Sovereign Grace Community Church: Recent Episodes
Paul recognized that Abraham and God's covenant with him are key to understanding the messianic work and the new household God is building on Him. But the Israelite covenant (the Law of Moses) was instituted in between Abraham and the fulfillment of God's promises to him in the Messiah, Abraham's unique "seed." This interposing of the Law of Moses raises the question of its impact on the Abrahamic covenant and its promises, and Paul addressed that question in general terms before addressing the larger question of why the Israelite covenant at all? What purpose did it serve in the unfolding salvation history?
Paul introduced Abraham into his argument because he, and God's promises to him, are the criteria for defining the members of God's restored covenant household and the relationship between them. In a word, the Abrahamic family are now identified by their union with the Messiah, Abraham's promised son. Paul then further developed this truth by turning his attention to the Law of Moses and its role in God's purposes, firstly explaining the predicament it caused for the Abrahamic people, the implications of that predicament, and how God resolved it.
After rebuking the Galatians for their foolishness and lack of discernment, Paul introduced the patriarch Abraham to his argument. Many have viewed this simply as Paul providing a scriptural example of someone who was "justified by faith" apart from his works, but he actually had a much more profound reason for doing so. Paul understood that Abraham and his role in the salvation history were crucial to substantiating his claim that Jewish and Gentile disciples have equal status within the new covenant family that God is forming in His Son. For that family is the family promised to Abraham - a family consisting of people from every tribe, tongue and nation.
Paul openly confronted Peter when he lied against the truth of the gospel by his actions at Antioch, and he wasn't going to treat the Galatian believers any differently. And so, after recounting the Antioch episode, Paul turned his attention to his readers, confronting them with a series of pointed questions intended to make them step back and think about the significance and implications of yielding to the "agitators" seeking to lead them away from his gospel.
Paul recognized Peter's withdrawal from table fellowship with Gentile believers as a lie against the truth of the gospel, for the gospel proclaims God's inauguration of a new human family defined by faith in the Messiah and union with Him through His Spirit. Thus Paul concluded his treatment of "justification by faith" with a profound confession acknowledging that he - and all who belong to Jesus the Messiah - had been crucified to the former order of human existence and now lived within Jesus' life and faithfulness as God's true Image-Son. And living in that way, Paul exalted God's grace and triumph on behalf of His beloved creation.
Paul's treatment of justification by faith was situated within his rebuke of Peter's hypocrisy among the believers at Antioch. Having demonstrated through his table fellowship that uncircumcised and non-observant Gentiles share full and equal status in God's renewed covenant household, Peter then denied that affirmation by withdrawing himself from his Gentile brethren when other Jewish disciples arrived from Jerusalem. Paul confronted him and condemned his hypocrisy, making his case through the truth of justification by faith.
The Galatian epistle provides one of Paul's explicit treatments of the issue of justification by faith, but all too often his treatment there is effectively divorced from the historical circumstance within which it is situated. And where this occurs, this doctrine is understood from a perspective and set of concerns that are different from Paul's. This message examines justification by faith as it was Paul's answer to the issue of Jew-Gentile distinction in the messianic community - the issue that Peter's separation from the Gentile brethren at Antioch helped put in the spotlight.
Paul ended his rehearsal of his background with an account of his confrontation of Peter at Antioch. This episode was the context for his treatment of the doctrine of "justification by faith" in the Galatian epistle, and so it's crucially important to understand what was happening at Antioch with Peter in order to understand what Paul meant by this doctrine and how it pertained to the circumstance at hand.
Paul realized that he was singling out himself and his gospel when he condemned anyone and everyone who differed from the message he was proclaiming. And by insisting that he obtained his gospel without any input from the other apostles, he was allowing room for the charge that he had innovated his own message alongside - and perhaps even in contradiction of - the gospel being proclaimed by Jesus' other representatives. He could expect that this charge was being leveled against him by those who were "troubling" the Galatian believers and challenging his gospel. And so Paul knew that he needed to show that the other apostles affirmed both his apostleship and his message. If he couldn't, then he had no right to make the claims he was making.
The new creation God has inaugurated in Jesus is the lens through which Paul penned his Galatian epistle (as all of his epistles), and he notably set his own biographical presentation within this "once-but-now" perspective. In reminding the Galatians of the divine source of his gospel and his apostolic calling, Paul described his own journey in terms of his former life as a zealous Israelite and who he had now become: a citizen and promoter of God's new-creational kingdom and an ardent servant of the messianic King he had formerly sought to destroy.
Paul insisted to the Galatians that any gospel other than his own was a deviation from the truth and amounted to departure from God Himself. This was an astonishing claim, which Paul knew he would have to defend. After confronting the charge that he was a man-pleaser, Paul began his defense of his gospel by identifying its source and showing how it was utterly alien to his former pharisaic understanding and convictions. So much so that what he now insisted on and proclaimed to all men, Jew and Gentile alike, he had formerly sought to eradicate.
Paul left no doubt regarding the seriousness of his letter by immediately following his greeting with a pointed rebuke. There was no "catching up" with the Galatian believers or gradual transition into the reason for penning this correspondence. No, he was writing with great concern and a compelling sense of urgency, having learned that they were already moving away from the gospel he had only recently brought to them. And to move away from his gospel was to forsake the God who had called them and to whom they had responded in faith.
More than a sterile greeting in which he simply identified himself and his original readers, Paul's salutation provides an important window into his perspective, concerns and intentions in penning this epistle. This message seeks to open up that window and lay a solid foundation for interpreting the balance of this marvelous and crucial important letter.
Many believe that Galatians' primary contribution to the Church is its treatment of justification by faith. While the epistle does interact with this doctrine, it does so with a perspective and intent that are often missed by its readers. Paul wasn't addressing the issue of how sinners obtain the righteousness they need to be saved; rather his focus was on the new creation inaugurated by Jesus' death and resurrection and what that means for the Church's faith and practice.
This second introductory message examines the two primary theories regarding the epistle's audience, and also discusses important historical circumstances that lie behind the epistle's concerns and Paul's intent in writing it.
This first message in our Galatians series considers some of the important historical and theological factors that have driven the general Protestant interpretation of Paul's Galatian epistle and his concerns and instruction in it.
This message addresses some further summary considerations and concludes this series on the biblical covenants. In particular it shows how the covenants provided the basic structure of the salvation history, and are the vehicle that carried it forward to its climax in the person and work of Jesus the Messiah. And since the Old Testament scriptures are the record of the salvation history, and the New Testament writings address that history's fulfillment in Jesus, it follows that the covenants are absolutely critical to interpreting both the Scriptures and the "Christ event" (i.e., everything pertaining to the person and work of Jesus).
This message is the first of two that provide a summary review of the biblical covenants, their particular features, their place and role in the salvation history, and the way they relate to one another, culminating with the person and work of Jesus the Messiah.
This message examines the role of covenant - and particularly the new covenant - in the consummation of God's purposes for His creation. Different theological traditions and perspectives view the matter of consummation differently, but the eternal destiny of individual human beings is the focus of many Christians' understanding when it comes to the final consummation. But the Scriptures, and the scriptural covenants themselves, have a different focus and ultimate concern - one that is corporate and cosmic rather than individual and human.
This message concludes this examination of the Hebrews writer's treatment of the new covenant. Given his Jewish audience and the reason for his letter, he focused his treatment on a broad comparison and contrast of the old (Israelite) and new covenants, particularly with respect to their corresponding priesthoods and priestly ministration. In this way he showed how the impermanence and inadequacy of the Israelite covenant was both unfortunate and by design, thereby necessitating and laying the foundation for the new covenant and its priest and priestly ministration.
Outside of two instances in Paul's epistles, only the Hebrews writer in the balance of the New Testament addressed the New Covenant directly. And his treatment is the most thorough, which is not surprising given his audience and purpose for writing. In general terms, the writer's approach was to show the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old (Israelite) Covenant, and he began his argument by examining each covenant's respective priesthood and the superiority of the one associated with the New Covenant.
This message examines Paul's treatment of the New Covenant in his second Corinthian epistle. This is his only explicit interaction with the New Covenant outside of his mention of it in his first letter to the Corinthians. But most significantly, Paul approached this topic, not as an abstract theological concept, but as the appropriate way to address the relational difficulties that had emerged between him and the Corinthian believers.
Christians are sometimes surprised to discover that the term "new covenant" only appears once in the gospel accounts, though all four focus on the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, the word "covenant" is virtually absent from these texts. Outside of the Upper Room accounts in the synoptic gospels, it occurs only once in Luke's gospel, and then in reference to the Abrahamic Covenant. However, the concept of the new covenant is woven into the fabric of the four gospel accounts, but as it is understood in terms of God's interactions with and promises to His covenant people as recorded in the Old Testament scriptures.
This message examines the particulars of Gabriel's revelation to Daniel and the meaning of his message in the light of Daniel's circumstance, prayer, and burden for his people, the city of Jerusalem, and Yahweh's sanctuary.
This message examines the historical and contextual background of Daniel's "seventy weeks" prophecy. This passage is commonly viewed as focusing on the "end-times" and God's "time clock" for Israel culminating with Jesus' second coming at the end of this age. But a different understanding emerges when it is examined closely and carefully in its historical setting according to its contextual concerns.
This first message on the New Covenant examines its Old Testament and Israelite foundation. This is critically important, not only for understanding the nature of the New Covenant itself, but also for rightly interacting with the New Testament's treatment of the New Covenant and its relevance to the Jewish people and Christ's Church.
This final message on the Davidic Covenant examines the particulars of the covenant and its promises, how they were fulfilled in David's life and experience, and their ultimate reference to and fulfillment in the messianic "Son of David."
Like each of the biblical covenants, the Davidic covenant served a crucial role in the progress of the salvation history culminating with the coming and work of the Messiah. This message considers the Davidic covenant in that light, particularly its relationship with the Israelite (Sinai) covenant and God's covenant with Abraham.
The biblical covenants are often considered and interpreted through the lens of particular doctrinal concerns and premises, rather than in terms of the scriptural storyline and its orientation and development. Each of the covenants finds its meaning and significance in relation to the others, but as they are situated and function in the developing salvation history that culminated with the person and work of Jesus the Messiah. This is the perspective from which this message examines the background of God's covenant with David.
God's covenant with the Levites is often overlooked in treatments of the biblical covenants. Studies will often jump from the Sinai Covenant to the Davidic Covenant, but the truth is that the Levitical and Davidic covenants are inseparable and mutually interpreting in terms of their prophetic contribution to the Old Testament's messianic revelation and its fulfillment in Jesus.
This message completes the treatment of the Sinai Covenant. It examines the gold calf episode as Israel's foundational act of covenant-breaking, and it considers the process, under Moses' mediation, by which the covenant was renewed and the covenant relationship between God and Israel was restored.
This message introduces the Sinai Covenant. It examines Israel's preparation to receive it, the two parts of the covenant (the "ten words" and the "ordinances"), the covenant's ratification, and the fellowship meal that celebrated it.
The Sinai Covenant has been a focal point in Christian theology since the medieval period, Protestant and Roman Catholic alike. This is because matters of "law" were central in the theological and soteriological formulations that developed through the Middle Ages and were formalized during the Reformation period. This focus on the role of "law" in salvation and sanctification continues to this day, and not surprisingly the "Law of Moses" is a key aspect of it. But far too often the Law of Moses (the Sinai Covenant) isn't treated in its historical, Israelite and covenantal contexts, which is the goal of this consideration.
This message examines the circumstances and particulars of God's covenant with Abraham, but especially as that covenant served His designs for His creation and functioned within the Israelite history that culminated with Jesus the Messiah.
Noah was God's chosen man to inaugurate His "new" post-diluvian world, and He chose Abram out of that world - still groaning under the curse - to be His instrument for ushering in the actual new creation that the post-flood world prefigured. This message examines the human and historical context for God's covenant with Abram, which is crucial for understanding the covenant's purpose in its own time, in the life of Israel, and in God's larger purpose for His creation fulfilled in the Messiah.
Most Christians agree that Jesus' resurrection is crucial to the truth and significance of the Christian faith. But perhaps most associate that event with simply God's affirmation that the death of His Son had met His just demand against human sin. This message considers the broader, more comprehensive issues in the resurrection and how it determines and informs the Christian's ethics and mission in the world.
This message examines Noah, the Noahic Covenant, and the flood as they function within the progress of the Genesis narrative and help build the case for God's day of purging and renewal that was to come in the offspring promised to Eve.
The Noahic Covenant was unique in the Old Testament history in that it was a covenant God made with the earth and all of its creatures, including all of mankind. This covenant is characteristically associated with the Flood event, but all too often the creational and circumstantial context of the covenant is overlooked. This message examines that context and its crucial importance to the meaning and purpose of the Noahic Covenant.
This message examines the question of a creation covenant, but from a scriptural and redemptive-historical vantage point rather than in terms of systematic or philosophical considerations.
This message examines the dynamic of promise and fulfillment as a fundamental structural and functional feature of the scriptural storyline, its message, and its progress culminating with the messianic person and work. As such, the promise/fulfillment dynamic is critical to rightly understanding the biblical covenants and their function and interrelationships.
Covenant is a core theme in the Scriptures, even as God's actions and interactions in the world are most often set within explicit covenant arrangements. Both of the major theological systems (Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism) recognize the importance of covenant (and the individual covenants) in the redemptive history, yet they fall short precisely because they are organized systems, and the Scripture doesn't present a system, but a storyline culminating with the Messiah and messianic work. The scriptural text itself, on its own terms and according to its own concerns, is the only valid lens for examining the concept of covenant and the various expressions of it in the Bible. This is the task of Biblical Theology.
This message briefly considers the concept of covenant in relation to Dispensationalism, which is the second predominant evangelical theological system. Like Covenant Theology, Dispensationalism is structured around the concept of covenant, but the two systems approach this concept and its biblical manifestations from different perspectives leading to different interpretations.
This message introduces a new series addressing the topic of covenant and its significance as a key structural, organizing and interpretive feature of the Scriptures. The first task is to provide basic definitions and consider how the two predominant theological systems interact with and color our understanding of the theme of covenant, the various biblical covenants themselves, their interrelationships, and their role in God's purposes and work in accomplishing them.
Many think of God's final judgment in terms of human destiny in either heaven or hell, but a careful examination of the scriptures shows that this judgment is ultimately concerned with God's intent for His creation to be sacred space - His dwelling place in which He is present and rules through His human image-children, just as He indicated when He ordered and filled the creation in the beginning. Judgment, then, is about vindicating truth by seeing to it that all things are made to fully conform to their created design and purpose. This is why John's final judgment vision in the Revelation is followed by his vision of the "new heavens and new earth," which vision completes the scriptural record even as it depicts the consummation of God's design for His creation - "Behold, I am making all things new."
The concept of final judgment is one that most people, Christians included, aren't eager to give a lot of thought to. In general, people hope that, if there is to be a final reckoning, their good will outweigh their bad and things will work out well for them. For Christians, many puzzle over the idea that they, too, will be judged according to their works since they are saved by their faith in Jesus. But the final judgment associated with Christ's appearing has a much broader scope and purpose whose goal is the consummation of God's new creation such that all things will be "summed up" in the Messiah and God will finally and forever be "all in all."
For many Christians, the idea of a future resurrection has little significance in their thinking, expectation and hope. Instead, the focus is often on the destination of one's soul after death. And where some thought is given to the future resurrection, it usually focuses on a new body free from mortality, disease and dysfunction. But the Scriptures insist that the resurrection at Christ's return, not the soul's destiny at death, is the focal matter in Christian hope. And yet not in the individualistic sense of getting a new body, but as this general resurrection event will initiate the creation's renewal and "summing up" in Christ so that the Creator-God will at last be "all in all."
The Parousia is often understood as referring to Jesus' "second coming," but it actually designates Jesus' one appearing - His presence in the world - that occurred with the incarnation, continues through the present age, and will be consummated when He is openly and bodily revealed at the last day. This reality of Jesus' abiding presence as Lord over all has profound impact on the nature and orientation of Christian hope and how Christ's people perceive and carry out their mission in the world.
The New Testament writings speak to the internal life of the Christian community and its mission in the world, but another crucial aspect of the Christian life and testimony is enduring, manifest hope. Few would deny that hope is an important Christian virtue, but many fail to understand the concept of hope according to its biblical meaning and orientation. This message examines that topic and considers the doctrine of the Parousia as the immediate object of the Christian's hope.
Many Christians associate the king-priest concept with Jesus, as He is enthroned at God's right hand and interceding for His people. This isn't incorrect, but Jesus is the singular King-Priest precisely as God's true Image-Son - as True Man. For the regal-priestly function is the human vocation, as God created man to administer His rule in His creation and mediate the creation's relationship with Him. Thus Jesus' role as King-Priest is the role of all who share in His consummate human life by His Spirit, and so is fundamental to the Church's vocation in the world.
The gospel is the good news of the kingdom of God - the kingdom of God's new creation that He inaugurated through Jesus' triumph in death and resurrection. And so the crucial element in proclaiming the gospel is manifesting the new creation that has its substance in the resurrected Messiah and is present in the world in those who share in His resurrection life through the Spirit. This gospel of new creation in Christ must be the focus of the Church's witness in the world, and the very marrow of this testimony is cruciform sonship - lives that bear living witness to the meaning, purpose, and fruit of Jesus' cross.
The Church's mission is often framed in terms of "soul winning" or "kingdom building." The former focuses on the matter of personal salvation - leading people to faith in Christ, while the latter commonly emphasizes social action and improving the lives of people and communities. But the New Testament understands the gospel as the good news that God, in Christ, has inaugurated His promised kingdom and is now, through the Spirit, enlarging that kingdom. But this is the kingdom of God's rule over His redeemed and renewed creation, so that the proclamation of the "gospel of the kingdom" is the Church's witness to new creation.
Christians have long debated the Church's role and mission in the world, and in the modern era, the tendency has been to stress either the work of "soul-winning" or social action. But as commonly understood and implemented, both approaches to "mission" fall short of the Church's biblical mandate. This message examines some foundational considerations that Christians must come to grips with if they are to faithfully carry out their ordained mission in the world.
Holiness and unity are the primary qualities of Christ's Church, and they are two sides of the same coin, reflecting the truth that Christians are members of one another because they are members of Christ by His indwelling and transforming Spirit. The Spirit is the crucial focal point in any consideration of Christ's Church and its life and function in the world. And the Spirit's "gifts" - His sovereign, wise, and manifold distribution of spiritual endowments - stand at the center of His relationship with the Church and His work within its members. This message examines the matter of spiritual gifts, not in abstraction or as a distinct doctrinal topic, but as the way in which the Spirit accomplishes His work of creational renewal. That renewal presently involves human conformity to the New Adam, but with a view toward the Spirit's ultimate accomplishment of summing up everything in the created order in Jesus the Messiah.
The most obvious unity problem in the early church involved the relationship between Jewish and Gentile believers, but the New Testament writings show that unity in the church was a challenge across the board. Whether their view of their leaders, their use of spiritual gifts, their worship, their understanding of differences, or their daily practices, the early Christians struggled to live into the reality of their unity in the Messiah. This message examines a few of those challenges, even as they continue to the present day.
The problem of Jew-Gentile unity wasn't unique to Galatia and Syria, but emerged everywhere that Gentiles were coming to faith in Israel's Messiah and entering God's covenant household - the household that had always been defined in terms of Abraham and the Hebrew people. For various reasons, the unity problem among the Roman believers was distinctive, if not unique, yet Paul addressed it in the same way as he did with the Galatian churches. The remedy for Jew-Gentile divisions among Christ's people - as indeed all expressions of Christian disunity - is rightly understanding and owning the truth of justification by faith in Him.
This message concludes the examination of Paul's Galatian epistle as it addresses the problem of Jew-Gentile unity in the fledgling community of Jesus' disciples. In particular, this message interacts with Paul's understanding of the role of Israel's Torah -Law- in Israel's history, and what it means to be faithful to the Torah as disciples of Messiah Jesus.
Justification by faith was Paul's answer to the problem of Jew-Gentile unity, and he explained this to the Galatian believers by turning to Israel's scriptures and their story of Abraham as God's chosen instrument for realizing His intent to have a human family drawn from all nations and peoples.
The unity problem in the Galatian churches focused on the relationship between Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus the Messiah. Paul addressed this issue by reminding the disciples of what Jesus had accomplished and inaugurated by His death and resurrection and how this abolished the historical separation between Jews and Gentiles that Israel's covenant had established. In a word, Paul's answer to the Jew-Gentile divisions in the churches was justification by faith.
The Galatian and Roman churches provide two important case studies in Christian unity. Both struggled with Jew-Gentile issues, but from different perspectives and with different dynamics. This message examines the historical and cultural circumstances in Galatia and Rome that influenced the Jew-Gentile relations in the churches there, and also summarizes how those relations were similar and different.
The struggle to understand and achieve true unity was at the heart of the early Church's internal challenges. That struggle was exacerbated by the increasing number of Gentiles coming to faith in Israel's Messiah, until finally it seemed necessary to have the Church's leadership in Jerusalem issue a formal decision on what was required of Gentiles to become part of the restored covenant household the Spirit was building on the foundation of Jesus Himself. This message examines that episode, the specific issues the council was addressing, and the decision they reached.
The reality of a new community sharing in the life of the resurrected Messiah, while yet existing within the old order, initiated and insured conflict between Jesus' disciples and the unbelieving world, both Jewish and Gentile. But it also insured internal conflicts and challenges, not only between believers, but within the minds and hearts of individual Christians. And the marrow of that conflict, whatever particular form it might take, is the failure of unity - the unity in Christ that the Spirit initiated at Pentecost and that binds believers to their Lord and to one another.
Pentecost initiated a new community of followers of Israel's God, identified by their living union with Him through sharing in the life of His Son by His indwelling Spirit. As the beginning of God's renewed human race, this community was set in contradistinction to the rest of mankind - the people of Israel as much as the pagan Gentile world. This contradistinction couldn't go unnoticed, and it provoked confusion, fear, and derision in some, and hostility and open opposition in others. Until the consummation, Messiah's kingdom and rule would exist within the dominion and power of human kingdoms, and it was precisely this dynamic that God ordained to testify of His triumph and build His kingdom in the world.
Pentecost was the climax of the Christ event, for the outpouring and renewing work of the Spirit was the goal of Jesus' death, resurrection and enthronement. The Spirit was to be Jesus' abiding presence in the world and the power behind His kingdom and its fruitfulness. So also the Spirit would demarcate the kingdom's subjects, as Jesus, through His Spirit, was reconstituting the Abrahamic covenant household - the sons of the kingdom - around Himself.
Pentecost brought the Christ event to its completion, even as the corresponding Feast of Weeks closed out the festal season that began with Passover. And it did so as initiating mankind's actual experience of the reconciliation that Jesus secured by His atoning death. Put differently, Pentecost answered the question of the relation between Jesus' status as Man of the Spirit and His status as Last Adam- He was raised and glorified as True Man unto the end that He should become the firstborn among many brethren - the fountainhead of a new human race that shares His relationship with the Spirit, and so with the Father.
Jesus' resurrection is often viewed only in terms of demonstrating His satisfaction for the guilt of sin, but it actually has profound significance that vastly transcends this narrow consideration. The incarnation, which achieved in essence the eternal intent of perfect Creator-creature intimacy, was fully realized in Jesus' resurrection. Thus the Scriptures identify the resurrected Messiah as the first fruits of God's reconciled and renewed creation, and so also the source and first fruits of God's promised kingdom, as well as its sovereign king.
Though many limit God's work of atonement to Jesus' crucifixion, it actually had its substantial fulfillment in the phenomenon of incarnation, which was then worked out through Jesus' life of faithful sonship. His death on Calvary simply brought God's atoning work to its climax, universalizing it as His promised redemption by which He would end the creation's captivity and exile and reconcile all things to Himself. This is the scriptural context for interpreting Jesus' cross and its work, underscored by His choice of Passover as the setting for His self-offering.
Christians commonly associate Jesus' work of atonement with His crucifixion, but a truly scriptural understanding of atonement shows that the phenomenon of incarnation was actually the essential substance of God's atoning work in His Son. For it was there, in the intimate being-to-being union of God and man in Mary's womb, that divine-human reconciliation was achieved in essence. That reconciliation was then worked out and perfected in the living communion of Father and Son, finally being universalized in Jesus' substitutionary death at Calvary.
Jesus' ministry was directed toward announcing and manifesting the kingdom of God - the kingdom promised by Israel's prophets and long awaited by the Israelite people. But the ultimate goal of His coming was the inauguration of this kingdom, and that would come through His cross. Kingdom and cross are inseparable and mutually interpreting, and the doctrine of atonement stands at the center of this relationship. Therefore, a biblical understanding of atonement is vital to understanding the work of the cross and how it pertained to Yahweh's kingdom.
Jesus' ministry was directed toward announcing the in-breaking kingdom that Yahweh had promised through His prophets and Israel had eagerly awaited through long centuries of exile underscored by an empty sanctuary. But many in Israel would fall short of this kingdom and miss the day of their visitation - the day when Yahweh returned to Zion in the person of the incarnate Son. Thus the climactic aspect of Jesus' kingdom announcement was His warning of what awaited the Israelite nation if they refused Him, their King, and so also the kingdom He'd come to inaugurate.
Jesus' mission was to announce, manifest and inaugurate Yahweh's long-promised kingdom, and that work involved proclamation, depiction, invitation, and challenge. But conflict was also central to Jesus' work, because the kingdom He was bringing contradicts and disallows every existing human expression of kingdom and rule. Thus He drew the fierce and unrelenting opposition of the world powers - human and supra-human - the moment He began proclaiming and manifesting His Father's kingdom. But that was the battle He'd come to fight, and He would achieve the victory.
The goal of incarnation is the kingdom of God - i.e., God becoming -all in all- through -summing up- everything in His creation in Jesus the Messiah. The Father had sent the Son to usher in His everlasting kingdom as He'd promised through His prophets, and all of the gospel writers constructed their accounts around this work and its completion. Thus they record that, following His baptism and testing, Jesus began proclaiming the good news of this kingdom and challenging Israel to embrace it by embracing Him and the way of being Israel -son, servant, disciple and witness- that He was disclosing to them.
The resurrection of Jesus is a core tenet of the Christian faith, but many Christians have little understanding of what it signifies, why it matters, or how it determines and orients Christian life and mission in the world. This message considers those issues and attempts to provide a framework for living authentically as resurrection people in the risen Messiah.
The Spirit who anointed Jesus as Messiah and led Him through His wilderness testing now brought Him into Galilee where He began proclaiming the good news of Yahweh's kingdom. That ministration led Jesus to His home town of Nazareth where He confronted the people's understanding and expectation of His work on Yahweh's behalf. All three synoptic writers mentioned Jesus' rejection in Nazareth, but Luke provided the best insight into it, showing that it was a microcosm and harbinger of what He would experience from the nation as a whole.
This message examines the third of Jesus' tests during His forty-day wilderness ordeal. Like the other two, this test was part of His Father's proving out of His own assertion concerning Jesus that He was His beloved and well-pleasing son. And because Jesus was being tested as Son of God in solidarity with Israel, His testing was as human son of God - God's True Israel in whom Israel was to be renewed and reconciled.
This message examines the second of three tests Jesus underwent during His forty-day wilderness ordeal. Like the other two, this test was ordained by Jesus' God and Father to prove out His human sonship as True Israel as affirmed at His baptism. Specifically, it involved a temptation to -put God to the test- by seeing if He would honor His promise to protect His faithful children.
The Scripture understands the incarnation as Israel's God taking up Israel's life and lot in order to renew Israel for the sake of its election and mission on behalf of the world. Jesus, then, was God's true Israel as true son, servant, disciple and witness. But in order to restore Israel in Himself, Jesus needed to fulfill Israel's sonship, even as the nation had failed to do. The forty-day wilderness ordeal was the fundamental proving out of Jesus' faithfulness as Yahweh's elect son, and this message is the first of three that examine that episode.
The Incarnation involved the God of Israel embodying Himself within Israel in order to redeem and restore Israel so that it should fulfill its election and calling in the world. Thus the incarnation's work was directed toward Israel becoming Israel indeed, and the gospels show this first through Jesus' genealogy, and then by His baptism by John, the forerunner promised by Isaiah.
Having examined the nature and implications of the Incarnation, it is necessary to consider its work - i.e., God's purpose in it and its functional significance in terms of Jesus' life and ministration. This first message in that consideration examines the images of light and life, both of which are central themes in John's understanding and treatment of Jesus the Messiah.
This message considers some of the crucial practical implications of the incarnation, including how it determines our understanding of God's purposes and work, the gospel and its proclamation, and the matters of personal salvation, progress in sanctification, and Christian mission.
Traditional formulations and controversies regarding incarnation have tended to focus on issues surrounding the conjoining of divinity and humanity conceived in existential and philosophical terms rather than biblical ones. Put differently, the Scriptures aren't concerned with philosophical notions of natures, persons, hypostases, etc., but with incarnation as fulfilling God's long-standing promise to arise in His world and put all things right, so that His eternal intentions for His creation could be fully realized. In biblical parlance, incarnation is about Yahweh returning to Zion to end the exile of the Abrahamic people and restore them to covenant fellowship so that they should fulfill their own election and calling to mediate His blessing to all the earth's families. This message considers that perspective and what it means for a truly biblical doctrine of incarnation.
John the Baptist was the prophesied forerunner who heralded Yahweh's return to Zion to liberate His people and inaugurate His kingdom. So also, Yahweh's prophets had linked His return with the emergence and work of His messianic servant who would embody faithful Israel, and this background provides the context for the incarnation, its meaning, its purpose, and its outcome.
The desolation of Jerusalem by the Babylonians saw the end of the Israelite kingdom and the final fracture of the covenant relationship between Yahweh and Israel. Many would return to Judea and the temple and city would be rebuilt, but the Israelite people recognized that their exile continued so long as their God remained absent. Incessant covenant unfaithfulness had moved Him to depart and scatter His people in exile, and only forgiveness and reconciliation would bring that alienation to an end. It was in view of that hope and longing that John the Baptist emerged in Israel and undertook his mission of preparing his countrymen for Yahweh's return to cleanse and restore His people and establish the kingdom He'd pledged to David.
Many point to Cyrus' decree and the subsequent return of Judean exiles to rebuild the temple and city of Jerusalem as ending Israel's exile. But this physical recovery didn't address the underlying and essential exile, namely the relational alienation between God and His covenant people. That relational exile would end when Yahweh returned to Zion to redeem His captive children, cleanse them from their guilt and defilement, renew the covenant, and gather them to Himself as true sons and daughters. In that great day, the Lord's oath to Abraham would at last be realized- -I will be your God and you will be My people.- This message examines the prophets' depiction of this promised deliverance and renewal, and how it finds its focal point in the messianic servant and branch of David.
Jewish exiles returning to Judea to rebuild the temple and restore Jerusalem was a significant episode of prophetic fulfillment, yet these astonishing feats of divine providence didn't fulfill the Lord's covenant promises to Abraham and David or His word through His prophets. Indeed, the exile of His covenant people wouldn't end until He returned and restored His relationship with them through the person and work of His messianic servant, the son promised to David.
Desolation, exile and captivity were the inevitable destiny of the Abrahamic covenant household. God had warned of this outcome through Moses and His prophets, and now it had come upon both houses of Israel. And yet this wasn't to be the Lord's final word- His covenant oaths to Abraham and David would stand, however impossible their fulfillment seemed in the context of such horrific desolation and despondency. Yahweh would one day end Israel's exile, not as a matter of geography, but realized sonship. This message takes a closer look at the scriptural theme of exile, as that which conjoins and carries along the salvation history that reached its climax in Jesus the Messiah.
The Lord brought His sword against David's house, and after dividing and devastating his household, it cleaved David's kingdom into two parts. Only the southern kingdom of Judah remained under Davidic rule, with Israel in the north forming its own distinct kingdom. But both kingdoms followed the same trajectory of idolatry and apostasy culminating with destruction and exile. Israel fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C., while Yahweh gave Judah and David's royal house a reprieve. But not for long- Judah, too, would fall a century and a half later when the Babylonian forces burned Jerusalem and its temple to the ground and dragged the survivors into exile. Thus the Lord's sword had made a complete end of David's house, throne and kingdom, and yet His promise stood fast - one day, He would raise up a faithful son of David in whom He would build David's house and establish his throne and kingdom forever. Abraham's children were to hold onto this promise in faith, even in the face of seeming impossibility and crushing circumstance- their God would prove faithful.
The sword that Yahweh brought against David's house moved from his immediate household to the kingdom he ruled. The Lord revealed to Solomon His intent to cleave the kingdom, but this division occurred during the reign of Solomon's son Rehoboam. This message examines that episode and the history of the northern kingdom of Israel culminating with its destruction at the hand of the Assyrians.
Solomon was the Lord's chosen successor to David, and he was the king who brought the Israelite kingdom to the pinnacle of its glory. And the focal point of that glory was the Jerusalem temple that Solomon built according to Yahweh's covenant with David. But the Lord had also pledged to David to build a house for him, and yet David's failure provoked Yahweh to bring a sword upon his house, which sword escalated its decimating work because of Solomon's own failures as king. Solomon, too, would fall short of the kingship idealized in the covenant with David, but the Lord would yet fulfill what He had pledged. One day, He would raise up a son of David who would build an everlasting house for Him, a son in whom David's own house, throne and kingdom would be established forever.
The writer of Samuel chose to conclude his account of David's reign with the strange story of David's census that brought a devastating plague on Israel and led to the purchase of the site where the temple would be built by his son Solomon. This sermon considers that episode in the light of the Mosaic census law, which gives to it a profound significance and helps explain why the Samuel writer viewed it as the fitting way to end his account.
The Bathsheba episode is a well-known story from the Old Testament, but it's typically treated in isolation as a lesson in moral failure and the consequences that result from it. But this episode must be interpreted in terms of David's unique kingship and God's covenant with him, and the text itself emphasizes the massive covenantal significance of David's failure more than its moral importance. David was guilty of abuse of power, adultery, deception, conspiracy and murder, but all of that served his greatest offense, which was despising his covenant obligation to testify of Yahweh to the surrounding nations by faithfully exercising his kingship as the Lord's regal image-son. Thus David's failure with Bathsheba was the turning point in his reign and Israel's covenant life- it marked the beginning of the end of the Israelite kingdom, and so brought into jeopardy God's covenant with Abraham.
The covenant with David pertained to his regal house and kingdom and didn't directly implicate the priesthood. But Yahweh's approval of David's priestly actions in installing His ark in Jerusalem hinted at some sort of relation between the regal and priestly functions in connection with David. Later, Psalm 110, penned by David, showed that he understood that Yahweh was going to formally conjoin the kingship and the priesthood in the son promised to him in the covenant. This son was to be a priest-king, but of a different and enduring priestly order, indicating a new, everlasting covenant relationship between Yahweh and His people.
This message examines the context and particulars of the Davidic Covenant and its significance in Israel's history. Most especially, it considers the central place of the Davidic Covenant in the progress of the salvation history that reached its climax in the Son of David promised in the covenant.
This message examines David's ascent to the throne - first as king over Judah, and then over the whole house of Israel - and the early features of his reign. The most notable of those were his conquest of Jerusalem and subsequent act of bringing Yahweh's ark to Jerusalem to enthrone Him there in the new capital city.
This message considers the account of David's preparation for the kingship as recorded in the second half of 1 Samuel. Though identified by Yahweh as His chosen king and anointed with His Spirit, David spent many years suffering under the threat of death at Saul's hand as Saul fought to hold onto the throne of Israel, though fully aware that Yahweh had rejected him. Thus the Lord prepared David for the kingship by nurturing his submission and dependent faithfulness in the face of unjust suffering.
This message considers the transition in Israel's history from the period of the Judges to the monarchy. The emergence of the Israelite monarchy was the fitting climax to an era defined by the summary truth that -in those days there was no king in Israel,- but every man was his own king. And so Israel's call for a human king put the exclamation point on the fact that the nation had long since rejected Yahweh as their rightful King. They sought a man, not to exercise Yahweh's rule over His covenant kingdom, but in denial of that kingdom and their own uniqueness as His people. Israel sought a king to make them like the other nations.
This message examines the concluding period during the era of Israel's Judges. In particular, it considers Samuel's birth and early life in the sanctuary at Shiloh through which the Lord exposed and addressed the corruption of Israel's priesthood. That period also saw Yahweh exiled from His sanctuary, which exile continued until David was enthroned as king in Israel.
After the Lord renewed the covenant, Israel spent nearly a year at Mount Sinai preparing to depart for Canaan. The climax of that preparation was Yahweh's glory filling His newly-constructed sanctuary, and thus He led Israel away from the mountain toward Canaan. Though His glory went before them, the people immediately began grumbling and rebelling against Him, and this intractable pattern resulted in 40 years of wandering in the desert and great calamity after inheriting the promised land. This message presents a summary of that era of Israel's history from the nation's departure from Sinai until it arrived at the threshold of its new monarchy.
This message examines the aftermath of the gold calf episode, which saw God's judgment of Israel in slaughter and alienation, climaxing with His renewal of the covenant through Moses' mediation.
This message examines the episode of the gold calf and its significance for Israel's relationship with God, but in terms of the nation's role in God's purposes for the world bound up in Abraham and the covenant with him.
Following the ratification of the covenant and the fellowship meal of Father and son, Yahweh called Moses to return alone to the mountain to receive another record of the covenant that He Himself would write. He would give Moses the two tablets of the covenant, but also instruction for His dwelling place among His covenant people and His provision of a mediating priesthood. This message examines the relationship of the sanctuary and priestly system to the covenant and their role in its administration.
This message examines the circumstances surrounding the formal institution of God's covenant with Israel, including the recording of the covenant charter, the people's stated commitment to it, the covenant's ritual ratification in blood, and Israel's fellowship meal with Yahweh on His holy mountain.
This message examines the making of the covenant at Sinai and its various features and components. But it does so particularly in terms of the covenant's function in Israel's life as the Abrahamic people, chosen by God to be His instrument for achieving His restorative purpose for the world.
This message examines God's preparation of Israel for entering into covenant relationship with Him after the redeemed nation arrived at Mount Sinai.
This message considers the series of tests - by which God tested Israel and Israel tested God - that transpired during the three months between Israel's deliverance at the Red Sea and their arrival at Mount Sinai.
This message examines Israel's Exodus from Egypt, both in terms of its historical significance and its importance in the unfolding salvation history as a prototype that portrayed and anticipated a future counterpart. In that second and final Exodus event, God would liberate the entire creation from its bondage and regather it to Himself in His Son, thereby fulfilling His own destiny to become -all in all.-
This message examines the circumstances surrounding Jacob's exile in Egypt. Jacob was now Israel, and so it was that his exile was to be the exile of the entire covenant household - the household that would become the nation of Israel. God had disclosed to Abraham years earlier that a long season of exile was ordained for his descendants, and Joseph and his story were the primary instrument for this circumstance coming about.
This message examines the account of Jacob's return to Canaan after twenty years in Haran, and particularly the episodes associated with Mahanaim-Peniel and Shechem.
Isaac was the first covenant heir, but his son Jacob played a more prominent role in the history of Abraham's covenant family, first and foremost because he was the direct source of the nation of Israel and the first to bear that name. The book of Genesis attests Jacob's preeminence by devoting half of its content to telling his story. This message examines the immediate outcome of Jacob's obtainment of firstborn status and the covenant blessing, namely his twenty-year exile in Haran.
This message considers the role of Isaac as the first covenant heir in the progress of God's covenant with Abraham and its outworking in the salvation history culminating with Jesus the Messiah. In particular, it examines the way the Genesis author constructs his narrative treatment of Isaac and the circumstances of his life as covenant heir.
This message examines the matter of resurrection as a crucial biblical concept - not so much the historicity of Jesus' resurrection or how it relates to His atoning death, but the nature, basis, and purpose of His resurrection and its significance for human beings and the wider creation.
This message examines the episode of Isaac's sacrifice in the light of God's covenant with Abraham and Isaac's status as the chosen heir through whom the covenant and its promises would be perpetuated. In particular, it considers the relationship between Abraham's obedience and God's sworn affirmation of the covenant with Isaac as covenant heir.
This message examines the first part of the Abraham narrative in Genesis, spanning God's call and covenant with him, Abraham's movement through the land of Canaan, and his various triumphs and failures leading up to the birth of the covenant heir.
This message follows and builds on the content in week 7 of the God With Us -Sacred Space- series. Specifically, it considers the post-fall world from the time of Cain until God's calling of Abram as recorded in Genesis 5-11.
This message considers the significance of the two trees in Eden's garden-sanctuary, and the effect of eating from the forbidden tree on sacred space and man's relationship with God.
This message introduces a new study revisiting the God With Us series preached in 2007-2008. It addresses initial considerations regarding the concept of sacred space and its relation to the Genesis creation account.
This message examines the episode and general significance of the fall in the light of the creation account in Genesis 1-2. It draws from and builds on the content in the fourth and fifth sermons of the previous God With Us series.
This new series involves a fresh consideration of our previous God With Us sermon series from 2007-2008. This first message parallels the first three God With Us sermons and gives a brief overview of the Genesis creation account and what God intended to communicate about the creation's nature, form and purpose.
Israel's psalms served as their songs of worship, directed toward their covenant God and His purposes, and grounded in their identity as His covenant children. Thus the psalms address all of the dimensions and struggles of Israel's sonship, including the people's yearning for the day when they would finally fulfill their sonship and its vocation. Israel's great longing was to become Israel indeed- son, servant, disciple and witness for the sake of the whole world. And the Psalter reflects God's promise that this outcome would be realized in and through one particular Israelite - a regal son of David appointed to reconcile and reunite covenant Father and son and gather in all the earth's peoples- a Priest-King and true Image-Son.
Israel's psalms celebrated the nation's sonship, and also addressed the challenges and failures associated with faithfully living it out. And because Israel's sonship served a crucial purpose in God's intent for His creation - a purpose that He was determined to see fulfilled, the psalms also speak to the consummation of Israel's sonship. The day was coming when Israel would fulfill its election and vocation as son of God on behalf of the world, but only as the world experienced a great and decisive act of divine judgment.
Psalm 50 emphasizes thankfulness as God's remedial answer to idolatry. This perspective is consistent throughout the Scriptures, and this message examines why and how thankfulness is both antithetical to idolatry and the antidote for it.
The Psalms reflect and express Israel's sonship, and so give voice to all of the dimensions of that sonship and the various challenges associated with it. Hence the Psalter contains psalms of lament and imprecation, but also ones that specifically address Israel's ever-present idolatry and the woes and judgment that it incurred. Psalm 50 is one such psalm.
Imprecation is an important feature of the Psalms, indicating that it was a key aspect of Israel's life and worship as Yahweh's covenant -son.- But this raises the question of the Christian's relationship with imprecation. Should Christians pray prayers of imprecation as the psalmists did-- If so, how should Christians understand and approach imprecation, especially in the light of Jesus' instruction in the Sermon on the Mount -Matthew 5-43-48--- This sermon considers imprecation as an aspect of sonship, and how it has been transformed in Jesus the Messiah.
The already-but-not-yet state of God's renewal in Christ means that the Christian's sonship is not yet fully realized, and so characterized by faith and hope expressed in lament and longing. This is why lament is as much a part of authentic worship as are praise and thanksgiving. And imprecation is a key dimension of lament, and so also a component of worship. This sermon examines imprecation in the Psalms and how it should be understood.
Lamentation is central to the Christian life and Christian worship. This is because it gives voice to the suffering and longing that characterize sonship in its present form, and it reaches out to God according to the truth of who He is, what He is accomplishing, and our place in His purposes for His creation. For this reason, lament, faith, and hope are inseparable, and so fundamental to the life of God's children in the present age. Not surprisingly, then, faith and hope, like lamentation, are predominant themes in the Psalter as Israel's songs of sonship.
Lament is a predominant theme in the Psalms, and this alone shows that, rightly understood and practiced, it is a vital element of worship, and so also of true sonship in the present age. The Psalter contains numerous songs of individual lament, but also many others in which the psalmist speaks on behalf of the household of Israel. But in every instance, the nature, orientation and basic expression of lament remains the same.
The Psalter is grounded in Israel's sonship, and so celebrates that relationship with songs of adoration, praise, and thanksgiving. But Israel also faced profound challenges in fulfilling its sonship, and this is reflected in the theme of lament that is woven through the fabric of the Psalter. This sermon examines Psalm 13, which is a psalm of personal lament penned by David.
The Psalms, as songs of worship, are grounded in Israel's sonship. Thus many of them celebrate the privilege and delight of intimacy with God, as sons to a Father. But mutual sonship implies brotherhood, and this theme, too, is extolled in the Psalter, perhaps nowhere more pointedly than in Psalm 133.
Sonship in relation to God brings untold blessings of joy, peace, security, provision, etc. Thus God's children are a grateful and praising people. But above every blessing is the supreme gift of perfect intimacy - the intimacy of -I in you and you in Me.- This intimacy has been realized in the person and work of Jesus the Messiah, but was longed for by the faithful children of Israel who trusted their covenant God and His promises. Psalm 84 is one such expression of this hope and longing.
As Israel's songs of sonship, the psalms proclaim and extol the rich blessings of love and care that God gives to His children. His goal is to perfect His own life in them, such that they would be characterized by love as He is love. And He is the supreme object of their love, which expresses itself in devotion, gratitude and praise. God's children are a grateful and praising people, and thus the psalms have this as a central and pervasive theme.
Israel's sonship was central to its self-identity and worship, and the nation's psalms reflect this in a myriad of ways. They celebrate the blessedness of sonship, as well as its ultimate goal in God's purposes. Psalm 91 makes its own contribution to the Psalter's celebration of sonship by extolling the specific benefits and blessings that God bestows on His faithful children as a faithful, devoted Father.
If Philippians 3 is Paul's most profound treatment of his understanding of the Christian life, 2 Corinthians 4 is its counterpart respecting the Christian ministry. There Paul unfolds a perspective, vision and expectation of service in the gospel that is profoundly glorious, but also tragically foreign to many contemporary Christians and pastors.
Israel's covenant sonship is the core premise of the Psalter, and thus the various psalms give voice to all of the aspects of that relationship, including commemoration, celebration, praise, thanksgiving, supplication, penitence, imprecation, etc. The Psalter opens by proclaiming the blessedness of those who are devoted to God and His revealed truth, and Psalm 8 shows that the essence of this blessedness is human sonship - man's status and vocation as God's image-son.
It's uncertain why the Psalter's Jewish collators situated Psalm 2 immediately after Psalm 1. But it is an appropriate sequel to the opening psalm. Whereas Psalm 1 extols the blessedness that attends those who are devoted to Yahweh and His Torah, the second psalm attaches that blessedness to devotion to Yahweh's king - the regal son who embodies His Torah by fulfilling His will and lordship in the world.
The Jews who collated Israel's psalms determined to begin the Psalter with this particular psalm. Their reasons are unknown, but this psalm provides a suitable introduction because of its focus on the blessedness of devotion to God and His revealed truth. If the Psalms are the songs of sonship, the first one extols what true sonship entails and what it enjoys.
This second message in the series considers the structure and organization of the Psalter and its various themes, emphases and authors. Most importantly, it stresses the covenant relationship between Yahweh and Israel and its historical progress as the context for interpreting the Psalms.
The Psalter can be described as the songs of sonship because they express all of the facets of Israel's life and relationship with God as His unique covenant son. Composed over a thousand years, the psalms became Israel's worship songbook during the Second Temple period, and so played an important role in Jesus' growth in the knowledge of His Father, God's purposes for the world through Israel, and His own messianic identity and vocation.
The writer concluded his epistle with a final plea to his readers. He'd written to encourage and exhort them to persevere in their faith and devotion to Jesus, and his earnest hope was that they would embrace his -brief word- in that way. And having thus exhorted them, he extended his greetings and closed with a benediction that had become a common blessing among the early Christians - -Grace be with you all.-
After a series of practical exhortations, the writer turned his attention to God Himself. He recognized that his readers' perseverance in faith and faithfulness ultimately depended on their Father's faithfulness toward them, and so called upon Him to provide them what was necessary for them to fulfill His purposes in and for them.
After a series of exhortations directed at his readers and their faithfulness, the writer petitioned them to pray for him with the same goal in mind. He was aware that he, too, was subject to the same temptations to waver in his faith. Even more, he recognized that his continuing faithfulness depended upon the intercession of his brethren in Christ. God supplies the needs of His children, but through the household of faith. The Body is the means for the growth of the Body.
The writer previously exhorted his readers to consider the fruitfulness of their leaders' faith, and so follow their example. Now he called upon them to consider their personal relationship with those leaders, and what it means to order that relationship according to God's design for His Church and the mind of Christ.
The writer reminded his readers that all followers of Jesus the Messiah are obliged to abide with Him -outside the camp,- which means ordering their lives with Him according to the new creation He has inaugurated in Himself. This involves new sacrifices, namely the sacrifice of confession and the sacrifice of service. Together, these fulfill the two great commandments of love for God and love for one's neighbor.
Jesus' resurrection is the focal point of the Christian faith, but also the turning point in the history of the world. For by it, God inaugurated the new-creational kingdom He'd promised and prepared for since the fall. This new creation has its present existence in the human beings who share in Jesus' resurrection life, such that they are now animated by a new paradigm of human existence having its substance in Him. But this new reality must be lived out if Christians are to be people of the truth- people who manifest, and so bear witness to, God's new creation in the world.
The writer warned his Jewish readers about foreign doctrines, which he showed to be teachings and practices associated with Mosaic Judaism. God had disclosed and commanded these things to Israel, but they were now alien because of reaching their destiny and fulfillment in Jesus' person and work. Any Jew who would know and serve Yahweh in truth must depart Old Covenant Israel and the former order and go to Jesus outside the camp.
The writer exhorted his readers to imitate the faith of their leaders, having witnessed its good fruit, of which they themselves were part. Jesus had proven faithful and fruitful in the lives of those men, and He would do the same with them, for He never changes. But precisely because Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, those who embrace Him must do so according to the truth of who He is, and then hold tightly to that truth without compromise or alteration.
After directing his readers to examine themselves as to where they were seeking resource and relief in their struggle of faith, the writer called them to turn their gaze outward to those who were leading them. If these Hebrews could draw encouragement from their faithful Israelite ancestors, how much more their faithful brethren in the Messiah who labored alongside them as His devoted shepherds.
The writer's next exhortation concerns the obligation of contentment. But this, too, must be understood in terms of the larger purpose for the epistle, which was penned to encourage its Hebrew audience to persevere in their faith and faithfulness. Thus the contentment the writer had in mind doesn't pertain to one's material goods per se, but one's sufficiency in God and His provision and faithfulness.
The writer was jealous for his readers, that they should persevere in their faith and faithfulness. And central to this faithfulness is the abiding obligation of love. God is love, and those whose lives are hidden with Christ in God must live in love. This is a universal obligation, but it has a primary concern in the marital relationship. And not just for its own sake, but because of what it represents.
The Hebrews writer insisted that his readers persevere in their love for one another, for this is fundamental to the Christian obligation to persevere in faith. And central to this conscious, intentional commitment to brotherly love is the ordinance of the Lord's Table. Nothing speaks more clearly and powerfully to the nature, significance and importance of loving the brethren.
The Hebrews writer ended his epistle with a series of brief practical exhortations, the first of which addresses the most basic Christian obligation, namely love for the brethren. This might seem to depart from the topic of faith and faithfulness, but manifest love is actually the very marrow of faithfulness. The one who holds fast to the truth as it is in Jesus abides in love toward His people in whom He has His fullness.
The writer concluded his instruction in chaps. 11-12 with an exhortation-warning that echoes what he's already put before his readers. They must persevere in their faith and guard against letting their adversity turn their minds and hearts away from their Lord. He who was testifying to them through the exalted, reigning Messiah was the One who promised to purge and renew all things. Far from being afraid or resentful, they should be ever grateful, knowing that their God is a consuming fire.
Key to perseverance in faith is recognizing one's suffering as serving the Father's purpose to mature His children unto their inheritance as fellow heirs with Jesus. But in a very real way, that inheritance is already theirs, for they have been raised up in the Messiah and seated in the heavenly realm with Him. They are already sons in the Father's house, not as residing with Him in a particular place, but as His everlasting dwelling in the Spirit.
The writer's overall purpose for his epistle was to encourage his readers to persevere in faith through the many things they were suffering as Jesus' disciples. Key to their perseverance was rightly perceiving their suffering as their Father's discipline. But right perception must be joined to right response - that is, a pattern of faithfulness that reflects and conforms to the truth and goal of the Father's discipline of His children.
The Hebrews epistle is deeply pastoral, written to encourage Jewish Christians in their suffering inflicted on them because of their faithfulness to Jesus as Israel's Messiah. The writer's hope and goal for them was that they would persevere in their faith and not languish or fall away. And crucial to that perseverance was rightly perceiving their hardship as their Father's loving discipline. When they embraced Jesus as Messiah, they became sons in Him, and His path unto the perfecting of His sonship was now theirs.
The writer's goal for his brief survey of the faithful in Israel's history was to encourage his readers in their own ordeal of faith. They weren't alone, but were surrounded by countless witnesses who testified to what it means to endure in faith - to persevere in unwavering trust in God through all difficulty and suffering. The faithful forefathers endured in faith, though they had only God's promises to hold onto- how much more ought these Hebrews endure whose faith was in the One in whom all of God's promises had become -yes and amen--
Suffering is inherent to human life in this world, and Christians aren't exempt from it. But they are also uniquely subject to the suffering that results from sharing in Jesus' resurrection life. This is the suffering associated with living the life of new creation within the old creation that stills groans under the curse. This contradiction between the -now- and the -not yet- is the basis of lament as both a scriptural virtue and a key dimension of authentic worship and prayer. This message explores the nature of lament and its place in a vital relationship with God.
The writer concluded his treatment of Israel's faithful in general terms, summarizing the experiences of Israel's prophets and other anonymous individuals. He didn't identify them by name, but described the fruitfulness of their faith, both in great suffering and great triumph. In this way he underscored his reason for examining the legacy of faith in Israel. He wanted his readers to understand that their suffering because of faithfulness wasn't unusual- it is the common experience of all who follow that path. But such suffering isn't random or meaningless, but is fundamental to the triumph that God intends for His faithful ones.
The Thanksgiving holiday encourages people to step back and consider again the matter of their own thankfulness. Gratitude is a universally-recognized human virtue, and yet all people struggle to be thankful. Christians, especially, understand the central place of thankfulness in human existence, and yet tend to perceive and practice it in the way non-Christians do, with the exception that they direct their gratitude to the God of the Bible. This message examines the issue of thankfulness as the Scriptures understand it, and what it means to be a truly thankful people.
The Hebrews writer concluded his treatment of Israel's legacy of faith with a broad summary that swept up the balance of the Old Testament history. Along with Israel's prophets, he named six individuals as a collective group, and then summarized their faith in terms of triumphs and suffering. This message considers the first four named men- Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah.
The writer drew two of his examples of faith from the Jericho episode. The first was the Israelites, whose faith saw Jericho conquered and destroyed, and the second was Rahab, whose faith delivered her and her family from that destruction. Rahab's inclusion in the writer's catalog of faith is hugely important, for she had no connection with the Abrahamic family and their covenant God. She was outside the commonwealth of Israel and a stranger to Israel's covenant- her faith wasn't in the God who'd spoken at Sinai and given His Torah, but the God whose mighty deeds testified of His veracity and faithfulness. Her inclusion here, then, illumines the concept of faith and its place in God's intent for the human race.
From the Red Sea episode, the writer jumped forward forty years to the time of Israel's entrance into Canaan. After bringing His people across the Jordan River in another miraculous passage, God directed them toward the city of Jericho as their first conquest in the land. This messages examines that event and Israel's faith in relation to it.
Most Christians know that there is a connection between Israel's Passover observance and the Lord's Table instituted by Jesus. But many have only a limited sense of the scope and significance of that connection. Put simply, the Passover was central to Israel's hope in God and His fulfillment of His purposes and promises to and through them. This message considers how that was the case, how that hope was fulfilled in Jesus, and the implications for Christian faith and practice.
The next example of faith follows very closely from the writer's previous one. For the Israelites' liberation through the Passover found them shortly at the Red Sea facing Pharaoh and his army. This message examines that circumstance and the faith through which the Lord completed their deliverance.
The writer turned to the Passover episode as his final example of Moses' faith. His previous two examples emphasized Moses' embrace of His Hebrew identity and his renunciation of the life he'd known since his young childhood. This third example shows how that commitment reached its climax in Moses' return to Egypt to deliver his Hebrew brethren.
Moses spent nearly all of his first forty years as a prince of Egypt, but God had set him apart for a different calling. Pharaoh had groomed him to be a leader in Egypt, but God appointed him to lead His people out of Egypt into the inheritance promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That process began when Moses renounced his Egyptian identity by aligning himself with his Hebrew brethren and abandoning Egypt for the land of Midian.
This message examines the general principles of civil authority as ordained by God and the Christian obligation to it. It considers the distinct realities and realms of Church and State and the jurisdiction each possesses. And finally, it presents some key considerations that must govern Christian resistance to authority.
In treating Moses' faith, the writer jumped immediately from his birth to his mature adulthood, and specifically the critical time of decision when Moses had to decide who he was and how he would live his life. Would he live by faith according to his calling, or continue to embrace his Egyptian identity- Here again, the writer provided only the briefest summary of this episode, well aware that his Jewish readers knew Moses' story like the back of their hand.
Continuing to follow the Pentateuch storyline, the writer next turned his attention to Moses. Reflecting Moses' huge significance in the salvation history, he devoted seven verses to him and his work, which is exceeded only be his treatment of Abraham and his faith. The writer's consideration of Moses touches on the main highlights of his life, and he began where the scriptural narrative does, namely with Moses' parents and their faith.
The writer turned his attention to Joseph as his final example of faith within the patriarchal line. Even as Joseph enjoyed a kind of preeminence in his father Jacob's blessing, so he was a significant figure in the legacy of faith within the covenant house of Israel. His faith is also important in that it bound together Yahweh's promise to the patriarchs of a land inheritance, and the fulfillment of that promise in their descendants.
From Abraham and Isaac, the writer turned to Jacob, the next covenant patriarch, in his catalog of Israel's faithful. Given that faith is always directed toward God's promises, it's appropriate that the writer should mention the three patriarchs to whom God first directed His covenant promises. And as he did with Isaac, he chose to affirm Jacob's faith by pointing to the blessing he bestowed on the heirs of the covenant.
From Abraham, the Hebrews writer turned his attention to Isaac and Jacob. This was a natural transition, since he associated Abraham's faith with the covenant, and that covenant and its promises were passed on to the covenant heirs Isaac and Jacob. With respect to Isaac, the writer chose to demonstrate his faith from the blessings he bestowed on his sons Jacob and Esau.
The writer's final example of Abraham's faith is his sacrifice of Isaac. This is fitting, for this episode was the greatest challenge to Abraham's faith, and so its greatest proof. This is because Abraham's faith was directed toward the God who'd entered into covenant with him, and the veracity of the covenant - and so the covenanting God - was bound up in Isaac, the covenant heir.
This excursus takes a closer look at 11-13-16 in terms of the writer's meaning and the practical implications he intended for his readers to derive from his instruction. Discerning the writer's meaning in these verses has to be the starting point, because that's the foundation for drawing out the right implications and their correct application - not just by the original readers, but all readers in every generation.
The Hebrews writer notably inserted a parenthetic commentary in the middle of his consideration of Abraham's faith. This commentary underscores the forward-looking orientation of faith-faithfulness -11-1-, but with particular emphasis on faith's discernment of and preoccupation with the inheritance God has promised to His people. This message examines the writer's argument, but from the vantage point of his perspective and understanding of Israel's scriptures and their fulfillment in Jesus the Messiah.
Abraham's importance in the salvation history and God's purposes insured that the Hebrews writer would include him in his catalog of Israel's faithful. Here again he followed the scriptural record, treating Abraham's faith in terms of the primary aspects of his covenant relationship with God- God's promise of a habitation- His promise of an heir, and His command to sacrifice the heir. This message examines the second matter, and how Abraham responded to God's promise in faith.
Abraham follows Noah in the writer's catalog of faithful forefathers. Consistent with the Genesis narrative and Abraham's massive importance in the salvation history, the writer devoted more space to him than any of the other named individuals in his list. So also he followed the Scriptures in making God's covenant with him the focus of Abraham's faith. Thus the writer considered his faith in terms of the promised land, the promised heir, and the obligation to sacrifice Isaac. This message examines the first of those dimensions of Abraham's faith.
Noah is the next person the writer mentioned as part of Israel's faithful heritage, and once again he used Israel's scriptures to make his case. Compared with Abel and Enoch, the Genesis account devotes much narrative space to Noah, but it all focuses on the flood event. So the Hebrews writer pointed to that episode as demonstrating Noah's faith and its significance in God's purposes for the world.
Enoch is the writer's second example of faith. He was an especially significant figure in the scriptural record and Jewish history because of the way he exited this life without experiencing death. God rewarded Abel's act of faithful worship by receiving his offering- He rewarded Enoch's worshipful life of faith by receiving his person.
After providing a brief summary of what faith is and how it operates, the writer turned to specific examples of faithful individuals drawn from Israel's history. He began with Abel, and demonstrated his faith from the one episode involving him recorded in the Scripture, namely his act of worship in parallel with his brother Cain.
Memorial Day is a time to remember those who've given their lives to help secure America's freedom. This remembrance naturally turns the minds of Christians to Jesus' self-sacrifice for the sake of ultimate liberation. But many have only a superficial understanding of who Jesus is, the mission for which the Father sent Him, and the ultimate outcome He has secured. All of that is bound up in His title, Jesus the Messiah, and this message examines Paul's exhortation to Timothy to continually hold Him in remembrance in this way.
The writer believed that persevering faith in Jesus was the answer to every challenge confronting his Jewish readers. So far from distancing them from their faithful Israelite forefathers, such perseverance actually bound them together, showing these Hebrews to be true children of Abraham, just as they were. This is the premise behind chapter eleven and its -roll-call of faith,- but the writer saw the need to begin with a brief synopsis of faith and its operation.
The writer warned his readers concerning the ever-present danger of falling away from Jesus, yet he had strong confidence that they did indeed belong to Him and would continue with Him until the end. Thus he ended his exhortation by encouraging them to persevere in faith and faithfulness. Toward that end, they needed to consider afresh their journey thus far with their Lord. They had suffered and endured, not because they could do nothing to change it, but because they perceived their circumstances through the lens of God's purpose in joining them to His Messiah. They had endured in the confidence of the reward bound up in Him, and they needed to persevere in that faith.
After encouraging his readers to truly live into the various dimensions of their new life in the Messiah, he warned them of the consequence of departing from Him. Such willful unbelief would leave them without remedy in the present, and therefore consigned to a fearful, inescapable and final outcome in the future.
Consistent with his approach throughout his letter, the Hebrews writer followed his elaborate examination of Jesus' priesthood with an appropriate series of exhortations. These exhortations address the practical implications of Jesus' priestly work in perfecting a sanctified people for God. This message examines the first three, which focus on intimacy with God in Christ, hope bound by His faithfulness, and devotion to His people.
The writer brought his extended treatment of Jesus' priesthood to its appropriate climax by summarizing what it has achieved. And he described that achievement in terms of sanctity - by His self-offering and priestly ministration, Jesus has fulfilled His Father's will to renew and reconstitute a family of image-children for His own possession- He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
From the very beginning, the Christian faith was a resurrection movement. That is to say, the Church, as the community of Jesus' followers, has its origin, substance, orientation, mission and destiny in the reality of Jesus' resurrection. Yet for many Christians, resurrection has a minimal place in their thinking, and even less in informing and influencing their practice. This message examines the historical and theological backdrop of Jesus' death and resurrection and why the early Christians believed that His resurrection had changed everything, ushering in a new world of new creation.
The writer gave much attention to the superiority of Jesus' priestly ministration over the Levitical counterpart. He recognized it to be superior in its uniqueness and efficacy, but also in the fact that it is the substance of which the Levitical priesthood and ministration - as indeed the covenant they served - were the shadow. Jesus' coming and work weren't something new in God's purposes, but their very destiny. Thus all of the Scriptures testify of Him, and the writer turned to Psalm 40 to show this with respect to His triumph as great High Priest.
Sacrificial offering was fundamental to Israel's covenant relationship with God. Beginning with Abraham, that relationship was ratified, secured and sustained with the -shedding of blood.- So it is with the new covenant in Jesus' blood, and this messages examines this better sacrifice and what it accomplished, inaugurated and secured.
The writer previously mentioned Jesus' role as mediator of the new covenant, but now he began to explain what that entails. And foundational to Jesus' mediation is His sacrificial death - the -blood of the covenant- by which the covenant is ratified, secured and executed.
The writer's intent in summarizing the key aspects of the tabernacle and its ministration was to underscore their preparatory and prophetic role. He especially noted their witness to the enduring alienation between Yahweh and His covenant people- the earthly sanctuary was the Spirit's testimony that the way into God's presence remained undisclosed. That -way- had now been revealed in the Messiah, and it was to Him and His ministration that the writer now turned his attention.
After giving a general description of the original tabernacle and its furnishings, the writer turned his attention to the priestly ministration associated with it. He mentioned the daily service in the outer room, and then the high priest's work in the annual ritual of Yom Kippur. But his purpose in this was to underscore their preparatory and prophetic role- the tabernacle and its ministration were parables pointing to the time of fulfillment in Jesus the Messiah.
Jeremiah's prophecy, given in the context of the Sinai Covenant, highlighted that covenant's impermanence and inadequacy- God ordained that it would yield to a new and better covenant. But both covenants were based in a mediating priesthood, which share the same dynamic of promise-fulfillment. Hence the writer turned to the priestly ministration that mediated the Sinai Covenant, but with a view to its new and better counterpart in Jesus the Messiah, the priest according to the order of Melchizedek. This message considers the sanctuary associated with the Levitical priesthood.
The Hebrews writer referenced Jeremiah's prophecy in making his case regarding Jesus' superior priesthood and the covenant based on it. This served to highlight two important truths- First, it showed that God intended the Israelite -Sinai- covenant to be transient, for He was promising a new covenant even while the Sinai covenant was still in effect. But secondly, His description of this new covenant showed the nature and scope of its superiority. The new covenant wouldn't simply succeed the Israelite counterpart- in every way, it would transcend it.
The goal of the writer's extensive treatment of Jesus' priesthood was to demonstrate the superiority of the covenant based on that priesthood. As the Sinai Covenant -Law of Moses- stood upon the Levitical priesthood, so the New Covenant stands upon Jesus' unique priesthood and priestly ministration -7-11-12-. But the writer also recognized that this new covenant was a matter of prophetic promise, and so this message examines the historical, salvation-historical and prophetic context in which Jeremiah issued his prophecy.
Christmas is a sensate season that evokes all sorts of images, impressions, and emotions. This is true of the religious dimensions of Christmas as well as the cultural ones, so that many Christians and non-Christians alike have adopted notions about Jesus and His birth that are whimsical and emotional rather than truthful. In particular, there is a tendency to miss the inglorious quality of the glory manifest in Jesus' coming, and so miss the truth of that glory altogether. That is the subject of this message.
The writer's goal in demonstrating Jesus' superior priesthood was to assert and affirm the superiority of the covenant enacted on that priesthood -7-11-12-. Thus the writer moved immediately from his summary of Jesus' priesthood to the covenant associated with it. This message considers his opening assertions regarding this new and better covenant, its superiority over its Israelite predecessor, and its necessity due to the former's inability.
The beginning of chapter 8 serves as a transition in the flow of the epistle. The writer first summarized his previous instruction regarding Jesus' priesthood, but in order to turn his attention to his larger concern, namely the covenant based on that priesthood. This message examines the first five verses and the writer's summary of Jesus' priestly ministry as the Melchizedekian high priest.
All Christians agree that gratitude is a key aspect of Christian life. But many don't stop to consider the actual nature and orientation of thankfulness as the Scripture understands it and life in Christ requires it. This message examines that topic, with a view to the essential and critical role it plays in authentic worship.
After providing a brief sketch of the person of Melchizedek, the writer demonstrated his superiority relative to Abraham and Levi. His ultimate goal was to show the superiority of Melchizedek's priesthood over the Levitical counterpart, centered in its superior high priest and the superior covenant based upon it. This message examines that argument as it closes out chapter seven.
The writer's goal in highlighting Melchizedek's superiority over Abraham and Levi was to show the superiority of his priesthood over the Levitical counterpart. This is the subject of the balance of chapter 7, and the writer's approach was to begin with a general covenantal consideration of the two priesthoods, and then look more closely at specific differences between them.
The writer regarded Jesus' priesthood as the marrow of the Christian's confession, and this explains his focus on Melchizedek. For Melchizedek as God's priest-king illumines Jesus' priesthood and how it transcends the Levitical counterpart. Thus the author moved from his brief biographical sketch of Melchizedek to his greatness in relation to Abraham and Levi. That consideration, in turn, anticipated his larger goal, which was to demonstrate the supremacy of Melchizedek's priesthood as fulfilled in Jesus, and so the covenant associated with it.
The writer introduced Melchizedek, and then rebuked and exhorted his readers out of concern that they wouldn't be able to grasp the things he wanted to convey to them. But having done so, and hopeful that they'd heed his exhortation, he returned to the topic of Melchizedek, first providing a biographical sketch of him from the one passage in the Scripture where he appears.
In spite of his rebuke and warning, the writer was convinced of his readers' salvation. He perceived in their ministry to one another God's work in them, and so assured them that He would keep them in remembrance against a future day of completion and glory. Thus he closed this parenthesis as he began it, with a charge to press on toward maturity. But they were to do so in the patient assurance of hope, knowing that their High Priest has entered within the veil as their forerunner.
After warning his readers about the danger, significance and consequence of falling away from Jesus as God's Messiah, the writer quickly affirmed to them that he was convinced of better things concerning them, things that demonstrated their saving faith in the Messiah. Notably, it wasn't their understanding or convictions that persuaded him, but their tangible, abiding love for God demonstrated in their loving ministry to His holy children.
The context for this exhortation-warning is the readers' Jewish background and the transformation in Jesus of everything pertaining to Israel's identity, history and covenant relationship with Yahweh. Thus these Hebrews had rethought everything they believed and hoped in in order to embrace Jesus as their Messiah. Now they faced pressure to retreat from that rethinking and return, in some measure, to their former convictions and practice. But to do so was to forsake God and His truth in the Messiah and attempt to return to what no longer existed - things that were merely a shadow, and had found their substance in Jesus -8-1-9-15-.
The Hebrews writer interrupted his instruction on Jesus' priesthood to directly confront his readers. He had much to say on this topic, but feared that their self-inflicted immaturity would keep them from understanding him. Thus he exhorted them to press forward in their growth in Christ, while also warning them about the threat their regression posed, should it remain unaddressed. This message examines the context for the writer's exhortation and warning, showing that it must be read from its Jewish vantage point.
The Hebrews writer recognized Jesus' high priesthood as the marrow of the Christian's confession, and so went to great effort to unfold it for his readers. But he also recognized an impediment to their hearing and benefit from his instruction, namely their self-inflicted immaturity. Thus he interrupted his treatment of Jesus' priesthood to confront and rebuke their -dullness.-
This message completes the consideration of verses 7-10 of chapter 5. In this passage the writer shifts his focus from the divine origin of Jesus' priesthood to the human means by which He was fitted for it. Again, the writer's overall concern was to underscore the human quality of that priestly ministration, which began with the incarnation, reached its climax at Calvary, and culminated with Jesus' enthronement as the glorified Image-Son, the first-born among many brethren.
Verses 7-10 continue the theme of Jesus' high priesthood, but with the writer shifting his focus from the divine initiative and ordination behind it to the way in which Jesus became fitted for executing it. And what he emphasizes, consistent with the surrounding context, is that Jesus' priesthood is a human phenomenon from first to last, and not simply with respect to His self-offering at Calvary. Beginning with His incarnation and culminating with His enthronement as King-Priest, Jesus the Messiah mediates the relationship between God and His creation -with man at the center- as man, the image-son.
The Church's great challenge in every generation - and its great failure - concerns its authenticity- its obligation to discern, own and live out the truth of its identity and vocation. And because Christ's Church is a human community and not an institution or organization, its authenticity depends on the authenticity of those who comprise it. The Church will deviate and fall short in its life and mission so long as individual Christians fail to understand and live out their own identity and calling. And there can be no authentic Christian life except as it is the life of Christ's body.
The writer set Jesus at the center of his instruction regarding faithfulness and entrance into God's rest, specifically as He is the enthroned High Priest. Like everything else in the divine purpose, man's attainment of God's rest is -yes and amen- in the Messiah. Human beings attain their regal and priestly destiny as image-children by sharing in the life and likeness of the unique King-Priest who is true Man. Jesus' high priesthood, then, is the next topic in the writer's consideration, and he shows its supremacy by setting it in contrast with Aaron and the priesthood associated with him.
The writer's exhortation in verse 11 brings together his previous warnings in verses 3-12 and 4-1, and also looks toward his assertions about God and His word in verses 12-13. These statements must not be treated in isolation, but as they contribute to the writer's wider argument, and especially his climactic words of encouragement drawing upon Jesus' high priesthood.
The writer's thesis in this section is that Jesus is superior to Moses as the Son who builds and presides over God's house, whereas Moses was a servant in the house. In making his argument, the writer compared and contrasted Israel's covenant history as God's -house- with the fulfillment and true covenant -house- that have come in Jesus. And though he could have taken many paths in making his point, he chose to focus on the core matters of hearing, faith and God's rest. This approach wasn't arbitrary, but was driven by the problem he was confronting, namely his readers' wavering in their faith in the Messiah and their solidarity with Him.
Chapter 4 is widely recognized to be one of the more difficult passages in the Hebrews epistle. Not surprisingly, then, it has been variously interpreted - certainly in its details, if not in its general instruction. With the difficulties in mind, this message examines some interpretive issues and attempts to establish a framework for understanding the writer's argument.
This second part of the excursus considers how the theme of rest is developed in the Old Testament scriptures from the point of the fall until the coming of Jesus the Messiah, and how that understanding provides the necessary foundation for the Hebrews writer's argumentation in chapters 3-4.
Rest is a key theme in the Hebrews epistle, and must be rightly understood in order to grasp the writer's meaning in chapters 3-4. This excursus examines the concept of rest as the Scriptures present and develop it toward its consummate realization in Jesus the Messiah and His work of new creation.
The writer explained Jesus' superiority to Moses in terms of their respective relation to God's house, which is to say God's covenant household. Moses served that household in its preparatory form, whereas Jesus is building God's ultimate household in and upon Himself. So the writer reminded his readers that they are part of that everlasting house, but only as they are truly joined to the builder. And they would prove that to be the case by their enduring faithfulness.
This message reviews the Hebrews writer's instruction through the first half of chapter three. This instruction follows his overall strategy to show that all of the aspects and structures of Israel's covenant life have found their fulfillment and ultimacy in Jesus the Messiah. To this point, that treatment has focused on Israel's prophets, God's mediating angels, and the man Moses, who was Israel's archetypal apostle and high priest.
Jesus is superior to Moses, but as fulfillment is superior to promise- He is the fulfillment of Moses as God's ultimate Apostle and great High Priest. Both were faithful in their calling within God's covenant house, but Jesus was -and is- faithful as the One appointed to build God's true and everlasting house, whereas Moses was simply a servant within the preparatory house that was the covenant house of Israel.
Chapter three begins a shift in focus, but one that builds on the writer's previous instruction. This next section introduces Moses, but as he represented the Old Covenant economy. The writer's main argument was that the Mosaic economy, including Moses himself, served a preparatory role in God's purposes, all of which have been fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah. He is greater than Moses in the way that fulfillment transcends promise.
The writer's emphasis throughout this context has been on Jesus' superiority over the angels as True Man. But He is Man unto mankind, so that His suffering unto exaltation had its goal in bringing many sons to glory. Jesus was doing the Father's work on behalf of the image-children, and thus His work was a priestly ministration. The writer introduced that topic in verse 2-17, and it is a central theme of the epistle from this point forward.
The Hebrews writer's primary argument in chapter two is that Jesus is superior to the angels as true man. But He is true man unto mankind, so that the supremacy He enjoys over the angels applies to all human beings who share in His life. Here, the writer addressed a particular aspect of Jesus' triumph as man, and that is His conquest of death and the satanic power that uses death as an instrument of enslavement.
The Hebrews writer recognized that incarnation and atonement are inseparable, and together highlight God's purpose for His human creature. Jesus was born a son of Adam in order to become the Last Adam - the beginning of a new human race that shares His image and likeness. He was born to bring many sons to glory, and so also to acquire an abundance of true brothers and sisters.
The writer has been demonstrating Jesus' supremacy over the angels, and in this second part of chapter two he emphasized Jesus' superiority as True Man. He is man as described and celebrated in Psalm 8, but not simply as an individual man, but as Man unto mankind. Psalm 8 presents a truthful depiction of the creature man, because it is firstly true of the man Jesus. He is the pioneer of salvation, the firstfruit of God's new and true human race.
Following his exhortation, the writer continued to demonstrate to his readers Jesus' superiority over the angels. This instruction continues the same theme of Jesus' lordship, but with a more explicit emphasis on His humanness. He is enthroned at God's right hand as True Man.
The first four verses of chapter two contain the first exhortation in the epistle. This exhortation draws on his preceding instruction concerning Jesus' superiority over the angels, and it has the form of a warning. Specifically, the writer warned his readers about the danger of drifting away from the Lord through neglect of their salvation.
-Jesus is the reason for the season- is a common Christmas slogan, and most Christians understand this in terms of the incarnation of the Son of God, and not merely the birth of a remarkable human being. But the true and full significance of the incarnation isn't so readily understood. This message considers that issue, but from a vantage point that might appear strange, namely Jesus' answer to His disciples when they asked Him to teach them to pray.
This final section of chapter one continues the overall argument that Jesus is superior to the angels because He is the promised messianic ruler, whose lordship and dominion they serve. But the writer shifted the emphasis slightly from Jesus' status as God's righteous King, to the absolute and enduring triumph of His rule.
The writer's next concern was to show Jesus' superiority over the angels by virtue of being God's righteous King - the regal Son that Yahweh promised to David- the Son in whom He would establish His righteous and everlasting rule over all things.
The writer's first citations demonstrating Jesus' superiority over the angels emphasize His sonship as God's ordained, begotten Son-King. The next one advanced his argument by highlighting the tangible manifestation of this sonship- Jesus, the Father's begotten Son, was brought into the world as His firstborn.
The writer began his consideration of Jesus' supremacy by noting his relation to God's angels. His thesis was that Jesus has become better than the angels, even as He has obtained the inheritance of a better name, and he went on to explain his meaning by showing from Israel's Scriptures that Jesus is the begotten Son. This message examines that argument and the writer's meaning.
The writer's goal in his epistle was to encourage his readers by reminding them of who this Jesus is that they'd embraced, what He'd accomplished and inaugurated, and what it means to be part of His New Covenant people. His approach was to demonstrate Jesus' supremacy over all the things that were critical to Israel's life with God, one dimension of which was the ministration of angels. This message provides an overview of that topic and examines the writer's perspective in addressing it.
The writer's goal in penning this epistle was to encourage and strengthen the faith of his Jewish Christian audience. They'd suffered hardship and deprivation and were being ostracized by their Jewish countrymen who accused them of forsaking the true God and His Torah by following a false messiah. They needed to be assured that Jesus is indeed God's Messiah. But even more importantly, they needed to understand that the totality of Israel's covenant relationship with God had been fulfilled and transformed in Him. Mosaic Judaism had served its role in God's purposes, and there was nothing to return to. The first proof of this is Jesus' supremacy as God's ultimate and final prophet.
The epistle to the Hebrews is arguably the most magnificent treatment of Jesus the Messiah in the entire New Testament. For the writer traced out his portrait of Him against the sweeping background of Israel's history and life with God. In that way, he brought into sharp focus what the Old Testament prophets only sketched in rough outline, which is that Israel and all of the particulars of its covenant life were destined by God to find their fulfillment and ultimate meaning in His Messiah. This insight into Jesus the Messiah brings great reward to the reader, but also a formidable challenge, for it demands that he be familiar with the Old Testament as it tells the story of Israel, the Abrahamic people, chosen to bring God's blessing to all the earth's families.
John immediately followed his exhortation to Gaius with a commendation of a man named Demetrius. John gave no explanation, but it seems this man was soon to pay a visit to the community of believers of which Gaius was a part, and John wanted to be sure he received the welcome and provision he deserved.
After commending and exhorting Gaius, John turned his attention to a man named Diotrephes. But he wasn't moving on to a different topic. Rather, Diotrephes was at the center of John's reason for writing. John wrote to Gaius to encourage and exhort him regarding hospitality toward the brethren, but with a view toward it providing a corrective to Diotrephes' error until he could come and address it in person.
Unlike the first two epistles, Third John was written to a particular individual named Gaius. And John wrote to him as a beloved brother, both to commend him for his loving, faithful hospitality toward Christ's saints, and to exhort him to continue in that practice as an example to his fellow Christians.