1:10 And Elohim (God) called the dry (area), “land” and the confluence of the waters, “seas”; and Elohim (God) saw that it was good.
1:11 And Elohim (God) said, “Let the land be verdant of abundant herbage yielding seed after its own kind, and the fruit tree making fruit of its own species whose seed is in itself upon the land,” and it was so.
1:12 And the land brought forth herbage and foliage yielding seed after its own kind and the tree making fruit after its own kind whose seed was in itself; and Elohim (God) saw it was good.
1:13 And it became evening and it became morning, the third day.
1:14 And Elohim (God) said, “Let the luminaries in the atmosphere of the heavens separate the day from the night that they may be signs for seasons, appointments, days and years.
1:15 And they become luminaries in the sky of the heavens to give light on the earth and it was so.
1:16 And Elohim (God) made two great luminaries, the greater luminary for ruling the day and the lesser light for ruling the night along with the stars also.
1:17 And Elohim (God) set them in the sky of the heavens to give light upon the earth,
1:18 And to rule in the day and in the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and Elohim (God) saw that it was good.
1:19 And it became evening and it became morning, the fourth day.
1:20 And Elohim (God) said, “Let the living creatures roam the waters and the birds fly over the face of the earth in the atmosphere of the heavens.”
1:21 And Elohim (God) created great monsters and all living creatures that move which roam the waters after its own kind and all birds after their kind. And Elohim (God) saw that it was good.
1:22 And Elohim (God) blessed them and said, “Be fruitful, increase (in number), and fill the waters of the seas and let the birds increase (in number) in the earth.”
1:23 And it became evening and it became morning, the fifth day.
1:24 And Elohim (God) said, “Let the earth bring forth living beasts after its kind, living and moving animals of the land after its kind,” and it was so.
1:25 And Elohim (God) made the animals of the land of its kind, the beasts and moving animals on the ground after its kind, and Elohim (God) saw that it was good.
1:26 And Elohim (God) said, “We shall make humans in our image, after our likeness, and they shall have sway over the fish of the sea, birds of the heavens, and beasts over all the earth and the moving animals on the land.
1:27 And Elohim (God) created the human in His image in the image of Elohim (God) created him; male and female he created them.
1:28 And Elohim (God) blessed them, and Elohim (God) said to them, “Be fruitful! Increase! Fill the earth, subdue it, and have sway over the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, and all the living and moving animals on the land.”
1:29 And Elohim (God) said, “Behold! I give to you all herb bearing seed which is on the surface of the earth and every tree and its fruit of the tree yielding seed, for you it shall be for food.”
1:30 “And for all of life on the land, and all of the birds of the heavens, and for every moving animal on the land wherein has life, herb for food.” And it was so.
1:31 And Elohim (God) saw all of which he made and behold it was very good. And it became evening and it became morning, the sixth day.

Notes
¹Genesis 1:1, Psalms 33:6, Psalms 148:5, John 1:3, Colossians 1:16, and Hebrews 11:3 gives a more complete picture of how God created the world. Viewing the entire biblical account provides the conclusion that God created ex nihilo.