Categories
Church Eschatology Hermeneutics

Israel Part Two

RC Sproul answers the question, Is It True That God Blesses Those Who Bless Israel and Curses Those Who Curse Israel?1

Sproul writes, the non-Dispensational view “affirms that that Israel which is actually Israel, just as with the promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, applies to those who are in Christ, who trust in His finished work.” He continues, the non-Dispensational view “see[s] this is as the outworking of the truth of Galatians 3:7- ‘Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.’ We …do not believe God replaced Israel with the church. We believe instead that there has always been only one people of God, those who believe.”

Justin Taylor discusses the topic Jesus As the New Israel2

Taylor explains, “The New Testament authors understood Jesus to be the culmination of the Old Testament.”

Here is a good, concise summary of the Israel/remnant theme from a New Testament perspective:

. . . Jesus had become a remnant of one. He was the embodiment of faithful Israel, the truly righteous and suffering servant.

Unlike the remnant of the restoration period, he committed no sin (Isaiah 53:9; 1 Peter 2:22).

As the embodiment of the faithful remnant, he would undergo divine judgment for sin (on the cross), endure an exile (three days forsaken by God in the grave), and experience a restoration (resurrection) to life as the foundation of a new Israel, inheriting the promises of God afresh.

As the remnant restored to life, he becomes the focus of the hopes for the continued existence of the people of God in a new kingdom, a new Israel of Jew and Gentile alike.

As the nucleus of a renewed Israel, Christ summons the “little flock” that will receive the kingdom (Daniel 7:22, 27; Luke 12:32) and appoints judges for the twelve tribes of Israel in the new age (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30).

The church is viewed as the Israel of that new age (Galatians 6:16), the twelve tribes (James 1:1), “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession” (Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9).

A sinful nation, Israel could not suffer vicariously to atone for the sins of the world. The sinfulness of the nation made it unacceptable for this role, just as flaws would disqualify any other offering. Only a truly righteous servant could bear this awful load.

—Tremper Longman III and Raymond B. Dillard, “Isaiah,” An Introduction to the Old Testament, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 315.

The two best books I’ve read on this fulfillment theme are Hans LaRondelle’s The Israel of God in Prophecy: Principles of Prophetic Interpretation and David Holwerda’s Jesus and Israel: One Covenant or Two? (Keith Mathison has a good review of Holwerda’s volume here.)

Jesus is the true Israel, and the church becomes the Israel of God as it unites to True Israel. The same is true for ethnic Israel, whom God has not abandoned. But their only hope is to be united with Jesus, the ultimate suffering servant.

References

1 Is It True That God Blesses Those Who Bless Israel and Curses Those Who Curse Israel?

2 Jesus As the New Israel

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Music Videos

[Music] Michael Gungor “Doxology”

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Skepticism

Answering Doubts – Entering NeoModernism

Doubt has changed the landscape of (American) Christendom. At one point, it was cool to question everything without trying to find real answers (Emergent anyone?). Although, this is certainly an overstated and simplistic view, the point still stands; I am not saying doubt is not a real issue, though.

Doubts are real

People are truly wrestling with the tension of what they have been taught and what they see and experience in real life.

Our society has moved from Modernism (“This is true”) to Post-Modernism (“Is this true?” “What is true for you is not true for me”) to a Neo-Modernism (“the answers I was given don’t hold enough weight for me to accept them”).

The answers are not failing as answers, however. I believe they are couched in the wrong verbiage. This does not mean we change the answers. We change how the answers are expressed.

I am not advocating the dumbing down of our answers. We are not talking with five year olds. We are talking to adults who have potentially faith-alleviating doubts.

I am advocating the rewording of our answers in a thoughtful, meaningful, and concerned way.

Modernism was a double-edged sword

Modernism was a blessing and a curse. The silver bullet approach to answering skeptics years ago has lost its effectiveness. Those answers are shrugged off like water off a duck’s back.

Many reasons attribute to this. One significant reason is biblical illiteracy. But more to the point, foundations for the “silver bullet” answers of yesteryear have disappeared. The building blocks which establish the answers have been eroding beyond recognition or have been completely dropped out of the collective discussion.

In other words, we are somewhat used to giving a simple answer to a question and people accepting that answer (whatever it is), but that was because the groundwork for the answer was already laid because biblical literacy was more common then than now.

The Solution

The issue is immensely complex. The solutions are even more complexly difficult to implement. But here is a starting point for furthering the discussion:

  1. Prayer ala Mark 9:14-29 – “Why weren’t our answers to the questions good enough?” 29 And he said to them, “This question cannot be answered by anything but prayer.”
  2. Time – We need to spend a TON of time with those who have the questions
  3. Effort – We need to demonstrate our love for others in the difficult process of digging for answers
  4. Build Biblical Literacy – We need to construct anew the foundation for our answers

What do you have to add?

Categories
Ministry Spotlight Orphan Care

Orphan Care Ministry Spotlight – Miracle Hill

This series highlights organizations that, in my estimation, are on the frontlines of mercy ministries, but not just any mercy ministries. They are ministries focusing on orphan care. They’ve taken James 1:27 to heart.

Miracle Hill Ministries

75 years ago, Miracle Hill Ministries began as a small rescue mission in downtown Greenville. Since then, we have grown with the Upstate — expanding to meet the changing and diverse needs of homeless, hungry and destitute people. With your help we have become a significant provider of homeless services in South Carolina.

With locations in four upstate counties: Greenville, Spartanburg, Pickens and Cherokee, Miracle Hill operates four adult shelters, two children’s shelters, an emergency food outreach and eight thrift stores. We are also home to two highly successful, Christ-centered addiction recovery programs: Renewal for women, and Overcomers for men.

Where did the name Miracle Hill come from?

As the story goes, many years ago, a group was working on the foundation of a building they had no money to build. One day, a rain storm was approaching the hill upon which they were working. They stopped and prayed that the Lord would hold the storm off so they could finish.

When the storm reached the bottom of the hill, it split and went around the hill on either side. When they were finished, someone quipped, “What a miracle hill!!” And so, the name was chosen then and there.

What does Miracle Hill offer?

Miracle Hill Children’ Home continues to be known as a place of refuge for children from birth to age 18.

Miracle Hill Boys’ Shelter was established to care for at-risk, abused and neglected boys.

Miracle Hill’s foster care program is a great opportunity to serve God within your own home.

Homes for Life, An Outreach of Miracle Hill – seeks to provide shelter and support services to homeless young men ages 17-21.

Miracle Hill Rescue Missions
Greenville • Spartanburg • Cherokee County

Shepherd’s Gate became part of the Miracle Hill family on February 14, 1993.

Miracle Hill Relief Ministry was acquired in 1995 to serve as an emergency food outreach for families and individuals in need.

The Overcomers program is a 27-week, addiction recovery program with a twelve-step, Christian-based curriculum. A 30 day pre-program is required.

The Renewal program was established in 1997 in answer to the growing demand for women who need a more structured, long-term program to help them deal with life-dominating problems.

Transitional housing provides a halfway point between the strict accountability of life within one of our shelters and the onslaught of temptations beyond our walls.

Donating to Miracle Hill is easy with seven thrift store locations, several drop box locations and a local pickup service.

If you are looking for a decent vehicle at a reasonable price, consider Miracle Hill Auto Sales.

Miracle Hill Thrift Operations began the yellow bag project as a convenient way to donate unwanted items.

Check out Miracle Hill‘s website http://www.miraclehill.org for more information about the ministry and how YOU can get involved.

And watch some of their videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/MiracleHillUpstate?feature=watch.

Categories
Church Membership

Why Church Membership? Our Leaders

Why Church Membership? For The Sake of our Leaders

Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

Submit in covenantal humility to let our leaders lead us with joy and not with groaning, for that would be no advantage to you.

Allow your leaders to know for whom they will give an account to God. Help make their leading be with joy and not groaning.

Categories
Gospel

Eschatology 101 – Israel

This first article on the subject of Israel is Dispensationalism’s critique of “the Israel of God” as a simple term descibing the believing church of the present age.

“In spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, there remains persistent support for the contention that the term Israel may refer properly to Gentile believers in the present age . . . .the primary support is found in Galatians 6:16 . . .

I cannot help but think that dogmatic considerations loom large in the interpretation of Galatians 6:16. The tenacity with which this application of ‘the Israel of God’ to the church is held in spite of a mass of evidence to the contrary leads one to think that the supporters of the view believe their eschatological system, usually an amillennial scheme, hangs on the reference of the term to the people of God, composed of both believing Jews and Gentiles. Amillennialism does not hang on this interpretation, but the view does appear to have a treasured place in amillennial exegesis.

In speaking of the view that the term refers to ethnic Israel, a sense that the term Israel has in every other of its more than sixty-five uses in the New Testament and in its fifteen uses in Paul, in tones almost emotional William Hendriksen, the respected Reformed commentator, writes, ‘I refuse to accept that explanation.’

What I am leading up to is expressed neatly by D. W. B. Robinson in an article written about twenty years ago: ‘The glib citing of Galatains 6:16 to support the view that ‘the church is the new Israel’ should be vigorously challenged. There is weighty support for a limited interpretation.’ We can say more than this, in my opinion. There is more than weighty support for a more limited interpretation. There is overwhelming support for such. In fact, the least likely view among several alternatives is the view that ‘the Israel of God’ is the church.” [Toussaint and Dyer, Pentecost Essays, “Paul and ‘The Israel of God’: An Exegetical and Eschatological Case-Study” by S.Lewis Johnson, pp. 181-182. Quoted in William Hendriksen, Exposition of Galatians, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1868), p. 247, and D. W. B. Robinson, “The Distinction Between Jewish and Gentile Believers in Galatians,” Australian Biblical Review 13 (1965): 29-48.]

Johnson rejects the claim that “‘the Israel of God’ is simply a term descriptive of the believing church of the present age . . . . The Israel of God is the body who shall walk by the rule of the new creation, and they include believing people from the two ethnic bodies of Jews and Gentiles [Ibid., p. 183].

the claim that the kai . . . before the term ‘the Israel of God’ is an explicative or appositional kai; . . .and the claim that if one sees the term ‘the Israel of God’ a believing ethnic Israel, they would be included in the preceding clause, ‘And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them'” [Ibid., p. 184].

Rejection on Three Grounds: Grammatical and Syntactical

The first is for grammatical and syntactical reasons for which there are two [Ibid., pp. 187-188]. The first is that this view must resort to a secondary or lesser meaning of kai:

“It is necessary to begin this part of the discussion with a reminder of a basic, but often neglected, hermeneutical principle. It is this: “in the absence of compelling exegetical and theological considerations, we should avoid the rarer grammatical usages when the common ones make good sense” [Ibid., p. 187].

“Because the latter usage serves well the view that the term ‘the Israel of God’ is the church, the dogmatic concern overcame grammatical usage. An extremely rare usage has been made to replace the common usage, even in spite of the fact that the common and frequent usage of ‘and’ (kai) makes perfectly good sense in Galatians 6:16″ [Ibid., p. 188].

Second, Johnson points out that if Paul’s intention was to identify the ‘them’ as being the ‘Israel of God,’ then the best way of showing this was to eliminate the kai altogether. As shown earlier, this was exactly what Hendriksen wanted to do by leaving kai untranslated. The very presence of the kai argues against the ‘them’ being ‘the Israel of God.’ As Johnson notes, “Paul, however, did not eliminate the kai” [Ibid., p. 188].

Rejection on Three Grounds: Exegetical

Concerning usage, Johnson states:

“From the standpoint of biblical usage this view stands condemned. There is no instance in biblical literature of the term Israel being used in the sense of the church, or the people of God as composed of both believing ethnic Jews and Gentiles. Nor, on the other hand, as one might expect if there were such usage, does the phrase to ethne (KJV, “the Gentiles”) ever mean the non-Christian world specifically, but only the non-Jewish peoples, although such are generally non-Christians. Thus, the usage of the term Israel stands overwhelmingly opposed to the first view.

The usage of the terms Israel and the church in the early chapters of the book of Acts is in complete harmony, for Israel exists there alongside the newly formed church, and the two entities are kept separate in terminology” [Ibid., p. 189].

For those who would cite Romans 9:6 as evidence, Johnson shows that this verse is no support for such a view for the distinction is between Jews who believe and Jews who do not:

“Paul is here speaking only of a division within ethnic Israel. Some of them are believers and thus truly Israel, whereas others, though ethnically Israelites, are not truly Israel, since they are not elect and believing . . . No Gentiles are found in the statement at all” [Ibid., p. 189].

Even many Covenant Theologians have agreed with this view of Romans 9:6 and do not use it to support their view of Galatians 6:16. As for context, Johnson observes:

“On the contrary, the apostle is concerned with correcting the gospel preached to the Galatians by the Judaizers, particularly their false contention that it was necessary to be circumcised to be saved and to observe as Christians certain requirements of the law of Moses in order to remain in divine favor . . . The apostle makes no attempt whatsoever to deny that there is a legitimate distinction of race between Gentile and Jewish believers in the church . . . . There is a remnant of Jewish believers in the church according to the election of grace . . . . This approach fails to see that Paul does not say there is neither Jew nor Greek within the church. He speaks of those who are ‘in Christ.’ . . . But Paul also says there is neither male nor female, nor slave nor free man in Christ. Would he then deny sexual differences within the church? Or the social differences in Paul’s day? Is it not plain that Paul is not speaking of national or ethnic differences in Christ, but of spiritual status? In that sense there is no difference in Christ” [Ibid., p. 190].

Rejection on Three Grounds: Theological

“…[T]here is no historical evidence that the term Israel was identified with the church before A.D. 160. Further, at that date there was no characterization of the church as ‘the Israel of God.’ In other words, for more than a century after Paul there was no evidence of the identification” [Ibid., p. 191].

Johnson’s summary concerning the rejection of this view is:

“To conclude the discussion of the first interpretation, it seems clear that there is little evidence—grammatical, exegetical, or theological—that supports it. On the other hand, there is sound historical evidence against the identification of Israel with believing or unbelieving Gentiles. The grammatical usage of kai is not favorable to the view, nor is the Pauline or New Testament usage of Israel. Finally, . . .the Pauline teaching in Galatians contains a recognition of national distinctions in the one people of God” [Ibid., p. 191].

Categories
Glory of God Gospel Quotations

A Snapshot of T4G2012

“If we lose the concept of lostness we lose the entire gospel–real people are in real danger before the only real God”
          ~Thabiti Anyabwile

“God only has one sermon. From Genesis to Revelation it is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
          ~Thabiti Anyabwile

“The greatest hinderance to the Gospel is a Christian’s lack of confidence in the power of the Gospel.”
          ~Thabiti Anyabwile

“If we’re confident in the gospel, we’ll position ourselves around the worst of sinners.”
          ~Thabiti Anyabwile

‎”We become what we behold.”
          ~Kevin DeYoung

“The Holy Spirit is not a small nebulous entity. He is the POWERFUL, ALMIGHTY, PERSONAL God that raised Jesus from the dead.”
          ~Kevin Deyoung

“I was born this way. Yes, but the Gospel says you can be born again in a different way. A way of Truth and Holiness.”
          ~Kevin Deyoung

“The struggle to grow in Holiness is the fight of faith”
          ~Kevin DeYoung

“The central motivation for holiness in the New Testament is to be who you are, understand your identity in Christ!”
          ~kevin Deyoung

“We must strive to be holy. It is a sin not to. But only the Spirit can make our striving fruitful.”
          ~Kevin Deyoung

‎”Sanctification is not by surrender but by divinely enabled toil.”
          ~Kevin Deyoung

‎”The secret of the gospel is that we actually do more when we hear less about all we need to do for God and hear more about all that God has already done for us.”
          ~Kevin DeYoung

one reason for keeping false converts out of church membership: “False converts hire false teachers.”
          ~Mark Dever

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Videos

[Music] Gungor “Dry Bones” at RELEVANT

Categories
Gospel

Why A Christocentric Interpretation of Scripture?

Why do I believe and promote a Christocentric interpretation of Scripture (both OT & NT) as the primary interpretation?

I will list off a few reasons and only touch on a couple.

  1. Christ is the Mediator between God and Man
  2. God is Three-in-One (Trinitarian)
  3. We can not directly know the Father except through the Son
  4. The Father can not be seen except in the Son
  5. Jesus is the face of God
  6. We can not know how good the Father is without knowing how good the Son is
  7. God’s glory demands it

With all of this said (there are other reasons, too), if we see an issue or “fault” with the Christocentric view, it is not an issue with this view but with those whom have not represented it fully enough.

We can not understand the Father without understanding the Son. We can not truly understand passages like Psalm 103 without understanding God from a Trinitarian view with a Christocentric focus. Yes, we understand God is the Good Father, but God is the Good Son and the One can not be Who He is without the Other.

How do we know God is the Good Father? He gave us His Son. How do we know Jesus is the Good Son? Because He obediently submitted Himself as a Servant even unto death, even the death of the cross.

I do not want to cut this short, so I will point you to an earlier article I wrote about some of these issues with relation to Isaiah 6.

Categories
Isaiah Isaiah 6 Scripture

The Gospel of Isaiah

As my study of Scripture continues, my Gospel-Centered approach is evermore strengthened particularly in the Old Testament.

Generally speaking, every act of God consists of all three members of the Trinity. Each member participates- different roles in the same action. An obvious statement, yes; but a statement that must be presented again. The Triune God acts in such a way that the action is from the Father, through the Son, and by the Spirit. We see this even at the creation of the universe (Colossians 1:15-19). We know, then, that because all acts of God are through the Son, He, that is Christ, fulfills His role as Mediator.

We also know that Jesus Christ Himself is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4), therefore, He is the face of God. One passage which conveys this thought is John 1:18 which explains, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” In other words, any time God is seen by a man (this would include anytime in the Old Testament), Christ is the One Who is seen because it is the Son Who reveals Him. Further, we have Jesus’ own words that “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” No one has directly seen the Father, except through the Son. As an example, John 12:40-41 tells us that when Isaiah saw the Lord, he was seeing Jesus (Isaiah 6:1-4).

6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

This amazing vision displays Christ as reigning on high with the train of His robe, signifying his glory, filling the whole temple. This, in turn- I believe, is pointing to the presence of God among people. Christ, whose body being the true temple of God, is filled with all the glory of God and in turn, the presence of the glory of God dwells in believers among men (Colossians 2:9, 2 Peter 1:3-4).

Isaiah 6:2 further describes the scene the prophet saw. “Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.” Significance abounds in particular to these angels who are set apart for worshiping Christ. They too, however perfect and holy they may be, can not look God in the face- face to face as it were. There is a sense of humility these angels possess indicated by the wings which cover their faces, as well as the wings covering their feet and the wings with which they flew.

We are told in Exodus 33:17-23, “And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

We must note that Moses was not allowed to see God face to face otherwise he would die. Colossians 2:9 explains that, “in Him, that is Christ, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily…” This is why Moses (and any human) would die if he were to look God in the face because the fullness of God’s glory dwells in Christ. In fact, no created being, however high, could of its own power and by its nature, behold God. None but God can, of himself, see God. Hence, this is why the angels who are set apart to worship Christ can not behold the fullness of God’s glory lest they die. And even more so, because of sin, mankind can not see God face to face lest they too die.

This theme of God’s holiness continues in verse 3, “And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

The holiness of God is such that of the highest degree, the whole earth is full of His glory; not just the temple. Along with the Seraphim, we are created for Christ’s glory and everything we do must proclaim His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). But to see God in all of His glory, that is, face to face, death is most assured.

Further, as a creature proclaims God’s holiness the very foundation of the temple begins to shake: “And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.” After seeing this vision, Isaiah is wrought with inadequacy and begins to understand the depth of his sin before a holy and righteous God and says, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

But how much mercy and grace pursues the prophet, “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” The altar, signifying Christ’s self-sacrifice on the cross, is even far reaching and sufficient for Isaiah! (Hebrews 13:10).

This same atoning work of which Isaiah experienced is also the same atoning work we experience. As John explains, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he, that is Christ, appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” Christ’s atoning work on the cross covers our sin by transforming us into the image of Christ thereby releasing us to do God’s work.

“Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!” Even the holiest of beings can not look Jesus in the face, but we who are lowly and sinful will be glorified, and we will be like Him because we shall see him as He is; we shall see God face to face.

What Christ accomplishes on the cross is the pinnacle of His fulfillment as Mediator. By His work in creation, all of creation declares the glory of God. And by His work of redemption, humanity, once again, declares the glory of God in Christ. As Paul says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us–for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’ …to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” This is why the writer of Hebrews can say, “Therefore he, that is Christ, is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.”

This is our joy! This is our hope! This is our saving grace. This is our Savior.