Category: NT
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Sit at My Right Hand
Yahweh says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” Psalm 110 starts with the Father calling the Son to sit on His throne until His enemies are made His footstool. This is of course a position of victory; His enemies are under His feet. But the footstool…
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Conquering the nations
When Joshua meets the commander of the army of the Lord, He is standing with His drawn sword in His hand. This is a military conquest, a war against flesh and blood. In Revelation 19, this same commander sits on His horse with His sword in His mouth. This is not a war against flesh…
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Meeting God
The book of Hebrews shows how the Old Covenant types and shadows are all fulfilled in Christ. The Old Covenant saints received the promises, but “did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” This “something better” that these saints…
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The Gift of Testing
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…
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Baptism and New Creation
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…
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Baptism as Baptism
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…
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Blood Covering
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…
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Death of the Old Man
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…
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Thine only son
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…
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One new body
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…