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Archives For September 2010

Israel in the Heavenly Places in Egypt

September 30, 2010 — Leave a comment

In Exodus 8:22 Yahweh says, “And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell that no swarms shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land.”

Yahweh says that He will become a firmament in the midst of the land, dividing between the land above (Israel) and the land below (Egypt). Yahweh will be a firmament in the land that protects His people from the plagues that strike Egypt.

And this “difference” between God’s people and Pharaoh’s people is literally a “ransom” (8:23)). Yahweh will be a firmament/ransom that protects His people.

This implies that this “division” between Egypt and Israel is already a sort of exaltation. Israel has been seated in the “heavenly places” even while still in Egypt.

In Bible - Exodus
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Heptamerous Calamities?

September 27, 2010 — 2 Comments

Nahum Sarna suggests that there is a seven-step sequence in the calamities that befall Job:

1. Sabeans raid oxen and donkeys
2. Sabeans kill the servants
3. Fire of God consumes sheep
4. Fire of God consumes servants
5. Chaldeans raid camels
6. Chaldeans kill the servants
7. Wind strikes the house and kills children

In Bible - Job
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Deep Glory

September 27, 2010 — Leave a comment

In our sermon text today, the Lord promises to come in great glory and terror and judgment. The day of the Lord will come and men flee and tremble. The earth shakes mightily, and the glory of the majesty of the Lord shines forth in splendor casting down all the high things, all the pride and haughtiness of men. When God draws near there are thunders and lightening and earthquakes and great terrors.

But then God draws near in Jesus, and He’s a baby lying in a manger. Then he’s itinerate preacher rabbi like many others, and then he’s crucified on a Roman cross like thousands of other Jewish men in the first century. Of course, we can point to a number of rather extraordinary things about the life of Christ as well. There were angels announcing his birth, a voice from heaven at his baptism, numerous miracles, and of most importantly his resurrection from the dead. There were thunders and earthquakes at various points throughout His life and ministry. But it is not hard to imagine many Jews being perplexed looking at the descriptions in the prophets and then back at the Jewish carpenter in front of them saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…” And “do not resist an evil man…” And “bless those who curse you….”And “love your enemies…”

Hebrews says that this New Covenant shaking in Jesus is a fulfillment of Haggai, another prophet who speaks of the Lord shaking the earth. He writes: For thus says the Lord of hosts: Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations,’ and I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. (Hag. 2:6-9)

The covenant is the greater glory that Haggai foretold. But greater glory isn’t necessarily bigger and more obnoxious sound effects. This greater glory is a deeper and more intense glory. And it does shake heaven and earth, but part of the glory is in the wonder of it all. In one sense, someone might have seen a little baby in a manger 2000 years ago and been a little disappointed comparing that scene to the descriptions of the prophets, though we know there were plenty of other indicators. But from our vantage, we can look back and unmistakable see the explosion that was detonated in that Bethlehem manger. What looked like an ordinary child, a nondescript man, another Roman crucifixion has in fact turned the world upside down. That spark has burst into a blaze that has begun to fill the world.

And all of this may seem rather unrelated to baptism, but the point is exactly the same. God loves to take ordinary looking things and reveal His glory in and through them. He takes weak things and displays His power. And so here this morning, we sprinkle a little water on this little baby’s head, and though it looks ordinary and small and weak, we see God shaking heaven and earth, we see God pulling down the proud and the arrogant, and raising up the humble and weak. We see the terror of God’s majesty shining forth. So Toby and Emily, as you raise David Wallace, the exhortation is twofold: first, believe the gospel, the story of God come for us in deep glory, the glory of a child, the glory of weakness, the glory of humility to save us all. And then teach your son that kind of glory. Model that glory for him in your love and care for one another, in your love and discipline of him. And raise him to love that kind of glory.

In Baptismal Meditation
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Tasting the Glory of God

September 27, 2010 — Leave a comment

“For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up – and it shall be brought low – upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up…” (Is. 2:12-13)

On the Lord’s Day those things which are proud and lofty are brought low. In particular, Isaiah points to the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up. Those cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up are the cedars that were used to build Solomon’s temple. In other words, God says that His people have a mistaken understanding of God’s glory. As Pastor Leithart has pointed out, Israel has filled their land with gold and silver, horses and chariots, and has been led into idolatry by her alliances with foreign wives. All of these sins were specific warnings given in Deuteronomy to kings in Israel. He was not to multiply gold, horses and chariots, or wives that would turn his heart away from the Lord. Of course Israel ended up asking for a king in a great act of treason. Rejecting God as their king, they wanted to be instead a nation like all of the other nations. Israel wanted a glory like the other nations, and here in Isaiah, they have even turned even the gift of the temple into the glory of other nations. But God says they have turned His glory into shame, and He will come on the Lord’s Day and shake it down. He will even shake down the temple, even those things they think they have right. And this is fulfilled in the New Covenant in at least a couple of ways. First, it isn’t an accident that grammatically, there is a connection between the “Lord’s Day” and the “Lord’s Supper.” In Revelation, John is in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day and sees heaven open. The only other place this form of “Lord’s” is used is in 1 Corinthians 11 where Paul warns against abuses of the Lord’s Supper. He says that the Corinthian abuses are significant enough to cancel out their practice. He says that they are not celebrating the Lord’s Supper whatever they may think they are doing, and this does not render the meal benign, it rather makes it all the more dangerous. Paul says that some of the Corinthians are dead because of their arrogant abuses. Putting this all together, we need to be reminded that this meal has no automatic blessings and neither does our liturgy for that matter. Pride and arrogance in having the right liturgy, celebrating the sacraments rightly, having the best theology, warmest fellowship, best preaching, whatever, is all a sure way to have God come and bring us low. God does bless, and He does bestow His glory on His people, but it is not the glory of other nations. It isn’t respectable academic pomp and circumstance. It isn’t reasonable economic principles. It isn’t a place at the table in the political sphere. This is not a “religious ceremony” as though it fits along side of a Jewish Seder or Muslim Prayers. The glory of God is a crucified man on a Roman cross for the salvation of the world. The glory of God is grace and mercy and forgiveness for the world in a shared meal of bread and wine. So come with thankful hearts. Come taste the glory of the Lord.

In Bible - Isaiah, Eucharistic Meditations
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Walking in the Light

September 27, 2010 — Leave a comment

“O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord.” (Is. 2:5)

Every week we gather for worship in order to be called once again to walk in the light of the Lord. This service is one of the significant ways God shines His light upon us, convicting us of sin, and drawing us near, and teaching us to follow Him. The light of the Lord is the Day of the Lord. It is when God’s glory shines forth, when He arises to shake the earth mightily. Hebrews says that in the New Covenant we have not come to a mountain that may be touched like the Old Sinai, but we have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to the armies of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first born, to God the judge of all, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. Hebrews says that God still speaks at this new mountain, and when God speaks, everything shakes. His voice thunders, and earth and heaven are shaken mightily so that only those things which are permanent will remain, so that we may receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken. In the sermon text today, the response to the Light of the Lord is either people diving down into the rocks and dust in fear and terror or their idols being cast down into the rocks and caves. And this is always the option when we gather before the Lord of Hosts. Will we receive the blood of sprinkling? Will we cry out for mercy and cast our idols away from us? Or will we cling to our idols, to our sin, and try to stand on our own? But we know that God knocks down the proud; he brings low all those who think they stand. We gather here and now to cast our idols from us. We bow down before the Lord in faith, trusting that He will lift us up. We are at war with sin, and this means that we are sin confessors. A man who is not regularly asking his wife and children for forgiveness is deceived and arrogant, and he is asking for God to humble him. And he cannot be upset or surprised when the rest of his family does not know how to ask for forgiveness or repent of sin. But our help is in the name of the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. So come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Throw down your idols, confess your sins, and walk in the light.

In Bible - Isaiah, Exhortations
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Peace for the World

September 20, 2010 — Leave a comment

“He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Is. 2:4)

When God comes for His people He comes not only to restore right worship but to restore their entire society, the whole world. And one of the principle affects of the gospel going forth in the world is peace. The phenomena of nations studying war and going to war is part of the old world, part of the old way of life. When God’s justice comes into a land, the military industrial complex begins to recede, and in place of guns and tanks, ploughs and pruning sheers become the culture’s norm. But this is not a call to agrarianism; God isn’t promising that everyone will become farmers. The plough and pruning sheers are particularly used for the production of grain and grapes. In other words, in place of swords and spears there will be bread and wine. In the place of coercion and violence, there will feasting and gladness. In place of oppression and injustice, there will be mercy and community. When God comes to bring His justice, He does not come as a great war general, He comes like a slave, like beggar who offers bread and wine, his own body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. This is justice. This is the judgment of the nations. Here, we share bread and wine, and in so doing we testify to the fact that Jesus brought justice into this world by the cross, and the cross is the only way of justice. This is the way of love and mercy and grace. But this also implies that these are far more powerful weapons. So take up this bread and wine with joy and thanksgiving. Here we share the peace of Christ with one another. Here is the peace of Christ for the world. Here we share the power of God to reconcile all things to Himself. Here, God promises to heal all brokenness. So come with faith, believing the promises of God.

In Bible - Isaiah, Eucharistic Meditations
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Like a Smelly Beggar Claiming to be President

September 20, 2010 — Leave a comment

We are gathered here as the disciples of the risen Christ. Here we are gathered to proclaim and enact the fact that 2000 years ago God came for this wretched, sin infested world. He came as our Kinsman Redeemer: He came for those who were bowed down beneath their debts, enslaved to tyrants – gods and men, widowed, orphaned, forgotten, diseased, trodden under foot. Christ our God came as our Warrior, our Hero, our Mighty Man, He came to deliver the oppressed, to free the captives, to heal the broken, to proclaim the forgiveness of every debt. But our Mighty Man, our Hero did not come for us crowned in gold. He did not come for us on a gallant horse with a sword at his side with legions of angels and soldiers prepared for war. Christ came for battle, He came for war, but He came as a Child, He came as a wandering teacher, He came as a homeless bum. He came with a family that rejected Him; He came like a crazy man. He came in weakness. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. And He was despised and rejected by men, just like we despise the mentally retarded in wheel chairs, just like we despise the bums digging through ash trays looking for old cigarettes, just like we despise alcoholics and drug addicts. God came for you like one of them. He came for this world like a deranged bum, and he came like that for us because that is what we are. Compared to the glories of God, the riches of his communion, and the love that is shared between Father, Son, and Spirit, we are all handicapped, deranged, and addicted. We are all users and abusers. And Christ came for us in our rags, in our delusions, in our captivity in order to undo it all. He came to throw down the rulers of that old world, He came to break the death hold of sin, He came to give us Life. But as it turns out, the way God comes for us is also what Life looks like. The way Life comes is the way Life lives. Life frees, Life delivers, Life sacrifices, Life gives, Life forgives, and Life heals. Jesus came to call us to follow Him, and to give up our lives in service to Him. Christ came as our Hero, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Mighty Man, and He came like a fool, like a smelly beggar with a cane claiming to be the President of the United States. And he says to you and I, follow me. And when we think about like that, none of us really wants to do that. And so we need to beg for grace and forgiveness.

In Exhortations
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Prayer for His Harvest

September 18, 2010 — Leave a comment

As David Platt pointed out in his recent book Radical, when Jesus notices that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, he doesn’t tell his disciples to therefore go out themselves and start harvesting. Rather, he tells them to pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest (Mt. 9:37-38). He says they should pray. Prayer isn’t a cheap form of discipleship; prayer is essential.

I think one of the other striking things about Christ’s words is that the harvest belongs to the Lord. God is the Lord of the harvest; it’s His harvest. And so we pray to the Lord of the harvest that the right harvesters might be sent out and at the right time and to the right places.

As it turns out, in the very next verses Christ does send out the disciples, but this comes after instructing them to pray. And perhaps this makes for a helpful qualification for those who think that they are perhaps called to missions and evangelism and mercy ministry. Have you been praying that God would send people?

In Bible - Matthew, Evangelism, Justice and Mercy
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Christ and Nothing

September 17, 2010 — 1 Comment

If you have never read David Bentley Hart’s essay “Christ and Nothing,” you need to.

Here it is: http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles2/HartChrist.shtml

And now you have no excuses.

In Culture, Theology
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Deserts and Gardens

September 16, 2010 — 1 Comment

In the garden, Adam was tempted by the Devil, and that garden withered and died from Adam’s sin and turned into a desert.

Many centuries later, the Last Adam appeared and went into that wilderness to be tempted by the Devil in order that by His obedience the desert might become a garden again.

In Bible, Theology - Christology
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