The Prophets’ Predictions

By | January 27, 2011
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Everything about the following sentence is wrong.  For analysis, I ‘ll break it down into phrases, but it’s all one sentence.  From Bruce Waltke, An Old Testament Theology, page 824:

The prophets ‘ predictions embrace

a beginning of fulfillment in Israel’s restoration from the exile,

a victorious fulfillment in the church age stretching from Christ’s first advent to his Parousia,

and a consummation in the eschatological new heaven and earth when Christ’s kingdom becomes coextensive with his creation.

I ‘ll take my first statement back: I have no objection to the first four words of the sentence.  But after that, it’s a complete disaster.

First, were the prophets ‘ predictions fulfilled in Israel’s return to exile?  In response, I would recommend you read any of the post-exilic books.  The clear message of the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi is that the prophecies weren’t being fulfilled.  The problem was not God’s faithfulness but the people’s response.  Nevertheless, the prophets encouraged them that though they did not see the prophecies of restoration being fulfilled, God would still keep his promises.  Therefore, obey!

Second, Waltke suggests that the prophet’s predictions have enjoyed a “victorious fulfillment in the church age.”  Now, setting aside for the moment every single thing that those prophets said, I just have to ask, where is this victory?  I don’t want to put the church down, and I know that the Lord is working faithfully in it every day, but I emphatically do not see, now or ever in the church’s history, anything that God would call a victory.  The church was in awful shape from the time of Corinth to the letters of Revelation through the Middle Ages until today.  You could argue that while the “professing church” is a miserable failure (think everything from “Crusades” to Joel Osteen’s megachurch), the true church is the “victorious fulfillment.”  And while those who have been saved and made a part of the body of Christ have infinite reason to rejoice, it’s a distant cry from what the prophets foretold.  Besides all of this, it might be observed that Paul explicitly said that the prophets didn’t foretell the church, as its existence was a mystery made known first to the apostles (Eph 3).

Finally, you think I could at least agree with Waltke that the promises of the prophets will be fulfilled in the “consummation in the eschatological new heaven and earth.”  Alas, the irony is that while Waltke suggests three periods of fulfillment for the glorious words of guys like Isaiah and Ezekiel and Zechariah, he fails to mention the one period when these prophecies actually will be fulfilled!  Of course, I am speaking of the time when Jesus “will be king over the whole earth” and when the city of Jerusalem will be re-named “the Lord is there” and the nations will stream up to the holy city where the Messiah will “comfort all who mourn” (Zech 14:9; Ezek 48:35; Isa 2:2; 61:2).

How can Waltke and I disagree so severely?  Very simply: he believes that the OT prophecies must be “spiritualized, transcendentalized, eschatologized, and typified.”  But I observe that all the prophecies in the past were fulfilled “normally, literally, and according to the way that all sensible people read words,” and Waltke would agree with that.  (Jesus was born in Bethlehem, ministered in Galilee, was crucified and resurrected, etc.)  It’s only the prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled that must be “spiritualized.”  That leaves you playing hopskotch in the prophets, with one verse being fulfilled literally and the next one being fulfilled spiritually, and the one after that being literal, etc.  He thinks that spiritualizing them makes them better.  I say that it not only does it make them worse, but it steals them from the people to whom they were promised.

January 23

By | January 23, 2011
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I have repented before, but it’s not been genuine.  I think I am finally convinced.  I wonder how long it will take me to change.  I’ve blown it three times in this paragraph so far.

Who killed Lebanon’s prime minister?  This is an interesting article into the investigation with some insights into how the UN and Arab world do things.

Greg Harris has some good suggestions for how to pray for your children.

A lyre bird can imitate the sounds of other birds, animals, and machine tools.  Remarkable.

A new study in Israel refutes the notion that learning a number of languages hurts fluency in one’s native tongue.  Here’s a surprising discovery: “They also found that people with Russian as a mother tongue are more fluent in Hebrew compared to those who speak Hebrew as a mother tongue.”  This may help to explain why Americans do poorly in English.

The guy below was not the only one excited that the Green Bay Packers are coming to Dallas!

Jonathan in Green Bay Packers shirt

We ‘re used to people telling us that Jonathan is a beautiful baby.  But now mothers are telling us that he is cuter than their own babies!

One Month

By | January 21, 2011
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One month from today I plan to begin my exams.  My present preparations have slowed down this blog and probably will continue to. 

Most of my readers probably have not and will not enjoy the experience of doctoral comprehensive exams.  Those of you who have (or will) may have very different experiences.  My program consists of six exams, each of which lasts six hours (including one hour for walking to/from the exam room, printing, restroom, lunch).  The six tests, in the order I anticipate taking them:

  • Pentateuch
  • History and Poetry
  • Prophets
  • Gospels and Acts
  • Epistles and Revelation
  • Hermeneutics and Backgrounds

Everyone will say that the biggest challenge in this program is the scope.  Sixty-six books is just a lot of material to know.  Among the items we are responsible for: each book’s outline, message, and argument.  We must know major interpretive difficulties and major themes in biblical theology.  So, for instance, they could ask me to write an hour essay on any of the following:

  • Ancient Near Eastern cosmogonies related to Genesis 1-2
  • The Abrahamic Covenant throughout Scripture
  • The nature of the Law in the Pentateuch
  • The sacrifices in Leviticus
  • The argument of the book of Ruth
  • The Davidic Covenant in Samuel and Psalms
  • The nature of a lament psalm
  • Psalm 2 and its use in the NT
  • The development of the “branch” in the OT
  • The “Day of the Lord” in the prophets
  • The role and identity of the Servant in Isaiah
  • Major interpretations of Ezekiel 40-48
  • Daniel’s presentation of the future
  • The messianic prophecies of Zechariah
  • Matthew’s presentation of the kingdom
  • The interpretation of the fulfillment passages in Matthew 1-2
  • The function of the seven signs in John
  • The argument and use of the OT in Peter’s sermon in Acts 2
  • A detailed itinerary of Paul’s journeys in Acts (finally, an easy one!)
  • The function of Romans 9-11 in the argument of the book
  • The unity of 2 Corinthians
  • The relationship of the New Covenant to the church
  • A defense of the pre-tribulational rapture view
  • The interpretation of “women will be saved by childbearing” (1 Tim 2:15)
  • The argument of 2 Timothy
  • The use of Psalm 110 in Hebrews
  • Perseverance in the General Epistles
  • The function of Rev 2-3 to the book’s argument
  • An outline of the book of Revelation
  • The history of hermeneutics
  • My view of typology
  • The biblical and archaeological history of Megiddo (I’m ready for that one!)
  • A survey of intertestamental history
  • Definitions and location of 20 important terms in the epistles (we ‘ve been warned that we ‘ll see this one)

Many of these topics probably sound familiar and important.  Indeed they are!  (And that’s why I like this program; I’m not learning esoteric minutiae that I will never use.)  The challenge is keeping all of that (and more) in your head at one time.  And no, you cannot use a Bible or any other resources in the exams.  Just me and my pen keyboard.

If I fail any test, I get a chance to re-take it (after the faculty decides how long of a remedial study period is required).  If I fail it again, we ‘ll be leaving Dallas sooner than we expected!  After I pass them all, I will be scheduled for an oral exam.  This is a 2-hour ordeal in front of 4 random faculty members who will test my knowledge on whatever they want.  I ‘ll have to prepare somewhat differently for this, because the answers will be short (not hour-long essays).  I understand that sometimes they like to pursue a series of questions to test the bounds of your knowledge.  I imagine something like this:

  • What’s the outline of Isaiah?
  • Why do scholars reject the unity of Isaiah?
  • What is the purpose of chapters 40-55?
  • Where are the “Servant Songs” located?
  • Why do scholars believe the Servant is Israel?
  • How does 49:1-6 present problems for the scholarly view?
  • How is 49:5-6 used in the New Testament?
  • Do you agree with Longman’s interpretation of this passage?

At whatever point I say “I don’t know,” they slump in their chairs and then move on.  The number of squares left on the Jeopardy board at the end of the period determines whether I pass or not.

Since I haven’t done any of these, and since students who have are sworn to secrecy, all of the above represents my best guesses based upon what I have studied, the meetings of a study group, and the advice that professors have given. 

I didn’t plan to write all this when I started, but I guess I needed a break.  Today/tonight I’ve been creating “study sheets” (in PowerPoint) from my arguments for 1 Timothy through Revelation.  I have about 300 (mostly detailed) slides and I’m not finished with Revelation.

In 31 days I begin.  I have 15 days to take the six exams, which amounts to nearly a test every other day.  Then I wait to hear the results.

Below is a screenshot of the slide I was on when I took my break.  I ‘ll probably have about 3,500 of these when I finish.

Clipboard01

January 18

By | January 18, 2011
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What does 7 billion people mean?  National Geographic summarizes it in three minutes, and thankfully it avoids scare tactics.

What are the best-selling Christian books in 2010?  The answer is not encouraging about the state of the church.

Paul Tripp provides a good perspective on parenting and “interruptions.”

Our city of Plano ranks #1 on the list of best places for women to live in the US.

Some of you will be amused at the real source of Benny Hinn’s power.

I’ve been setting aside quarters with the states depicted since we moved to Texas.  Recently we dumped them all out on the kitchen table and placed them on the map.  The states that are avoiding our family: Illinois and Indiana.

College Students Learn Nothing

By | January 18, 2011
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From USA Today:

Nearly half of the nation’s undergraduates show almost no gains in learning in their first two years of college, in large part because colleges don’t make academics a priority, a new report shows.

Instructors tend to be more focused on their own faculty research than teaching younger students, who in turn are more tuned in to their social lives, according to the report, based on a book titled Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses. Findings are based on transcripts and surveys of more than 3,000 full-time traditional-age students on 29 campuses nationwide, along with their results on the Collegiate Learning Assessment, a standardized test that gauges students’ critical thinking, analytic reasoning and writing skills.

After two years in college, 45% of students showed no significant gains in learning; after four years, 36% showed little change.

[…]

Other details in the research:

35% of students report spending five or fewer hours per week studying alone. Yet, despite an "ever-growing emphasis" on study groups and collaborative projects, students who study in groups tend to have lower gains in learning.

50% said they never took a class in a typical semester where they wrote more than 20 pages; 32% never took a course in a typical semester where they read more than 40 pages per week.

The full article is here. 

Acts

By | January 16, 2011
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Following the Gospels, this book answers the question, “What’s next?” Since Jesus has ascended into heaven, the apostles are to go from Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. That’s what happens in this book. In chapters 1-7, they are in Jerusalem. Persecution pushes them out to Judea and Samaria (ch. 8-10). Finally, in chapter 13, the gospel starts to go to all the nations through the ministry of Paul.

One way to divide the book is to recognize that the first half (chs. 1-12) is mostly focused around the ministry of Peter. The second half (chs. 13-28) is centered around Paul. Paul takes three missionary journeys. Most of what he says and does is not recorded. Entire years are skipped over in a verse. But the main point that Luke makes is that nothing can stop the gospel from spreading to the ends of the earth. Not even a shipwreck!

Pay attention to the pattern of Paul’s ministry. He goes first to Jews (in the synagogue), and then when they reject him, he goes to the Gentiles. Note the consistent rejection of the Jews. Note also that Paul never gives up on them, and he always goes to them first wherever he is.

Extra Credit

By | January 7, 2011
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It feels like old times when a former student gets a question wrong and asks for extra credit.  But I’m an easy guy and I gladly grant the wish. 

Name the book:

The book of ________ contains in brief form the messages of many other prophetic works. Condemnation is issued to both God’s people as well as the foreign nations, similar to Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. Israel’s inhabitation of foreign lands is predicted, as in Obadiah. The emphasis on the remnant is strong, as in Isaiah. Like Micah and Jeremiah, he is quite willing to castigate the unfaithful leaders of God’s covenant people. ________ echoes Nahum’s judgment against the Assyrians and he answers Habakkuk’s question about the prosperity of the wicked. His major theme is the Day of the Lord, as is that of the prophet Joel. Though he doesn’t use the term “new covenant” that originated with Jeremiah, his depiction of a forgiven and righteous people is best understood in this way. His words are remarkably similar to Zechariah’s in his injunction, “Sing, O Daughter of Zion . . . Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! . . . The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you” (3:14-15; cf. Zech 9:9). For an introduction to classical prophetic literature, ________ is ideal for its variety, scope, and brevity.

John

By | January 4, 2011
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Matthew, Mark, and Luke are similar in many ways, but the Gospel of John is quite different. It is the same Jesus, of course, but John knows those stories are well known to the churches and his readers, and so he chooses other stories. His main point: Jesus is God. In the first part of the book, John writes of many signs that Jesus did that pointed to his identity as the Son of God. Notice too that Jesus keeps saying, “My time has not yet come.” But watch for when he says, “My time has come.” Another unique thing of this book is the “Upper Room Discourse,” where Jesus tells his disciples many important things the night before he died.

[The following was not in my original guide to my son, but is included here as a supplement to the rather thin entry above.  It is taken from my recent “argument” of the book.]

The Gospel of John consists of two primary parts. The first half describes the signs that Jesus did which pointed to his true identity. Along the way, Jesus explained the meaning of these signs and revealed how he was the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures and festivals. The book turns with his decisive rejection by the Jewish leadership following the seventh sign.

The second half is thus concerned with the crucifixion, including Jesus’s preparation of the disciples, his true testimony before the officials, the completion of his mission in his death, and his resurrection appearances to his disciples. The book begins with a prologue that prepares the reader for the unfolding of Jesus’s ministry and it concludes with an epilogue which points to the future ministry of two of his disciples.

John is doing more than just recording a life of Jesus; he is reflecting on the identity and character of his Savior in order to present him as one fully worthy of complete faith. He understands the stakes of the decision that his readers must make is nothing short of life and death.

Name This Book

By | January 3, 2011
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The book of __________ may well be the most neglected book in the Christian canon. Though Jewish people read the book once a year on …, preaching or teaching on this book in the church is scarce indeed. In three years of doctoral study, I don’t recall a reference being made to this book in any of my seminars or research. Though most know the book’s central statement of …, general ignorance seems to be pervasive about the rest of the book.

House observes that the book is obscure even in the scholarly world, and he longs for the day when this book is considered by the church (not reconsidered, for it has not “ever truly been embraced even by those normally most committed to biblical studies”).

Ironically, the book seems to be neglected in spite of the fact that its anonymity and lack of direct historical references were likely intended to make the work as universally useful as possible.

The answer is different than the one to the previous “test.”

The Lake of Fire

By | January 1, 2011
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My advice to Hershel was that, as a Jew who does not accept Jesus as his savior, he need not worry about being thrown into the lake of fire at the end of time.

These are words written by a New Testament professor to Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archaeology Review in a column this month.

The professor, a scholar who is highly respected in the academy, comes to this conclusion on the basis of her analysis of the New Testament.  In the column (posted in full online), she makes two main points to support her conclusion:

1. Judgment in Revelation is based only on works, not on what one believes.  Those thrown in the lake of fire are wicked people.

2. The book of Revelation cannot be taken literally.  By using a variety of images, Revelation itself proclaims that there is no one true vision of the things that really matter.

I have a few questions:

1. Is this a fair evaluation of all of the evidence?  Or is it a selective presentation in order to obtain the desired answer?

2. Who is the book of Revelation addressed to?  Does indications of who the audience is tell us anything about the role of faith?

3. Is there any relationship between the Jesus of Revelation and the Jesus presented in the Gospels? 

4. Are there any other passages (besides Revelation) which connect faith to eternal destiny?  Should these factor into the professor’s response?

5. What would you say to this professor who told Mr. Shanks (and now the whole world) that there is no reason to worry about divine judgment?

If you go to a doctor and he tells you that you have pancreatic cancer but it will have no effect on your life expectancy, you can go to another doctor for a second opinion.  By the time that Mr. Shanks learns that he needs a second opinion, it will be too late to sue this professor for malpractice.