Amazed by Scripture

I’m supposed to be doing something else right now, but saw this passage while looking something up. It’s a great passage, and I am filled with the sudden urge to preach it to someone. Instead, I’ll write this up quickly and get back to what I should be working on.

“Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: ‘What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?’ They said to Him, ‘The son of David.’ He said to them, ‘Then how does David in the Spirit call Him “Lord,” saying [in Psalm 110:1],

“The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at My right hand,
Until I put Your enemies beneath Your feet’”?

If David then calls Him “Lord,” how is He his son?’  No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question” (Matthew 22:41-46).

When introducing David’s Spirit-inspired words, Jesus uses the present active participle “saying” (λέγων). Even though Jesus is quoting text almost 1,000 years old at that point, He uses the present tense. The Holy Spirit never speaks in the past tense. The Scripture, no matter when it was inspired in redemption history, is always present tense to us because the Person Who inspired it is ever-Now to us when we read His Word. He speaks. Now.

Second, part of the genius in Jesus’ confounding of the Pharisees is His implicit presupposition: a Trinitarian reality (and Jesus’ presupposition is the only reality).

It is the Holy Spirit Who speaks these words through David:
“The LORD [the Father] says to my Lord [the Son]: ‘Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet’” (Psalm 110:1).

David’s “Lord” is David’s “Son” – this can only be Jesus. The Father calls the Son to reign with Him on His throne (Revelation 3:21) during this Gospel Age between the first and second Advents until all enemies are conquered (1 Corinthian 15:25). This calling is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit (right now through words almost 3,000 years old). One God, three Persons.

Things like this move me to rejoice. Our God is amazing.

Okay. Thanks for listening. Back to it.

The Law, Prophets, and a Lesson About Gathering

“And you will say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD, “If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law [תורה] which I have set before you, to listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not listened; then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse to all the nations of the earth”’” (Jeremiah 26:4-6).

Ask most people what prophets do, and they will tell you that prophets foretell the future. I have been convinced for a long time that such an understanding of the prophets and biblical prophecy misses a crucial message of the biblical Prophets (and those who echo them in the New Testament). I contend that the Prophets applied the Law of Moses to their audiences in the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They communicated using language meant to move hard hearts – powerful language with dramatic imagery and edgy language. Their “future telling,” when it is present at all (not nearly as often as we’ve grown accustomed to think), is merely an application of the curses for covenant violation in the Law (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28). The Law promised invasion by a foreign army and deportation. The Prophets, in seeing covenant violation among the people, promised this would come. And it did.

Learning one thing revolutionized my reading of the Bible, and that one thing is seeing parallelism.[1] The Hebrew language is not highly technical (like Greek) – the Old Testament writers say one thing several different ways to further illuminate their meaning.

Consider this parallelism:

• “...listen to Me, to walk in My law [תורה] which I have set before you...”
• “...to listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you again and again...”

Both of these phrases are introduced with the verb “listen” (שמע), setting up the parallelism as clear as possible for us. Both “law” and “the words of My servants the prophets” are the words of the LORD to His covenant people.

From the standpoint of the doctrine of the Bible, the Law is foundational. The New Testament shows us the Lord Jesus and His apostles continually citing the Law as authoritative teaching. The Prophets of the Old Testament rely on the Law in the same way. There is no fullness to your understanding of later passages of Scripture if you aren’t familiar with what came before. Sadly, most people’s reading of the Prophets leans forward rather than backward. I find the same to be true in most attempts to interpret Revelation.

The LORD, speaking through Jeremiah, places His Law and Prophets in parallelism.

False prophets do not speak the words of the LORD (applying His Law), but speak their own words. “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the LORD” (23:16). “‘Behold, I am against the prophets,’ declares the LORD, ‘who use their tongues and declare, “The Lord declares”’” (23:31).

Prophecy is the Spirit-empowered application of the Law to the lives of God’s people with the goal of moving them to repentance from their sin before the Lord. I would use this definition for most of New Testament “prophecy,” as well (especially as described in Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12,14; Ephesians 4:11). We would put it under the category “preaching” these days, though the Bible seems to have parsed the categories of prophetic preaching of the Law for conviction, evangelistic preaching of the Gospel for the giving of grace (to believers and non-believers), and the teaching/explanation of the Bible. We need all of these in our spiritual diet continually.

The “Prophets” of the Old Testament are inerrant and inspired, and serve as models/examples for preachers in the Church. We are, as part of our calling, preach the commands of God, leaning on the Holy Spirit’s help, to move the people of God to repentance and obedience...and we are to do this without abandoning the giving of the grace of the Gospel or the explanation of the meaning and theology of the text.

It is foolish to believe we can accomplish this in a 15-minute talk filled with anecdotes and stories. It is woefully naive to believe attending the gathering of the Church for one hour a week can adequately fill the God-intended purpose of teachers/preachers in the Church. Does your Church have an evening service, a mid-week Bible study, other small groups that study the Word? Are you a part? These are the means by which God speaks His Word to His people through the power of His Holy Spirit.

We need to be convicted unto repentance and obedience, fed grace unto communion with God in Christ, and trained in the nature, character, ways, and thoughts of God through the explanation of His Word. This cannot happen without giving time to the corporate times in the Word. Commit and get involved. It’s not a matter of not having enough time...you’re reading this, aren’t you? If you’re reading this, you’re probably reading a lot of other stuff online. How many hours of online time are you spending a week compared to gathering with Spirit-filled believers to get into God’s Word together? We fool ourselves by complaining there’s not enough time.

He has given the Law and Prophets, the Gospel and Apostles. We need this more than anything else, and He has purposed that we receive and grow in His Word together.

Let’s get to it.

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[1] This book was helpful when I was first learning this principle.

Pick Up the Book

Last night the first debate was held with candidates from the Republican Party for the 2016 presidential primaries. I did my best to not watch it, but ended up seeing the last hour before my bride and I settled down to watch “Alone” on the History Channel. She had an idea I appreciated: drop the candidates alone into the woods, and make them film themselves trying to survive. I might actually pay to watch that.

Anyway, I’ve been working on my contribution to our upcoming 3^rd annual Southwest Bible Conference. Our theme this year is “the Sufficiency of Scripture.” The last question of last night’s debate was germane for our conference. One candidate gave a great answer. I won’t tell you who he was because I’m not interested in endorsing any candidate, but I’ll tell you he’s a fellow Southern Baptist and he’s not Mike Huckabee (even if you figure out who he is I’m still not endorsing him). When asked, “I want to know if any of them have received a word from God,” this candidate answered: “Well, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the Scriptures and reading the Scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible.”

This was the most interesting part of a debate I really didn’t want to watch (I agree with a friend that these things start seeming like Saturday Night Live skits pretty quickly).

My immediate thought was, “I wish most other Southern Baptists could give an answer that spiritually mature and theologically accurate.”

Ah, beloved. Pick up the Book. Read by faith that the Author (God the Holy Spirit, 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21) is present in you as a believer in the risen and glorified Jesus Christ (John 7:39; Acts 2:38). On every page He will teach you of that same Christ Who is your only Savior and Lord (Luke 24:44-49; John 5:39) to the glory of the Father. Even better – get together with some other believers and pick up the Book together. You don’t need impressions, special words, leadings, mystical guidance, curious feelings, horoscopes, inspiring psycho-babble from self-help life-coaches masquerading as preachers on the television or internet or bumper stickers, dreams, movements in your gut or heart or wherever, songs on the radio, faces on tortillas or toast, signs in the heavens or on the earth, advice from friends or celebrities, or anything else to hear from God.

Pick up the Book. This is how He speaks to His people.

A Snowy Trail Run and Psalter Knots

My bride asked me a good question last night about the promises of safety to God's people in the Psalms (and many other Scriptures) and the seemingly contradictory reality we experience in this life. Last night I answered that the Scripture was true, regardless of our experience; sometimes this just isn't evident in the difficult moments of our lives. I was thinking about that question (and my answer) today on a very snowy trail run, and have something more to add to that answer.

It occurs to me that a lot of the Psalms that are quoted in the New Testament by Jesus (or applied to Jesus by others) are challenging in their interpretation and application. Consider these Psalms:

• “I will declare the decree: that is, the Lord hath said unto Me, ‘Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten thee’” (Psalm 2:7, quoted in Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5; 5:5).
• “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me” (Psalm 22:1, quoted in Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34).
• “I have said, ‘Ye are gods’” (Psalm 82:6, quoted by Jesus in John 10:34).
• “For He shall give His Angels charge over Thee to keep Thee in all thy ways. They shall bear Thee in their hands, that Thou hurt not Thy foot against a stone” (Psalm 91:11,12, quoted by Satan to Jesus in Matthew 4:6; Luke 4:10,11).
• “The Lord said unto my Lord, ‘Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool’” (Psalm 110:1, quoted in Matthew 22:44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42,43; Acts 2:34,35; Hebrews 1:13).
• “The Lord sware, and will not repent, ‘Thou art a Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek’” (Psalm 110:4, quoted in Hebrews 5:6; 7:17).
• “The stone, which the builders refused, is the head of the corner. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:22,23, quoted in Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10, 11; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:4,7).

Some for obvious reasons, and others for their implications, are difficult enough. If you or I were writing the New Testament, we'd probably pick easier or clearer Psalms to apply to Jesus. That just doesn't seem to be the pattern the Holy Spirit used in inspiring the New Testament. He seems to have caused the writers to record or apply rather knotty passages from the Psalter.

Today, running in the snow on cow trails, it occurred to me that this tendency of the Holy Spirit is actually illuminating for all the places where Scripture seems to have a difficult intersection with our experience in life. All of these challenging passages find their fulfillment in the Person and ministry of Jesus Christ, though this isn't immediately clear to us.

A few months ago I ran the Pass Mountain 50K. It was 11 miles further than I had ever run before. I had never even run a regular-length marathon before. I had no idea what was going to happen to my body on such a long run over difficult terrain. I had no idea how I would keep my mind from finding a very rational excuse for dropping out of the race. I'm a slow runner, but I knew that speed wasn't the issue. I had to - no matter what - keep putting one foot in front of the other for 31.1 miles. I was encouraged along by the beauty of the trails, the thrill of running with others, and the great support of my family, who drove to every aid station they could. I don't think I could have stayed on the trails for 31.1 miles if I were alone.

So, I guess when tragedy strikes that seems to contradict God's promises to His children, we need to hold fast to two things:

• Though it's not always clear, Scripture will always lead us to Christ. “All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, Who is Himself the focus of divine revelation” (Baptist Faith & Message 2000, I). We hold to the promises and truth of Scripture by faith, and faith is not always sight. 
• We stay in the Way the Scripture teaches us to go together. One foot in front of the other, even when we have no idea where that next step will bring us. We stay in it together, encouraging one another with the clearer truth of Scripture and humbly seeking the Spirit's wisdom on the knottier passages.

Jesus used some pretty odd passages in His teaching, and the Spirit applied some strange texts to Christ in the rest of the New Testament. By themselves, those passages would never have clearly made us think of Christ. But in the fullness of time and the completion of the revelation of Scripture, we begin to see how the pieces connect. I suspect the same is true in our lives in this world. Scripture and our experience don't always seem immediately in harmony. When this happens, though, we determine to hold to Scripture by faith, keep putting one foot in front of the other (together), and trust the Lord that one day our faith will become sight.