Blog https://www.feedingonchrist.com Tue, 19 Mar 2024 04:18:06 -0500 http://churchplantmedia.com/ The Gift and the Gifts of the Spirit https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-gift-and-the-gifts-of-the-spirit- https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-gift-and-the-gifts-of-the-spirit-#comments Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0600 https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-gift-and-the-gifts-of-the-spirit-

When our sons were young, they would enthusiastically tear into the gifts that their mother and I gave them at Christmas. If they unwrapped a toy or game, they were elated. If it was socks or a shirt, they were evidently disappointed. Their reactions revealed that they overvalued “exciting” gifts and undervalued “practical” gifts.

Sadly, many professing believers approach the gifts of the Spirit in a similar manner. They overvalue the idea of the miraculous spiritual gifts (e.g., tongues, prophecy, healing) and undervalue the common spiritual gifts (e.g., salvation and sanctifying fruit). Holding faulty views of the miraculous spiritual gifts is usually due to a failure to grasp the redemptive-historical purpose of the gifts. When we come to understand the biblical teaching about the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit and the ordinary gifts of the Spirit, we will better value the greater and continuing gifts in the life of the church today.

The New Testament sets out a variety of spiritual gifts that God has graciously given His people. Most notably, Scripture speaks of salvation as the “gift of God” (Rom. 6:23Eph. 2:8). Salvation is the gift of God because we are dead in our sins by nature (Eph. 2:1–3) and cannot do a single thing to earn eternal life. By way of association, Christ refers to Himself as “the gift of God.” He told the woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10). Jesus referred to Himself as “the gift of God” because He is the incarnate Son of God who came into the world to accomplish the unmerited and undeserved redemption of sinners.

After Christ ascended and sent the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Apostles repeatedly called the Spirit “the gift of God” (Acts 8:20; see also 3:38; 10:45). The Holy Spirit is Christ’s gift to His blood-bought people (John 7:37). The Spirit applies the redemption that Christ secured for the elect. By virtue of effecting a true spiritual union between Christ and believers, the Spirit makes it possible for Jesus to be the source of regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification for those He redeems (1 Cor. 1:30). The Spirit works in conjunction with the Son. The Spirit convicts, regenerates, indwells, justifies, sanctifies, adopts, seals, and ultimately glorifies all for whom Christ died. The Spirit causes fruit to be borne in the lives of those who are united to Christ (Gal. 5:22). Through the Spirit, Christ imparts His love (John 15:9–10), His joy (v. 11; 17:13), and His peace (14:27) to His people.

Closely connected to the New Testament teaching about the gift of the Spirit is its references to the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Heb. 2:4)—what Paul calls “spiritual gifts” (Rom. 1:111 Cor. 12:1; 14:1Eph. 4:8). The ascended Christ communicates these gifts to His people by His Spirit. Jesus exhibited the power of the Spirit in Himself, enabling Him to perform miraculous deeds that attested to the veracity of His messianic ministry. When He ascended, Christ sent the same Spirit by which He had performed those mighty works and wonders so that His Apostolic church would carry the messianic message of the gospel to the nations. Accordingly, the extraordinary gifts are intimately tied to the victorious, ascended Christ. As Sinclair Ferguson explains, “The correlation between the ascension of Christ and the descent of the Spirit signals that the gift and gifts of the Spirit serve as the external manifestation of the triumph and enthronement of Christ.”

The primary New Testament passages in which the Apostolic teaching about these gifts is found are Romans 12:6–81 Corinthians 12:8–11, 28Ephesians 4:11; and 1 Peter 4:10–11. A brief comparison of the gift lists leads to the conclusion that the gifts were all intimately tied to the foundational ministry of the Apostles and prophets (2 Cor. 12:11–13Eph. 2:20; 3:5). Dr. Ferguson again notes:

While an eclectic grouping of these various gifts is difficult, and perhaps even the attempt is wrong-headed, a basic structure is clearly present: the revelatory word through Apostle and prophet is foundational (Eph. 2:20), while all else is informed by and flows from this.

The first list of gifts in Ephesians is that of “word-gift” offices that Christ established. Paul speaks of Christ’s gift of “apostles, . . . prophets, . . . evangelists, . . . shepherds and teachers” (Eph. 4:11). Since the ministry of the Word is the primary means by which God advances His kingdom and builds up His people, Paul lists several “word-gift” offices. In short, those whom God has called to be ministers of His Word are to be received as Christ’s gift to His church. The offices of Apostle and prophet stand at the head of this list because of their foundational function. God appointed these office bearers to lay the foundation of the new covenant church and carry the gospel to the nations (Eph. 2:201 Thess. 2:132 Peter 3:15–16). Accordingly, He appointed them to disclose the full revelation of the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4–6). These offices were necessary only until the completion of the canon of Scripture (2:20; 3:5). The church now possesses the full revelatory Word of God (i.e., the completed Apostolic doctrine) in the pages of the Old and New Testaments.

During the Apostolic age, God imparted both ordinary and extraordinary spiritual gifts. The ordinary gifts were those that are common for all believers. They include conviction of sin, conversion, sanctification, and assurance of salvation. The extraordinary gifts are those supernatural gifts that God distributed to individuals at certain times for specific purposes in redemptive history. Jonathan Edwards explained this distinction:

The extraordinary gifts of the Spirit are the same with miraculous gifts; such as gifts of prophecy and working miracles, and others mentioned by the Apostle. . . . These are called extraordinary gifts of the Spirit because . . . they are bestowed . . . only on extraordinary occasions, as they were bestowed on the prophets and apostles to enable them to reveal the mind and will of God before the canon of the Scripture was complete. . . . But since the canon of the Scripture has been completed, and the Christian church fully founded and established, those extraordinary gifts have ceased. The ordinary gifts of the Spirit are such as are continued to the church of God throughout all ages; such gifts as are granted in conviction and conversion, and such as appertain to the building up of saints in holiness and comfort.

The extraordinary (i.e., miraculous) gifts of prophecy, tongues, and healing authenticated the divine message proclaimed by the Apostles among the nations (Acts 1:8). These gifts validated the Apostolic revelation of Christ. Tongues were “sign-gifts” to attest to the fact that God was carrying His kingdom from old covenant Israel to the nations. Accordingly, tongues testified that the blessing of the gospel had come to the nations. As O. Palmer Robertson explains:

The foreign tongues spoken on the day of Pentecost were a sign of covenantal curse for Israel. No longer would God speak exclusively to them in contrast with all the nations of the world. But at the same time, tongues at Pentecost served as a sign of the great blessing of God to all the nations of the world, including Israel. Tongues were a sign of the extension of the blessing of the covenant to all the nations of the world.

Miraculous healing was another authenticating sign-gift. Miraculous healing attested to the resurrection power of the gospel. The extraordinary sign-gifts ceased when the gospel spread to the ends of the earth and the church was established on the foundation of the completed Old and New Testament revelation. Likewise, there would be no further need for prophecy when the Apostles completed the written revelation of Christ and the canon of Scripture was closed.

First Corinthians 12–14 contains the lengthiest treatment of spiritual gifts in the New Testament. Here the Apostle Paul addresses what had become a widespread misuse of the gifts in the church. Members of the church were exalting lesser gifts over greater gifts, while others were making use of them in disorderly and self-aggrandizing ways. The members of the church failed to rightly understand the purpose for which God had given gifts. After comparing the importance of the gifts of tongues and prophecy, Paul contrasts the temporary function of the extraordinary gifts and the continual operation of the ordinary gifts. He does so to help his readers understand that the ordinary gifts of the Spirit are to be favored above the extraordinary (1 Cor. 12:31).

In 1 Corinthians 13:8–13, Paul contrasts three extraordinary gifts with three ordinary gifts (faith, hope, and love). He notes that the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit would eventually cease while the ordinary gifts would remain (vv. 8, 13). Paul says that while the extraordinary gifts would come to an end, the ordinary gifts would continue until the end of time. The need for extraordinary gifts ceased with the completion of God’s written revelation, but the need for the ordinary gifts remains throughout the gospel age (v. 13). Although faith and hope would outlast the extraordinary gifts in time, they will not outlast love in eternity. Faith and hope will continue to operate in the lives of believers until the consummation. Love is the greatest gift because it continues to function through all eternity: “Love never ends” (v. 8). When Christ returns, faith will be turned into sight and hope will be fulfilled (Rom. 8:24), but love will be the prevailing grace in the communion that believers will have with God and each other for all eternity. John Calvin concluded from Paul’s teaching in this section:

We should eagerly desire an excellence that will never come to an end. Hence love must be preferred before temporary and perishable gifts. Prophesyings have an end, tongues fail, knowledge ceases. Hence love is more excellent than they on this ground—that, while they fail, it survives.

Even when the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit were still operative in the Apostolic church, Paul’s message was simple: Without the accompanying exercise of love, the use of other spiritual gifts is vain (1 Cor. 13:1–4). This principle holds as true for those of us living in the twenty-first century as it did for believers in the Apostolic age. Love must always be the guiding motive behind the exercise of whatever gifts God has given us.

Although the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit have ceased in redemptive history, God continues to give His people a variety of gifts for service in the church, such as teaching and preaching, mercy, hospitality, generosity, and administration. He distributes these diversely to the members of His body so that they will, in turn, use them to build up others in the same body in love (Rom. 12:6–8Eph. 4:11–16). When gifts are exercised in love, the members of the body of Christ are unified and edified.

The ascended Christ has given His people the gift of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. The extra­ordinary gifts of the Spirit served the purpose of authenticating the divine origin of the Apostolic message. They accompanied and served the progress of revelation in Scripture and the foundation of the new covenant church. Accordingly, they ceased with the completion of the canon of Scripture. The ordinary gifts of the Spirit are those operations that are common to His saving work in the redeemed. The Spirit causes holiness and fruit to be borne in the lives of believers. While the extraordinary gifts were operative only during the Apostolic age, the ordinary gifts remain until the end of the age. Since love was to be the guiding principle by which believers exercised their spiritual gifts during the Apostolic age, it must be so whenever we exercise any gift for the edification of God’s people.

*This was first published in the January 2024 edition of Tabletalk Magazine.

]]>

When our sons were young, they would enthusiastically tear into the gifts that their mother and I gave them at Christmas. If they unwrapped a toy or game, they were elated. If it was socks or a shirt, they were evidently disappointed. Their reactions revealed that they overvalued “exciting” gifts and undervalued “practical” gifts.

Sadly, many professing believers approach the gifts of the Spirit in a similar manner. They overvalue the idea of the miraculous spiritual gifts (e.g., tongues, prophecy, healing) and undervalue the common spiritual gifts (e.g., salvation and sanctifying fruit). Holding faulty views of the miraculous spiritual gifts is usually due to a failure to grasp the redemptive-historical purpose of the gifts. When we come to understand the biblical teaching about the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit and the ordinary gifts of the Spirit, we will better value the greater and continuing gifts in the life of the church today.

The New Testament sets out a variety of spiritual gifts that God has graciously given His people. Most notably, Scripture speaks of salvation as the “gift of God” (Rom. 6:23Eph. 2:8). Salvation is the gift of God because we are dead in our sins by nature (Eph. 2:1–3) and cannot do a single thing to earn eternal life. By way of association, Christ refers to Himself as “the gift of God.” He told the woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10). Jesus referred to Himself as “the gift of God” because He is the incarnate Son of God who came into the world to accomplish the unmerited and undeserved redemption of sinners.

After Christ ascended and sent the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Apostles repeatedly called the Spirit “the gift of God” (Acts 8:20; see also 3:38; 10:45). The Holy Spirit is Christ’s gift to His blood-bought people (John 7:37). The Spirit applies the redemption that Christ secured for the elect. By virtue of effecting a true spiritual union between Christ and believers, the Spirit makes it possible for Jesus to be the source of regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification for those He redeems (1 Cor. 1:30). The Spirit works in conjunction with the Son. The Spirit convicts, regenerates, indwells, justifies, sanctifies, adopts, seals, and ultimately glorifies all for whom Christ died. The Spirit causes fruit to be borne in the lives of those who are united to Christ (Gal. 5:22). Through the Spirit, Christ imparts His love (John 15:9–10), His joy (v. 11; 17:13), and His peace (14:27) to His people.

Closely connected to the New Testament teaching about the gift of the Spirit is its references to the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Heb. 2:4)—what Paul calls “spiritual gifts” (Rom. 1:111 Cor. 12:1; 14:1Eph. 4:8). The ascended Christ communicates these gifts to His people by His Spirit. Jesus exhibited the power of the Spirit in Himself, enabling Him to perform miraculous deeds that attested to the veracity of His messianic ministry. When He ascended, Christ sent the same Spirit by which He had performed those mighty works and wonders so that His Apostolic church would carry the messianic message of the gospel to the nations. Accordingly, the extraordinary gifts are intimately tied to the victorious, ascended Christ. As Sinclair Ferguson explains, “The correlation between the ascension of Christ and the descent of the Spirit signals that the gift and gifts of the Spirit serve as the external manifestation of the triumph and enthronement of Christ.”

The primary New Testament passages in which the Apostolic teaching about these gifts is found are Romans 12:6–81 Corinthians 12:8–11, 28Ephesians 4:11; and 1 Peter 4:10–11. A brief comparison of the gift lists leads to the conclusion that the gifts were all intimately tied to the foundational ministry of the Apostles and prophets (2 Cor. 12:11–13Eph. 2:20; 3:5). Dr. Ferguson again notes:

While an eclectic grouping of these various gifts is difficult, and perhaps even the attempt is wrong-headed, a basic structure is clearly present: the revelatory word through Apostle and prophet is foundational (Eph. 2:20), while all else is informed by and flows from this.

The first list of gifts in Ephesians is that of “word-gift” offices that Christ established. Paul speaks of Christ’s gift of “apostles, . . . prophets, . . . evangelists, . . . shepherds and teachers” (Eph. 4:11). Since the ministry of the Word is the primary means by which God advances His kingdom and builds up His people, Paul lists several “word-gift” offices. In short, those whom God has called to be ministers of His Word are to be received as Christ’s gift to His church. The offices of Apostle and prophet stand at the head of this list because of their foundational function. God appointed these office bearers to lay the foundation of the new covenant church and carry the gospel to the nations (Eph. 2:201 Thess. 2:132 Peter 3:15–16). Accordingly, He appointed them to disclose the full revelation of the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4–6). These offices were necessary only until the completion of the canon of Scripture (2:20; 3:5). The church now possesses the full revelatory Word of God (i.e., the completed Apostolic doctrine) in the pages of the Old and New Testaments.

During the Apostolic age, God imparted both ordinary and extraordinary spiritual gifts. The ordinary gifts were those that are common for all believers. They include conviction of sin, conversion, sanctification, and assurance of salvation. The extraordinary gifts are those supernatural gifts that God distributed to individuals at certain times for specific purposes in redemptive history. Jonathan Edwards explained this distinction:

The extraordinary gifts of the Spirit are the same with miraculous gifts; such as gifts of prophecy and working miracles, and others mentioned by the Apostle. . . . These are called extraordinary gifts of the Spirit because . . . they are bestowed . . . only on extraordinary occasions, as they were bestowed on the prophets and apostles to enable them to reveal the mind and will of God before the canon of the Scripture was complete. . . . But since the canon of the Scripture has been completed, and the Christian church fully founded and established, those extraordinary gifts have ceased. The ordinary gifts of the Spirit are such as are continued to the church of God throughout all ages; such gifts as are granted in conviction and conversion, and such as appertain to the building up of saints in holiness and comfort.

The extraordinary (i.e., miraculous) gifts of prophecy, tongues, and healing authenticated the divine message proclaimed by the Apostles among the nations (Acts 1:8). These gifts validated the Apostolic revelation of Christ. Tongues were “sign-gifts” to attest to the fact that God was carrying His kingdom from old covenant Israel to the nations. Accordingly, tongues testified that the blessing of the gospel had come to the nations. As O. Palmer Robertson explains:

The foreign tongues spoken on the day of Pentecost were a sign of covenantal curse for Israel. No longer would God speak exclusively to them in contrast with all the nations of the world. But at the same time, tongues at Pentecost served as a sign of the great blessing of God to all the nations of the world, including Israel. Tongues were a sign of the extension of the blessing of the covenant to all the nations of the world.

Miraculous healing was another authenticating sign-gift. Miraculous healing attested to the resurrection power of the gospel. The extraordinary sign-gifts ceased when the gospel spread to the ends of the earth and the church was established on the foundation of the completed Old and New Testament revelation. Likewise, there would be no further need for prophecy when the Apostles completed the written revelation of Christ and the canon of Scripture was closed.

First Corinthians 12–14 contains the lengthiest treatment of spiritual gifts in the New Testament. Here the Apostle Paul addresses what had become a widespread misuse of the gifts in the church. Members of the church were exalting lesser gifts over greater gifts, while others were making use of them in disorderly and self-aggrandizing ways. The members of the church failed to rightly understand the purpose for which God had given gifts. After comparing the importance of the gifts of tongues and prophecy, Paul contrasts the temporary function of the extraordinary gifts and the continual operation of the ordinary gifts. He does so to help his readers understand that the ordinary gifts of the Spirit are to be favored above the extraordinary (1 Cor. 12:31).

In 1 Corinthians 13:8–13, Paul contrasts three extraordinary gifts with three ordinary gifts (faith, hope, and love). He notes that the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit would eventually cease while the ordinary gifts would remain (vv. 8, 13). Paul says that while the extraordinary gifts would come to an end, the ordinary gifts would continue until the end of time. The need for extraordinary gifts ceased with the completion of God’s written revelation, but the need for the ordinary gifts remains throughout the gospel age (v. 13). Although faith and hope would outlast the extraordinary gifts in time, they will not outlast love in eternity. Faith and hope will continue to operate in the lives of believers until the consummation. Love is the greatest gift because it continues to function through all eternity: “Love never ends” (v. 8). When Christ returns, faith will be turned into sight and hope will be fulfilled (Rom. 8:24), but love will be the prevailing grace in the communion that believers will have with God and each other for all eternity. John Calvin concluded from Paul’s teaching in this section:

We should eagerly desire an excellence that will never come to an end. Hence love must be preferred before temporary and perishable gifts. Prophesyings have an end, tongues fail, knowledge ceases. Hence love is more excellent than they on this ground—that, while they fail, it survives.

Even when the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit were still operative in the Apostolic church, Paul’s message was simple: Without the accompanying exercise of love, the use of other spiritual gifts is vain (1 Cor. 13:1–4). This principle holds as true for those of us living in the twenty-first century as it did for believers in the Apostolic age. Love must always be the guiding motive behind the exercise of whatever gifts God has given us.

Although the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit have ceased in redemptive history, God continues to give His people a variety of gifts for service in the church, such as teaching and preaching, mercy, hospitality, generosity, and administration. He distributes these diversely to the members of His body so that they will, in turn, use them to build up others in the same body in love (Rom. 12:6–8Eph. 4:11–16). When gifts are exercised in love, the members of the body of Christ are unified and edified.

The ascended Christ has given His people the gift of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. The extra­ordinary gifts of the Spirit served the purpose of authenticating the divine origin of the Apostolic message. They accompanied and served the progress of revelation in Scripture and the foundation of the new covenant church. Accordingly, they ceased with the completion of the canon of Scripture. The ordinary gifts of the Spirit are those operations that are common to His saving work in the redeemed. The Spirit causes holiness and fruit to be borne in the lives of believers. While the extraordinary gifts were operative only during the Apostolic age, the ordinary gifts remain until the end of the age. Since love was to be the guiding principle by which believers exercised their spiritual gifts during the Apostolic age, it must be so whenever we exercise any gift for the edification of God’s people.

*This was first published in the January 2024 edition of Tabletalk Magazine.

]]>
Old Testament Signs in Redemptive History https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-biblical-theology-of-the-old-covenant-signs- https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-biblical-theology-of-the-old-covenant-signs-#comments Wed, 10 Jan 2024 10:00:00 -0600 https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-biblical-theology-of-the-old-covenant-signs- Over at Ligonier, I recently contributed a short series on the Old Covenant signs. When each of the Old Covenant signs (i.e., the rainbow, Sabbath, circumcision, and the Passover) are viewed in light of the fulfillment of all that they typified, we come to understand a great deal about the work of Christ. Here are the four installments in this series on the Old Covenant signs in redemptive history: 


The Rainbow as a Sign of the Covenant

The Sabbath as a Sign of the Covenant 

Circumcision as a Sign of the Covenant 

The Passover as a Sign of the Covenant

 

]]>
Over at Ligonier, I recently contributed a short series on the Old Covenant signs. When each of the Old Covenant signs (i.e., the rainbow, Sabbath, circumcision, and the Passover) are viewed in light of the fulfillment of all that they typified, we come to understand a great deal about the work of Christ. Here are the four installments in this series on the Old Covenant signs in redemptive history: 


The Rainbow as a Sign of the Covenant

The Sabbath as a Sign of the Covenant 

Circumcision as a Sign of the Covenant 

The Passover as a Sign of the Covenant

 

]]>
Organic Christian Living in the Local Church https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/organic-christian-living-in-the-local-church- https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/organic-christian-living-in-the-local-church-#comments Wed, 03 Jan 2024 09:00:00 -0600 https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/organic-christian-living-in-the-local-church- The New Testament gives us more than enough commands for believers to live out the Christian life organically among the members of the congregation to which we belong. There are 59 "one another" passages in the New Testament that we can only understand and carry out in light of the relationship each believer has to other believers in the same worshiping community. Here are a few of the commands through which God reveals how He desires for believers to live out their Christian lives organically with other believers in the local church:

  • “Bear with the failings of the weak” (Rom. 15:1)
  • “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another” (Rom. 12:10)
  • “Serve one another through love” (Gal. 5:13)
  • “Bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2)
  • “Share all good things with the one who teaches” (Gal. 6:6)
  • “Do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10)
  • “Bear with one another in love, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering” (Eph. 4:2)
  • “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32)
  • “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord.” (Col. 3:16)
  • “Increase and abound in love to one another and to all” (1 Thess. 3:12)
  • “Exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13)
  • “Consider one another in order to stir up love and good works” (Heb. 10:24)
  • “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account” (Heb. 13:7)
  • “Visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27), 
  • “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16)
  • “Love one another fervently with a pure heart” (1 Peter 1:22)
  • “Have compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous” (1 Pet. 3:8)
  • “Be hospitable to one another without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:9)
  • “Minister to one another, as each one has received a gift” (1 Peter 4:10)
  • “Love one another” (1 John 3:11, 23; 4:7, 11, 12; 2 John 1:5). 

These are merely a few of the recurrent of apostolic imperatives that God has given to the members of His church. All of them require prayerful and purposeful pursuit. They involve personal commitment, sacrifice, and diligence. They will only truly happen in a spiritually organic manner. They will never occur through programs or organizational structure in a local church. 

We love the local church of which we belong because it is God’s sphere of special, redemptive blessings in Christ (Eph. 3:10). Accordingly, we should all want to see believers giving the better part of their lives to the growth, provision and nourishment of the local church. God never intended for programs or community organization to serve as replacements for the organic acts of love and service that are of the essence of the Christian community of believers. The church exists to bring glory to God, to spread and defend the Gospel, to build up and equip the saints unto mutual edification in love, and to perform the good works for which Christ has redeemed a people (Eph. 2:10; 4:11-16). To this end, the Christian life and Christian ministry requires personal commitment, sacrifice and diligence. 

There is always the danger that believers will grow weary in well doing (Gal. 6:9). When this happens many begin to look for alternatives that they believe will make them feel like a fruitful Christian. When church members cease “giving all diligence” to living out the Christian life personally and in the context of service to others in the local church they become susceptible to start trusting in programs and extracurricular activities. Many turn to programmatic churches or parachurch ministries for solutions. A mechanistic church mindset is a counterfeit to an organic church mindset. Adopting a mechanistic view of the church has detrimental consequences. Burk Parsons makes the important observation that often “the local church programs its people with so many activities that people have no time left to spend with their families and friends to enjoy life together and rest together—let alone take care of widows and orphans.” It is altogether possible to be involved in activities in a local church without being a spiritually active member of the body. Both pastors and congregants can fall into the error of embracing a mechanistic ministry mindset and start to trust in programs or external accommodations to do the work of ministry for them. This is one of the more difficult errors to identify and expose, since those who have begun to do these things are usually not aware that they have begun to do so. It is a subtle modus operandi.

To be sure, there is a proper place for church programs and parachurch ministries. In fact, the more a church is a growing organism, the more organization it will necessarily require. The implementation of programs and ministries must come as a corollary of the developing organic Christian living in the body. The more we desire what God desires for His church, the more we will better understand the blessing of the organic love and service of the members of the body. When we understand the blessing of the organic ministry among the members of the congregation, we’ll rightly utilize programs and organizational structure for the encouragement of the members towards one another. 

As we enter a new year with new personal goals and desires, the Lord wants His people to commit to Christian living among the members of the body. We must resist the urge to look to practices and programs in the local church to live out the Christian life or do the work of ministry for us. Our God has given us the enormous privilege and responsibility of diligently living out, daily, our Christian lives in Christ. Let’s commit ourselves to the practice of seeking to live the organic Christian life in the context of the local church to which we belong. 

]]>
The New Testament gives us more than enough commands for believers to live out the Christian life organically among the members of the congregation to which we belong. There are 59 "one another" passages in the New Testament that we can only understand and carry out in light of the relationship each believer has to other believers in the same worshiping community. Here are a few of the commands through which God reveals how He desires for believers to live out their Christian lives organically with other believers in the local church:

  • “Bear with the failings of the weak” (Rom. 15:1)
  • “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another” (Rom. 12:10)
  • “Serve one another through love” (Gal. 5:13)
  • “Bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2)
  • “Share all good things with the one who teaches” (Gal. 6:6)
  • “Do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10)
  • “Bear with one another in love, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering” (Eph. 4:2)
  • “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32)
  • “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord.” (Col. 3:16)
  • “Increase and abound in love to one another and to all” (1 Thess. 3:12)
  • “Exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13)
  • “Consider one another in order to stir up love and good works” (Heb. 10:24)
  • “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account” (Heb. 13:7)
  • “Visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27), 
  • “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16)
  • “Love one another fervently with a pure heart” (1 Peter 1:22)
  • “Have compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous” (1 Pet. 3:8)
  • “Be hospitable to one another without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:9)
  • “Minister to one another, as each one has received a gift” (1 Peter 4:10)
  • “Love one another” (1 John 3:11, 23; 4:7, 11, 12; 2 John 1:5). 

These are merely a few of the recurrent of apostolic imperatives that God has given to the members of His church. All of them require prayerful and purposeful pursuit. They involve personal commitment, sacrifice, and diligence. They will only truly happen in a spiritually organic manner. They will never occur through programs or organizational structure in a local church. 

We love the local church of which we belong because it is God’s sphere of special, redemptive blessings in Christ (Eph. 3:10). Accordingly, we should all want to see believers giving the better part of their lives to the growth, provision and nourishment of the local church. God never intended for programs or community organization to serve as replacements for the organic acts of love and service that are of the essence of the Christian community of believers. The church exists to bring glory to God, to spread and defend the Gospel, to build up and equip the saints unto mutual edification in love, and to perform the good works for which Christ has redeemed a people (Eph. 2:10; 4:11-16). To this end, the Christian life and Christian ministry requires personal commitment, sacrifice and diligence. 

There is always the danger that believers will grow weary in well doing (Gal. 6:9). When this happens many begin to look for alternatives that they believe will make them feel like a fruitful Christian. When church members cease “giving all diligence” to living out the Christian life personally and in the context of service to others in the local church they become susceptible to start trusting in programs and extracurricular activities. Many turn to programmatic churches or parachurch ministries for solutions. A mechanistic church mindset is a counterfeit to an organic church mindset. Adopting a mechanistic view of the church has detrimental consequences. Burk Parsons makes the important observation that often “the local church programs its people with so many activities that people have no time left to spend with their families and friends to enjoy life together and rest together—let alone take care of widows and orphans.” It is altogether possible to be involved in activities in a local church without being a spiritually active member of the body. Both pastors and congregants can fall into the error of embracing a mechanistic ministry mindset and start to trust in programs or external accommodations to do the work of ministry for them. This is one of the more difficult errors to identify and expose, since those who have begun to do these things are usually not aware that they have begun to do so. It is a subtle modus operandi.

To be sure, there is a proper place for church programs and parachurch ministries. In fact, the more a church is a growing organism, the more organization it will necessarily require. The implementation of programs and ministries must come as a corollary of the developing organic Christian living in the body. The more we desire what God desires for His church, the more we will better understand the blessing of the organic love and service of the members of the body. When we understand the blessing of the organic ministry among the members of the congregation, we’ll rightly utilize programs and organizational structure for the encouragement of the members towards one another. 

As we enter a new year with new personal goals and desires, the Lord wants His people to commit to Christian living among the members of the body. We must resist the urge to look to practices and programs in the local church to live out the Christian life or do the work of ministry for us. Our God has given us the enormous privilege and responsibility of diligently living out, daily, our Christian lives in Christ. Let’s commit ourselves to the practice of seeking to live the organic Christian life in the context of the local church to which we belong. 

]]>
Always Facing the Light https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/always-facing-the-light https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/always-facing-the-light#comments Sat, 30 Dec 2023 09:00:00 -0600 https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/always-facing-the-light

An interesting series of biblical-theological allusions to light and darkness emerge in the Gospel of John. In the first 14 verses of chapter 1, the apostle John takes his readers from the preexistence of Christ through the creation of the world by Christ to the incarnation of Christ. Between declaring that "all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made" (v. 3) and "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (v. 14), John tells us,

"In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world" (John 1:6-9).  

When we come to chapter 3, the apostle picks back up on the metaphor of light and darkness. After telling us that Nicodemus came to Jesus by cover of night, he writes: And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God" (John 3:19-21). In chapter 8, Jesus expressly declared what was already taught in chapters 1 and 3 when He said, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (John 8:12). In chapter 11, Jesus links the metaphor of light to the light of the creation day when He said, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him" (John 11:9-10). In chapter 12, He likens His time in the world to the rising of the sun: The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up’"? Who is this Son of Man? Then Jesus said to them, 'A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light...I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.'" (John 12:34-3646). Given the redemptive-historical nature of John's Gospel (i.e. creation, tabernacle and Covenant themes), it seems altogether appropriate for us to go back to the Old Testament to understand the biblical theology of the light/darkness metaphors. In order to understand more of the glory of Christ in the work of redemption we must first go back to the creation account of Genesis 1.

'Let There Be Light'

The very first words of God in the realm of special revelation, were 'Let there be light.' We cannot emphasize the importance of these words enough. There is a rich theological intentionality to the Scriptures opening with a focus on darkness and light. When God first formed the heavens and the earth, Moses tells us that "the earth was without form and void, and that darkness spread across the face of the deep." It was into this world of darkness that God spoke those very first words, "Let there be light!" The point of Genesis 1:3 is not for you to try to understand scientifically how there could have been light without the luminary bodies, but to learn the theological rationale for light in the world. First, God made light so that man could see the glories of His handiwork in creation. Second, God made light without a sun so that man would understand that all things derived their life and preservation from God apart from the means to which we are tempted to attribute power and sustenance. Third (and most important to our considerations here), we are to understand that God is tell us something about the redemptive work that will occur after the fall of man.

There was Evening and Morning

The biblical theology of light and darkness continues in the first chapter of Genesis when we read the refrain (after each creative day), "there was evening and there was morning..." In his book The Cross in the Experience of Our LordR. A. Finlayson offered, what I believe to be, the best rationale for the days of creation being delineated by "evening and morning" rather than by "morning and evening" when he wrote:

God is at work as of old in a progressive development of light. We remember that, in the first creation, light came progressively. It was not the sun in its meridian splendor that shone; indeed there is evidence that the sun had come at a much later period than the light. But the light did come, it came to wax and grow. And it is significant that at every period in God’s creative work, we read, ‘And the evening and the morning were the first day, the evening and the morning were the second day’, and so on. Why should it be evening and morning?" is is not after the manner of man’s toil; he works from morning to evening. It is not enough to say that this is a Jewish division of time. We have to get behind that Jewish division of time, and ask how it came about that the Jew was taught to regard time as moving from evening to morning. It was God’s pattern of workmanship. He is always facing the light, his back is on the evening, his face is towards the waxing light, and the rising sun. And if that was true in the natural creation, it is blessedly true in the spiritual creation. When God shines in our hearts with spiritual illumination, it is twilight with our souls; we see, though we see but dimly. Yet God comes with waxing light, and as God’s work develops, the light progresses until, eventually, it reaches noonday splendor. Our face is towards the sunrising, and our souls are looking towards the meridian splendor of God’s fully developed work, and of God’s self-revelation to our souls. We are always going from the evening to the morning as the work of grace progresses in our souls. We know that God is at work once again, in an ordered sequence of events, as he was in the first creation, for we know that there was a sequence in the divine operation. But the light was a harbinger of all life upon earth. As long as night had shrouded the world there was nothing on earth but desolation and death; nothing could live where the earth was enveloped in darkness; in the outer cold of space there was nothing but death. But when light came, things began to happen on earth. Not only did the clouds lift and the darkness break, and the day dawn, and the mountains of snow and ice melt, but life came with the light. " e grass began to grow in the field, the trees in the forest, fish were placed in the ocean, birds in the air, beasts in the field, and eventually man came. But the light was the prerequisite of life, and the harbinger of every blessing that God was to give to the world. In like manner, is it not true that while the darkness of nature shrouded our hearts, there was nothing there but desolation and death? As long as we are ignorant of God in Jesus Christ we are spiritually dead; there can be no life at all as long as we are estranged from God, and aliens to his life and love. But when that light shone into our hearts, then life came. It was a harbinger of every blessing; every growth and every development in our being came because the light of the knowledge of Jesus shone into our hearts. Is it not true then, that we, who have been saved by grace, have felt the creative power of God? Is it not true that the God who laid the foundations of that first creation, and brought light out of primeval darkness, is the God who has shone into our hearts, and laid the foundations of a new creation which sin will not mar, and the flesh and the Devil cannot destroy? Yes, our dealings have been with the Creator-God who made himself known savingly and redeemingly to us in Jesus Christ his Son.1

Pillar of Fire

As redemptive history unfolds we find other types and shadows that carry the light/darkness theme forward until the coming of Christ. One of the principle types that we come across is the pillar of fire. In Exodus 13:21 we are told of this theophany when Moses writes that "the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night." The pillar of fire symbolized the presence of God leading His people through the wilderness. He is the One who gives light to His people. He makes day into night and night into day. In the typical redemption of Israel out of Egypt, God was intimating that He would make spiritual darkness into spiritual light for His people. In the coming down from heaven and the ascending to Heaven, Jesus shows that the pillar of fire was pointing to Him. He appeared to lead His people through the greater Exodus out of bondage to Satan, sin and death. He ascended to glory to lead them to be with Him where He is (John 14:1-3). Throughout our wilderness wandering in this life, He is the light of the world who shines into the spiritual darkness of our hearts and this world to give us the light of life. Interestingly, when Jesus ascended to glory He promised to come in the Person of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, Luke tells us that (what appeared to be) little pillars of fire rested on each of the disciples (Acts 2:1-4). In this way, we are to understand that the ascended Christ descends again in the Person of the Holy Spirit to lead them through the darkness of the wilderness of this world and onto glory.

The Plagues of Egypt and the Covenant Curses

The second to most severe plague that God sent on Egypt was "thick darkness." Considering the fact that there was something of an exponential increase in the severity of the plagues, we are forced to ask the question, "What was so terrible about darkness?" When we consider that the blessing of God that rested on His world was manifest most clearly from the creation of light on the first day, and the sustaining of all created life through that light, we start to understand that darkness and death are synonymous symbols of the curse. Without light we would not be able to see the glory and beauty of the world that God created; but, worse than this, without light nothing would be able to grow on the earth to sustain man. Having brought Israel out of Egypt, God graciously entered into covenant with His people at Sinai. After giving Israel all of the commands and statutes of the Law, God promised blessing upon obedience and cursing upon disobedience. In Deuteronomy 27:28-29 we read: The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you. "The curse was reiterated in temporal and typical forms throughout the history of redemption. Just as Adam and Eve were “cut off” from paradise, God promised to “cut off” the covenant people for disobedience (Num. 15:31). There was a close relationship between the plagues of Egypt and the covenant curses (Deut. 28:21–2958–61). The second-to-last plague God sent on Egypt was darkness. This was also a covenant curse promised to Israel (Deut. 28:29). It served as a picture of the “outer darkness” spoken of by our Lord (Matt. 25:30). Whether it was in the plagues that fell on Egypt or the covenant curses promised to Israel (Deut. 27–30), the curse resurfaced as a reminder of the justice of God and the consequences of sin."2 Of course. we are painfully aware that neither Israel nor we can keep God's Law. This means that we are under the curse of the Law by nature. Because we have loved the works of darkness. we are deserving of the eternal outer darkness of God's just punishment. The Scriptures give us one of the most amazing details about what the just and gracious God has done to remove His curse from us and to bless us with "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." God sent His perfectly holy Son, who is himself the Light of the world, into the dark world to become "a curse for us" (Gal. 3:   ). When He was nailed to the cross, our Lord Jesus experienced the full wrath and curse of God for our sin. Interestingly, Matthew tells us that, at the precise time when He was being made a curse for us, Jesus experienced the darkening of the sun. Thomas Brooks, in his Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, explained the significance of the darkness at Calvary when he wrote, "Dionysius being in Egypt, at the time of Christ's suffering, and seeing an eclipse of the sun, and knowing it to be contrary to nature, cried out, "Either the God of nature suffers, or the frame of the world will be dissolved."3

Sun of Righteousness

At the close of the Old Testament canon the prophet Malachi foretold a day when "the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings" (Mal. 4:2). Of this prophecy, Jonathan Edwards noted:

Tis manifest that 'tis the same day that is here spoken of, for there, in the day of his coming, it is said Christ should sit as a refiner's fire, and this fire is represented as the fire of a furnace that is for the purifying of silver; and here, the day is said to “burn as an oven.” This is the day of Christ's coming, the messenger of the covenant, or the day of the Sun of righteousness arising. The times of the old testament were as time of night in comparison of the times of the new testament, because gospel light shall then be so much more clear and full: for though the old testament times were not left wholly without gospel light, yet what light they had was like the dim light of the stars in comparison of the light that was afterwards in the gospel day, when Christ the Sun arose.3

When the Light of the world came into the world, He came to spread His redemptive light across the face of a world darkened by sin and Satan. As the physical sun is the only source of daylight--spreading it's beams across the face of the earth--so Christ is the only sopurce of light to the world.4 At the cross, it was as if the Sun had set under the severe wrath of God that was upon Him. In His resurrection from the dead, the Sun of Righteousness arose with healing in His wings. It in only through faith in the crucified, risen, ascended and reigning Sun of Righteousness that we have light and life.

New Testament Analogies 

Having already briefly considered the Apostle John's use of the light/darkness symbolism in the fourth Gospel, it will help us to look at a few other examples in the New Testament. Perhaps the most well known is that of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:6, where we read, "It is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Eric Alexander captures the essence of Paul's use of the "creation light" analogy in the explanation of God's work of regeneration so well when he writes:

The New Testament ransacks the universe for comparisons that will be adequate to describe what has happened to us when we became God's children. And the only two possible comparisons are the creation of the universe at the beginning and the resurrection of Jesus on the third day. So Paul says the same God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts (2 Cor 4). And the same God who raised the Lord Jesus from the grave and broke its bondage over him has raised us in Jesus into newness of life.6

New creation can only be compared with the supernatural greatness and power of God in the original creation. In this way, we can understand that Genesis 1:3 was preparing us for the saving work of Christ. Creation serves the redemptive purposes of God. This concept is not simply a literary analogy--it is a theological construct that is part of the consummated plan and purpose of God. In the last book of the Bible, we find an intriguing parallel/contrast to what is taught about the creation light in the first book of the Bible. Like bookends to a glorious story we are told that in the New Heavens and the New Earth, "The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light" (In Revelation 21:23). The light of Genesis 1:3 proleptically points to the end of the story when God Himself will be the light in the world to come. This is partly what is intimated when the Apostle John says, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." In the New Heavens and New Earth, we will be shrouded in the glory and splendor of His holy light. All of His works will be seen and rejoiced in as they are seen by the effulgent beauty and glory of Christ.   _______________________________________________________________________

1. R. A. Finlayson The Cross in the Experience of Our Lord (PDF of first chapter)

2. An excerpt from a January 2011 Tabletalk article, "A Life of Blessing and Rest."

3. Thomas Brooks Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices (Philadelphia: Thomas Pounder, 1810) p. 25

4. Jonathan Edwards sermon taken from Sermons and Discourses, 1739-1742 (WJE Online Vol. 22)"Christ the Spiritual Sun" (1739).

5. This East of Eden episode gives a more theologically robust examination of Edwards' sermon and the biblical-theological reflections on Christ as the spiritual Sun.

6. Eric Alexander Urbana Lecture on Ephesians 1-3 p. 20  

]]>

An interesting series of biblical-theological allusions to light and darkness emerge in the Gospel of John. In the first 14 verses of chapter 1, the apostle John takes his readers from the preexistence of Christ through the creation of the world by Christ to the incarnation of Christ. Between declaring that "all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made" (v. 3) and "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (v. 14), John tells us,

"In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world" (John 1:6-9).  

When we come to chapter 3, the apostle picks back up on the metaphor of light and darkness. After telling us that Nicodemus came to Jesus by cover of night, he writes: And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God" (John 3:19-21). In chapter 8, Jesus expressly declared what was already taught in chapters 1 and 3 when He said, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (John 8:12). In chapter 11, Jesus links the metaphor of light to the light of the creation day when He said, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him" (John 11:9-10). In chapter 12, He likens His time in the world to the rising of the sun: The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up’"? Who is this Son of Man? Then Jesus said to them, 'A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light...I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.'" (John 12:34-3646). Given the redemptive-historical nature of John's Gospel (i.e. creation, tabernacle and Covenant themes), it seems altogether appropriate for us to go back to the Old Testament to understand the biblical theology of the light/darkness metaphors. In order to understand more of the glory of Christ in the work of redemption we must first go back to the creation account of Genesis 1.

'Let There Be Light'

The very first words of God in the realm of special revelation, were 'Let there be light.' We cannot emphasize the importance of these words enough. There is a rich theological intentionality to the Scriptures opening with a focus on darkness and light. When God first formed the heavens and the earth, Moses tells us that "the earth was without form and void, and that darkness spread across the face of the deep." It was into this world of darkness that God spoke those very first words, "Let there be light!" The point of Genesis 1:3 is not for you to try to understand scientifically how there could have been light without the luminary bodies, but to learn the theological rationale for light in the world. First, God made light so that man could see the glories of His handiwork in creation. Second, God made light without a sun so that man would understand that all things derived their life and preservation from God apart from the means to which we are tempted to attribute power and sustenance. Third (and most important to our considerations here), we are to understand that God is tell us something about the redemptive work that will occur after the fall of man.

There was Evening and Morning

The biblical theology of light and darkness continues in the first chapter of Genesis when we read the refrain (after each creative day), "there was evening and there was morning..." In his book The Cross in the Experience of Our LordR. A. Finlayson offered, what I believe to be, the best rationale for the days of creation being delineated by "evening and morning" rather than by "morning and evening" when he wrote:

God is at work as of old in a progressive development of light. We remember that, in the first creation, light came progressively. It was not the sun in its meridian splendor that shone; indeed there is evidence that the sun had come at a much later period than the light. But the light did come, it came to wax and grow. And it is significant that at every period in God’s creative work, we read, ‘And the evening and the morning were the first day, the evening and the morning were the second day’, and so on. Why should it be evening and morning?" is is not after the manner of man’s toil; he works from morning to evening. It is not enough to say that this is a Jewish division of time. We have to get behind that Jewish division of time, and ask how it came about that the Jew was taught to regard time as moving from evening to morning. It was God’s pattern of workmanship. He is always facing the light, his back is on the evening, his face is towards the waxing light, and the rising sun. And if that was true in the natural creation, it is blessedly true in the spiritual creation. When God shines in our hearts with spiritual illumination, it is twilight with our souls; we see, though we see but dimly. Yet God comes with waxing light, and as God’s work develops, the light progresses until, eventually, it reaches noonday splendor. Our face is towards the sunrising, and our souls are looking towards the meridian splendor of God’s fully developed work, and of God’s self-revelation to our souls. We are always going from the evening to the morning as the work of grace progresses in our souls. We know that God is at work once again, in an ordered sequence of events, as he was in the first creation, for we know that there was a sequence in the divine operation. But the light was a harbinger of all life upon earth. As long as night had shrouded the world there was nothing on earth but desolation and death; nothing could live where the earth was enveloped in darkness; in the outer cold of space there was nothing but death. But when light came, things began to happen on earth. Not only did the clouds lift and the darkness break, and the day dawn, and the mountains of snow and ice melt, but life came with the light. " e grass began to grow in the field, the trees in the forest, fish were placed in the ocean, birds in the air, beasts in the field, and eventually man came. But the light was the prerequisite of life, and the harbinger of every blessing that God was to give to the world. In like manner, is it not true that while the darkness of nature shrouded our hearts, there was nothing there but desolation and death? As long as we are ignorant of God in Jesus Christ we are spiritually dead; there can be no life at all as long as we are estranged from God, and aliens to his life and love. But when that light shone into our hearts, then life came. It was a harbinger of every blessing; every growth and every development in our being came because the light of the knowledge of Jesus shone into our hearts. Is it not true then, that we, who have been saved by grace, have felt the creative power of God? Is it not true that the God who laid the foundations of that first creation, and brought light out of primeval darkness, is the God who has shone into our hearts, and laid the foundations of a new creation which sin will not mar, and the flesh and the Devil cannot destroy? Yes, our dealings have been with the Creator-God who made himself known savingly and redeemingly to us in Jesus Christ his Son.1

Pillar of Fire

As redemptive history unfolds we find other types and shadows that carry the light/darkness theme forward until the coming of Christ. One of the principle types that we come across is the pillar of fire. In Exodus 13:21 we are told of this theophany when Moses writes that "the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night." The pillar of fire symbolized the presence of God leading His people through the wilderness. He is the One who gives light to His people. He makes day into night and night into day. In the typical redemption of Israel out of Egypt, God was intimating that He would make spiritual darkness into spiritual light for His people. In the coming down from heaven and the ascending to Heaven, Jesus shows that the pillar of fire was pointing to Him. He appeared to lead His people through the greater Exodus out of bondage to Satan, sin and death. He ascended to glory to lead them to be with Him where He is (John 14:1-3). Throughout our wilderness wandering in this life, He is the light of the world who shines into the spiritual darkness of our hearts and this world to give us the light of life. Interestingly, when Jesus ascended to glory He promised to come in the Person of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, Luke tells us that (what appeared to be) little pillars of fire rested on each of the disciples (Acts 2:1-4). In this way, we are to understand that the ascended Christ descends again in the Person of the Holy Spirit to lead them through the darkness of the wilderness of this world and onto glory.

The Plagues of Egypt and the Covenant Curses

The second to most severe plague that God sent on Egypt was "thick darkness." Considering the fact that there was something of an exponential increase in the severity of the plagues, we are forced to ask the question, "What was so terrible about darkness?" When we consider that the blessing of God that rested on His world was manifest most clearly from the creation of light on the first day, and the sustaining of all created life through that light, we start to understand that darkness and death are synonymous symbols of the curse. Without light we would not be able to see the glory and beauty of the world that God created; but, worse than this, without light nothing would be able to grow on the earth to sustain man. Having brought Israel out of Egypt, God graciously entered into covenant with His people at Sinai. After giving Israel all of the commands and statutes of the Law, God promised blessing upon obedience and cursing upon disobedience. In Deuteronomy 27:28-29 we read: The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you. "The curse was reiterated in temporal and typical forms throughout the history of redemption. Just as Adam and Eve were “cut off” from paradise, God promised to “cut off” the covenant people for disobedience (Num. 15:31). There was a close relationship between the plagues of Egypt and the covenant curses (Deut. 28:21–2958–61). The second-to-last plague God sent on Egypt was darkness. This was also a covenant curse promised to Israel (Deut. 28:29). It served as a picture of the “outer darkness” spoken of by our Lord (Matt. 25:30). Whether it was in the plagues that fell on Egypt or the covenant curses promised to Israel (Deut. 27–30), the curse resurfaced as a reminder of the justice of God and the consequences of sin."2 Of course. we are painfully aware that neither Israel nor we can keep God's Law. This means that we are under the curse of the Law by nature. Because we have loved the works of darkness. we are deserving of the eternal outer darkness of God's just punishment. The Scriptures give us one of the most amazing details about what the just and gracious God has done to remove His curse from us and to bless us with "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." God sent His perfectly holy Son, who is himself the Light of the world, into the dark world to become "a curse for us" (Gal. 3:   ). When He was nailed to the cross, our Lord Jesus experienced the full wrath and curse of God for our sin. Interestingly, Matthew tells us that, at the precise time when He was being made a curse for us, Jesus experienced the darkening of the sun. Thomas Brooks, in his Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, explained the significance of the darkness at Calvary when he wrote, "Dionysius being in Egypt, at the time of Christ's suffering, and seeing an eclipse of the sun, and knowing it to be contrary to nature, cried out, "Either the God of nature suffers, or the frame of the world will be dissolved."3

Sun of Righteousness

At the close of the Old Testament canon the prophet Malachi foretold a day when "the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings" (Mal. 4:2). Of this prophecy, Jonathan Edwards noted:

Tis manifest that 'tis the same day that is here spoken of, for there, in the day of his coming, it is said Christ should sit as a refiner's fire, and this fire is represented as the fire of a furnace that is for the purifying of silver; and here, the day is said to “burn as an oven.” This is the day of Christ's coming, the messenger of the covenant, or the day of the Sun of righteousness arising. The times of the old testament were as time of night in comparison of the times of the new testament, because gospel light shall then be so much more clear and full: for though the old testament times were not left wholly without gospel light, yet what light they had was like the dim light of the stars in comparison of the light that was afterwards in the gospel day, when Christ the Sun arose.3

When the Light of the world came into the world, He came to spread His redemptive light across the face of a world darkened by sin and Satan. As the physical sun is the only source of daylight--spreading it's beams across the face of the earth--so Christ is the only sopurce of light to the world.4 At the cross, it was as if the Sun had set under the severe wrath of God that was upon Him. In His resurrection from the dead, the Sun of Righteousness arose with healing in His wings. It in only through faith in the crucified, risen, ascended and reigning Sun of Righteousness that we have light and life.

New Testament Analogies 

Having already briefly considered the Apostle John's use of the light/darkness symbolism in the fourth Gospel, it will help us to look at a few other examples in the New Testament. Perhaps the most well known is that of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:6, where we read, "It is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Eric Alexander captures the essence of Paul's use of the "creation light" analogy in the explanation of God's work of regeneration so well when he writes:

The New Testament ransacks the universe for comparisons that will be adequate to describe what has happened to us when we became God's children. And the only two possible comparisons are the creation of the universe at the beginning and the resurrection of Jesus on the third day. So Paul says the same God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts (2 Cor 4). And the same God who raised the Lord Jesus from the grave and broke its bondage over him has raised us in Jesus into newness of life.6

New creation can only be compared with the supernatural greatness and power of God in the original creation. In this way, we can understand that Genesis 1:3 was preparing us for the saving work of Christ. Creation serves the redemptive purposes of God. This concept is not simply a literary analogy--it is a theological construct that is part of the consummated plan and purpose of God. In the last book of the Bible, we find an intriguing parallel/contrast to what is taught about the creation light in the first book of the Bible. Like bookends to a glorious story we are told that in the New Heavens and the New Earth, "The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light" (In Revelation 21:23). The light of Genesis 1:3 proleptically points to the end of the story when God Himself will be the light in the world to come. This is partly what is intimated when the Apostle John says, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." In the New Heavens and New Earth, we will be shrouded in the glory and splendor of His holy light. All of His works will be seen and rejoiced in as they are seen by the effulgent beauty and glory of Christ.   _______________________________________________________________________

1. R. A. Finlayson The Cross in the Experience of Our Lord (PDF of first chapter)

2. An excerpt from a January 2011 Tabletalk article, "A Life of Blessing and Rest."

3. Thomas Brooks Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices (Philadelphia: Thomas Pounder, 1810) p. 25

4. Jonathan Edwards sermon taken from Sermons and Discourses, 1739-1742 (WJE Online Vol. 22)"Christ the Spiritual Sun" (1739).

5. This East of Eden episode gives a more theologically robust examination of Edwards' sermon and the biblical-theological reflections on Christ as the spiritual Sun.

6. Eric Alexander Urbana Lecture on Ephesians 1-3 p. 20  

]]>
Singing the Song of Humility https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/singing-the-song-of-mary- https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/singing-the-song-of-mary-#comments Sun, 17 Dec 2023 06:00:00 -0600 https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/singing-the-song-of-mary- Hadel’s Messiah is one of the greatest musical compositions ever written. A three part redemptive history development of Isaiah’s prophecy. From the coming Redeemer to the reign of Christ, Handel captured the magnificence of what we celebrate during advent. It should come as no surprise to us these are some of the most beautiful and majestic songs ever composed, since the narratives surrounding the birth of the Savior are themselves full of profound redemptive-historical reflections. One such song is that which Mary sings when she is visits her cousin Elizabeth. The result of this trip was an unparalleled redemptive-historical composition that has been commonly denominated, the Magnificat.

What would compel a young, pregnant teenage girl to make an arduous journey in order to stay with her older cousin? Perhaps it was the shame that her parents felt having her in the town in which they lived. After all, their neighbors would most certainly conclude that she had fallen into immorality. Or, maybe she just wanted to talk to someone she knew about what it would be like to mysteriously have a child. Her cousin wasn’t supposed to be able to conceive at her old age; but, the Lord had done the impossible for both Elizabeth and Mary. Whatever the case, the mother of the Savior went to Elizabeth. 

Mary, unlike Zacharias (Luke 1:20), believed the word of the Lord that came to her through the angel Gabriel. She took God at His word when he told her that she, though a virgin, would conceive and bear a son. Elizabeth, together with Mary, believed and gave God great glory for this indescribable gift. Elizabeth praised Mary for the faith that she had in God’s promise. She exclaimed, “blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45). It is the grace of believing God's word that we are to most admire in other believers and for which we ought to be praising God.

When Mary entered the home of Elizabeth with a greeting about the conception of Christ, the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth and her unborn son (the forerunner of the Messiah). The babe lept in the womb when he heard the greeting of the virgin. The news about the Redeemer is the cause of the greatest rejoicing in the souls of believers. Mary also broke out into song—praising God for the salvation that He was bringing to her (Luke 1:46) and to all people (Luke 1:50; 55-56).

Like Handel’s Messiah, there is a three-part division to the Magnificat. She gives us an anatomy of God—that which God considers with His eyes (Luke 1:48), what He does with His arm (Luke 1:51) and what he declares with His mouth (Luke 1:55). She acknowledged what the birth of the Savior meant for her as a sinner (Luke 1:46-50), what it meant for men of low and high degree (Luke 1:51-53) and what it meant for the rest of the covenant people of God (Luke 1:54-55).

Mary's Magnificat is an example of what it looks like for someone to be saturated in God's word. She was hoping in the fulfillment of God's promises made to Abraham. This song is full of references to Old Testament passages and redemptive historical epochs. Mary is a covenant theologian. She understands the unfolding of God’s redemptive promise. Phil Ryken explains that Mary “either quotes from or alludes to verses from Genesis, Deuteronomy, 1 and 2 Samuel, Job, Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. Mary tried to put virtually the whole Bible into her song.” Many have noted that Mary's song is the last of the Old Testament Psalms and the first of the Christian hymns.

There is a striking similarity between Mary’s Song and another Old Testament song written by a woman who was barren and longing for children. When God finally heard her prayers and answered Hannah by giving her Samuel, she declares,

My heart exults in the Lord;
my strength is exalted in the Lord.…
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and he exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor. (1 Sam. 2:1, 7–8)

This parallel is meant to highlight what the Angel Gabriel had said to Mary at the annunciation: "Nothing will be impossible with God" (Luke 1:37). God has made the barren fruitful. He has made the virgin conceive the incarnate Son!  

One of the foremost themes of the Magnificat is that of humility. Since God was humbling Himself to knit together for Himself a human nature in the womb of the virgin Mary, it is fitting that Mary, from the outset of this Christian Psalm, would touch upon the theme of humility. The Magnificat is itself a song of humility. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones explained, 

"Mary is full of humility. She isn't thinking about herself. Mary has seen something that makes her forget herself. God, in the fullness of time, sent forth His Son, born of a woman, made under the law. Mary is rejoicing in what God is doing, this historic event. This climactic action of God himself. She's filled with a sense of amazement, of worship, adoration and utter astonishment because she sees the inner meaning of the action. She's got a glimpse of understanding of the whole purpose of salvation, of what God is doing in bringing forth His Son into the world, even out of her womb. You see, the only thing that's of any value in the sight of God is that which is based upon the understanding of the truth."

The pervasive references and allusions to humility sets the stage for the humility and humiliation of Christ. The whole of the life and ministry of the Redeemer was a life and ministry of humility. The eternal Son humbled himself by being born, subjecting himself to the demands of God's law, being derided and rejected by men, undergoing the crucifixion, and being buried. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 27 explains,

"Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time."

The reason why Mary sang a song of humility is because she was focusing on what God was doing to provide the Savior she needed. Mary had been waiting on God to fulfill the promises that He had made throughout the Old Testament era. Mary doesn't speak of herself or her privileges because Mary was focused on her need for redemption. Charles Spurgeon noted the significance of the opening of this hymn, when he said, 

"Mary sings, 'My spirit rejoices in God my Savior'. . .She knew that she needed a Savior, and that she needed God for her Savior. . .When we reach the highest point in our devotions, we still need a Savior. . .'God be merciful to me a, sinner,' is about as big a prayer as I can manage at present; and often my soul prays with such earnestness the dying thief’s prayer that his petition is forced to my lips, 'Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.' . .The place of the publican and of the penitent more becomes me, as I think it does the most of us. Oh, yes! we still need a Savior; so, like Mary, we will sing about our Savior; and even if we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we cannot do without the blood of Jesus Christ constantly cleansing us from all sin, for sin we do still."  

As we receive the truth about Christ from the mouth of God in Scripture, we too rejoice and sing His praises. When we meditate on all that God has done and is doing, we are to appropriate these truths to ourselves and acknowledge what they mean for all who are looking for the redemption God has promised and provided in Christ.

]]>
Hadel’s Messiah is one of the greatest musical compositions ever written. A three part redemptive history development of Isaiah’s prophecy. From the coming Redeemer to the reign of Christ, Handel captured the magnificence of what we celebrate during advent. It should come as no surprise to us these are some of the most beautiful and majestic songs ever composed, since the narratives surrounding the birth of the Savior are themselves full of profound redemptive-historical reflections. One such song is that which Mary sings when she is visits her cousin Elizabeth. The result of this trip was an unparalleled redemptive-historical composition that has been commonly denominated, the Magnificat.

What would compel a young, pregnant teenage girl to make an arduous journey in order to stay with her older cousin? Perhaps it was the shame that her parents felt having her in the town in which they lived. After all, their neighbors would most certainly conclude that she had fallen into immorality. Or, maybe she just wanted to talk to someone she knew about what it would be like to mysteriously have a child. Her cousin wasn’t supposed to be able to conceive at her old age; but, the Lord had done the impossible for both Elizabeth and Mary. Whatever the case, the mother of the Savior went to Elizabeth. 

Mary, unlike Zacharias (Luke 1:20), believed the word of the Lord that came to her through the angel Gabriel. She took God at His word when he told her that she, though a virgin, would conceive and bear a son. Elizabeth, together with Mary, believed and gave God great glory for this indescribable gift. Elizabeth praised Mary for the faith that she had in God’s promise. She exclaimed, “blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45). It is the grace of believing God's word that we are to most admire in other believers and for which we ought to be praising God.

When Mary entered the home of Elizabeth with a greeting about the conception of Christ, the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth and her unborn son (the forerunner of the Messiah). The babe lept in the womb when he heard the greeting of the virgin. The news about the Redeemer is the cause of the greatest rejoicing in the souls of believers. Mary also broke out into song—praising God for the salvation that He was bringing to her (Luke 1:46) and to all people (Luke 1:50; 55-56).

Like Handel’s Messiah, there is a three-part division to the Magnificat. She gives us an anatomy of God—that which God considers with His eyes (Luke 1:48), what He does with His arm (Luke 1:51) and what he declares with His mouth (Luke 1:55). She acknowledged what the birth of the Savior meant for her as a sinner (Luke 1:46-50), what it meant for men of low and high degree (Luke 1:51-53) and what it meant for the rest of the covenant people of God (Luke 1:54-55).

Mary's Magnificat is an example of what it looks like for someone to be saturated in God's word. She was hoping in the fulfillment of God's promises made to Abraham. This song is full of references to Old Testament passages and redemptive historical epochs. Mary is a covenant theologian. She understands the unfolding of God’s redemptive promise. Phil Ryken explains that Mary “either quotes from or alludes to verses from Genesis, Deuteronomy, 1 and 2 Samuel, Job, Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. Mary tried to put virtually the whole Bible into her song.” Many have noted that Mary's song is the last of the Old Testament Psalms and the first of the Christian hymns.

There is a striking similarity between Mary’s Song and another Old Testament song written by a woman who was barren and longing for children. When God finally heard her prayers and answered Hannah by giving her Samuel, she declares,

My heart exults in the Lord;
my strength is exalted in the Lord.…
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and he exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor. (1 Sam. 2:1, 7–8)

This parallel is meant to highlight what the Angel Gabriel had said to Mary at the annunciation: "Nothing will be impossible with God" (Luke 1:37). God has made the barren fruitful. He has made the virgin conceive the incarnate Son!  

One of the foremost themes of the Magnificat is that of humility. Since God was humbling Himself to knit together for Himself a human nature in the womb of the virgin Mary, it is fitting that Mary, from the outset of this Christian Psalm, would touch upon the theme of humility. The Magnificat is itself a song of humility. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones explained, 

"Mary is full of humility. She isn't thinking about herself. Mary has seen something that makes her forget herself. God, in the fullness of time, sent forth His Son, born of a woman, made under the law. Mary is rejoicing in what God is doing, this historic event. This climactic action of God himself. She's filled with a sense of amazement, of worship, adoration and utter astonishment because she sees the inner meaning of the action. She's got a glimpse of understanding of the whole purpose of salvation, of what God is doing in bringing forth His Son into the world, even out of her womb. You see, the only thing that's of any value in the sight of God is that which is based upon the understanding of the truth."

The pervasive references and allusions to humility sets the stage for the humility and humiliation of Christ. The whole of the life and ministry of the Redeemer was a life and ministry of humility. The eternal Son humbled himself by being born, subjecting himself to the demands of God's law, being derided and rejected by men, undergoing the crucifixion, and being buried. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 27 explains,

"Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time."

The reason why Mary sang a song of humility is because she was focusing on what God was doing to provide the Savior she needed. Mary had been waiting on God to fulfill the promises that He had made throughout the Old Testament era. Mary doesn't speak of herself or her privileges because Mary was focused on her need for redemption. Charles Spurgeon noted the significance of the opening of this hymn, when he said, 

"Mary sings, 'My spirit rejoices in God my Savior'. . .She knew that she needed a Savior, and that she needed God for her Savior. . .When we reach the highest point in our devotions, we still need a Savior. . .'God be merciful to me a, sinner,' is about as big a prayer as I can manage at present; and often my soul prays with such earnestness the dying thief’s prayer that his petition is forced to my lips, 'Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.' . .The place of the publican and of the penitent more becomes me, as I think it does the most of us. Oh, yes! we still need a Savior; so, like Mary, we will sing about our Savior; and even if we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we cannot do without the blood of Jesus Christ constantly cleansing us from all sin, for sin we do still."  

As we receive the truth about Christ from the mouth of God in Scripture, we too rejoice and sing His praises. When we meditate on all that God has done and is doing, we are to appropriate these truths to ourselves and acknowledge what they mean for all who are looking for the redemption God has promised and provided in Christ.

]]>
The Spirit of Christmas https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-spirit-and-the-incarnation- https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-spirit-and-the-incarnation-#comments Sun, 17 Dec 2023 05:00:00 -0600 https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-spirit-and-the-incarnation- One of the most neglected parts of the incarnation accounts in the gospel records is that which touches on the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in the life and ministry of Christ. We rightly wonder at the coming of the eternal Son of God into the world in true human form while wrongly neglecting to wonder at the accompanying role of the Spirit of God in the ministry of the Redeemer. Some of that is understandable. What greater mystery can there be than the mystery of Christ? He is the eternal mystery of God (1 Tim. 3:16). All God's revelation points to Him, and everything necessary for salvation flows from Him (Col. 1:15-22; Heb. 1:1-3). Yet, throughout the gospels the Spirit is revealed as the accompanying agent of redemption. He was active, from start to finish, in the life and ministry of Christ. This opens the important question, "Why was it necessary for the Spirit to be at work in the life and ministry of Christ from the virgin conception to his resurrection from the dead?" 

1. The Spirit came to indwell Jesus to sustain him as the Last Adam. The Spirit was the agent of the virgin conception, the anointing of Christ for ministry as Prophet, Priest and King at His baptism, and the leading of Christ into the wilderness to be tempted by the evil one. The Spirit is also the one by whom Christ cast out demons and overcame the kingdom of darkness. He was indwelling Christ as the Last Adam in order to enable Him to present Himself without blemish to God on the cross. The Spirit is also said to be the agent by whom Jesus was raised from the dead (Rom. 1:4; 8:11). 

To be the head of the new redeemed humanity, Jesus had to do all that he did in humble reliance upon the Holy Spirit. This began even before His birth. When Mary asked the Angel Gabriel how she would carry the Redeemer in her womb, since she was a virgin, Gabriel told her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). Just as the Spirit hovered over the waters of creation, so He hovered over the virgin Mary at the great work of bringing about the new creation through the incarnation of the Son of God.

Christ was dependent upon the Spirit for His miraculous works. If Jesus had simply performed miracles by his divine nature, then the divine nature of the eternal Son would have imparted to the human nature something (e.g. omnipotence) that is not proper to human nature and so destroy the human nature. Jesus acted as fully God and fully man in one person in all that He did. However, as the Last Adam, he had to rely on the Spirit to impart to him the grace He needed to do such things as perform miracles of healing. 

Jesus also needed the Holy Spirit for His own consecration and to sustain Him in sinlessness. Fallen humanity doesn't not need a superhuman holiness; what we need is a human holiness. Jesus came to do what Adam failed to do–namely, to obey the commands of God in the place of His people. The earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus, from start to finish, was a record of His perfect obedience and Law-keeping. Herman Ridderbos summed up the totality of Jesus' law-keeping when he wrote: "Jesus behaves in accordance with the precepts of the law when he goes to the temple, keeps the festivals, the Sabbath, pays the temple-tax (Matt. 17:24ff)...refers to the priest the lepers he had cured (Matt. 8:4), defends the sacred character of the temple against those who use this building as an object of gain (Matt. 21:12Mark 11:16)."

Phil Ryken makes the important observation that "What qualified Jesus to redeem us from the law was the fact that he kept it perfectly." William Still put it in even more stiking terms when he suggested, "The most victorious thing that Christ ever did was to die sinless." This is one of the foremost reasons why Jesus needed the Spirit in the incarnation.

2. The Spirit came to bring the fuller revelation of Christ. The presence of the Spirit and the activity of the Spirit marked the dawning of a new age. The Spirit had been withdrawn from the old covenant people for nearly fourhundred years. Over four centuries, He had not given any new word of revelation. There were no accompanying sign-miracles during that period, until just prior to the coming of Christ. God had suspended the presence and activity of the Spirit between the Old Testament canon and the coming of Christ. Jonathan Edwards explained the significance of the Spirit returning at this new period of redemptive history. He wrote, 

"The return of the Spirit; which indeed began a little before, but yet was given on occasion of his birth. I have before observed how the spirit of prophecy ceased, not long after Malachi. From about the same time visions and immediate revelations ceased also. But on this occasion, they were granted anew, and the Spirit in these operations returns again. The first revealed instance of its restoration is the vision of Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, (Luke 1.) The next is the vision which the Virgin Mary had, (ibid.) The third is the vision which Joseph had, (Matt. 1.) In the next place, the Spirit was given to Elisabeth, (Luke 1:41.) Next, it was given to Mary, as appears by her song, (Luke 1:46, &c.) Then to Zacharias again, (ibid. ver. 64.) Then it was sent to the shepherds, (Luke 2:9.) Then it was given to Simeon, (Luke 2:25.) Then to Anna, (ver. 36.) Then to the wise men in the east. Then to Joseph again, directing him to flee into Egypt; and after that directing his return." 

In John 16:14, Jesus said that the Spirit would bring Him glory by revealing all the truth about him to his people. This was, no doubt, reference to the fuller revelation that the Spirit would breath out through the Apostles. However, that fuller revelation began at the inauguration of the entry of the Son into this world. The Spirit is the agent of the divine revelation. It is no wonder that He is so active in giving that revelation to the central figures in the nativity accounts, after such a long time of withholding more revelation. 

3. The Spirit would be the agent of the application of redemption. How can it be possible for Christ to have died thousands of years ago and yet the benefits of His death and resurrection are effectual in the lives of believers? The answer is bound up in the activity of the Spirit at the cross. The writer of Hebrews, in what is one of the most astonishing verses in the Bible, writes, "The blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Heb. 9:14). The blood of Jesus is sanctifying blood when it is applied to the consciences of believers by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is able to apply the blood of Christ to the believer's conscience because He was present with Jesus on the cross. The same Spirit who enabled Jesus to die sinlessly––when offering Himself as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of His people––is the Spirit who now indwells believers and cleanses our consciences from the guilt and corruption of our polluted hearts.

As we celebrate the incarnation anew, fixing our minds on the wonders of the mystery of Christ, let's remember the presence and activity of the Spirit in the events surrounding the nativity. The Spirit who was forming a human nature for the Son in the womb of the virgin Mary and bringing the Son back from the dead in the darkness of the tomb is the same Spirit who indwells believers and conforms us to the image of the Son. That's the Spirit of Christmas we most deserately need. 

]]>
One of the most neglected parts of the incarnation accounts in the gospel records is that which touches on the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in the life and ministry of Christ. We rightly wonder at the coming of the eternal Son of God into the world in true human form while wrongly neglecting to wonder at the accompanying role of the Spirit of God in the ministry of the Redeemer. Some of that is understandable. What greater mystery can there be than the mystery of Christ? He is the eternal mystery of God (1 Tim. 3:16). All God's revelation points to Him, and everything necessary for salvation flows from Him (Col. 1:15-22; Heb. 1:1-3). Yet, throughout the gospels the Spirit is revealed as the accompanying agent of redemption. He was active, from start to finish, in the life and ministry of Christ. This opens the important question, "Why was it necessary for the Spirit to be at work in the life and ministry of Christ from the virgin conception to his resurrection from the dead?" 

1. The Spirit came to indwell Jesus to sustain him as the Last Adam. The Spirit was the agent of the virgin conception, the anointing of Christ for ministry as Prophet, Priest and King at His baptism, and the leading of Christ into the wilderness to be tempted by the evil one. The Spirit is also the one by whom Christ cast out demons and overcame the kingdom of darkness. He was indwelling Christ as the Last Adam in order to enable Him to present Himself without blemish to God on the cross. The Spirit is also said to be the agent by whom Jesus was raised from the dead (Rom. 1:4; 8:11). 

To be the head of the new redeemed humanity, Jesus had to do all that he did in humble reliance upon the Holy Spirit. This began even before His birth. When Mary asked the Angel Gabriel how she would carry the Redeemer in her womb, since she was a virgin, Gabriel told her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). Just as the Spirit hovered over the waters of creation, so He hovered over the virgin Mary at the great work of bringing about the new creation through the incarnation of the Son of God.

Christ was dependent upon the Spirit for His miraculous works. If Jesus had simply performed miracles by his divine nature, then the divine nature of the eternal Son would have imparted to the human nature something (e.g. omnipotence) that is not proper to human nature and so destroy the human nature. Jesus acted as fully God and fully man in one person in all that He did. However, as the Last Adam, he had to rely on the Spirit to impart to him the grace He needed to do such things as perform miracles of healing. 

Jesus also needed the Holy Spirit for His own consecration and to sustain Him in sinlessness. Fallen humanity doesn't not need a superhuman holiness; what we need is a human holiness. Jesus came to do what Adam failed to do–namely, to obey the commands of God in the place of His people. The earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus, from start to finish, was a record of His perfect obedience and Law-keeping. Herman Ridderbos summed up the totality of Jesus' law-keeping when he wrote: "Jesus behaves in accordance with the precepts of the law when he goes to the temple, keeps the festivals, the Sabbath, pays the temple-tax (Matt. 17:24ff)...refers to the priest the lepers he had cured (Matt. 8:4), defends the sacred character of the temple against those who use this building as an object of gain (Matt. 21:12Mark 11:16)."

Phil Ryken makes the important observation that "What qualified Jesus to redeem us from the law was the fact that he kept it perfectly." William Still put it in even more stiking terms when he suggested, "The most victorious thing that Christ ever did was to die sinless." This is one of the foremost reasons why Jesus needed the Spirit in the incarnation.

2. The Spirit came to bring the fuller revelation of Christ. The presence of the Spirit and the activity of the Spirit marked the dawning of a new age. The Spirit had been withdrawn from the old covenant people for nearly fourhundred years. Over four centuries, He had not given any new word of revelation. There were no accompanying sign-miracles during that period, until just prior to the coming of Christ. God had suspended the presence and activity of the Spirit between the Old Testament canon and the coming of Christ. Jonathan Edwards explained the significance of the Spirit returning at this new period of redemptive history. He wrote, 

"The return of the Spirit; which indeed began a little before, but yet was given on occasion of his birth. I have before observed how the spirit of prophecy ceased, not long after Malachi. From about the same time visions and immediate revelations ceased also. But on this occasion, they were granted anew, and the Spirit in these operations returns again. The first revealed instance of its restoration is the vision of Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, (Luke 1.) The next is the vision which the Virgin Mary had, (ibid.) The third is the vision which Joseph had, (Matt. 1.) In the next place, the Spirit was given to Elisabeth, (Luke 1:41.) Next, it was given to Mary, as appears by her song, (Luke 1:46, &c.) Then to Zacharias again, (ibid. ver. 64.) Then it was sent to the shepherds, (Luke 2:9.) Then it was given to Simeon, (Luke 2:25.) Then to Anna, (ver. 36.) Then to the wise men in the east. Then to Joseph again, directing him to flee into Egypt; and after that directing his return." 

In John 16:14, Jesus said that the Spirit would bring Him glory by revealing all the truth about him to his people. This was, no doubt, reference to the fuller revelation that the Spirit would breath out through the Apostles. However, that fuller revelation began at the inauguration of the entry of the Son into this world. The Spirit is the agent of the divine revelation. It is no wonder that He is so active in giving that revelation to the central figures in the nativity accounts, after such a long time of withholding more revelation. 

3. The Spirit would be the agent of the application of redemption. How can it be possible for Christ to have died thousands of years ago and yet the benefits of His death and resurrection are effectual in the lives of believers? The answer is bound up in the activity of the Spirit at the cross. The writer of Hebrews, in what is one of the most astonishing verses in the Bible, writes, "The blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Heb. 9:14). The blood of Jesus is sanctifying blood when it is applied to the consciences of believers by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is able to apply the blood of Christ to the believer's conscience because He was present with Jesus on the cross. The same Spirit who enabled Jesus to die sinlessly––when offering Himself as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of His people––is the Spirit who now indwells believers and cleanses our consciences from the guilt and corruption of our polluted hearts.

As we celebrate the incarnation anew, fixing our minds on the wonders of the mystery of Christ, let's remember the presence and activity of the Spirit in the events surrounding the nativity. The Spirit who was forming a human nature for the Son in the womb of the virgin Mary and bringing the Son back from the dead in the darkness of the tomb is the same Spirit who indwells believers and conforms us to the image of the Son. That's the Spirit of Christmas we most deserately need. 

]]>
Hope in the Certainty of Christ https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/waiting-and-hoping- https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/waiting-and-hoping-#comments Thu, 07 Dec 2023 06:00:00 -0600 https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/waiting-and-hoping- There are certain experiences in life we look forward to with eager anticipation: getting a driver’s license, voting for the first time, graduating college, landing a first job, perhaps getting married and having children, achieving career goals, and maybe even retirement. In all of these, there is the built-in excitement of hoping for what we have not yet seen or experienced. However, once these milestones have been reached and they become a part of our regular experience, life can again seem mundane. We recognize that none of these experieicnes can compare to the solid joys and lasting treasure that come with hoping in the glorious future God promises to all His children. In the pattern of hoping for what we do not yet see, we are met with the reality that nothing in this world can provide true and lasting satisfaction.

“Hope that is seen,” wrote the apostle Paul, “is not hope.” By contrast, “If we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:24–25). This is the essence of the promise of the gospel in Scripture. We are meant to hope for what we do not see and have not yet fully experienced.

When Isaiah came to the turning point of his prophetic message in chapter 40, he set out the glorious resurrection hope that believers eagerly anticipate as we wait for Christ’s return.

Those who trust in the LORD
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not become weary,
they will walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

In many of life’s circumstances, we struggle to understand how we will come to attain the promises of God, forgetting that their fulfillment is entirely based on the person and work of Christ. Jesus has secured an everlasting joy, an inheritance of hope for His people through His death and resurrection. Though we do not now see all that he has for us, we wait for him with patience. We are to be a people who trust in and wait for Christ in faith. Because of the saving work of Jesus Christ crucified and risen, there is no uncertainty to the promises of God. Even as we wait to see these promises come to pass and long for them now, we will not be disappointed. This is the essence of hope—even when we do not see precisely how things will work out–we wait for Christ with patience.

]]>
There are certain experiences in life we look forward to with eager anticipation: getting a driver’s license, voting for the first time, graduating college, landing a first job, perhaps getting married and having children, achieving career goals, and maybe even retirement. In all of these, there is the built-in excitement of hoping for what we have not yet seen or experienced. However, once these milestones have been reached and they become a part of our regular experience, life can again seem mundane. We recognize that none of these experieicnes can compare to the solid joys and lasting treasure that come with hoping in the glorious future God promises to all His children. In the pattern of hoping for what we do not yet see, we are met with the reality that nothing in this world can provide true and lasting satisfaction.

“Hope that is seen,” wrote the apostle Paul, “is not hope.” By contrast, “If we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:24–25). This is the essence of the promise of the gospel in Scripture. We are meant to hope for what we do not see and have not yet fully experienced.

When Isaiah came to the turning point of his prophetic message in chapter 40, he set out the glorious resurrection hope that believers eagerly anticipate as we wait for Christ’s return.

Those who trust in the LORD
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not become weary,
they will walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

In many of life’s circumstances, we struggle to understand how we will come to attain the promises of God, forgetting that their fulfillment is entirely based on the person and work of Christ. Jesus has secured an everlasting joy, an inheritance of hope for His people through His death and resurrection. Though we do not now see all that he has for us, we wait for him with patience. We are to be a people who trust in and wait for Christ in faith. Because of the saving work of Jesus Christ crucified and risen, there is no uncertainty to the promises of God. Even as we wait to see these promises come to pass and long for them now, we will not be disappointed. This is the essence of hope—even when we do not see precisely how things will work out–we wait for Christ with patience.

]]>
None But Zion's Children Know https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/none-but-zions-children-know https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/none-but-zions-children-know#comments Thu, 02 Nov 2023 09:00:00 -0500 https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/none-but-zions-children-know

On October 27, 1994, President Bill Clinton, while addressing the Knesset (i.e. the legislative assembly in Israel) cited one of his former pastors when he said, "If you abandon Israel, God will never forgive you...it is God's will that Israel, the biblical home of the people of Israel, continue forever and ever." This widely held sentiment has had a substantial impact on American politics and foreign policy over the past 70 years. six years ago, President Trump made the controversial decision to declare Jerusalem to be the capitol of the state of Israel. Last month, war has erupted between Israel and Hamas, over the barbaric attacks of this Palestinian terror organization. These events have reopened numerous questions about the place of the state of Israel, and the city of Jerusalem, in the consummate purposes and plan of God.

When Jesus began his Messianic ministry, he did so by calling 12 Apostles. The calling of the Twelve mirrored the formation of the 12 Tribes of Israel. In short, Jesus came to reconstitute Israel in Himself. He is the true son of Abraham in whom all the promises of God are "yes" and "Amen" (2 Cor. 1.20). In The Israel of God, O. Palmer Robertson emphasized the significance of the choosing and ministry of the 12 apostles when he wrote:

"The beginning of Jesus' ministry indicates the ongoing role of Israel in the kingdom of the Messiah. The designation of exactly twelve disciples shows that Jesus intends to reconstitute the Israel of God through his ministry. He is not, as some suppose, replacing Israel with the church. He is reconstituting Israel in a way that makes it suitable for the ministry of the New Covenant.

From this point on, it is not that the church takes the place of Israel, but that a new Israel of God is being formed by the shaping of the church. This kingdom will reach beyond the limits of the Israel of the old covenant. Although Jesus begins with the Israel of old, he will not allow his kingdom to be limited by its borders" (The Israel of God, p.118).

Phil Ryken also explains that Jesus chose the twelve Apostles to be the foundation of New Israel:

"By ordaining these twelve men, God was establishing a new Israel. Just as the twelve sons of Jacob founded the Old Testament people of God, so also the apostles established the foundation for God's new people in Christ. To this day, the church rests upon their ministry. We are 'built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets' (Eph. 2:20). And since a building can have only one foundation, their ministry is non-repeatable" (Luke, vol. 1, p. 256).

This is no small observation. When Jesus told the members of Old Covenant Israel that "the kingdom will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruit of it" (Matt. 21:43), we are meant to ask the question, "To what nation did God give His kingdom to in the New Covenant?" The only answer that can be supplied is that He has established His kingdom (i.e. His redemptive reign and rule) in the lives of His people--the true Israel who He has raised up in Christ.

We are still left with the question as to whether there is any divinely-intended role for the land of Israel in general and for the city of Jerusalem in specific. In his book, Understanding the Land in the Bible, Robertson distills the meaning of the land down to its essential redemptive-historical significance when he writes, "This land was made for Jesus Christ. All its diversity was designed to serve him. Its character as a land bridge  for three continents was crafted at Creation for his strategic role in the history of humanity." The land of Israel was strategically located between three continents. It served, therefore, as the perfect land bridge for the evangelistic mission of God to the nations. The land served its purpose when the Redeemer came to Israel to accomplish all that was typified and foreshadowed in the Old Testament.

All of this was God's original intention when He called Abraham. The Lord told Abraham that he would be "the father of a multitude of nations" (Gen. 17:4-5). The land of Israel was a downpayment of the eternal inheritance that God promised to Abraham. When Christ came, he fulfilled the promises made to Abraham. Jesus is "the heir of all things" (Heb. 1:2). Everyone who believes in him--as Abraham did (John 8:58)--becomes the heir of all things in union with Christ. 

The Apostle Paul understood that the original promise to Abraham was much larger than simply the inheritance of the land of Israel. In Romans 4:13, he wrote, "The promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith." During his lifetime, Abraham only came to possess a burial place in the land--the place from which he (buried there in hope of the resurrection) will one day rise to inherit the earth. This is also true of all those who are trusting in the son of Abraham, Jesus Christ, and in his finished work of redemption.

As far as the city of Jerusalem is concerned, it's important to recognize that God set apart this city to be the place of the Temple and the king's house. It was the capitol of the theocratic nation of Israel in the Old Testament. It should not, therefore, come as a surprise to us to see that Jesus' ministry ended in Jerusalem. Jerusalem had been established by God to be the focal point of the whole earth during the Old Covenant era. Jesus was crucified there (i.e. he was lifted up there) because he is the great King to whom all worship is to be directed. As Robertson observes:

"The lifting up of the Son of God could occur only in Jerusalem. No other place, no other city could substitute. To the covenant people of God he must come, and by the covenant people of God he must be rejected. Only then could the purposes and plans of God as revealed through all the ages be realized" (Understanding the Land, pp. 121-122)  

As the earthly ministry of Jesus came to a close in Jerusalem, so the ministry of his Apostles began in Jerusalem. From there it broke out from there into the whole world to show that the reign of God was now the reign of the resurrected Christ in the heavenly Jerusalem. From the rejection of Christ onward, the earthly Jerusalem became a symbol of fleshly, earthly, man-centered religion. The destruction of the Temple in A.D 70 marked the end of the Old Covenant era and the fact that the spiritual, heavenly reign of Christ had commenced throughout the earth. Robertson goes on to contrast the present Jerusalem (Gal. 4:25) with the heavenly Jerusalem--a contrast that the Apostle's make in Gal. 4:23-26 and Heb. 12:18-24--when he notes:

"To know the new way of living with God, a person must look to the 'Jerusalem above,' where the resurrected Christ reigns over the heavenly and earthly powers. For the present, earthly Jerusalem known to men continues to be in bondage to men (Gal. 4:25). The power flowing from the heavenly Jerusalem and its reigning, resurrected King was displayed openly at Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus'  last Passover meal. The disciples had been told to remain at this same earthly Jerusalem until they received the promise of the Father. It was in the temple area...that visible, audible manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit came on the assembled disciples.

These first twelve recipients of the Spirit of the new era of redemption instantly became the vehicles for transporting the new life that had its source in the heavenly Jerusalem. The new Israel of God was born in a day, and soon the worldwide kingdom of the cosmic Christ began to spread into the vast regions occupied by men of all nations. While the Jerusalem of this earth continues in bondage to the corrupting pride of man's sense of personal accomplishment, the Jerusalem above gives birth to men newly freed" (Understanding the Land, pp. 124-125). 

Robertson summarizes his thoughts on the city of Jerusalem when he says:

"Like all Old Covenant shadows, glorious prospects [i.e. those restoration prophecies in the OT prophets] have been realized in the days of the New Covenant, when people worship neither in Jerusalem nor in Samaria, but wherever in the world the Spirit of God manifests himself (John 4:21-24). The redemptive reality that the Old Covenant city could only foreshadow finds its consummate realization in the "Jerusalem above," which is "the mother of us all" (Gal. 4:26). The "Jerusalem above" is not merely a "spiritual" phenomenon that had no connection with the "real" world in which we live. Its reality injects itself constantly into the lives of God's people" (Israel of God, p. 17).

While recent developments concerning the state of Israel have given us reason to revisit this subject--it would do us good to be settled in our minds about the fact that all who are united to Jesus by faith have been made children of Abraham and heirs of God (Gal. 3:29). Believers are the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem (Phil. 3:20). This is the only Jerusalem that ultimately matters. As John Newton put it, "Solid joys and lasting treasures, none but Zion's children know."

]]>

On October 27, 1994, President Bill Clinton, while addressing the Knesset (i.e. the legislative assembly in Israel) cited one of his former pastors when he said, "If you abandon Israel, God will never forgive you...it is God's will that Israel, the biblical home of the people of Israel, continue forever and ever." This widely held sentiment has had a substantial impact on American politics and foreign policy over the past 70 years. six years ago, President Trump made the controversial decision to declare Jerusalem to be the capitol of the state of Israel. Last month, war has erupted between Israel and Hamas, over the barbaric attacks of this Palestinian terror organization. These events have reopened numerous questions about the place of the state of Israel, and the city of Jerusalem, in the consummate purposes and plan of God.

When Jesus began his Messianic ministry, he did so by calling 12 Apostles. The calling of the Twelve mirrored the formation of the 12 Tribes of Israel. In short, Jesus came to reconstitute Israel in Himself. He is the true son of Abraham in whom all the promises of God are "yes" and "Amen" (2 Cor. 1.20). In The Israel of God, O. Palmer Robertson emphasized the significance of the choosing and ministry of the 12 apostles when he wrote:

"The beginning of Jesus' ministry indicates the ongoing role of Israel in the kingdom of the Messiah. The designation of exactly twelve disciples shows that Jesus intends to reconstitute the Israel of God through his ministry. He is not, as some suppose, replacing Israel with the church. He is reconstituting Israel in a way that makes it suitable for the ministry of the New Covenant.

From this point on, it is not that the church takes the place of Israel, but that a new Israel of God is being formed by the shaping of the church. This kingdom will reach beyond the limits of the Israel of the old covenant. Although Jesus begins with the Israel of old, he will not allow his kingdom to be limited by its borders" (The Israel of God, p.118).

Phil Ryken also explains that Jesus chose the twelve Apostles to be the foundation of New Israel:

"By ordaining these twelve men, God was establishing a new Israel. Just as the twelve sons of Jacob founded the Old Testament people of God, so also the apostles established the foundation for God's new people in Christ. To this day, the church rests upon their ministry. We are 'built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets' (Eph. 2:20). And since a building can have only one foundation, their ministry is non-repeatable" (Luke, vol. 1, p. 256).

This is no small observation. When Jesus told the members of Old Covenant Israel that "the kingdom will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruit of it" (Matt. 21:43), we are meant to ask the question, "To what nation did God give His kingdom to in the New Covenant?" The only answer that can be supplied is that He has established His kingdom (i.e. His redemptive reign and rule) in the lives of His people--the true Israel who He has raised up in Christ.

We are still left with the question as to whether there is any divinely-intended role for the land of Israel in general and for the city of Jerusalem in specific. In his book, Understanding the Land in the Bible, Robertson distills the meaning of the land down to its essential redemptive-historical significance when he writes, "This land was made for Jesus Christ. All its diversity was designed to serve him. Its character as a land bridge  for three continents was crafted at Creation for his strategic role in the history of humanity." The land of Israel was strategically located between three continents. It served, therefore, as the perfect land bridge for the evangelistic mission of God to the nations. The land served its purpose when the Redeemer came to Israel to accomplish all that was typified and foreshadowed in the Old Testament.

All of this was God's original intention when He called Abraham. The Lord told Abraham that he would be "the father of a multitude of nations" (Gen. 17:4-5). The land of Israel was a downpayment of the eternal inheritance that God promised to Abraham. When Christ came, he fulfilled the promises made to Abraham. Jesus is "the heir of all things" (Heb. 1:2). Everyone who believes in him--as Abraham did (John 8:58)--becomes the heir of all things in union with Christ. 

The Apostle Paul understood that the original promise to Abraham was much larger than simply the inheritance of the land of Israel. In Romans 4:13, he wrote, "The promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith." During his lifetime, Abraham only came to possess a burial place in the land--the place from which he (buried there in hope of the resurrection) will one day rise to inherit the earth. This is also true of all those who are trusting in the son of Abraham, Jesus Christ, and in his finished work of redemption.

As far as the city of Jerusalem is concerned, it's important to recognize that God set apart this city to be the place of the Temple and the king's house. It was the capitol of the theocratic nation of Israel in the Old Testament. It should not, therefore, come as a surprise to us to see that Jesus' ministry ended in Jerusalem. Jerusalem had been established by God to be the focal point of the whole earth during the Old Covenant era. Jesus was crucified there (i.e. he was lifted up there) because he is the great King to whom all worship is to be directed. As Robertson observes:

"The lifting up of the Son of God could occur only in Jerusalem. No other place, no other city could substitute. To the covenant people of God he must come, and by the covenant people of God he must be rejected. Only then could the purposes and plans of God as revealed through all the ages be realized" (Understanding the Land, pp. 121-122)  

As the earthly ministry of Jesus came to a close in Jerusalem, so the ministry of his Apostles began in Jerusalem. From there it broke out from there into the whole world to show that the reign of God was now the reign of the resurrected Christ in the heavenly Jerusalem. From the rejection of Christ onward, the earthly Jerusalem became a symbol of fleshly, earthly, man-centered religion. The destruction of the Temple in A.D 70 marked the end of the Old Covenant era and the fact that the spiritual, heavenly reign of Christ had commenced throughout the earth. Robertson goes on to contrast the present Jerusalem (Gal. 4:25) with the heavenly Jerusalem--a contrast that the Apostle's make in Gal. 4:23-26 and Heb. 12:18-24--when he notes:

"To know the new way of living with God, a person must look to the 'Jerusalem above,' where the resurrected Christ reigns over the heavenly and earthly powers. For the present, earthly Jerusalem known to men continues to be in bondage to men (Gal. 4:25). The power flowing from the heavenly Jerusalem and its reigning, resurrected King was displayed openly at Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus'  last Passover meal. The disciples had been told to remain at this same earthly Jerusalem until they received the promise of the Father. It was in the temple area...that visible, audible manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit came on the assembled disciples.

These first twelve recipients of the Spirit of the new era of redemption instantly became the vehicles for transporting the new life that had its source in the heavenly Jerusalem. The new Israel of God was born in a day, and soon the worldwide kingdom of the cosmic Christ began to spread into the vast regions occupied by men of all nations. While the Jerusalem of this earth continues in bondage to the corrupting pride of man's sense of personal accomplishment, the Jerusalem above gives birth to men newly freed" (Understanding the Land, pp. 124-125). 

Robertson summarizes his thoughts on the city of Jerusalem when he says:

"Like all Old Covenant shadows, glorious prospects [i.e. those restoration prophecies in the OT prophets] have been realized in the days of the New Covenant, when people worship neither in Jerusalem nor in Samaria, but wherever in the world the Spirit of God manifests himself (John 4:21-24). The redemptive reality that the Old Covenant city could only foreshadow finds its consummate realization in the "Jerusalem above," which is "the mother of us all" (Gal. 4:26). The "Jerusalem above" is not merely a "spiritual" phenomenon that had no connection with the "real" world in which we live. Its reality injects itself constantly into the lives of God's people" (Israel of God, p. 17).

While recent developments concerning the state of Israel have given us reason to revisit this subject--it would do us good to be settled in our minds about the fact that all who are united to Jesus by faith have been made children of Abraham and heirs of God (Gal. 3:29). Believers are the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem (Phil. 3:20). This is the only Jerusalem that ultimately matters. As John Newton put it, "Solid joys and lasting treasures, none but Zion's children know."

]]>
The Christological Sign of the Sabbath https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-christological-sign-of-the-sabbath- https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-christological-sign-of-the-sabbath-#comments Thu, 02 Nov 2023 05:00:00 -0500 https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-christological-sign-of-the-sabbath- It has become increasingly common for business professionals, life coaches, and pastors to talk about embracing sabbath or taking a sabbatical. The idea is that people need prolonged seasons of rest and refreshment. The focus on taking a sabbath is, of course, that people would become more productive in their employments while also caring for their spiritual, physical, and emotional well-being.

While sabbaticals may address a common, therapeutic need for rest, God has given us the Sabbath day to serve as a sign of the greater spiritual need we have for the rest that He provides in Christ alone. From the beginning of time, the Sabbath day was set as one of God’s creation ordinances (Gen. 2:2–3). In redemptive history, it was the fourth of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:8–11Deut. 5:12–15). Both at creation and in the fourth commandment, the Sabbath served as a covenantal sign holding out the promise of a greater Sabbath rest.

After creating a world in which His image bearers could dwell, the Lord set apart the seventh day as the Sabbath day. The Sabbath day served numerous purposes at creation. It was to be a day of worship and rest. It was also a reminder that mankind is finite and dependent. Since we are dependent creatures, God saw fit to give Adam this creation ordinance to remind him of his need for rest from his physical labor. Adam was to set apart the Sabbath day to worship the God who “gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25).

However, it was not simply a day in which man was to cease from his labors and embrace physical and spiritual rest; it was a sign pointing to something higher—the hope of entering eternal rest. The eschatological-sign nature of the Sabbath day was tied to God’s covenantal dealing with man in the garden. In Eden, God condescended to initiate a covenantal relationship with Adam. Had Adam obeyed the command related to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, it’s likely he would have secured an eternal dwelling place for righteous image bearers to reflect the holy character of God. Had he obeyed, he would have gained a right to eat from the Tree of Life. The two trees in the garden served as signs and seals of the covenant of works, together with the Sabbath day. That is, the Sabbath ordinance was one of the signs and seals of this covenant in Eden. The Sabbath was a sign insomuch as it pointed to the promise of the eternal rest that man would have entered had Adam obeyed the demands of the covenant of works.

In redemptive history, the Sabbath prominently resurfaced again as a covenantal sign in the Mosaic covenant. Within the context of the Mosaic covenant, the Sabbath day continued to point to the promise of eternal rest. These two elements of the Sabbath day—creation and redemption—are found in the distinct reasons added to the fourth commandment in Exodus 20:11 and Deuteronomy 5:15. Creation and redemption form the background for the significance of the Sabbath day as a covenantal sign. The Sabbath day reminds image bearers of their obligation to worship and serve the Lord, and to trust God for the redemption that He freely provides in Christ alone. Where Adam failed in the covenant of works, Christ succeeded.

As the last Adam (Rom. 5:12–21), Jesus came to secure the eschatological Sabbath rest for His people. Jesus performed numerous healing miracles on the old covenant Sabbath day, revealing Himself to be the One who alone can provide rest for the souls of His people. The restorative Sabbath-day healings foreshadowed the ultimate healing that Christ secured for believers in the resurrection on the last day. The Sabbath healing of the man with the withered hand (Matt. 12:9–14) was tied to Jesus’ gospel invitation: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:28–29, emphasis added). Jesus purchased eschatological Sabbath rest for His people by taking upon Himself the judgment they deserve when He hung under the wrath of God on the cross. Picking up on Psalm 95:7–11, the writer of Hebrews alluded to the abiding hope of entering into eternal rest in glory with Christ, since Jesus entered into His everlasting rest _(Heb. 3:7–4:12).

The circumstances surrounding the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ provide further basis for our understanding of Jesus as the Rest Provider. Just as He looked back over His newly created world and pronounced it good, the Son of God looked back over the completed work of redemption and cried out, “It is finished” (Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31John 19:27). Having finished His labor to provide redemption, Jesus rested as His body lay in the ground on the old covenant Sabbath day. When He rose on the first day of the week, Jesus ushered in the Christian Sabbath (i.e., the Lord’s Day of Rev. 4:3).

In the New Testament, the saving work of Christ forms the basis of the change of the Sabbath day from the seventh to the first day of the week. Just as Jesus rose on the first day of the week, so He appeared to the disciples on the first day of each subsequent week (Luke 24:1John 20:26). As the Westminster Confession of Faith explains:

As it is of the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in his Word . . . he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, which, in Scripture, is called the Lord’s Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath. (21.7)

The covenant Lord continues to call us to set apart one day in seven to worship on the new covenant Sabbath. Just as the creational Sabbath served the purpose of holding out the hope of an eternal blessing, the Sabbath continues to be held out as it helps us reflect more purposefully on the heavenly nature of the worship we bring to God and the Lamb. While we worship Jesus Christ the Lord of the Sabbath on the first day of the week in commemoration of His resurrection glory, we eagerly await the full revelation of the One who secured Sabbath rest for us by His death 

*This post was first published at Ligonier Ministries website on November 1, 2023.

]]>
It has become increasingly common for business professionals, life coaches, and pastors to talk about embracing sabbath or taking a sabbatical. The idea is that people need prolonged seasons of rest and refreshment. The focus on taking a sabbath is, of course, that people would become more productive in their employments while also caring for their spiritual, physical, and emotional well-being.

While sabbaticals may address a common, therapeutic need for rest, God has given us the Sabbath day to serve as a sign of the greater spiritual need we have for the rest that He provides in Christ alone. From the beginning of time, the Sabbath day was set as one of God’s creation ordinances (Gen. 2:2–3). In redemptive history, it was the fourth of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:8–11Deut. 5:12–15). Both at creation and in the fourth commandment, the Sabbath served as a covenantal sign holding out the promise of a greater Sabbath rest.

After creating a world in which His image bearers could dwell, the Lord set apart the seventh day as the Sabbath day. The Sabbath day served numerous purposes at creation. It was to be a day of worship and rest. It was also a reminder that mankind is finite and dependent. Since we are dependent creatures, God saw fit to give Adam this creation ordinance to remind him of his need for rest from his physical labor. Adam was to set apart the Sabbath day to worship the God who “gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25).

However, it was not simply a day in which man was to cease from his labors and embrace physical and spiritual rest; it was a sign pointing to something higher—the hope of entering eternal rest. The eschatological-sign nature of the Sabbath day was tied to God’s covenantal dealing with man in the garden. In Eden, God condescended to initiate a covenantal relationship with Adam. Had Adam obeyed the command related to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, it’s likely he would have secured an eternal dwelling place for righteous image bearers to reflect the holy character of God. Had he obeyed, he would have gained a right to eat from the Tree of Life. The two trees in the garden served as signs and seals of the covenant of works, together with the Sabbath day. That is, the Sabbath ordinance was one of the signs and seals of this covenant in Eden. The Sabbath was a sign insomuch as it pointed to the promise of the eternal rest that man would have entered had Adam obeyed the demands of the covenant of works.

In redemptive history, the Sabbath prominently resurfaced again as a covenantal sign in the Mosaic covenant. Within the context of the Mosaic covenant, the Sabbath day continued to point to the promise of eternal rest. These two elements of the Sabbath day—creation and redemption—are found in the distinct reasons added to the fourth commandment in Exodus 20:11 and Deuteronomy 5:15. Creation and redemption form the background for the significance of the Sabbath day as a covenantal sign. The Sabbath day reminds image bearers of their obligation to worship and serve the Lord, and to trust God for the redemption that He freely provides in Christ alone. Where Adam failed in the covenant of works, Christ succeeded.

As the last Adam (Rom. 5:12–21), Jesus came to secure the eschatological Sabbath rest for His people. Jesus performed numerous healing miracles on the old covenant Sabbath day, revealing Himself to be the One who alone can provide rest for the souls of His people. The restorative Sabbath-day healings foreshadowed the ultimate healing that Christ secured for believers in the resurrection on the last day. The Sabbath healing of the man with the withered hand (Matt. 12:9–14) was tied to Jesus’ gospel invitation: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:28–29, emphasis added). Jesus purchased eschatological Sabbath rest for His people by taking upon Himself the judgment they deserve when He hung under the wrath of God on the cross. Picking up on Psalm 95:7–11, the writer of Hebrews alluded to the abiding hope of entering into eternal rest in glory with Christ, since Jesus entered into His everlasting rest _(Heb. 3:7–4:12).

The circumstances surrounding the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ provide further basis for our understanding of Jesus as the Rest Provider. Just as He looked back over His newly created world and pronounced it good, the Son of God looked back over the completed work of redemption and cried out, “It is finished” (Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31John 19:27). Having finished His labor to provide redemption, Jesus rested as His body lay in the ground on the old covenant Sabbath day. When He rose on the first day of the week, Jesus ushered in the Christian Sabbath (i.e., the Lord’s Day of Rev. 4:3).

In the New Testament, the saving work of Christ forms the basis of the change of the Sabbath day from the seventh to the first day of the week. Just as Jesus rose on the first day of the week, so He appeared to the disciples on the first day of each subsequent week (Luke 24:1John 20:26). As the Westminster Confession of Faith explains:

As it is of the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in his Word . . . he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, which, in Scripture, is called the Lord’s Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath. (21.7)

The covenant Lord continues to call us to set apart one day in seven to worship on the new covenant Sabbath. Just as the creational Sabbath served the purpose of holding out the hope of an eternal blessing, the Sabbath continues to be held out as it helps us reflect more purposefully on the heavenly nature of the worship we bring to God and the Lamb. While we worship Jesus Christ the Lord of the Sabbath on the first day of the week in commemoration of His resurrection glory, we eagerly await the full revelation of the One who secured Sabbath rest for us by His death 

*This post was first published at Ligonier Ministries website on November 1, 2023.

]]>
Marking the True Church https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-offices-of-christ-the-means-of-grace-and-the-marks-of-the-church https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-offices-of-christ-the-means-of-grace-and-the-marks-of-the-church#comments Fri, 13 Oct 2023 06:00:00 -0500 https://www.feedingonchrist.com/blog/post/the-offices-of-christ-the-means-of-grace-and-the-marks-of-the-church Understanding the marks of a true church ought to be of supreme importance to every believer. How do we know if any given church may be rightly considered to be a true church or not? For instance, every professing Christian ought to know that the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints is not in anyway whatsoever a true Christian church. It has always been, in every stage, a synagogue of Satan parading a false Christ and false gospel. But what about churches belonging to particular Chritian denominations or those that have remained independent? The principles that enable us to answer this question have been systematically developed for us in church history. The Reformation era was a particularly formative movement in the development and articulation of the doctrine of the marks of the church

During the Reformation era, there was a progressive development of understanding what marks distinguished a true church from a false church. This was, of course, owing to the Reformers efforts to bring reform to the Roman Catholic Church. Rome had emphacized the four attributes of the church, namely, "one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic church." While the Reformers agreed that those are the attributes or marks of the invisible church (i.e., the whole body of believers throughout all time), they rejected a number of these as being marks of the visible church. For instance, whereas Rome insisted that it was the true church, since we believe that there is only one church, the Reformers emphacized that the unity of all believers belonged to the sphere of the invisible church, but that there would be manifestations of the visible church on earth that were more or less pure according to their fidelity to the marks of the visible church. As Geerhardus Vos explained, 

"The marks (notae, γνωρίσματα) refer to the visible church and not, like the attributes, the invisible church. A mark by its nature is something that must fall within the sphere of what is visible. Although the Church, viewed in its entirety, can never disappear from the earth, there is still no guarantee that its individual parts will continue to exist. They can completely degenerate and deteriorate; believers who are still therein can die off so that only apparent members remain. But the presence of true members does not let itself be recognized. We cannot see into the heart of men."1

While we must distinguish between the attributes and the marks of the church, we must also remember that these are not antithetical to each other. They merely function in a different manner from one another. When we adopt this distinction, we will better understand the development of the doctrine of the marks of the church in Reformation history. 

John Calvin on the Marks

While many of the Reformers were developing a theology of the marks of a true church, John Calvin is often credited with the most widereaching influence on the development of our understanding of them. Most scholars will note that Calvin only referred to two marks–namely, the right administration ofg word and sacraments. In the Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin explained, “We only contend for the true and legitimate constitution of the Church, which requires not only a communion in the sacraments, which are the signs of a Christian profession, but above all, an agreement in doctrine."2 Elsewhere in the Institutes he stated, “Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to Christ’s institution, there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists [cf. Eph. 2:20]."3

Calvin fleshed out his understanding of the operational role of these two marks in the context of the local church. He wrote,

“The Church is called ‘the house of God, the pillar and ground of truth.’ For in these words Paul signifies that in order to keep the truth of God from being lost in the world, the Church is its faithful guardian; because it has been the will of God, by the ministry of the Church, to preserve the pure preaching of his word, and to manifest himself as our affectionate Father, while he nourishes us with spiritual food, and provides all things conducive to our salvation."4

So strong was Calvin in his belief about these marks that he posited what it means for someone to be apart from these marks. In Institutes 4.1.10, he insisted, “So highly does the Lord esteem the communion of his Church, that he considers everyone as a traitor and apostate from religion, who perversely withdraws himself from any Christian society which preserves the true ministry of the word and sacraments."5

While Calvin referred mostly to the right ministry of the word and sacraments as marks of a true church, he would add church discipline as a mark later in his ministry. In his Ecclesiastical Orders, Calvin explicitly expressed his belief in three marks. He wrote, “There are three things on which the safety of the Church is founded and supported: doctrine, discipline, and the sacraments.” These would become the three marks of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 

Sixteenth and Seventeenth Confessions

The Reformed Confessions spoke to the issue of the marks of the true church in light of Roman Catholic perversions of the biblical teaching on the nature of the Church. For instance, Westminster Confession of Faith 25.3 and 4 describes the marks of a true, visible church when it states the following:

“Unto this catholic visible Church Christ hath given the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints, in this life, to the end of the world: and doth by his own presence and Spirit, according to his promise, make them effectual thereunto...and particular Churches, which are members thereof, are more or less pure, according as the doctrine of the Gospel is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship performed more or less purely in them.” (Westminster Confession of Faith, 25.3-4).

Here, the Divines state that "the doctrine of the Gospel, ordinances and public worship" are necessary for a church to be considered a true church. The Belgic Confession (a precursor to the Westminster Standards), in article 29, outlines in a more succinct form what have been so frequently termed "the marks of a true church" when it states:

"The marks, by which the true Church is known, are these: if the pure doctrine of the gospel is preached therein; if she maintains the pure administration of the sacraments as instituted by Christ; if church discipline is exercised in punishing of sin."

After setting out these three marks of a true church, Guido de Brès, the principle author of the Belgic Confession, went on to contrast the three marks of a true church with those of a false churches. He wrote:

"As for the false Church, it ascribes more power and authority to itself and its ordinances than to the Word of God, and will not submit itself to the yoke of Christ. Neither does it administer the sacraments as appointed by Christ in His Word, but adds to and takes from, as it thinks proper; it relies more upon men than upon Christ; and persecutes those who live holily according to the Word of God and rebuke it for its errors, covetousness, and idolatry.”

 
The Offices, Means, and Marks 

When we ask the question about the marks of the church, we have to remember that Scripture teaches that the church is the body of Christ. He is the head of the members. Every true believer is savingly in union with Christ. Every professing believer is under the administration of Christ's governance in the visible church. This means that we can never develop a biblical understanding of the marks of a true church without first starting with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

A fascinating correspondence emerges as we consider the three marks of the church in light of Christ. It has long been understood that Scripture teaches that there are the three offices in which Christ functions as mediator between God and man–that of Prophet, Priest, and King. Just as Jesus carries out his mediatorial work with regard to these three offices, so he works in his church in ways commensurate with those offices. Accordingly, the three marks of the church are reflective of the relationship that Jesus sustains to his body as its head. The three marks of the church have their origin in Christ. As the Lord Jesus serves as the mediator of the new covenant, carrying out the responsibilities of prophet, priest, and king in relationship to his church, so he has given three marks that coincide with those offices.

On a simplistic level, we can say that Christ, as Prophet, corresponds to the mark of the “pure preaching of the word,” Christ, as Priest, corresponds to “the right administration of the sacraments,” and Christ, as King, corresponds to “the faithful exercise of discipline.” In this way, the three marks are merely a reflection of the presence and power of the risen Christ at work among his people in the world. 

Daniel J. Meeter, in his work Meeting each other in doctrine, liturgy, and government, writes,

 “Where Christ is active and his Lordship is honored and obeyed, that is the ‘true church.’ . . .How are these marks directly related to the threefold office of Christ? First, preaching arises out of the gift of prophecy. It also relates to priesthood and royalty, when it bears witness to Jesus’ heavenly priesthood and his finished work for our salvation, and when it testifies to Christ’s claim as king. Second, the administration of the sacraments arises out of Jesus’ priestly work on the cross, his prayer for us, and the communication to us of the benefits of his sacrifice by the means of the washing of his blood and the breaking of bread. But the sacraments are also prophetic, when they celebrate the promises of God as present realities that we can touch, taste, and see.  They are also royal prophecies when they point us to the celestial banquet, when, after having washed our robes in the blood of the Lamb, we shall sit down for the royal feast, when his kingdom has fully come. Third, church discipline arises out of the right claims of Jesus’ kingship. It also points to the holiness of his priestly work, to which we must come repentant and hungry; and it points to the power of his prophetic word. . .revealing the secrets that are within the hearts of men and women, and announcing the way of salvation.”

In connection with the three marks of the true church corresponding to the three offices of Christ is the fact that the means of grace also correspond to the offices of Christ and the marks of the church. The three mediatorial offices of Christ and the three primary means of grace coincide to form the “three marks of a true church” within the context of local, visible churches. As Paul Avis suggests, “The principal means by which God saves us—the channels through which God works for our salvation—are also the marks of the true Church (notae ecclesiae). Or, to put it the other way round: the signs by which we can tell where the true Church is to be found are precisely the key means of grace that give the Church its raison d’être.”6

While some have limited the means of grace to the word, sacraments, and prayer (on account of the teaching of Acts 2:42), it is equally true that discipline is a means of grace. It is not difficult to see how the means of grace relate to the offices of Christ. Christ as prophet of his church, appoints his word to a means of grace for the nourishment of the souls of his people. Christ as priest of his church, mediates through the means of prayer and the sacraments for the deepening of communion with him, and Christ as king uses the practice of church discipline to be a means of grace unto the recovery of fallen saints and the protection of the flock from wolves. As Christ carries out his offices in the ministry of the means of grace the marks of the church become evident. In this sense, the offices of Christ, means of grace, and marks of the church work in tandum with one another. 

Among the means of grace, the word is the primary means from which the others find their operational efficacy. The seventeenth century English Puritan, Richard Sibbes explained,

"The mark whereby this church is known is especially the truth of God. That is the seed of the church, the truth of God discovered by his word and ordinance. To which is annexed the sacraments and ecclesiastical government; but the former most necessary. And these three were typified in the ark; for there was the law signifying the word, and the pot of manna signifying the sacrament, and the rod to shew the discipline. Those three were, as it were, types of the three marks of the church. But especially the word."

The nineteenth century Princeton theologian, Geerhardus Vos, rightly explained the rationale behind an emphasis on the priority of the Word over the sacraments, when he wrote:

"If necessary, we can think of Word as a means of grace without sacrament, but it is impossible to think of sacrament as a means of grace without Word. The sacraments depend on Scripture, and the truth of Scripture speaks in and through them." 

In other words, the right administration of the sacraments is absolutely dependent on the accompaniment of the pure preaching of the word. The reverse is not true, however. The word is never dependent on the sacraments. The same is true of discipline. In order for the proper exercise of discipline to be enacted, Scripture must serve as the foundational guiding principle. We are not free to exercise discipline in a way that is out of accord with the biblical injunctions regarding its purposes and practice. 

A Pure, yet Imperfect, Church

This opens yet another question. If the three marks of the church are the pure preaching of the word, the right administration of the sacraments, and the proper exercise of discipline, how pure must these three marks be for a church to still be considered a true church. This is a question that was also not foreign to the Reformers and the post-Reformation scholastics. In the Institutes, Calvin noted that the marks that distinguish a true church from a false church may be delinquent in some form or another. In Institutes 4.2, under the title, The True and False Church compared,” Calvin explained that a true church may only have some of the three marks and still be considered a church, so-called, but that Rome, who had perverted everyone of the marks to such a degree that they had “obliterated” them. He wrote,

"I affirm that they are Churches, inasmuch as God has wonderfully preserved among them a remnant of his people, though miserably dispersed and dejected, and as there still remain some marks of the Church, especially those, the efficacy of which neither the craft of the devil, nor the malice of men, can ever destroy. But, on the other hand because those marks which we ought chiefly to regard in this controversy, are obliterated, I affirm, that the form of the legitimate Church is not to be found either in any one of their congregations, or in the body at large."7

This was also the position of the members of the Westminster Assembly. In WCF 25.5, they explained, 

"The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error; and some have so degenerated, as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, there shall be always a church on earth, to worship God according to his will." 

The members of the Assemblty included this statement in the Confession of Faith, at least in part, over the debates that the Reformers had with the Anabaptists in the sixteenth century. For instance, Martin Bucer had contended with certain Anabaptist theologians of his day ower what he perceived to be a schismatic nature to their zeal for ecclesiastical purity. Bucer had raised strong objection to the severity with which the Anabaptists had approached the practice of discipline. Accordingly, the Reformers understood that there would be varying degrees of purity in regard to the administration of the word, sacraments, and discipline.

This ought to give every true believer a measure of caution before making strong pronouncements about any given Christian fellowship. The three marks must be present for a church to be considered a true church; however, there will always be mixture of truth and error in every visible church in this fallen world. Nevertheless, wherever the three marks are more or less purely ministered, Christ as prophet, priest, and king of the church is present; and, wherever Christ is at work in his church, the means of grace will be operational among the members of the church. 

 

1. Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, ed. Richard B. Gaffin Jr., trans. Richard B. Gaffin Jr., vol. 5 (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012–2016), 23.

2. John Calvin and John Allen, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 3 (New-Haven; Philadelphia: Hezekiah Howe; Philip H. Nicklin, 1816), 53.

3. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion & 2, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, vol. 1, The Library of Christian Classics (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 1023.

4. John Calvin and John Allen, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 3 (New-Haven; Philadelphia: Hezekiah Howe; Philip H. Nicklin, 1816), 19–20.

5. John Calvin and John Allen, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 3 (New-Haven; Philadelphia: Hezekiah Howe; Philip H. Nicklin, 1816), 19.

6. Paul Avis, “The Church and Ministry,” in T&T Clark Companion to Reformation Theology, ed. David M. Whitford, T&T Clark Companion (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2012), 149.

7. John Calvin and John Allen, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 3 (New-Haven; Philadelphia: Hezekiah Howe; Philip H. Nicklin, 1816), 53.

]]>
Understanding the marks of a true church ought to be of supreme importance to every believer. How do we know if any given church may be rightly considered to be a true church or not? For instance, every professing Christian ought to know that the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints is not in anyway whatsoever a true Christian church. It has always been, in every stage, a synagogue of Satan parading a false Christ and false gospel. But what about churches belonging to particular Chritian denominations or those that have remained independent? The principles that enable us to answer this question have been systematically developed for us in church history. The Reformation era was a particularly formative movement in the development and articulation of the doctrine of the marks of the church

During the Reformation era, there was a progressive development of understanding what marks distinguished a true church from a false church. This was, of course, owing to the Reformers efforts to bring reform to the Roman Catholic Church. Rome had emphacized the four attributes of the church, namely, "one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic church." While the Reformers agreed that those are the attributes or marks of the invisible church (i.e., the whole body of believers throughout all time), they rejected a number of these as being marks of the visible church. For instance, whereas Rome insisted that it was the true church, since we believe that there is only one church, the Reformers emphacized that the unity of all believers belonged to the sphere of the invisible church, but that there would be manifestations of the visible church on earth that were more or less pure according to their fidelity to the marks of the visible church. As Geerhardus Vos explained, 

"The marks (notae, γνωρίσματα) refer to the visible church and not, like the attributes, the invisible church. A mark by its nature is something that must fall within the sphere of what is visible. Although the Church, viewed in its entirety, can never disappear from the earth, there is still no guarantee that its individual parts will continue to exist. They can completely degenerate and deteriorate; believers who are still therein can die off so that only apparent members remain. But the presence of true members does not let itself be recognized. We cannot see into the heart of men."1

While we must distinguish between the attributes and the marks of the church, we must also remember that these are not antithetical to each other. They merely function in a different manner from one another. When we adopt this distinction, we will better understand the development of the doctrine of the marks of the church in Reformation history. 

John Calvin on the Marks

While many of the Reformers were developing a theology of the marks of a true church, John Calvin is often credited with the most widereaching influence on the development of our understanding of them. Most scholars will note that Calvin only referred to two marks–namely, the right administration ofg word and sacraments. In the Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin explained, “We only contend for the true and legitimate constitution of the Church, which requires not only a communion in the sacraments, which are the signs of a Christian profession, but above all, an agreement in doctrine."2 Elsewhere in the Institutes he stated, “Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to Christ’s institution, there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists [cf. Eph. 2:20]."3

Calvin fleshed out his understanding of the operational role of these two marks in the context of the local church. He wrote,

“The Church is called ‘the house of God, the pillar and ground of truth.’ For in these words Paul signifies that in order to keep the truth of God from being lost in the world, the Church is its faithful guardian; because it has been the will of God, by the ministry of the Church, to preserve the pure preaching of his word, and to manifest himself as our affectionate Father, while he nourishes us with spiritual food, and provides all things conducive to our salvation."4

So strong was Calvin in his belief about these marks that he posited what it means for someone to be apart from these marks. In Institutes 4.1.10, he insisted, “So highly does the Lord esteem the communion of his Church, that he considers everyone as a traitor and apostate from religion, who perversely withdraws himself from any Christian society which preserves the true ministry of the word and sacraments."5

While Calvin referred mostly to the right ministry of the word and sacraments as marks of a true church, he would add church discipline as a mark later in his ministry. In his Ecclesiastical Orders, Calvin explicitly expressed his belief in three marks. He wrote, “There are three things on which the safety of the Church is founded and supported: doctrine, discipline, and the sacraments.” These would become the three marks of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 

Sixteenth and Seventeenth Confessions

The Reformed Confessions spoke to the issue of the marks of the true church in light of Roman Catholic perversions of the biblical teaching on the nature of the Church. For instance, Westminster Confession of Faith 25.3 and 4 describes the marks of a true, visible church when it states the following:

“Unto this catholic visible Church Christ hath given the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints, in this life, to the end of the world: and doth by his own presence and Spirit, according to his promise, make them effectual thereunto...and particular Churches, which are members thereof, are more or less pure, according as the doctrine of the Gospel is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship performed more or less purely in them.” (Westminster Confession of Faith, 25.3-4).

Here, the Divines state that "the doctrine of the Gospel, ordinances and public worship" are necessary for a church to be considered a true church. The Belgic Confession (a precursor to the Westminster Standards), in article 29, outlines in a more succinct form what have been so frequently termed "the marks of a true church" when it states:

"The marks, by which the true Church is known, are these: if the pure doctrine of the gospel is preached therein; if she maintains the pure administration of the sacraments as instituted by Christ; if church discipline is exercised in punishing of sin."

After setting out these three marks of a true church, Guido de Brès, the principle author of the Belgic Confession, went on to contrast the three marks of a true church with those of a false churches. He wrote:

"As for the false Church, it ascribes more power and authority to itself and its ordinances than to the Word of God, and will not submit itself to the yoke of Christ. Neither does it administer the sacraments as appointed by Christ in His Word, but adds to and takes from, as it thinks proper; it relies more upon men than upon Christ; and persecutes those who live holily according to the Word of God and rebuke it for its errors, covetousness, and idolatry.”

 
The Offices, Means, and Marks 

When we ask the question about the marks of the church, we have to remember that Scripture teaches that the church is the body of Christ. He is the head of the members. Every true believer is savingly in union with Christ. Every professing believer is under the administration of Christ's governance in the visible church. This means that we can never develop a biblical understanding of the marks of a true church without first starting with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

A fascinating correspondence emerges as we consider the three marks of the church in light of Christ. It has long been understood that Scripture teaches that there are the three offices in which Christ functions as mediator between God and man–that of Prophet, Priest, and King. Just as Jesus carries out his mediatorial work with regard to these three offices, so he works in his church in ways commensurate with those offices. Accordingly, the three marks of the church are reflective of the relationship that Jesus sustains to his body as its head. The three marks of the church have their origin in Christ. As the Lord Jesus serves as the mediator of the new covenant, carrying out the responsibilities of prophet, priest, and king in relationship to his church, so he has given three marks that coincide with those offices.

On a simplistic level, we can say that Christ, as Prophet, corresponds to the mark of the “pure preaching of the word,” Christ, as Priest, corresponds to “the right administration of the sacraments,” and Christ, as King, corresponds to “the faithful exercise of discipline.” In this way, the three marks are merely a reflection of the presence and power of the risen Christ at work among his people in the world. 

Daniel J. Meeter, in his work Meeting each other in doctrine, liturgy, and government, writes,

 “Where Christ is active and his Lordship is honored and obeyed, that is the ‘true church.’ . . .How are these marks directly related to the threefold office of Christ? First, preaching arises out of the gift of prophecy. It also relates to priesthood and royalty, when it bears witness to Jesus’ heavenly priesthood and his finished work for our salvation, and when it testifies to Christ’s claim as king. Second, the administration of the sacraments arises out of Jesus’ priestly work on the cross, his prayer for us, and the communication to us of the benefits of his sacrifice by the means of the washing of his blood and the breaking of bread. But the sacraments are also prophetic, when they celebrate the promises of God as present realities that we can touch, taste, and see.  They are also royal prophecies when they point us to the celestial banquet, when, after having washed our robes in the blood of the Lamb, we shall sit down for the royal feast, when his kingdom has fully come. Third, church discipline arises out of the right claims of Jesus’ kingship. It also points to the holiness of his priestly work, to which we must come repentant and hungry; and it points to the power of his prophetic word. . .revealing the secrets that are within the hearts of men and women, and announcing the way of salvation.”

In connection with the three marks of the true church corresponding to the three offices of Christ is the fact that the means of grace also correspond to the offices of Christ and the marks of the church. The three mediatorial offices of Christ and the three primary means of grace coincide to form the “three marks of a true church” within the context of local, visible churches. As Paul Avis suggests, “The principal means by which God saves us—the channels through which God works for our salvation—are also the marks of the true Church (notae ecclesiae). Or, to put it the other way round: the signs by which we can tell where the true Church is to be found are precisely the key means of grace that give the Church its raison d’être.”6

While some have limited the means of grace to the word, sacraments, and prayer (on account of the teaching of Acts 2:42), it is equally true that discipline is a means of grace. It is not difficult to see how the means of grace relate to the offices of Christ. Christ as prophet of his church, appoints his word to a means of grace for the nourishment of the souls of his people. Christ as priest of his church, mediates through the means of prayer and the sacraments for the deepening of communion with him, and Christ as king uses the practice of church discipline to be a means of grace unto the recovery of fallen saints and the protection of the flock from wolves. As Christ carries out his offices in the ministry of the means of grace the marks of the church become evident. In this sense, the offices of Christ, means of grace, and marks of the church work in tandum with one another. 

Among the means of grace, the word is the primary means from which the others find their operational efficacy. The seventeenth century English Puritan, Richard Sibbes explained,

"The mark whereby this church is known is especially the truth of God. That is the seed of the church, the truth of God discovered by his word and ordinance. To which is annexed the sacraments and ecclesiastical government; but the former most necessary. And these three were typified in the ark; for there was the law signifying the word, and the pot of manna signifying the sacrament, and the rod to shew the discipline. Those three were, as it were, types of the three marks of the church. But especially the word."

The nineteenth century Princeton theologian, Geerhardus Vos, rightly explained the rationale behind an emphasis on the priority of the Word over the sacraments, when he wrote:

"If necessary, we can think of Word as a means of grace without sacrament, but it is impossible to think of sacrament as a means of grace without Word. The sacraments depend on Scripture, and the truth of Scripture speaks in and through them." 

In other words, the right administration of the sacraments is absolutely dependent on the accompaniment of the pure preaching of the word. The reverse is not true, however. The word is never dependent on the sacraments. The same is true of discipline. In order for the proper exercise of discipline to be enacted, Scripture must serve as the foundational guiding principle. We are not free to exercise discipline in a way that is out of accord with the biblical injunctions regarding its purposes and practice. 

A Pure, yet Imperfect, Church

This opens yet another question. If the three marks of the church are the pure preaching of the word, the right administration of the sacraments, and the proper exercise of discipline, how pure must these three marks be for a church to still be considered a true church. This is a question that was also not foreign to the Reformers and the post-Reformation scholastics. In the Institutes, Calvin noted that the marks that distinguish a true church from a false church may be delinquent in some form or another. In Institutes 4.2, under the title, The True and False Church compared,” Calvin explained that a true church may only have some of the three marks and still be considered a church, so-called, but that Rome, who had perverted everyone of the marks to such a degree that they had “obliterated” them. He wrote,

"I affirm that they are Churches, inasmuch as God has wonderfully preserved among them a remnant of his people, though miserably dispersed and dejected, and as there still remain some marks of the Church, especially those, the efficacy of which neither the craft of the devil, nor the malice of men, can ever destroy. But, on the other hand because those marks which we ought chiefly to regard in this controversy, are obliterated, I affirm, that the form of the legitimate Church is not to be found either in any one of their congregations, or in the body at large."7

This was also the position of the members of the Westminster Assembly. In WCF 25.5, they explained, 

"The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error; and some have so degenerated, as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, there shall be always a church on earth, to worship God according to his will." 

The members of the Assemblty included this statement in the Confession of Faith, at least in part, over the debates that the Reformers had with the Anabaptists in the sixteenth century. For instance, Martin Bucer had contended with certain Anabaptist theologians of his day ower what he perceived to be a schismatic nature to their zeal for ecclesiastical purity. Bucer had raised strong objection to the severity with which the Anabaptists had approached the practice of discipline. Accordingly, the Reformers understood that there would be varying degrees of purity in regard to the administration of the word, sacraments, and discipline.

This ought to give every true believer a measure of caution before making strong pronouncements about any given Christian fellowship. The three marks must be present for a church to be considered a true church; however, there will always be mixture of truth and error in every visible church in this fallen world. Nevertheless, wherever the three marks are more or less purely ministered, Christ as prophet, priest, and king of the church is present; and, wherever Christ is at work in his church, the means of grace will be operational among the members of the church. 

 

1. Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, ed. Richard B. Gaffin Jr., trans. Richard B. Gaffin Jr., vol. 5 (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012–2016), 23.

2. John Calvin and John Allen, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 3 (New-Haven; Philadelphia: Hezekiah Howe; Philip H. Nicklin, 1816), 53.

3. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion & 2, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, vol. 1, The Library of Christian Classics (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 1023.

4. John Calvin and John Allen, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 3 (New-Haven; Philadelphia: Hezekiah Howe; Philip H. Nicklin, 1816), 19–20.

5. John Calvin and John Allen, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 3 (New-Haven; Philadelphia: Hezekiah Howe; Philip H. Nicklin, 1816), 19.

6. Paul Avis, “The Church and Ministry,” in T&T Clark Companion to Reformation Theology, ed. David M. Whitford, T&T Clark Companion (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2012), 149.

7. John Calvin and John Allen, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 3 (New-Haven; Philadelphia: Hezekiah Howe; Philip H. Nicklin, 1816), 53.

]]>