Category: OT
-
Commissioning
Joshua was commissioned to lead the people of Israel over the Jordan into the land that God had promised to give them. His obedience is required. God says, “be strong and courageous… be careful to do according to all the law…do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left…the book of…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
That you may know
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…
-
War and peace
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…
-
Decreation, recreation, and covenant renewal
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…
-
World view
In his book, Christ, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper, Leonard Vander Zee establishes the Old Testament world view as one “founded on the assertion that this world is God’s creation. The Old Testament begins in Genesis 1 with a great hymn of praise to the Creator. As each succeeding stanza of the hymn unfolds the…