The Gift of Testing

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Joshua

It is instructive to look at God’s call to Abraham to offer up Isaac in light of James. James says, “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” Isaac, the son of the promise, was certainly a much anticipated and long-awaited gift.It had been 25 years from the time Abraham left Haran to the birth of Isaac. It is also a great gift when Abraham receives his son back “from the dead” as the writer of Hebrews points out.

But James also says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” So even the trials, or maybe even especially the trials, are gifts from above, from the Father of lights. It is by these trials that we are tested and revealed. It is because of Abraham’s response to the trial that God said, “now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me… because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

“Because you have done this, because you have obeyed my voice,” God said, “I will bless you.” It is not for us to try to avoid the trials. The trials are not against us. They are from the Father and they are very much for us. They are tailored especially for each of us where we are. Who else but Abraham could go through that trial? For whom else would it have made sense? Ben Merkle very helpfully points out that, “when we are in a trial, the temptation in the flesh is to set all our hopes, all our prayers, all our expectations on the other side of the trial. We think that deliverance in the trial will always come in the form of getting to the other side. We put all of our hopes in the future and we completely miss the principle thing – getting wisdom, becoming Christ-like.”

James continues, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” We can remain steadfast under trial not because we know how all these things work and fit together, but because we know that everything the Father does is the right thing, it is the good thing. Abraham didn’t have to understand why God asked him to offer Isaac. He could do even this thing in faith, trusting the God who does good. And this is the principle thing, this is wisdom; knowing that all God does and all He asks and requires of us is for our good. This is why our obedience is absolutely necessary. He is reforming us into the Image of His Son, bringing us into His perfection, His glory, and His life.

P.S. The Ben Merkle video linked above is very much worth watching. All of his stuff is very good. Check it out.

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Baptism and New Creation

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Joshua

In the beginning, God created the the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

The heavens were made fully formed. There is no progressive shaping of heaven, but rather heaven is used as the pattern by which the earth is formed and filled and lighted. The Holy Spirit carries out the will of the Father in the creation to shape it according to the pattern of heaven, and in the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.

The waters were divided into the earthly water, the water below the firmament, and the heavenly water, the water above. This is the water that the prophets see as a sea of glass or crystal before the throne of God. This is the water of blessing that comes down from above. Too much water, of course, means a flood, but even this is good. It cleanses the wicked out of the land so the land can flourish. Just as the earth was birthed out of water to become an abundantly fruitful and good creation, so are we birthed out of the water of baptism to be an abundantly fruitful new creation. And we are birthed from these heavenly waters.

John bore witness of Christ, saying, “this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And Jesus later, talking with Nicodemus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” So our baptism in the water and in the Spirit is our new birth. Again, the Spirit hovers over the face of the water and works the Father’s will. The Spirit fashions us after the pattern of heaven, Christ the new man. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

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Baptism as Baptism

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Joshua

There is a very good and right and helpful association between baptism and circumcision, but it is also important to remember that baptism is baptism. There is much more in the Scriptures about baptism than about circumcision. There were many and various baptisms – sprinklings and cleansings associated with worship and the offerings. These were applied to people, animals, and the tabernacle and temple themselves.

But we see it on a much larger scale as well. Peter says in his first letter that, “baptism, which corresponds to [Noah being brought through the flood], now saves you.” Noah, through this baptism, was transferred out of the old creation of evil and corrupted flesh, and put into a new creation. He became a new Adam and God restored the covenant with him, to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”

The Exodus also is a picture of baptism, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, “all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” The Israelites also were brought out of slavery and death through the sea. But just as in the flood, there were those who were saved through this baptism, and those who were destroyed. Baptism is always effective. As Paul says earlier in 1 Corinthians 1 about the gospel, “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” The same gospel is foolishness to some and power to others. Just so with baptism. The same word is preached, the same water is applied, “a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

Peter goes on, saying baptism saves us, “not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Baptism is not taking a bath; it is is death, burial, and resurrection. As Paul expounds in Romans 6, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Because we have been transferred out of death and into life, we must no longer carry on our lives as if we were still slaves to death. Refusing to live in light of our baptism is longing to return to Egypt.  ”But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”

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Blood Covering

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Joshua

Leviticus 4 lays out the ritual of the sin offering, which deals with “unintentional” transgressions – the sin of wandering or being led astray. This is not the high-handed sin of open rebellion and refusal to repent. In this offering, the primary element is the blood, which covers the sin of the people. It’s important to understand the structure of the tabernacle to be able to get a grasp of what is going on.

Think of the tabernacle as having one section stacked on top of another. At the bottom is the forecourt with the laver of cleansing and the altar of ascension. This is the sea and the land, and more specifically a mountain rising up out of the land. This is a miniature “high place” or a mount Sinai on which one goes up to meet with God.

Next is the Holy Place, the firmament area above the earth. This has the lampstand, which is the lights fixed in the firmament. There is also the table of showbread, which is the priestly nation of Israel set in the firmament and acting as mediator between God and the rest of the world. Just before the inner veil – which is the final firmament barrier, woven with smokey blue and purple and scarlet and linen and embroidered with cherubim – you have the altar of incense which sends up the prayers of the saints in the smoke. This goes up and joins with the glory cloud that surrounds God in His throne room, the Holy of Holies. In the Holy of Holies, there is the ark of the covenant, which is God’s footstool, and the cherubim above, which are His throne.

The sin offering of Leviticus 4 is broken into different sections depending on who is making the offering. If it is the High Priest or the entire congregation, the sin has defiled everything on earth, up to the very threshold of heaven. The High Priest takes the blood of a bull and sprinkles it before the inner veil at the top of the firmament, then puts it on the horns of the altar of incense in the firmament, and last pours it at the base of the altar of ascension on the land. The sins of a leader or a common person don’t have the same far reaching effects as that of the High Priest. Only the land is defiled, and the blood of a goat is applied to the horns of the altar of ascension and then poured out at the base.

This order from top to bottom is important. Man’s attempts to reach God, as illustrated at the Tower of Babel, are always fruitless. It is God who extends the ladder down from heaven by which we may approach Him. And so here, the door of approach is opened from top to bottom.

This offering only provides a covering for sin; it does not remove it. As the book of Hebrews points out, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” These provided a covering so the fire of God would not consume the people, but it is Christ the High Priest that finally takes away sin with the offering of His own blood. It is Jesus Christ who comes down from God to open the way into the Most Holy Place. He is the door. He is the ladder to heaven. And it is His body and blood that we eat and His word that washes us and removes the stain and guilt of sin. So, let us rejoice and have confidence and persevere in Christ.

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Death of the Old Man

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Joshua

Romans 6 is a major amplification on the theme of putting off the old man and putting on the new. The flesh of the old creation is put to death in baptism, buried in Christ’s death, and raised to life in the new creation in Christ. If we have died to sin, we can no longer live as sons of the slave woman, but must live according to righteousness as sons of the free. This is the main story arc of the whole scripture; from death to life, from slaves to sin to slaves to righteousness, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. All of this is accomplished and given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Thine only son

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Joshua

God’s call to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac did not come in a vacuum. It is set within a greater context of all God’s prior dealings with Abraham. In chapter 12, “Yahweh said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ So Abram went, as the Yahweh had told him, and Lot went with him.” Lot was Abram’s next of kin; he was counted heir of this promise. But God appeared again and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.”

In chapter 15, God came to reassure Abram that He had not forgotten His covenant. “But Abram said, ‘O Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’” Again God told Abram, “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And He confirmed it with Abram by cutting the animals and renewing His covenant.

It had been nearly eleven years since Abram left Haran and he still did not have a son. So, Sarai gave him Hagar, her servant, and she bore Ishmael. Another thirteen years later, Abram was ninety-nine when God came again and gave him circumcision as a sign and seal of the covenant. The old man Abram was cut off, and the new man Abraham was raised up. When the flesh was cut away and the power of the flesh was spent, then Abraham was ready to father the child of promise. He still put forth Ishmael as his heir, but God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.”

So when God called Abraham to offer Isaac, his “only son,” the promise had been confirmed many times, so that Isaac was without doubt the intended heir. Abraham trusted in the resurrection of Isaac, as the writer of Hebrews says, “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” It is this trust in God and the hope of the resurrection that made Abraham able to carry out what God had commanded.

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One new body

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Joshua

The hardening of Israel in Paul’s day is like the hardening of Pharaoh. They both harden themselves and are hardened by God. But Israel’s hardening is only partial. Paul says that God is making Israel jealous by fully including the Gentiles. This acts as a wake up call to the remnant in Israel and they too become full participants in Christ, just as Paul was. There is a great in-grafting of the two, the Jews and the Gentiles, together into one new body, the Church, thus completely doing away with the old-creation distinction. There is only one body now and this body is the center of the new creation in Christ.

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That you may know

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Joshua

Everything that God does in creation, in history, everything He gives us in his word and through His son, He gives as a revelation of Himself. All of history, all of the law, all of His dealings with His people together show us who He is. Look how often in scripture we see, “that you may know that I am the LORD your God.” This is certainly a major theme in Exodus, but it is true of everything God does.

One danger is just seeing a small part of His revelation and then running off and building a false picture. This, of course, affects all of us because of our limited perspective, but we have been given the whole scripture for this reason. It is a lifetime of work, daily work, to eat this word and take it down into our inward parts and let it do its work in us, both individually and corporately. It is God who has given His word and it is He also who makes us able to receive it. So, we pray as we read that He would open our hearts and minds to receive what He has given.

Another serious danger is unfaithfulness. Just as a husband and wife should be expected to remain faithful to the covenant vows they give to one another, so God expects His people to be faithful to the covenant He has graciously made with us. When we raise up the work of our hands as something to give our devotion to, we are seeking satisfaction from other lovers. God is a jealous husband and will not have His bride defiled. He is always at work sanctifying and cleansing her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Posted in Deuteronomy, Ephesians, NT, OT | Leave a comment

War and peace

Posted on December 25, 2011 by Joshua

Deuteronomy 20 lays out laws concerning warfare, but this isn’t Sun Tzu. It doesn’t deal with strategies or techniques or troop organization. It begins with the priest addressing the people to fear not because God is with them. He is Immanuel. He is the Man of War that rides out and conquers the enemies of His people, just as He did to Egypt.

God offers potential soldiers three exemptions from war. If a man has not yet begun to enjoy his new house, his new vineyard, or his new wife, he is exempt from serving in the army. These three are very interesting. They are all very prominent pictures of God with His people used throughout scripture. God builds His people into a house in which His Spirit dwells. Israel is a vineyard planted and kept by God, the great Husbandmen. And, of course, Israel is the bride of Yahweh. As long as Israel is an undefiled house, a fruitful vineyard, and a faithful wife, God is with her and He fights for her.

A fourth exemption is set apart: fear. Fear is unbelief, mistrusting God. It spreads through the camp and causes many to fear and their hearts to melt. This is exactly why they had not been allowed entrance into the land forty years earlier.

The people were to offer terms of peace to non-Canaanite cities. If the city agreed, they could come under the service and oversight of the God of Israel. Otherwise, they would be destroyed. This is the same offer that John and then Jesus bring to the Jews, “repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This is a new conquest of the land. The kingdom of heaven is invading and it will prevail. Those who accept the king will be brought under the king’s protection and will serve the king, but those who refuse are dedicated to destruction by the consuming fire of God.

Israel was not to cut down fruit trees during a siege. John came saying, “even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Jesus comes to His vineyard looking for fruit. He says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”

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Decreation, recreation, and covenant renewal

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Joshua

Genesis 6 sets up several patterns that show up repeatedly throughout scripture and throughout history. The first is a pattern of compromise. The line of Seth, through whom the covenant extended as a replacement for faithful Abel, began to compromise and take wives from among the descendants of unfaithful, murderous Cain. The line had become almost entirely corrupted and God determined to bring an end to mankind. In mercy, God delays judgment to allow time for repentance (which in this case doesn’t happen) and to prepare a remnant that will be re-established after the judgment.

God establishes a pattern of revelation by setting up world models, molds of the heavenly dwelling of God stamped on the earth. Like the tabernacle and the temple, the ark is a world model. It’s construction is described much more like a house than a ship, with three stories, a door, and a window. It’s a model of the three-story house of creation – heaven above, earth beneath, water under the earth.

This whole sequence is a pattern of exodus; of decreation, recreation, and covenant renewal. God moves His people out as He tears down the old world and brings them into a new world where He renews His covenant and re-establishes His people.

“Every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” is also a theme that shows up frequently in the gospels in Jesus’ dealings with the Pharisees. They constantly try to catch Jesus in His words so they can find something against Him by which to condemn Him. They blind themselves to the work that He is doing – casting out demons, healing the sick, raising the dead – and then demand to see a sign. This generation also had become compromised, abandoning the scriptures in favor of their own oral law tradition. They replaced the law given by God, which Jesus said was an easy yoke and a light burden, with heavy burdens that they themselves were unwilling to touch. They had turned the light of the temple and the oracles of God, which should have been a light for the Gentiles, into darkness.

It was for all this that Jesus said, “the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, [will] be charged against this generation.” They had been given the greatest revelation, that of the Son of God, and so their rebellion was the greatest. He gave them forty years to repent, the time of that generation until the destruction of the temple, the tearing down of the old creation. He also prepared His remnant, His new-creation people with whom He established His new covenant.

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