The Sound of Doctrine

Category: Jesus Christ

  • Music And The Temple

    The Old Testament

      1. Introduction
        1. God has used a variety of ways in which to communicate His truth:
          1. Narrative history: Genesis 1-2
          2. Wisdom: Proverbs
          3. Prophecy: Ezekiel/Daniel
          4. Dictation: contained in prophets and history.
        2. But one way that God has chosen to communicate His truth is that of poem, or song.
    • Hebrews 1:1–2

      1     God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,

      2     in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

      1. God’s means of communicating His Word has been very comprehensive.
      2. The use of songs, however, is unique and expressive, which themselves are part of the revelation.
        1. In the songs of Scripture, we have the heart of God in the organization of the song, as well as the mind of God in the content of the song.
        2. The songs themselves are meant to communicate truth, which are meant to convict reprove, and exhort for the purpose of repentance, comfort, and consolation.
        3. This fact also instructs us that God can, and did, use different styles in order to communicate His truth, since that what style is for.
      3. Notice the sound of the shophar “שֹׁפָר”  on the mt.
        1. Exodus 19:16–19
    • 16     So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
      17     And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.
      18     Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
      19     When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.
    1. Exodus 20:18–21
    • 18     All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance.
      19     Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.”
      20     Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.”
      21     So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.
    1.  
      1. This was the ram’s horn sound. It announced the arrival of YHWH on the mountain and it was tremendous. The sound was no doubt that of an intense, siren-like, sound that would deafen the ears. This sound also will accompany the following:
        1. The march around Jericho – Joshua 6
        2. The sacrifice on the day of atonement which accompanies the year of Jubilee – Leviticus 25:9.
        3. The battle of Gideon and the Midianites with 300 horns in order to shock the Midianites – Judges 7
        4. The times when Israel went out into war – 2 Samuel
        5. The announcement of Solomon as king over Israel – 1 Kings 1
        6. The announcement of Jehu as king – 2 Kings 9
      1. Up to this point, the use of the “shofar” is a resemblance leading all the way back to YHWH’s appearance on the mountain. It was a sound not made with people on the mountain, but by God Himself. That sound is replicated by the Ram’s horn. Thus, it would accompany particularly important announcements relating back to the importance of God’s appearance.
      2. Thus, Jericho, Gideon, Jubilee, kingship all replicate the gravity of God’s appearance on the mountain, although the truthfulness of the quality of the kings remains to be seen.
      3. However, as you see things progress, the shophar becomes useful in accompanying other instruments in worship.
      4. David in the entrance of the Ark into Jerusalem – 1 Chronicles 15:25-29.
        1. V. 28 = “horn”
        2. This entourage accompanied celebration of God’s faithfulness and the Word of the Covenant for Israel coming into the city of God’s name.
        3. This arrival was very significant and could be likened to the arrival of YHWH on Mt. Sinai as God “comes” into His city, Zion (Jerusalem).
    • 1. David goes onto to receive plans from God as to the building of the Temple, although he, himself, is not allowed to oversee the project due to his bloody hands (1 Chronicles 22:6-19).
      1. The plans for the construction of the Temple were given to David by God-1 Chronicles 28:1-21
        1. David assembles all the dignitaries of Israel and presents Solomon to them as well as the building of the house. He rehearses the commandment that God gave to him concerning the kingdom of David, the rulership of Solomon, and the throne of the kingdom.
          1. David also gives to Solomon the plans for the design and construction of the Temple Solomon is to build (1 Chronicles 28:11-13).
            1. The plans included the assignment of the singers, who themselves were Levites.
            2. The plans were given from YHWH to David and he wrote them down (v. 28:19).
        2. The plans from God included the division of the sons of Aaron, Levites, who would become the portion of the Levites who would:
          1. Offer praise and thanksgiving:
          2. These are the divisions of the Levites “for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord.”
            1. This phrase describes their work in the house of God-the work of the service.
            2. It is a phrase that refers to the ritual work that the Temple demands.
            3. This included the songs of praise and thanksgiving.
          3. It is evident that these singers, at least the division of singers, also ministered by song in front of the Tabernacle as well until Solomon built the Temple.
      2. Organization of the singers in the temple:
        1. All singers were Levites.
          1. 1 Chronicles 15:16-24
          2. This is significant because these must be spiritually acceptable to serve the Lord, i.e. by His ordination (1 Chronicles 15:2 “Then David said, “No one is to carry the ark of God but the Levites; for the Lord chose them to carry the ark of God and to minister to Him forever.” )
        2. All singers were appointed by lot under the direction of King David.
          1. 1 Chronicles 25:1-7
          2. 1 Chronicles 6:31
    • 31     Now these are those whom David appointed over the service of song in the house of the Lord, after the ark rested there.

     

    1. This meant that David oversaw their work, organization, and the appointment.
      1. Primarily because he is king. But also because he was a singer himself and the Lord gave him to create instruments for worship (1 Chronicles 23:3-6).
      1. All singers were accompanied by instruments.
        1. 1 Chronicles 15:16
          1. You will notice some Psalms with the names of these kinds/styles of songs in their titles:
    • 1 Chronicles 15:20–21
      20     and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah, with harps tuned to alamoth;
      See Psalm 46: title
       
      21     and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel and Azaziah, to lead with lyres tuned to the sheminith.

    See Psalm 6 (8-stringed lyre = Sheminith)

     

    1 Chronicles 15:19

    19     So the singers, Heman, Asaph and Ethan were appointed to sound aloud cymbals of bronze; (see 1 Chronicles 16:5 – Asaph was a chief musician and kept temp with these cymbals).

    1. Heman: Psalm 88
      1. Asaph: Psalms 50, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83,
      2. Ethan: Psalm 89
      3. Jeduthun: Psalms 39, 62, 77 (choir director-
    • yĕdûtûn. Jeduthun. The name of one of the three leaders of the musical guilds in the tabernacle (and the temple) under king David (I Chr 9:16; 25:1–7; II Chr 5:12; 29:14; 35:15). These perpetual guilds were appointed to celebrate, confess, and praise Yahweh with song and musical instruments. The primary instrument of Jeduthun’s guild was the harp, though the trumpet, lyre, and cymbals were perhaps used as well (I Chr 16:42; II Chr 5:12). In the superscriptions to Psalms 39, 62, and 77, the reference to “Jeduthun” is most likely a reference to him and his guild as the musical performers who were to render the psalm instrumentally and/or vocally. It is therefore interesting that the name “Jeduthun” is most likely derived from yādâ, one of the major terms for praise (cf. BDB, pp. 392–393).1
       
    1. What does all of this mean?
      1. Music, song, and instrument, accompanied worship.
        1. Song did not generate worship.
        2. This singing required training –
    • 1 Chronicles 15:22

      22     Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was in charge of the singing; he gave instruction in singing because he was skillful.

      1. Singing in the Temple served a function, actually three:

      1. Praise of God/Lament to God:
        1. There are different psalm categories:
          1. Lament: has a special meter that imitates limping (Cracking, p. 199).
          1. Plea for help,
            1. Complaint
              1. Confession of sin
      2. Praise: recounting who God is, what He has done, and invoking listeners to join in praise of both (Cracking, p.218).
    • “There are five principle subcategories of this type of praise:
       
      1. Hymns: (e.g., Ps. 24; 29; 33; 100; 103; 105; 111; 113-114; 117; 135-36; 145-50)….
      2. Enthronement psalms: (e.g., Ps. 47; 93;95-99)…
      3. Songs of Zion, including pilgrim psalms (e.g., Ps. 48; 84; 87; 120-34)…
      4. Royal psalms (e.g., Ps. 2; 20-21; 45; 72; 89; 101; 110; 132; 144)…
      5. Creation psalms (e.g. Ps. 8; 19:1-6; 104)…”
    • (D. Brent Sandy, Ronald L. Giese, Jr. Cracking Old Testament Codes, (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1995), p. 219).
       
      1. Thanksgiving:
    • Second, this verb was predominatly employed to express one’s public proclamation or declaration (confession) of God’s attributes and his works. This concept is at the heart of the meaning of praise. Praise is a confession or declaration of who God is and what he does. This term is most often translated “to thank” in English versions, but such is not really a proper rendering according to Westermann: In the Old Testament … there is as yet no verb that means only “to thank.” ōdāh, which is usually translated as “to thank,” is not used in the Old Testament a single time for an expression of thanks between men. Thus it is clear from the start that this hōdāh cannot be equated with our “to thank,” which can be directed equally to God and to man. In those places in the O.T. where our “thank” as something taking place between men is most clearly found, the verb used is bērēk, which does not have the primary meaning of “praise” but means “bless.”
      In view of these facts, it is clear that the O.T. does not have our independent concept of thanks. The expression of thanks to God is included in praise, it is a way of praising. (Westermann, Claus. The Praise of God in the Psalms. Richmond: John Knox Press, 1965, pp. 26–27.)
      The best rendering of the term is “confession,” for the person confesses or declares God’s attributes and works, as seen abundantly in the psalter (cf. Ps 89:5 [H 6]; Ps 105; Ps 106; Ps 145) and elsewhere (cf. I Chr 29:13).
       
       
      Ralph H. Alexander, “847 יָדָה” In , in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr. and Bruce K. Waltke, electronic ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 364-65.
       
      1. 1 Chronicles 16:4–7
    • 4     He appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, even to celebrate and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel:
      5     Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom and Jeiel, with musical instruments, harps, lyres; also Asaph played loud-sounding cymbals,
      6     and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests blew trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.
      7     Then on that day David first assigned Asaph and his relatives to give thanks to the Lord.
      1. 1 Chronicles 16:8–13
    • 8     Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name;
      Make known His deeds among the peoples.
      9     Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;
      Speak of all His wonders.
      10     Glory in His holy name;
      Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad.
      11     Seek the Lord and His strength;
      Seek His face continually.
      12     Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done,
      His marvels and the judgments from His mouth,
      13     O seed of Israel His servant,
      Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!
      1. 1 Chronicles 16:31–36
    • 31     Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
      And let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
      32     Let the sea roar, and all it contains;
      Let the field exult, and all that is in it.
      33     Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord;
      For He is coming to judge the earth.
      34     O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
      For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
      35     Then say, “Save us, O God of our salvation,
      And gather us and deliver us from the nations,
      To give thanks to Your holy name,
      And glory in Your praise.”
      36     Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
      From everlasting even to everlasting.
      Then all the people said, “Amen,” and praised the Lord.

      1. Prophesying:

      1. Prophesying in music:
        1. 1 Chronicles 25:-7
          1. Illustration: 2 Kings 3:13-15
            1. Elisha is asked to prophesy for the three kings Jehoram, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom.
            2. They were to go up against Moab, but ran out of water in the area they were camping.
            3. They called Elisha and asked him to prophesy = do a miracle, since he was a prophet.
            4. In order to prophesy, he asked for a minstrel (“one who plays on a stringed-instrument-Psalm 68:26).
            5. When he played on the stringed instrument, the Spirit of God came upon Elisha.
          2. Thus prophesying was speaking the Word of God and sometimes was accompanied/or promoted by music.
      2. This is key for our consideration of music in the church.
        1. 1 Chronicles 23:24-32
           
      3. Conclusion: What is the result of all of this organization =
    • 2 Chronicles 5:11-14!!!!
       
    1. Ralph H. Alexander, “847 יָדָה” In , in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr. and Bruce K. Waltke, electronic ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 366.) ↩
  • The Lord’s Supper and the New Covenant – pt.7

    The Lord’s Supper and the New Covenant – pt.7

    Scripture Reading

    13 Therefore, having girded your minds for action, being sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

    14 As obedient children, not being conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance,

    15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your conduct;

    16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

    17 And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your sojourn,

    18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your futile conduct inherited from your forefathers,

    19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.  (1 Peter 1:13–19, LSB)

    Introduction

    Review:

    Paul wrote,

    25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”  (1 Corinthians 11:25, LSB)

    The importance of the Lord’s last meal with His disciples is directly linked to the importance of the New Covenant.

    As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, Jesus is “our Passover,” a statement of monumental importance.

    “our” = the church, believers, Jews and Gentiles who believe in the Messiah.

    Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, also was sacrificed.  (1 Corinthians 5:7, LSB)

    He is not the Passover Lamb of the Exodus.

    His blood “speaks better than that of Abel,” and the Passover lamb of the Exodus.

    22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,

    23 to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,

    24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.  (Hebrews 12:22–24, LSB)

    The blood of Christ, which is a reference to His death, which was a predetermined death “instead of” the death for the sins of the elect, accomplished more and was from a better Man than even that of Abel.

    “…saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”  (Luke 9:22, LSB)

    22“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God did through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—

    23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put Him to death.

    24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.  (Acts 2:22–24, LSB)

    What was the result of His death?

    1. His death justified the sons of God.

    1. 45“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”  (Mark 10:45, LSB)
      1. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul,
        He will see it and be satisfied;
        By His knowledge the Righteous One,
        My Servant, will justify the many,
        As He will bear their iniquities.
        12 Therefore, I will divide for Him a portion with the many,
        And He will divide the spoil with the strong;
        Because He poured out His soul to death,
        And was numbered with the transgressors;
        Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
        And interceded for the transgressors.  (Isaiah 53:11–12, LSB)

    2. His death pleased the Father.

    1. 16 “And I have other sheep, which are not from this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
      17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
      18 “No one takes it away from Me, but from Myself, I lay it down. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”  (John 10:16–18, LSB)
    1. But Yahweh was pleased
      To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
      If You would place His soul as a guilt offering,
      He will see His seed,
      He will prolong His days,
      And the good pleasure of Yahweh will succeed in His hand.  (Isaiah 53:10, LSB)

    1. His death condemned Satan.

    1. And I will put enmity
      Between you and the woman,
      And between your seed and her seed;
      He shall bruise you on the head,
      And you shall bruise him on the heel.”  (Genesis 3:15, LSB)
      1. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
        10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
        “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.
        11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their witness, and they did not love their life even to death.  (Revelation 12:9–11, LSB)

    1. His death confirmed the New Covenant.

    1. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh,
      14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
      15 And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the trespasses that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.  (Hebrews 9:13–15, LSB)
      1. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no authority to eat.
        11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.
        12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.  (Hebrews 13:10–12, LSB)

    1. His death was the means of the resurrection.

    1. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
      4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,  (1 Corinthians 15:3–4, LSB)
      1. 20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus,
        21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, by doing in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.  (Hebrews 13:20–21, LSB)

    The hidden plan of God, although hinted at in the OT, was that the Lamb of God, the Son, would be put to death in a particular fashion (crucifixion), with a particular means (betrayal), and by particular parties (Jewish leaders).

    7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our transgressions, according to the riches of His grace

    8 which He caused to abound to us in all wisdom and insight,

    9 making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him

    10 for an administration of the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth in Him.  (Ephesians 1:7–10, LSB)

    Therefore, the purpose of God was that the Son would pay the death penalty on behalf of men, such that He could rescue them from death, the penalty of Adam’s sin.

    This leads us into the final consideration of the plan of God regarding the New Covenant:

    1. The New Covenant is the very core of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
    2. The New Covenant unites the OT and the NT.
    3. The New Covenant clarifies who Israel is.

    4. The New Covenant clarifies who the church is.

    5. The New Covenant is the only covenant made with Israel which forgives sins.

    6. Without the New Covenant, all the elect would remain in their sins.

    The Incognito Ministry of the Messiah

    And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was.  (Mark 3:12, LSB)

    And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.  (Mark 7:36, LSB)

    And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that some food should be given to her to eat.  (Mark 5:43, LSB)

    The Lord established in His ministry the constant order to hold back from telling the people Who He was.

    This meant that He was not wanting the people to know about Him as Messiah, but only that He would do the works of the Messiah letting people to draw the conclusions based upon that.

    This was so that the true nature of the leadership of Israel would become evident, thus leading to the crucifixion, the necessary death of the New Covenant Lamb of God.

    13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, saying, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

    14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”

    15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

    16 And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

    17 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

    18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

    19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

    20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.

    21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.  (Matthew 16:13–21, LSB)

    Have you ever wondered why Jesus would say this?

    It is because of the requirement that He would draw out the murderous hearts of the leadership, their jealousy, by His works, and drive them to the murder that would 1) seal their eternal damnation, and 2) secure the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb.

    36 “But the witness I have is greater than the witness of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness about Me, that the Father has sent Me.

    37 “And the Father who sent Me, He has borne witness about Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.

    38 “And you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.  (John 5:36–38, LSB)

    This death, produced by the jealousy of the leadership of Israel as they witnessed His works, instead of snuffing out His influence, secured the atoning sacrifice for the sins of Israel and Gentiles…forever!

    Therefore, His kingdom was secured by His death and resurrection, but not through the nation of Israel, although the Mosaic Law is the keep component in fulfilling that kingdom promise, which was communicated in the Abrahamic Promise.

    His Kingdom, then, has been taken away from the nation of Israel, and given to the nations of the world!

    The Parable:

    33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.

    34 “Now when the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit.

    35 “And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third.

    36 “Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them.

    37 “But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

    38 “But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’

    39 “And they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

    40 “Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?”

    41 They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”

    42 Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,

    ‘The stone which the builders rejected,

    This has become the chief corner stone;

    This came about from the Lord,

    and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

    43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation, producing the fruit of it.

    44 “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

    45 And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.

    46 And although they were seeking to seize Him, they feared the crowds, because they were regarding Him to be a prophet.  (Matthew 21:33–46, LSB)

    The Son came into the world, and the world did not receive Him-neither the Jews nor the Romans.

    The end result was that the Son would be killed, and made to look like the enemy of the world.

    This death, seeming to be the execution of a failed insurrectionist, in realty secured the atonement needed to accomplish the plan of God.

    This death, as described for the last 6 weeks, has a vast array of accomplishments.

    Not the least of which is the creation of a following known as the “church.”

    The New Covenant clarifies who the church is.

    It is this following that Jesus came to create.

    17 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

    18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.  (Matthew 16:17–18, LSB)

    The church is a group of people, chosen before the foundation of the world, who will inherit the promise to the Son, i.e. sonship.

    The means by which these people will become sons and daughters is the sacrifice of the Man, Christ Jesus, satisfying the Father, and permitting their own justification.

    This group, then, is different from Israel in that, unlike Israel, it has received the benefits of the New Covenant.

    Israel has not received the promises of the New Covenant because they have not confessed their sins, as John the Baptist, and Jesus Christ, commanded them to do.

    Therefore, the New Covenant is experience of the church, and not Israel.

    13 and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the consequence of what was being brought to an end.

    14 But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is brought to an end in Christ.

    15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart,

    16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. (2 Corinthians 3:13–16, LSB)

    One of the clearest distinctions, if not the most clear, between the church and Israel is that the church has received the benefits of the New Covenant, and Israel has not.

    It is really that simple; that basic.

    The New Covenant is the only covenant made with Israel which forgives sins.

    33 “But this is the covenant which I will cut with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh: “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

    34 “And they will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares Yahweh, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”  (Jeremiah 31:33–34, LSB)

    The previous covenants with Israel (Abrahamic, Priestly, Mosaic, Davidic) do nothing to take away sins.

    8 The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the holy places has not yet been manifested while that first part of the tabernacle is still standing,

    9 which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience,

    10 since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, requirements for the body imposed until a time of reformation.  (Hebrews 9:8–10, LSB)

    Sin is the symptom of a spiritually dead person.

    In order to make a worshipper clean, he must become perfect in conscience, and in order to do that, he must become new since he is dead to God.

    This power to re-create the dead person is simply the work of God to join a spiritually dead person to Jesus Christ in His death.

    It is also the work of God to join the spiritually dead person to Jesus Christ in His resurrection.

    This power is inherent to the New Covenant. 

    NOTE: Jeremiah 31 does not tell us HOW God is going to accomplish this work of 1) forgiveness of sins, 2) indwelling of the Holy Spirit, 3) making a new heart (Ezekiel 36).

    But, we now know that all these things are accomplished by the death of Jesus Christ.

    6. Without the New Covenant, all the elect would remain in their sins.

    As stated, there are no arrangements, with Israel nor anyone else, in which a person who is dead to God would be made alive to Him.

    The only means by which God can accomplish His eternal purpose is by forgiveness of sins.

    And the only means by which He can forgive sins is if someone die in the place of the sinner.

    The Death of the Mediator

    15 And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the trespasses that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

    16 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it.  (Hebrews 9:15–16, LSB)

    We learn that the requirements of the Old Covenant were that the agreement was made, and Israel failed to follow through.

    That created a binding to the agreement from which Israel could not release herself.

    Therefore, in order to realize the Abrahamic Covenant, sins had to be forgiven, but they could not be forgiven in a vacuum.

    Rather, sins had to be forgiven of the guilty by means of the death of the innocent, and thereby the death of the guilty.

    3 Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

    4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

    5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,

    6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;

    7 for he who has died has been justified from sin.  (Romans 6:3–7, LSB)

    THIS IS HOW WE HAVE BEEN JUSTIFIED-WE DIED, IN AND ALONG WITH, HIM!

    “Christ’s death alone is the ground of our justification, and when we make that our own by faith we are united with Christ—united with him in his death, united with him in his burial, united with him in his rising again, united with him in life.”1

    Isaiah 53:11 (LSB)

         11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, 
     He will see it and be satisfied; 
     By His knowledge the Righteous One, 
     My Servant, will justify the many, 
     As He will bear their iniquities.

    The Death of the Believer

    Not only has the Passover Lamb died, but we, previously dead to God (in Adam), died in union with Him.

    12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

    13 And you being dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him, having graciously forgiven us all our transgressions.2  (Colossians 2:12–13, LSB)

    The reality, when God made the promise of the New Covenant to Israel, all the while knowing that they would not repent, and all the while knowing what He would do, He then took those promises to Israel and have given them to the church, Gentiles.

    Further, the mystery of the kingdom is that we are united with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection.

    This is unique to the church, and is not what will happen to Israel in the future.

    25 of which I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God given to me for you, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God,

    26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints,

    27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  (Colossians 1:25–27, LSB)

    In no way does this destroy the need for Israel to repent.

    In no way does this remove the land, kingdom, Abrahamic promise from Israel .

    In no way does this remove the national condition of Israel in the future.

    However, in this Messianic age, this Kingdom age, this Church Age, the promise to forgive sins, indwell men with the Spirit of God, give a new heart/spirit, are all promises given to the church due to Israel’s refusal to repent.

    Without the New Covenant, all the elect would remain in their sins.

    Ephesians 2:1–7 (LSB)

    1 And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, 
3 among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 
4 But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, 
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 
7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

    “Even as the rest”

    = the elect were just as dead to God as those who will never be saved.

    The conclusion of this is that we were by nature children of wrath.

    That is to say that we were destined for wrath just as the wicked are.

    “When we were dead in our transgressions…”

    = dead

    Romans 5:12 (LSB)

    12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—

    Summary

    As you can see, the statement by the Lord that His blood was the “blood of the New Covenant” was a huge and vast statement spanning many different situations and conditions.

    Here is the review of it all:

    1. The Corinthians had degenerated their assembly to remember the Lord’s Last Supper to a scramble for privilege and priority.
      1. This completely contradicted the Lord’s example in washing the feet of the disciples.
        1. This also contradicted the cross, upon which the Lord shed His blood for a sacrifice.
      2. The disciples and the Lord met over the Passover meal in order to commemorate the Passover in Exodus.
        1. However, the Lord took liberties pertaining to washing, the Passover meal, the cup, and Himself.
        2. In doing so, He demonstrated that He is the Passover Lamb of God, not of the Exodus.
        3. His body and blood were to be commemorated by the disciples thereafter.
      3. The body of Jesus Christ was designed and created by the Father to bear the punishment of sins, although He, Himself, was sinless.
        1. His bodily death would establish that the Father’s plan to make sons and daughters of God has been accomplished.
        2. Since the children were spiritually dead, so the Son of God became a Man in order to rescue (“seek and save the lost” – Luke 19:10; cf Hebrews 2:9-14).
      4. The blood of Jesus Christ was “poured out”3 on behalf of the “many.”
        1. This blood was His life, His “soul.”
        2. This blood was from “our Passover,” the Passover of the New Covenant.
      5. Israel was called to the Kingdom of the Messiah, the Kingdom of Heaven, but they would not repent.
        1. The Kingdom was handed over to the nation producing the fruit of it, the Gentiles.
        2. They became the church, a collection of the elect who believe in Jesus Christ as Messiah.
      6. The nation of Israel will, one day, by the means of the New Covenant, keep their covenant, confessing their sins, and the sins of their fathers, and look at the One they pierced with incredible regret and repentance.
        1. This will usher in the Kingdom of God.
        2. This will also fulfill the promise to the Son.
      7. As a result, the church is the bearer of the New Covenant ministry of the Messiah by means of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
        1. When we preach Christ, and Him crucified, we are preaching the sacrifice of the Lamb for the New Covenant.
        2. Men and women can have their sins forgiven, be in dwelt with the Holy Spirit, and receive a new heart fit for likeness to Jesus Christ.
        3. These are the promises of the New Covenant.

    Conclusion

    The Lord Jesus Christ must not be minimized, neglected, nor misrepresented by the Corinthian’s sinful selfishness in their commemoration of the Lord’s Supper.

    By their scramble for the chiefs seats in Titius’ home, the neglect of the poorer brethren, and the self-elevation based upon their favorite, idolized teachers, the Corinthians completely denied the Lord they professed.

    15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.

    16 They profess to know God, but by their works they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and unfit for any good work.  (Titus 1:15–16, LSB)

    The contemporary church also does the Lord’s Supper in similar selfishness when she takes it with ignorance, selfish self-righteousness, and a general unwillingness to conduct themselves among the body with love and self-denial, as Jesus did in that upper room that night.

    1. Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1988), 247. ↩
    2. This is the New Covenant!! ↩
    3. Psalm 2:6; cp. Isaiah 53:12 ↩

  • The Blood of the Lamb; The Body of the Lord

    Scripture Reading

    Hebrews 10:5–13 (LSB)

    5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, 
     “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, 
     BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; 
     6 IN BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. 
     7 “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME, 
     IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME, 
     TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’” 
8 After saying above, “SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them” (which are offered according to the Law), 
9 then He said, “BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. 
10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 
11 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 
12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, 
13 waiting from that time UNTIL HIS ENEMIES ARE PUT AS A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET.

    Introduction

    1 Corinthians 5:7 (LSB)

    7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, also was sacrificed.

    It is without question that the Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross of Rome, by the demand of the Jews, and the mockery of the Romans.

    It is further without questions that the Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross of Rome in the place of men, particular men.

    However, how this death produced the relief to men, their salvation, is often unclear, forgotten, or simply overlooked for a more simple statement: “Jesus died on the cross for our sins.”

    But, we cannot do that.

    For us, the death of Jesus Christ is the clear purpose of God, motivated by His own glorious will, and purpose, and is to be remembered perpetually, until He comes back for us.

    Because of the important nature of the death of Christ, as well as the importance of the Lord’s death itself as stated by Him during His last supper with His disciples, for the church to disregard, neglect, or misrepresent His death, is simply a sin without equal.

    We cannot set His death aside, or eclipse it for anything in the church.

    We must have a real accounting of it so that we might worship Him in spirit and truth.

    What does this have to do with Resurrection Sunday?

    The priority of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead necessitates that He die.

    And, the necessity of the presence of death in the world, which was the purpose of the Father in His eternal plan and yet He is not guilty of its presence, is the very tool which would accomplish the glorious redemption of His beloved.

    Today, somewhat within our series on the Lord’s Supper and the New Covenant, we are going to give more attention to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, what it was, how it fits into the plan of God, and how it resulted in the resurrection of the Lord from the dead.

    The Blood of the Lamb

    1 Corinthians 5:7 (LSB)

    7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, also was sacrificed.

    When we went through that text a few months ago,1 we saw then that it is appropriate to worship God with holiness and without the hypocritical worship of hidden malice and wickedness.

    However, within that text Paul wrote something that I don’t feel I gave the best attention to back then.

    Paul comes back to this meal, somewhat, in his explanation of the Lord’s Supper, which was taken during the Passover.

    The significance of this is without question one of the most important facts of the redemption of God in all of Scripture.

    If we don’t understand these things, we can’t rightly “do this in remembrance of (Him).”

    The Passover of Israel

    Exodus 12:1–8 (LSB)

    1 Now Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,

    2 “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.

    3 “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.

    4 ‘Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to apportion the lamb.

    5 ‘Your lamb shall be a male, without blemish, a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

    6 ‘And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.

    7 ‘Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.

    8 ‘And they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

    The Lord’s commands to the nation of Israel were given in order to remember the delivery from Egypt, that stupendous and magnificent act of God’s power over the nations, and love for Israel in reference to Abraham.2

    YHWH delivered the sons of Jacob from the mightiest nation on the planet at that time, Egypt.

    This deliverance was, simultaneously, a deliverance of the sons of Abraham, and a judgment on the nation of Egypt.3

    Each year, at the first month of their calendar, the children of Israel were to “reenact” that meal that they had that night,4 a meal which provided the blood that covered their lintels and doorposts, which, then, protected them from the angel of death.

    Exodus 12:14 (LSB)

    14 ‘Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to Yahweh; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a perpetual statute.

    This was Israel’s Passover, the “Paschal Lamb.”

    There are a few things to note here:
    • the lamb was to be the best offering
      Exodus 12:5 (LSB)
    5 ‘Your lamb shall be a male, without blemish, a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
    • the leg bones of the lamb must not be broken
      Exodus 12:46 (LSB)
    46 “It shall be eaten in a single house; you shall not bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, and you shall not break any bone of it.
    • the lamb was to be eaten “in haste.”
      Exodus 12:11 (LSB)
    11 ‘Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Passover of Yahweh.
    • the lamb was to be eaten at home, and not in the Temple.

    Exodus 12:46 (LSB)

    46 “It shall be eaten in a single house; you shall not bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, and you shall not break any bone of it.
    • the lamb was a demonstration of the obedience to the command of YHWH, which, when witnessed by the Angel of Death, he will “pass over” that household and not take the life of anyone in that household.
      Exodus 12:23 (LSB)
    23 “And Yahweh will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and He will see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, and Yahweh will pass over the doorway and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you.

    This lamb, eaten in the home, is to be recounted each year and this event was one of three main feasts in the nation each year (the first the three; Passover, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Booths5).

    Testimony of Jesus Christ

    Connections and similarities to Jesus Christ, our Passover, which testifies that He is the Lamb of God, God’s Lamb, whose blood covers the one who believes His Words.

    – the Lamb was the most beloved by the Father.

    Hebrews 9:13–14 (LSB)

    13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

    – the Lamb’s legs were not broken

    John 19:30–37 (LSB)

    30 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. 
31 Then the Jews, because it was the day of Preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 
32 So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; 
33 but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 
34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. 
35 And he who has seen has borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. 
36 For these things came to pass in order that the Scripture would be fulfilled, “NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN.” 
37 And again another Scripture says, “THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED.”

    – His flesh and blood were to be consumed, a reference to faith/belief

    John 6:48 (LSB)

    48 “I am the bread of life.

    John 6:51 (LSB)

    51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and also the bread which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

    – He was offered outside of the Temple

    Hebrews 13:12–13 (LSB)

    12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. 
13 So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.

    Jesus Christ, Himself, the Son ofGod, is “our Passover.”

    And, like the Passover of Israel, our “Passover Lamb” is to be remembered as well.

    And, like the Passover of Israel, our “Passover Lamb’s” death is to be proclaimed.

    :But, what does that mean?!

    The New Covenant

    The animal of the Mosaic Covenant, was not the Passover Lamb.

    The bulls, goats which were offered in the Temple, on the altar were other than the Passover Lamb for Israel.

    The atonement those animals made for Israel were temporary, insufficient, and did not please the Father.

    Those offerings were offered in obedience to the Mosaic structure, and never took away sins.

    Further, the Passover Lamb was offered for a one-time, immediate death threat situation.

    And, its annual offering was not for sins, but for a memorial of an event, a one-time event.

    1 Corinthians 11:24–25 (LSB)

    24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” 
25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

    The New Covenant was inaugurated by the blood, death, of Jesus Christ when He died.

    This New Covenant, the New Covenant made with Israel, but now extended to the Gentiles because of Israel’s execution of the Messiah and their unwillingness to believe in Him, has been secured because the blood of “our”Passover Lamb has covered us.

    His death was an offering of sacrifice which gave sin no place to reside.

    His death removed sins from those who are called.

    Hebrews 10:10 (LSB)

    10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

    The Body Of The Lord

    Hebrews 10:12–13 (LSB)

    12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, 
13 waiting from that time UNTIL HIS ENEMIES ARE PUT AS A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET.

    After His offering, His body and His blood, as a Passover, as an offering of a superior kind, He was clearly received back to heaven, the glory which He had before the world began.

    John 17:5 (LSB)

    5 “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

    The Lord was received back into heaven by the Father in order that He would serve the Father as a priest in the Temple.

    His service was a better service, allowed upon a better offering, and results in a better condition-the cleansing of sins.

    His offering accomplished all of this.

    But, it was His resurrection from the dead which demonstrated to the world, that what He did was received by the Father as good, acceptable, and sufficient.

    As such, this resurrection is our message to the world, as a testimony of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

    We can, and must, therefore, call all men of every nation to repent and submit to Christ, to believe in Him-“eat His flesh; drink His blood.”

    Acts 17:30–31 (LSB)

    30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now commanding men that everyone everywhere should repent, 
31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He determined, having furnished proof to all by raising Him from the dead.”
    But, how does His resurrection from the dead prove the acceptability of His sacrifice?

    Romans 1:1–4 (LSB)

    1 Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, having been set apart for the gospel of God, 
2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, 
3 concerning His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 
4 who was designated as the Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

    “The Son of God”

    = Psalm 2 reference.

    Psalm 2:6–7 (LSB)

    6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King 
     Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” 

7 “I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh: 
     He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, 
     Today I have begotten You.

    In the Old Testament, the Messiah would be known as the “Son of God.”

    2 Samuel 7:12–14 (LSB)

    12 “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up one of your seed after you, who will come forth from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 
13 “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 
14 “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will reprove him with the rod of men and the strikes from the sons of men,

    The Messiah was spoken of in the OT as a Son.

    The Father referred to Jesus as a “Son”:

    Luke 1:35 (LSB)

    35 The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

    Matthew 3:16–17 (LSB)

    16 And after being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Him, 
17 and behold, there was a voice out of the heavens saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

    Matthew 17:5–6 (LSB)

    5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” 
6 And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.

    His Sonship was the point of confirmation of Satan as well.

    Matthew 4:1–7 (LSB)

    1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 
2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 
3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’” 
5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 
6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, 
     ‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’; 
and 
     ‘ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, 
     LEST YOU STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’” 
7 Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’”

    The point is that only the Son was to be raised from the dead, bodily, in order to demonstrate His Sonship, and the perfection of His sacrifice.

    His resurrection, therefore, demonstrates that He is, indeed, the Son of God.

    And, if He is the Son of God, then He is the heir of the world:

    Hebrews 1:1–2 (LSB)

    1 God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 
2 in these last days spoke to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds,

    Psalm 2:7 (LSB)

    7 “I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh: 
     He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, 
     Today I have begotten You.

    “Begotten” = bodily resurrection

    It is the pinnacle of God’s eternal plan.

    Without the bodily resurrection, there would be no reception of the inheritance.

    Without the bodily resurrection, we would not be raised from the dead, and have new bodies, and be like Jesus Christ.

    The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is absolutely vital to the purpose of God.

    Conclusion

    We praise God for His Son’s sacrifice-His body and blood for our eternal life.

    We praise God for His Son’s resurrection-a new body fit for His glory.

    Revelation 1:12–18 (LSB)

    12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; 
13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. 
14 And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. 
15 His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters, 
16 and having in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp two-edged sword which comes out of His mouth, and His face was like the sun shining in its power. 
17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not fear; I am the first and the last, 
18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
    1. I started 1 Corinthians on September 24, 2023. I preached 1 Corinthians 5:7 on 12/9/2024 ↩
    2. Genesis 15:12–16 (LSB)
      12Now it happened that when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.
      13Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
      14“But I will also judge the nation to whom they are enslaved, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.
      15“As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
      16“Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” ↩
    3. Genesis 15:14 (LSB)
      14“But I will also judge the nation to whom they are enslaved, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. ↩
    4. Exodus 12:11 (LSB)
      11‘Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Passover of Yahweh. ↩
    5. Deuteronomy 16:16 (LSB)
      16 “Three times in a year all your males shall appear before Yahweh your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before Yahweh empty-handed. ↩

  • Christian Nationalism and the Gospel: An Impossible Union

    2 Timothy 2:4 (LSB)
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

    This essay is a response to Joey DeRuntz’ post: https://www.mastersbiblechurch.com/blog/a-rejoinder-to-don-green-a-biblical-and-theological-defense-of-co-belligerency
    Site accessed 10/6/2025

    




    It is in vogue to have political opinions. It is sad that the world has to choose to silence those who are making a good point about certain segments of politics, government, business, and/or education. Generally speaking, there are some very good points being made by many people in our world today.
    




    There is an “however” to all of this, though. For the pastor, who is to be the example to all Christians of how to conduct themselves in faith in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:7), the reality of the kingdom of Christ is a more critical matter than all the issues limited to this life combined.
    




    One illustration would help. 
    




    

    Luke 13:1–5 (LSB)
    




    1 Now at that same time there were some present who were reporting to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 
    




    2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered these things? 
    




    3 “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 
    




    4 “Or do you think that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse offenders than all the men who live in Jerusalem? 
    




    5 “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
    

    




    The response of Jesus Christ to the news that some people from his home region of Israel is shocking, even “triggering,” if you read it with contemporary glasses. Those who are so-inclined to equity and justice in the “social sphere” would expect Jesus to crossover to that same sphere and make a comment about the atrocity. It would be expected that He would decry such travesty.
    




    Instead, He forced His audience to consider that the proper “sphere” to consider, the only one that matters, is the so-called “holy sphere.” That is, Jesus’ response was a response that gave the priority of importance to the realities of the impending judgment of God. In doing so, He confronted the common misconception that terrible things happen to terrible people. That rationale gives way to a moral superiority that existed in every “sphere” of Jesus’ day. In fact, it is alive and well in the Christian Nationalism movement also. There seems to exist a moral superiority that elevates a Nationalist above the simple-devoted Christian who just lives in light of the Rapture, a commendable hope by the Apostle Paul.2
    




    Spheres
    




    There are some who want to justify the Christian entanglement in the political/civil “sphere(s).” They will say, for example, that it is possible (even mandatory) to crossover from the holy sphere into the political sphere. They assert that this can be done without marring one’s witness to Christ. The ideology then continues to cite examples from the Old Testament (OT) predominantly, as well as a few from the New Testament (NT). Examples of Daniel, Joseph, and Isaiah abound, as do Paul and Peter. “Involvement in the politics of their day are catalysts and patterns for our own involvement in the politics of our day,” they say.
    




    But, did you notice what I wrote? I made a statement, a conclusion, based upon a wrong interpretation of Scripture, yet a right enforcement of an ideology, and made it sound appealing. I said, “Their (Daniel’s, Joseph’s, et al) involvement in the politics of their day are catalysts for our own involvement in the politics of our day.” To the average reader, this sounds motivating, even noble. But, the problem is that the above-mentioned men were not “involved in the politics of their day.” The condition of their involvement was forced subjugation, as in the case of Daniel and Joseph. The involvement of Peter and Paul, however, was a different kind of subjugation. It was the conscription in service to the Commander-In-Chief, Jesus Christ, the Lord of Hosts.
    




    In the case of the OT prophets, they were mandated by God to confront the error of the kings and rulers of their day (primarily in Israel) concerning their personal and national sins (e.g. Isaiah). In the case of Peter and Paul, they were commanded to testify against the rulers and people of Rome and Israel because of their rejection of the Messiah. The pivot point of their confrontation was not societal good, cultural improvement, or anything of that sort. The motivation for the confrontation was the impending judgment of YHWH upon the nations for their sin agains the One who created the nations for the Son (Psalm 2:1-3, 8, 9-12). 
    




    To separate the existence of men into “spheres” of responsibility and utilization, is to confound an otherwise simple fact-the world is coming to a horrible end3. It is, in fact, currently in ruins by Satan, and is subject to the imminent final death penalty of God. How’s that for a “sphere”? In a sinking ship, the issues of party affiliation, culture, good and bad don’t matter. It is all going down. The urgency, and warning, of the doomed ship is the vital issue. 
    




    Those advocating for Christians, particularly pastors, to separate the world around them into spheres of authority and responsibility (i.e. Christian Nationalism) make for a nice and tidy world. However, like the proverbial chairs on the deck of the Titanic, in the end, those ideological distinctions are simply not the pressing issue. 
    




    Entanglement
    




    

    2 Timothy 2:4 (LSB)
    




    No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
    

    




    My call to Christians, especially pastors, is the same as Paul’s admonition to Timothy. As quoted above, the faithful servant of God must not get wrapped up into sphere-splitting. 
    




    The command to Timothy is a simple one. No soldier commissioned in the military entwines himself between the military and “everyday life.”4 The illustration is a man who is conscripted into military service, which has clear and supra-normal objectives in view. The everyday life of civilians simply does not have those objectives. Therefore, to attempt to merge, weave, or otherwise obfuscate the two is not a faithful soldier. It is against the rules of the military for a man to be involved with civilian life while he is at war.
    




    More specifically, Paul urges Timothy to play the “good soldier” just as Paul did (v.3). Timothy is to find, and conscript into service, those men who are faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and teach them the things that Paul had taught him. And, by illustration, Paul uses axiomatic truths from the realms of military, athletic competition, and farming. Each scenario has rules, guidelines, and general truths that go without saying. The military has singular dedication. The athletic competition has rules of competition. The farmer works hard and is compensated first. 
    




    Paul’s wording is clear. To “entangle” means to be “intertwined with,” “to weave together with,” or even “to braid.” It is the idea that by making one thing involved into another thing is to effectively undo one, or both, of the things. Or, to put it another way, to attempt to separate the world into spheres is to attempt to organize the gospel into just one of multiple loyalties. Like the soldier who cannot involve himself in civilian life while he is at war, the pastor must not attempt to weave the gospel into the structures of this dead, satanic,5 world. Like the Lord said, “…you will all likewise perish…” That is the issue.6 
    




    Such loyalty by Paul landed him in jail for the crime of preaching the Word.7 In fact, Timothy also learned the lesson and landed himself in jail as well. Timothy, though, was released back into the war.8 Paul was released into heaven. Both fought the good fight. They were dedicated, committed, and at the appearance of being unnecessarily radical, they were uniformly allied to the cause of the gospel. There was no room in their behavior for nice and tidy spheres of authority. They were simply called to stand before all men, rulers, kings, Jews, Gentiles, with the same message of the Messiah and announce said message of His coming again to judge and to rule. The call to all men is to prepare the way, and make His paths straight. 
    




    Conclusion
    




    In the end, the desire to separate the world into spheres and to construct a perspective that makes a pastor able to conduct himself in each sphere, is to desire to avoid the stigma, or even the persecution, that inevitably comes with the preaching of the gospel. This avoidance of man’s displeasure, I believe, is at the heart of this movement, this so-called Christian Nationalism. And, if that is true, men who imbibe this ideal are unfaithful to the gospel in the end because you cannot share the authority of the One who called them into service with the authority given to men in this dark world. 
    




    For the man of God, and indeed every Christian, there is only one Authority-Christ.9 That One has forced us into service. He has given us the command and the message. All men, all men, are commanded by our Superior to bow to our message.10 To give our authoritative stance to other ideologies and movements, however noble, good, and socially beneficial they may be, is to go AWOL in the war. A Christian Nationalist, who has become used to civilian life, cannot understand this assertion, and will not believe what I say. But, it is true. According to what Paul instructed Timothy and what Timothy was to instruct other faithful men, singular commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ in every walk of life is the definition of faithful.  
    




    This is why we cannot platform false religion. 
    




    




      

    1. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 ↩
      2. 




    2. 1 Corinthians 7:31 ↩
      3. 




    3. This word refers to the means of earning a living. It is a reference to the activities that are fundamental to an occupation.  ↩
      4. 




    4. Luke 4:5-6 ↩
      5. 




    5. It is important that we don’t talk ourselves into the excuse that the world is not the church. No kidding. Whoever said it was? I am sure Paul knew that (he did write the books of Ephesians and Colossians, after all). Paul, knowing the different between the world and the church, still said, “Do not get entangled in the affairs of everyday life.”  ↩
      6. 




    6. 2 Timothy 2:9 ↩
      7. 




    7. Hebrews 13:23 ↩
      8. 




    8. 1 Corinthians 11:3 ↩
      9. 




    9. Acts 17:30-31 ↩
      10.