The Rich Tapestry of Scripture

By | July 16, 2011
0 Comment

If I was asked what is the most valuable thing I have learned in my recent years of study, I would say something similar to what D. A. Carson recently wrote:

I have spent much of my adult life working through the way the New Testament quotes the Old, and the longer I ponder these texts, the more I begin to see how they “work,” how rich and beautiful are the ways in which God ordained that his great plan of redemption would be prefigured in an extraordinarily rich, complex, and intertwined array of promises, types, trajectories, histories, institutions and persons, working together to point forward to Jesus and his gospel.

The way that Scripture works boggles the mind and brings great joy to the heart. I commend it to you for your reading enjoyment.

July 13

By | July 13, 2011
2 Comments

I’ve posted here several times before on July 13, including last year and the year before that and the year before that (but of course not the year before that).  It’s a memorable day for me, similar to the way that the year 586 was memorable for the Judeans exiled to Babylon. Recently, however, I came across some photos taken on July 13, “587” (the year before the exile). These brought back good memories and qualify this day for my infrequent series on “Favorite Days in My Life.” On this day my friend Josh Clutterham and I went camping with five little boys.  My two sons were joined by the three Berg boys (sons of our late friend Phil) and we headed out for the Aijalon Valley.  We camped near Tell Yalo (Aijalon) and enjoyed exploring the trails and caves in the area.

060713419tb Hiking near Tell Aijalon

060713423tb Climbing in cave near Tell Aijalon

060713437tb Hiking near Tell Aijalon

060713450tb Luke on Josh's shoulders

060713405tb Cooking hotdogs on fire

060713411tb Eating dinner

The Problem with Gender-Neutral Language in the New NIV

By | July 11, 2011
0 Comment

I don’t plan on switching to the new NIV. I’m not opposed to reducing offense when possible, but the price is too high. This blogger says it well:

If I had to name my biggest beef with the new NIV, it would be its frequent decision to reword language that applies to an individual and apply it instead to a plurality such that a third person singular gender-generic masculine pronoun does not have to be used. When preaching or teaching from the Bible, it makes sense to explain gender reference when there might be some uncertainty based on a translation that makes use of gender-generic masculine pronouns. But I don’t like a translation that pluralizes language applied to a “one among many,” as in Psalm 1. It makes more sense to expect and invite readers to correctly disambiguate gender-generic pronouns and other gender-generic language in English – gender-generic masculine language continues to have wide currency among English speakers –it is rarely difficult to do (emphasis mine).

In other words, in the name of avoiding one sin, they commit another. In my estimation, the cure is worse than the disease.

If it’s not clear to you what is meant above, here is a comparison of old and new:

Psalm 1:3 NIV (1984): He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Psalm 1:3 NIV (2011): “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.”

Even worse was the TNIV:

Psalm 1:3 TNIV: “They are like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

But the NRSV takes the cake:

Psalm 1:3 NRSV: “They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.”

Unless we dare to open the Message:

Psalm 1:3 (Message): You ‘re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month, Never dropping a leaf, always in blossom.

Another issue, particularly in the Psalms, is that some of the masculine singular may not be a reference to godly people but to a specific single man (the Messiah). Translating it in any way other than masculine singular obscures that possibility. But that’s a topic for another time.

July 5

By | July 5, 2011
2 Comments

This map gives a graphic representation of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Maybe the Middle East peace process wouldn’t be so difficult if the Jews didn’t steal Palestine from the Arabs. Except that they didn’t.

Getting a visa to stay in Israel if you are a Christian is only getting more difficult.

Yes, the humblebrag. This is a very common creature in evangelical leadership.

Mike Vlach has a helpful summary of the differences between dispensationalism and historic premillenialism. It might be worth noting here that in a recent eschatology forum hosted by John Piper, the three views represented were historic premillennialism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism. All of these agree against dispensationalism that (1) there is no future restoration of national Israel because (2) the church is the new Israel because (3) the NT changes the meaning of the OT. No wonder those guys get along so well! The prophets must be wondering, “How could we have been any clearer?” The apostles must be apoplectic: “We would never dare!”

June 25

By | June 25, 2011
0 Comment

“How LeBron James Broke the Golden Rule of Sports” watch this especially if you think that professional sports make a mockery of us all.

I don’t know how many pastors (or aspiring pastors) read here, but I think there’s much value in “What I have learned after five years of pastoring.”

The malls of America are stocked with kiosks selling Dead Sea lotion and the like. The workers are usually Israelis. And apparently many of them are working here illegally.

These 10 brands will not exist at the end of the year, according to 24/7 Wall St.

This car flies. Really. The driver is the son of Nate Saint.

Michael Card fans may be interested to know that he has a new album out which is a compilation of (most of) his Old Testament songs, and it includes a new one on Malachi. All 24 songs for $12 (either CD or mp3).

If you ‘re interested in the NT’s use of the OT, see this wrap-up of a course at TMS. #5 and #6 are critical points.

June 14

By | June 14, 2011
0 Comment

Francis Chan has a good illustration on living in light of eternity. Contrast that with Jim Gilliam who rejected his childhood faith in favor of trusting the Internet: “God is just humanity connected….We are the leaders of this new religion.  We have faith that people connected can create a new world. Each one of us is a creator but together we are the Creator.”

What do you get when you take a photograph and add a little video?  Some fascinating images.  Take a look.

The Ten Commandments are all about God.

Have Israeli police really quit going into (the ultra-orthodox neighborhood of) Mea Shearim because they are attacked? If true, Israel is not a land of law and order.

Apart from the fact that I wouldn’t want to get engaged in a dark movie house, this proposal is pretty creative.

Thomas Sowell:

Incidentally, conservatives who think that schools should be teaching “abstinence” miss the point completely. The schools have no expertise to be teaching sex at all. We should be happy if they ever develop the competence to teach math and English, so that our children can hold their own in international tests.

Schools are just one government institution that take on tasks for which they have no expertise or even competence.

Read the whole piece.

When Will the Jewish People Repent?

By | June 8, 2011
4 Comments

Zechariah 12:10 — “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

Scripture is overwhelmingly clear that God’s promises will be fulfilled to his people, the nation of Israel, and they will be restored to him.  This hope is stated many times in the Old Testament, and several times in explicit connection with the response to the Messiah.  Zechariah 12:10 is one such passage that speaks of Israel’s response of repentance, and it says here directly that they will recognize that the one that they pierced is the one they should have accepted.  The Gospel of John makes it clear that Jesus is the pierced one (John 19:37), and the book of Revelation anticipates the Jewish people seeing Jesus coming with the clouds (Rev 1:7).

The question that I want to address here is when this event occurs.  Will this prophecy be fulfilled when Jesus descends at the climax of the Tribulation to defeat the armies arrayed against Jerusalem (as described in Zech 14 and Rev 19)?  Will their repentance occur at the Second Coming?

I was reading a blog recently which described an individual attacking John MacArthur for believing that Israel is saved by sight when they see Jesus. I don’t know if this correctly reports MacArthur’s view or not, and it’s not important here.  It did remind me that I have essentially held this view for a long time.  I’ve taken “literally” the phrase in Zechariah 12 that “they will look on me” as referring to physical sight.  That is, at the moment that Jesus appears and they see him in the sky, then the majority of the Jewish people will be saved (cf. Rom 11:26).

My view on this was challenged recently when I read an article by Paul D. Feinberg.  He wrote:

“There is good evidence that repentance precedes the return of Christ (Hos. 5:15–6:3). The sight of the Messiah is the cause of intense mourning over the years of rejection (Zech. 12:11-14). The return of Christ is signaled by Israel’s acceptance of their Messiah rather than being the occasion for their acceptance of salvation” (Willis and Master, eds., Issues in Dispensationalism, 231).

Logically and theologically, this certainly makes sense. Throughout Scripture, the Lord typically requires faith before providing salvation.  (This doesn’t deny that he provides the faith, but it does mean that faith is chronologically prior to salvation.)  Why does the Messiah return at one point and not another if there is no Jewish response before his return?  It seems more reasonable to understand his return (which is distinct from the rapture) as related to Israel’s repentance.

Feinberg cites Hosea 5:15-6:3 to support the idea that repentance precedes salvation.

Hosea 5:15–6:3 — Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me.” “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”

There are many other examples which speak of restoration following repentance.  Many of these must be eschatological, for they speak of the restoration in terms that cannot be true of some mini-revival in the time of Nehemiah (when God did not live in their presence, forgive all sin, and remove all enemies).

This brings us back to Zechariah 12 and the “look” of the Jews upon the one they have pierced.  (For background on what this means, read Isaiah 53, where the speakers recognize that they executed an innocent one who bore their sin.)  Is it possible that this “look” is a spiritual look and not a physical look?  Can Zechariah be speaking of an act of faith rather than of sight?  Grammatically, it certainly can, as the same construction (“look upon”) is used in Psalm 34:5:

Psalm 34:5 — Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.

In this psalm, David (in the cave of Adullam?) is beckoning his motley crew to seek the Lord.  He is obviously not asking them to look physically upon God, but rather to trust him by walking by faith.

When Jesus was rejected by the nation of Israel, he declared to them:

Matt 23:39 — For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. ‘”

Thus it seems to me most accurate to interpret Zechariah’s prediction as a future repentance which results in the return of the Messiah to deliver Israel from the attacking nations and to establish his kingdom.  The timing of this repentance must be shortly before the Second Coming near the end of the seven-year Tribulation.

Shirts

By | June 6, 2011
2 Comments

I have a few new IBEX T-Shirts.  One of each:

Fall 1998 – Blue Large

Fall 1998 – Green Large

Fall 2003 – Blue Large

Free to first qualified persons to ask.

June 2

By | June 2, 2011
3 Comments

“Church history is crystal clear: Homosexual practice has been affirmed nowhere, never, by no one in the history of Christianity. . . .” (more here).

Even if you think that you don’t need to read an article about “Alzheimer’s and Gospel Transformation,” I suggest that you do.  Only 11 paragraphs.

Better buy 100-watt light bulbs now before they are outlawed.  Especially if your daughter has an Easy-Bake.  I’m thankful for lawmakers who know how to take care of me.

One of the youth from our church was killed in Afghanistan last week.

If you ‘re an ibex lover, but don’t read my other blog, check out my post this morning.

If you’ve read any Bible commentaries, you may like this Parody of Over-Interpreting the Bible.  Fortunately, they are not all like this.

Joni Eareckson Tada’s book, A Place of Healing, is free this month as an audiobook.  The preface and endorsements suggest that it is an excellent book.  Not many people who write about suffering know it so well.