This clip is four minutes long, but perhaps you can at least listen to the first minute. John Piper:
Revelation
A lot of people thought that Jesus was going to come back very soon after he went to heaven. They didn’t have any idea that he would wait 100 (or 2000!) years. Remember, Jesus told them to be ready at any time. But with the apostles dying, the writing of the New Testament was coming to a close. Thus the Lord gave John a vision which would help to strengthen the church in the days of persecution ahead. The main point is that in the end, Jesus wins! But this book shows us just how God is in control of all of the details. He knows exactly how he is going to judge the earth. Most of the events in the book (chs. 6-19) take place during a seven-year period known as the tribulation. At the end of this, Jesus comes back down to earth (ch. 19) and establishes his kingdom for a thousand years (ch. 20). When this is over, a new heaven and a new earth is made, where the Father and Jesus live forever with their people (chs. 21-22). Though this book has some “blood and guts,” it is a very encouraging story that should give us hope. No matter how bad things get, God has it all under control. We can pray just like John does at the end, “Come, Lord Jesus”!
Note: The entire Bible Reading Guide is available for download as a pdf file or as a Word document. To refresh your memory on its purpose, see the first post. I recommend some other resources for reading the Bible here.
Think: Some Quotations
I recommend to all the brief but helpful work by John Piper, Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God. As a lifelong student, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking but not much time thinking about thinking. This book is easily accessible and should be read by many, including all college students. I include here for your stimulation eight quotations (from a total of forty) that I copied down in my notes.
“Learning the skill and practicing it was not fun. The joy is on the other side of the hard work. This is basic to all growing up. Part of maturity is the principle of deferred gratification. If you cannot embrace the pain of learning but must have instant gratification, you forfeit the greatest rewards of life” (Piper 2010: 47).
“Such a “receiving” of Christ is the kind of receiving an unregenerate, “natural” person can do. This is a “receiving” of Christ that requires no change in human nature. You don’t have to be born again to love being guilt-free and pain-free and disease-free and safe and wealthy. All natural men without any spiritual life love these things. But to embrace Jesus as your supreme treasure requires a new nature. No one does this naturally. You must be born again (John 3:3). You must be a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15). You must be made spiritually alive (Ephesians 2:1-4). ‘No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord ‘ [and mean it!] except in the Holy Spirit ‘ (1 Corinthians 12:3)” (Piper 2010: 72).
“Every businessman knows that philosophical relativists park their relativism at the door when they go into the bank and read the language of the contract they are about to sign. People don’t embrace relativism because it is philosophically satisfying. They embrace it because it is physically and emotionally gratifying. It provides the cover they need at key moments in their lives to do what they want without intrusion from absolutes” (Piper 2010: 102).
“The wisdom of’the wise and understanding ‘ has produced remarkable scientific advances. But it leaves out the most important reality, namely, God. From one side it is stunning for its achievements, and from another side it is stunning for its stupidity in missing the main thing. The wisdom of’the wise and understanding ‘ does not begin with God; it is not conscious of being sustained by God, and it rejects God’s purpose for the universe, which is to display the glory of God chiefly through Christ crucified for sinners” (Piper 2010: 151).
“It is an abdication of scholarship when Christians do academic work with little reference to God. If all the universe and everything in it exist by the design of an infinite, personal God, to make his manifold glory known and loved, then to treat any subject without reference to God’s glory is not scholarship but insurrection” (Piper 2010: 168).
Quoting Douglas Wilson: “The ache that some conservatives have to be taken seriously in the unbelieving academy is a pitiful thing indeed, and so I would like to take this opportunity to give the whole thing the universal raspberry. What Princeton, Harvard, Duke, and all the theological schools in Germany really need to hear is the horse-laugh of all Christendom. I mentioned earlier that proud flesh bonds to many strange things indeed, and I forgot to mention scholarship and footnotes. To steal a thought from Kierkegaard, ‘Many scholars line their britches with journal articles festooned with footnotes in order to Keep the Scriptures from spanking their academically-respectable pink, little bottoms ‘” (Piper 2010: 171n6).
“For example, if you are listening to a preacher and he says something like, “God can’t be completely sovereign and yet humans still be responsible for their choices,” don’t suddenly jump on that misguided intellectual train. Instead say to him, “Sure he can; both are in the Bible.” Then go on about your work” (Piper 2010: 181).
Of Bethlehem College and Seminary: “We do not assume that the process of deciding what is true and valuable starts over with every generation of students. And it didn’t start with us. Therefore, we are a confessional institution” (Piper 2010: 199).
There is so much more in this book that is challenging and helpful. $11-13 at Amazon, $7 for Kindle, or free at your library.
Jude
This letter is a lot like the second chapter of 2 Peter. Jude also is warning the people against false teachers. This was a very severe danger because the apostles (who were eyewitnesses of Jesus’s ministry) were dying. False teachers were coming in and leading the people astray. Were all of these warnings (as also in Galatians, Colossians, 1 John and elsewhere) necessary? Why say the same things so many times? The answer is that the church really needed it. The proof of that is in the history of the church. Only a few decades later, some segments of the church started believing strange things not in the Bible. The history of the early church is largely a sad story of fighting heretics. This was Satan’s strategy for defeating God, since he failed to prevent Jesus from rising from the dead.
A Good Investment
Do you have a heart for orphans? I was powerfully impressed as I studied through the Pentateuch last year just how persistent God is in urging care for those in need. Orphans are high on the list of those in need.
There is a great opportunity now for you to help bring three orphans to a fantastic home. The Gundersens are working very diligently and now are short only $6,000. In terms of investments, they don’t get much better. You can donate any amount here. I recommend you consider it even if you do not know this family. (You won’t get on any mailing list and they won’t ask you again. These three kids will be grateful for a long time.)
1-3 John
1 John
Most people in our world today see things in shades of gray. Some things are mostly right or kinda right or not really very wrong. The book of 1 John sees things in black and white. There is truth and there is error. There is salvation and there is damnation. There is light and there is darkness. This letter helps the readers to distinguish between what is good and what is evil.
2 John
This short letter was written to a woman to warn her against false teachers. One of the things that she should do when a false teacher comes is refuse to give him a room to sleep in. In those days when there weren’t hotels, the false teacher would have to travel on to another city and probably he wouldn’t come back.
3 John
This letter is something of the flip side of 2 John. Here he says that they should show hospitality to those who are doing God’s work. He includes some other helpful advice also.
May 13
In-N-Out opened in Texas on Wednesday. Some cars ran out of gas waiting in line. Our son reports that a kid was wearing a “In-N-Out Texas” T-shirt to school on Thursday.
I am now a “candidate” for the Ph.D. degree. It seems like a lot of time and money to only become what the dictionary defines as “A person who seeks or is nominated for an office, prize, or honor.” What have I been this whole time?
Mike Vlach has some good observations about dispensationalism, based on a semester teaching it in seminary. I especially like points 5, 6, and 7. And 8.
If you prefer parenting to Bible interpretation, read Kevin DeYoung’s (humorous) confessions about parenting and how he ultimately asks, “Could it be we ‘ve made parenting too complicated?”
On the subject of punctuation, apparently, I am illogical.
After Much Prayer
Yesterday Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver announced that they were separating. They don’t want the public to know much, but they want us to know this:
After a great deal of thought, reflection, discussion, and prayer, we came to this decision together.
Does anything stand out to you in this statement? Clearly they are a couple of deep devotion. They don’t say it exactly, but they want you to understand that their future divorce is God’s will. How can you deny that when they have prayed about it. Prayer, after all, is one’s connection to God and the way he reveals his will. It’s also quite handy that you can’t argue with what God revealed to me in my prayers.
Also yesterday, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to allow clergy to be involved in homosexual and lesbian relationships. Now you can be a pastor and have a sexual relationship with someone not your spouse and have the church’s blessing. Top Presbyterian executives issued a statement in which they said this:
However, as Presbyterians, we believe that the only way we will find God’s will for the church is by seeking it together — worshipping, praying, thinking and serving alongside one another.”
Ah, here it is again. The Presbyterians learned God’s will by praying together. Thank goodness for that. Otherwise I might have supposed that they were bowing to cultural pressure and sinners in their midst. But they prayed about it so I simply cannot argue with it.
It is important to note that this is a prepared statement. It’s not somebody speaking off-the-cuff who didn’t have his thoughts organized and just happened to overlook the relevance of God’s Word to the discussion. No, the top Presbyterian executives—the leaders of the church—carefully excluded the Bible from the decision-making process.
In a way, this is refreshing. They aren’t trying to assert that they have a biblical mandate. They aren’t saying (at least here) that when Jesus said
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female, ‘ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh ‘? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” (Matt 19:4-6)
that he really meant that homosexual relations were part of God’s plan. There is nothing in the statement that says that Paul’s condemnation of homosexuality is really commendation. There is nothing in the statement that “keeping the marriage bed holy” allows for sexual relations with people you are not married with. The top Presbyterian executives do not claim to have found a new meaning in Paul’s emphatic declaration:
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God (1 Thess 4:3-5).
It is refreshing that (at least in the portion of the statement quoted in the article) there is no dishonesty in claiming Scriptural backing for this new understanding of God’s will. Endorsing gay pastors is not a matter of the Bible but of prayer. This is explicit in a comparison of the old and new language in the PCUSA’s constitution.
Old language:
Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church.
New language:
Standards for ordained service reflect the church’s desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life.
Fortunately we can submit to the “Lordship of Jesus Christ” in whatever way we damn well please feel the Lord leading us in prayer.
I too have been praying and the Lord has made something clear to me. Christ is the head of his body (Eph 1:22-23). Christ speaks through his Word (John 12:48). Those who do not submit to the head of the church as he speaks in his Word are not his body. The Presbyterian Church (USA) is a lot of things but it is not a church. Their god is their own word, not his Word. Their submission is to their own sinful passions, not to the holiness demanded by the Lord. They are described in Scripture:
They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good (Titus 1:16).
When the “church” makes prayer the means for determining God’s will, then it no longer has any moral authority. The PCUSA cannot say to Arnold and Maria that their divorce is outside of God’s will because Arnold and Maria have prayed about it. The PCUSA cannot say to factory owners who oppress the poor that they are wrong because they have rejected an external standard for determining right and wrong. The PCUSA has no more authority than cultural mores in condemning pedophilia. If this is the case, what use does the PCUSA have? Jesus has a suggestion.
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men (Matt 5:13).
The Only Guarantee of Israel’s Existence
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke yesterday at a service for Israel’s Memorial Day. The event and his words are reported by Arutz-7:
Quoting from the Book of Jeremiah (31:16), the Prime Minister stated, “Our grief is overwhelming, our hearts ache, where will we find comfort? The prophet said: ‘Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded. ‘”
But Israel’s grief continues. They can recite this verse from Jeremiah to comfort each other, but the bloodshed and the loss have not ended. The events described in Jeremiah 31 have not been fulfilled.
“We shall find solace in building the land and the people, in striving for days of peace, and in our knowledge that their work shall be rewarded and their heroism shall be remunerated,” he added.
Notice where the Israeli PM directs his people to find comfort—in their own works. Never in biblical history did that achieve the desired goal. Moses gave a better prescription when he prophesied the exile and return of Israel: “Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back….The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.” Israel does need man-glorifying works; they need a divinely accomplished circumcision of the heart.
He said: “If the fallen soldiers were with us today, they would have witnessed countless miracles throughout the years. The soldiers from the War of Independence would have witnessed the rebirth of the State of Israel; those who fought in the Sinai Campaign would have seen the ingathering of the exiles; those who fell in the Six-Day War would have watched us as we return to Mount Moriah and the Western Wall…
These are certainly remarkable events, whether one calls them “miracles” or not. What no one can dispute is that the miracle of spiritual rebirth has not occurred. The most religious Jew to the most ardent secularist knows that the nation is spiritually and morally destitute.
“Those who fell in all these operations, campaigns and wars to protect Israel, would probably be surprised how Israel has turned from a state verging on the desert with only meager resources into one of the most developed, prosperous and advanced countries in the world. My friends, none of this would have happened if not for the young men and women who sacrificed their lives to ensure our existence…
It is also a country where military service is required, where extremely high taxation is demanded to pay for security, and where many live in poverty. It is nothing like the days prophesied by Isaiah when “the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,” when “foreigners will rebuild your walls and their kings will serve you.” It is not a day when “your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night.”
“They would see that a huge earthquake shook the Middle East region in the past year…. But as the days go by, one thing is becoming clear – Israel is an island of freedom, democracy and progress in a vast, important swath of land.”
Israel is an island of freedom and democracy when measured against its neighbors. But the people in Israel do not feel free. They are enslaved, either to their own sins or to the sins of others. Israel is not a people who say “our offenses are many in your sight…and we acknowledge our iniquities: rebellion and treachery against the Lord.” Fasting many abound in Israel today, but it’s not very different from Isaiah’s time when “on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all of your workers.” Isaiah promised that one day “the nations will see your democracy righteousness and all kings your freedom glory.” When the nations discuss Israel today, they talk about its president convicted of rape and its former prime minister indicted for bribery.
Netanyahu added that until freedom and democracy “light the skies of other countries,… we know that there is only one guarantee of our existence and future – the Israel Defense Force – the protector of the Hebrew people, backed by the spirit of the people.”
This is so tragic. It’s like hearing an echo of King Zedekiah, who refused to trust the words of Jeremiah for his deliverance from Babylon. Instead he fled the city until the Babylonians captured him and put his eyes out and he was never heard from again. If Zedekiah had uttered these same words, that the guarantee of Israel’s future depended upon the Israelite army, he should have expected the disappearance of the nation within a generation after his death. Somehow, the Hebrew people survived for the next 2,500 years without the Israel Defense Force. Amazing! But God gets no credit, nor does he get any trust. To judge from this speech, Israel has learned nothing in the meantime.
A Saturday Afternoon in the Shephelah
The photo was taken at Khirbet Burgin in the Shephelah. In the distance is the hill country of Judah. I don’t know if this particular day was one of the “favorite days in my life” (thus the post category), but it certainly represents some of those. One of the happiest circumstances of my life was babysitting a LandRover for a large part of my last year before moving to the US.