121 I have done what is just and right; do not leave me to my oppressors. 122 Guarantee your servant’s well-being; do not let the arrogant oppress me. 123 My eyes grow weary looking for your salvation and for your righteous promise. 124 Deal with your servant based on your faithful love; teach me your statutes. 125 I am your servant; give me understanding so that I may know your decrees. 126 It is time for the Lord to act, for they have violated your instruction. 127 Since I love your commands more than gold, even the purest gold, 128 I carefully follow all your precepts and hate every false way.
The sixteenth stanza of Psalm 119 (ע/ayin) deals with the age old dilemma of faith; it is a question that the people of God have been asking for four millenia. “How long, O Lord?” How long will the wicked prosper? How long will sin and evil endure? How long until you come again to judge the wicked and vindicate the righteous, O Lord? Is it all worth it? Is my obedience and my faithfulness and my suffering worthwhile in the grand scheme of your eternal plan, O Lord? These are the perennial questions of faith. In the face of ever growing evil and the ongoing glorification of sin and wickedness, we are left to wonder if our struggles to walk in faith and obedience are worth it? If we are honest with ourselves, these are questions that even the most faithful of Christians have asked themselves at some point or another. Our psalmist puts it this way: “My eyes grow weary looking for your salvation and for your righteous promise.” (Verse 123)
This is perhaps what is most refreshing about the Word of God, especially in the Psalms but equally so throughout the canon of Scripture, namely that it is real and honest about the human predicament. The Scriptures do not whitewash the ugly and painful realities of human experience; rather, they acknowledge them with an honesty that is both brutal and refreshing. Moreover, they speak to the complexities of maintaining faith and hope in the face of such realities that would otherwise drive us to depression and despair. This is why our psalmist can say, “It is time for the Lord to act, for they have violated your instruction.” (Verse 126) Even though he feels the weariness and the temptations to despair, our psalmist holds on to his hope that God will act, that He will judge those who have violated His instruction. Our psalmist sees this hope as both good and right; it is both good and right that the wicked should finally be punished.
And it is this hope that drives our psalmist to maintain his faith in steadfast obedience to God and His word. He says, “I have done what is just and right; do not leave me to my oppressors,” (Verse 121) and he says, “I carefully follow all your precepts and hate every false way.” (Verse 128) His hope in God and his justice drives his perseverance in faith and obedience. He is convinced that his obedience is not meaningless, that the persecution and suffering that he has endured in not random or without purpose. No, our every effort to walk by faith and obedience, our every difficulty and heartache for the sake of God and His Word, will be ultimately vindicated and rewarded. We look forward to those gracious words of our Lord Jesus, when He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into your master’s joy.” This is why our psalmist can pray, “Deal with your servant based on your faithful love; teach me your statutes.” (Verse 124)
The word here translated “faithful love” is a central and primary concept in the Old Testament’s conception of God. It’s closest New Testament equivalent is the word “grace.” This attribute of God’s character is enshrined in the covenantal formula,
The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation. (Exodus 34:6-7)
This covenantal formula is the basis for all of the Old Testament’s theology, and it forms the foundation of our psalmist’s faith in this stanza of Psalm 119. The God of the Bible is a God who is longsuffering and gracious toward those who submit to Him in faith, but He is just and holy toward those who reject His sovereign rule over their lives.
And it is this faith that leads him to pray, “Guarantee your servant’s well-being; do not let the arrogant oppress me.” (Verse 122) Literally translated, the line reads, “Be surety for your servant for good.” The idea is that God himself is the surety, the earnest money, the down payment, of good for his servant. In other words, our good, our blessing, our prosperity and human flourishing flows only from God and His promises. This is why we must trust in Him and walk in His ways. As our psalmist puts it, “Since I love your commands more than gold, even the purest gold, I carefully follow all your precepts.” Our fulfillment, our purpose, our joy and happiness is only available when we submit ourselves to God Word, when we walk in God’s ways, even if when it feels like everyone is going in the other direction. Christian perseverance is driven by a faith full of hope. When and only when we walk in this hope will we experience genuine human flourishing and fulfillment.
One of the most important advances in Biblical Studies in the last 100 years has clearly been the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Thanks to the curiosity of a young Bedouin shepherd, the first scrolls were discovered at Qumran in 1947. Over the next ten years, hundreds of papyrus fragments were found in some eleven caves in the area containing various biblical and extra biblical writings dating from 200 BCE to 100 CE. The general consensus has been that these represent the religious views of a sect of early Judaism known as the Essenes, known previously only through the writings of Josephus. Over the past 50 years, the study of these scrolls has provided valuable insight in the religious thought world of Jesus, Paul, and the first Christians, and comparative studies are now basically the norm in New Testament monographs and the other academic publications.
In this post, I am not interested in the content of the Dead Sea Scrolls, as fascinating as the material may be; I am more interested in the textual transmission of the scrolls, particularly as that might be compared to the textual transmission of the biblical text. It is truly a wonder of God’s providence that the Dead Sea Scrolls were preserved they way that they were. They were likely buried in the caves prior to the Jewish War (66-70 CE), and then subsequently abandoned when the Essene community was destroyed by the Romans. Thanks to the arid and dry climate of the area around the Dead Sea, these scrolls were preserved in glass jars for over 2000 years. However, they do show the signs of their age. They mostly consist of fragmentary pieces, and even the larger documents are missing significant parts due to decay (see the picture above, for one example). This means that translating the scrolls into English for modern study is mostly piecemeal at best. Large portions of the text must be reconstructed through textual emendation and scholarly conjecture, in order to make the text readable and understandable.
For example, one paragraph from The Temple Scroll (11QT) reads,
On the fifteenth day of the month …[the corresponding] grain offering [and drink offering, all on] the altar, an offering by fire, of s[oothing odour to YHWH. On] the second [day:] twelve young bulls, [two rams, four]teen [lambs] and on he-goat [for a sin offerin]g [and the corresponding gr]ai[n-offering and drink-offering] according to the statue concerning the young bulls, the ram[s], the lambs [and] the he-goat; it is an offering by fire, of soothing odour to YHWH.
The braketed text in the quote above indicates where the text has been conjecturally emended and filled in by the translator. The point is that as valuable as the scrolls are, the condition of the text is partial, fragmentary, and dependent on scholarly interpretation and emendation.
By contrast, the textual tradition of the biblical text is far more substantial and stable. The earliest portions of the New Testament that are extant today can be dated to within in a century of the actual writing of the documents themselves, and the earliest complete manuscripts that we have today are removed by only 2 or 3 centuries from the time of the New Testament. Further, we have over 5000 extant manuscript witnesses to the text of the Bible, in addition to ancient versions, liturgies, and quotations in the church fathers. The point is that through the discipline of text criticism (see my post here), we can reconstruct the text of scripture with 99% accuracy, and any questions that do remain are mostly of peripheral concerns and have no bearing on the actual meaning of the text. Unlike the Dead Sea Scrolls, the biblical text is not fragmentary and dependent on emendation; no, it is stable, clear, and firm in it is manuscript foundations.
This then is an even greater wonder of God’s providence as he has preserved His Word throughout the centuries. He has graciously and providentially watched over His Word, and He has not left himself without a witness. This should give us a great amount of confidence and faith in the textual foundations of our faith. The text of the Bible has been preserved and passed down by God’s providence through the ages, so that we might have reliable witness to His revelation of Himself in Christ. Where would we be if the text of the Bible had been hidden in desert caves for over 2000 years? I shudder to think of the possibilities. When we read the Bible, we should give great thanks that God has not left us as blind to grope in the darkness hoping we might find Him. No, he has spoken clearly, firmly, and faithfully, so that we might know Him even as we are known. Thanks be to God!
For further study, see: Geza Vermes, trans. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English. Revised Edition. London: Penguin Books, 2011.
113 I hate those who are double-minded, but I love your instruction. 114 You are my shelter and my shield; I put my hope in your word. 115 Depart from me, you evil ones, so that I may obey my God’s commands. 116 Sustain me as you promised, and I will live; do not let me be ashamed of my hope. 117 Sustain me so that I can be safe and always be concerned about your statutes. 118 You reject all who stray from your statutes, for their deceit is a lie. 119 You remove all the wicked on earth as if they were dross from metal; therefore, I love your decrees. 120 I tremble in awe of you; I fear your judgments.
The fifteenth stanza of Psalm 119 begins with the Hebrew letter ס/samek, and in this stanza, we read some lines that are quite startling to our modern sensibilities. Right out of the gate, we read, “I hate those who are double-minded” (Verse 113), and a couple of verses later, we read, “Depart from me, you evil ones” (Verse 115). Again, to our moderns ears, these lines seem unduly harsh. But I think we have to look at where our psalmist ends in verse 120, “I tremble in awe of you; I fear your judgments”; in the King’s English, the line reads, “My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments” (KJV). The word for “tremble” here only occurs in the Hebrew Bible in one other place, that being Job 4:15, and the context there clearly implies trepidation (see Job 4:13-15). So likewise, here the word implies that our psalmist is feeling fear, healthy trepidation, a holy terror, at the authority of God and His Word. And it is this fear, this holy terror, that drives him to pursue obedience and submission to the Word of God.
Likewise, it is this intense sense of fear and respect, of submission and devotion to the Word of the one true and living God, that motivates our psalmist’s statements regarding the wicked. Our psalmist understands that God rejects all who stray from His statutes (verse 118) and that He removes all the wicked on the earth (verse 119). So, in verse 115, he says, “Depart from me, you evil ones so that I may obey my God’s commands.” He doesn’t want anything, or anyone for that matter, to prevent him from obeying the laws and statutes of God. I will say more about his obedience in a moment, but suffice it say here that he is so devoted to God and to His word, that he “hates” those who are “double-minded.” The NET Bible renders the line this way, “I hate people with divided loyalties.” The word in question refers to those who are split in their allegiances, those who are two faced or hypocritical in their intentions. They are those who say one thing and yet do another; their verbal confession and their actual behavior are not consistent. “Their deceit is a lie.” (Verse 118). They lack integrity, and in the face of the authority and gravity of God and His word, this kind of attitude is wholly unthinkable for our psalmist.
However, it is imperative that we understand that our psalmists submission to God and His word is not simply motivated by fear of punishment. On the contrary, it comes from a place of deep conviction and faith regarding the goodness of God and His commands. His commands are not burdensome; they are not dull drudgery meant to keep us from enjoying the pleasures of life. No, they are the only path that leads to ultimate fulfillment and genuine human flourishing. This is why our psalmist writes, “You are my shelter and my shield; I put my hope in your word.” It is also why he says, “I love your instruction.” (Verse 113). There is nothing that is more delightful, nothing that is more empowering, nothing that is more fulfilling for our psalmist than obeying the Word of God. By committing himself to God and to keeping His word, he has entrusted his entire self to the goodness and grace of the law-giving God. His obedience is nor forced; it is not against his will. No, his entire will is submitted to the one before whom he stands in awe.
He expresses his faith further when he prays, “Sustain me as you promised, and I will live; do not let me be ashamed of my hope. Sustain me so that I can be safe and always be concerned about your statutes.” (Verse 116-117). It is interesting, though, that this would be his prayer. He has already committed himself to obey God Word. Why, then, would he need to ask God to sustain him? I think there are two reasons. First, he is asking God to sustain him in his obedience. Our psalmist is not naive; he knows the power of temptation, he knows the weakness of his own heart. He knows how easily and how quickly he would abandon his obedience if he were left to himself. So he prays that God would sustain him in his obedience. But secondly, I think he prays for God’s sustaining power because he understands that obedience before God cannot be motivated purely by what we might get out of it. We don’t obey God, so that he will in turn bless us. This tit for tat reckoning is in many ways alien to the economy of God. Our psalmist understands that we obey God because it is right in and of itself to do so; we obey God because that is what we owe Him as creatures. But, as creatures, we are completely dependent upon his sustaining grace every moment of every day for every need that we have. Without Him, we can do nothing. So he prays, “O God, sustain me.”
Sadly, for many Christians in the world today, this attitude of holy terror coupled with desperate faith is somewhat of an oxymoron. On the one hand, we have domesticated God and diminished his authority in our lives to the extent that we treat Him like an elderly grandparent who might give us a piece of candy if we behave, and on the other, we are so self-reliant and comfortable that we have forgotten just how weak and needy we truly are. In this light then, the attitude of our psalmist in this stanza is both a rebuke and an invitation. It is a rebuke of our selfishness and pride, and it is an invitation to rediscover the greatness and the grace of the God that we serve. As C.S. Lewis puts it, “‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
105 Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path. 106 I have solemnly sworn to keep your righteous judgments. 107 I am severely afflicted; Lord, give me life according to your word. 108 Lord, please accept my freewill offerings of praise, and teach me your judgments. 109 My life is constantly in danger, yet I do not forget your instruction. 110 The wicked have set a trap for me, but I have not wandered from your precepts. 111 I have your decrees as a heritage forever; indeed, they are the joy of my heart. 112 I am resolved to obey your statutes to the very end.
The fourteenth stanza of Psalm 119 starts with the letter נ (nun/pronounced like noon). Yes, that is right; the fourteenth stanza out of twenty-two. Remember, Psalm 119 is an acrostic psalm in which every stanza starts with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It truly is a wonder of our psalmist could write 22 stanzas, 186 verses, extolling the perfections of God’s Word. There is no repetition, no redundancies; no, every stanza addresses some new or different aspect of God’s Law than the one before. His heart was clearly enamored – no, that’s not right – it was consumed with love, affection, devotion for the precepts of God. They were his very life, the only nourishment that could satisfy the pangs of his soul. This attitude should challenge and convict us. Modern Christians struggle to devote 15 minutes of their day to reading the bible; I know, because I am one of them. Why do our souls not hunger and thirst for the nourishment, the soul satisfying pleasures of the Word of God? This is the question that Psalm 119 is asking us.
In this stanza, our psalmist begins with those famous words, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (verse 105, KJV). If you were raised in church like I was, then you probably just sang the lyrics to yourself. The fact that someone set these words to music captures the right sentiment, I think. The Psalms were originally prayers and songs that were meant for Israel’s corporate worship, so in singing them, we are no doubt emulating the practice of our psalmist. However, the connection between song and lyric and the affections of the heart is one that is often so underappreciated in modern worship services. Music has a way of touching us, of forming us, in the most vulnerable recesses of our hearts. What we sing, what we shout, these are the things that are planted in the memory of our hearts. This is why we should sing songs that are biblically faithful. As our psalmist goes on to write here, “I have solemnly sworn to keep your righteous judgments.” (verse 106). He is clear in these verses that his greatest affection, his first and foremost guiding principle for life, is the revelation of God in his Word.
And it would appear that he is in particular need of this guidance, as he goes on to write, “I am severely afflicted” (verses 107), and again, “My life is constantly in danger” (verse 109). And in the next verse, “The wicked have set a trap for me” (verse 110). Of course, we do not know the nature of this particular psalmists troubles; we have no narrative of his life to appeal to for background information. But it would appear that he is deeply troubled; he is facing some kind of opposition, some kind of persecution or threat, possibly even up to and including his very life. There are several occasions in the Book of Psalms where David faces similar circumstances, so we may reasonably infer that this was no light or temporary concern for our psalmist. And yet, in the midst of this trail, he continues to affirm his allegiance to the commands and ordinances of God. “I do not forget your instruction” (verse 109); “I have not wandered from your precepts” (verse 110). In fact, he goes on to say in the last verse of the stanza, “I am resolved to obey your statutes to the very end” (verse 112). Here again, we don’t know if the persecution he was facing was directly caused by his commitment to the God and His Word, but we do know that he was resolved, committed, and steadfast in keeping that Word until the very end, no matter what opposition he may face.
Where does a person find this kind of strength, this kind of steadfast loyalty to keeping the Word of God? I think we have our psalmists answer in verse 111, “I have your decrees as a heritage forever; indeed, they are the joy of my heart.” The word “heritage,” or perhaps “possession,” implies the idea of an inheritance; it is a surety of future prosperity. It is the reward that awaits the firstborn. And for our psalmist, the inheritance that he is anticipating is nothing less than the promises of the Word of God. It is the words of Lord Jesus, when he says, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master.” It is a certainty, a sure and firm hope, of future glories, even in the midst of present difficulties and hardships. The Word of God is our hope, and it is the joy of our hearts. Hope and joy; two out of three of the great triad of Christian virtues. These are the defining characteristics of those who trust in God’s word – unshakable hope, indomitable joy. Clearly, our psalmist had these in his heart, and no matter what troubles or heartaches may come, he was able to persevere because of he found his hope and his joy in the abiding Words of the living God.
This stanza, nay this entire psalm for that matter, is a wonder to me. It challenges and convicts my soul in ways that I am still trying to define even after writing on these first fourteen stanzas. I wonder why God would put a psalm like this one in the Bible; it seems somewhat self-congratulatory – 186 verses on the soul satisfying perfections of His own Word. But perhaps, he put it here because he know that in it he has provided the salve for every every need of the human heart. So often, we look for our comfort, our peace, our security, our hop, our joy in all the wrong places. This is sin. But if we could learn to emulate the attitude and affections of our psalmist, if we would truly begin to hide his Word in our hearts, then we might be able say with the psalmist, “I have not wandered from your precepts.” In His goodness, God has provided the solution to every problem, the cure for every heartache, the peace and comfort for every trial. It is Him, God himself; He is the only one who can answer the deepest longings of our souls. And he has done this in His Word. May we learn to emulate the conviction of our psalmist and find our peace, our hope, and our comfort in His Word.
97 How I love your instruction! It is my meditation all day long. 98 Your command makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is always with me. 99 I have more insight than all my teachers because your decrees are my meditation. 100 I understand more than the elders because I obey your precepts. 101 I have kept my feet from every evil path to follow your word. 102 I have not turned from your judgments, for you yourself have instructed me. 103 How sweet your word is to my taste— sweeter than honey in my mouth. 104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every false way.
The question of the Law and its relevance for New Testament believers is a question that has boggled the minds of Christians ever since the first disciples. As New Covenent believers, we understand that Christ has fulfilled the Law, and this in every way. No part of the Law has been left unfulfilled by Christ. Paul even says that the Law has been “abolished” in the work of Christ (Eph 2.15). And yet, we also understand that the Law, as part of the Old Testament Scriptures, is profitable and valuable for “training in righteousness.” (2 Tim 3.16) Genuine believers love the Word of God, and they yearn to be transformed by its truths. The Law, however, appears to be so difficult, so out of touch, so unrelated to life in Christ, we naturally wonder what transformative relevance it might still have.
More than that, we are well aware of what the New Testament says about the Law, particularly in the Pauline Epistles. For example, we understand that “the letter [of the Law] kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor 3.6), and that “[we] are not under the law but under grace.” (Rom 6.14) We all stand condemned by the law, for “it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law.” (Gal 3.11) We have been taught that the purpose of the Law is to expose our failures to live up the righteous standards of God, to convicts us of our sin, and to reveal our need for a savior. In other words, if the Law has a role in the faith of New Testament believers, then it is largely negative, convicting, and condemning.
But this does not seem to be the attitude of our psalmist here in Psalm 119; he views the law positively and with deep adoration and affection. In this stanza, he writes “How I love your instruction” (verse 97), and “How sweet your word is to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth.” (verse 103) Of course, we could simply conclude that this psalmist is writing before the advent of Christ, and so perhaps his words are no longer relevant for how we should relate to the Old Testament Law. For Old Testament believers, the Law was the basis for their covenant relationship with God. It was the gift of God’s grace to make them His people and enter into a covenant with them. Clearly, we have something greater. We are under the Law of Christ. (1 Cor 9:21)
But I believe this perspective would fail to do justice to the words of our psalmist. Believers in both the Old and the New Testament are united by the principle of faith; they are a part of us. So, the attitude of our psalmist throughout Psalm 119, but especially here in the mem (מ, pronounced maym) stanza, is particularly instructive for us. We too should learn to love God’s Law, to meditate upon it all day long. We should find in it words of wisdom and life and understanding about the ways of right and wrong as they are determined by the one who gave it. We should read Old Testament books like Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and let them be like sweet honey in the mouths of our soul, because they reveal the one whom our soul loves.
The bottom line is this, that the Old Testament, especially the Law, is good and valuable and profitable and transformative for God’s people of all times. It does not merely convict us and condemn us and reveal to us that we deserve hell and need salvation; it also reveals the character, the virtues, and perfections of the one who is true and pure and holy. We must learn to appreciate these positive aspects of the Law’s role in our lives as Christians, because if we do not, we cut ourselves off from the sustaining and nourishing benefits that come through its pages. No, we are not bound under the covenant mediating authority of the Law; it is not the basis of our relationship with God in Christ by the Spirit. But it is part of God’s revelation of himself, and as such, it continues to have value and relevance for those of who are in Christ, much as the writer of Psalm 119 affirms.
TEXT 7 “Are these things true?” the high priest asked.
2 “Brothers and fathers,” he replied, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, 3 and said to him: Leave your country and relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.4 “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this land in which you are now living. 5 He didn’t give him an inheritance in it—not even a foot of ground—but he promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he was childless. 6 God spoke in this way: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and they would enslave and oppress them for four hundred years.7 I will judge the nation that they will serve as slaves, God said. After this, they will come out and worship me in this place.8 And so he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9 “The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household. 11 Now a famine and great suffering came over all of Egypt and Canaan, and our ancestors could find no food. 12 When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there the first time. 13 The second time, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 Joseph invited his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five people in all, 15 and Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our ancestors died there, 16 were carried back to Shechem, and were placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 “As the time was approaching to fulfill the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people flourished and multiplied in Egypt 18 until a different king who did not know Joseph ruled over Egypt. 19 He dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our ancestors by making them abandon their infants outside so that they wouldn’t survive. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. He was cared for in his father’s home for three months. 21 When he was put outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and raised him as her own son. 22 So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his speech and actions.
23 “When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 When he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He assumed his people would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. 26 The next day he showed up while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’ 27 “But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying: Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us?28 Do you want to kill me, the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?
29 “When he heard this, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. 30 After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he was approaching to look at it, the voice of the Lord came: 32 I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look. 33 “The Lord said to him: Take off the sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.34 I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. And now, come, I will send you to Egypt.35 “This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?—this one God sent as a ruler and a deliverer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.
37 “This is the Moses who said to the Israelites: Godwill raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.38 He is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors. He received living oracles to give to us. 39 Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron: Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.41 They even made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and were celebrating what their hands had made. 42 God turned away and gave them up to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: House of Israel, did you bring me offerings and sacrificesfor forty years in the wilderness?43 You took up the tent of Molochand the star of your god Rephan,the images that you made to worship.So I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.
44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen. 45 Our ancestors in turn received it and with Joshua brought it in when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them, until the days of David. 46 He found favor in God’s sight and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 It was Solomon, rather, who built him a house, 48 but the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says: 49 Heaven is my throne,and the earth my footstool.What sort of house will you build for me?says the Lord,or what will be my resting place?50 Did not my hand make all these things?
51 “You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your ancestors did, you do also. 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. 53 You received the law under the direction of angels and yet have not kept it.”
~Acts 7.1-53
Title: On the Value and Relevance of the Old Testament Text: Acts 7.1-53 Series: The Book of Acts Church: Redeemer Baptist Church, Jonesboro, AR Date: April 7, 2024
The New Testament is clear that the Christian Gospel rises and falls on the historical factuality of this truth, that Jesus Christ truly lived, truly died, and truly rose again. There simply is no way around it; as the Apostle Paul writes, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith. … And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” (1 Cor 15.13-14, 17) Jesus had to truly die in our place to satisfy the wrath of God toward sin, and he had to truly be raised from the dead in victory over sin and death. The work of Christ in His death and resurrection is the means by which he secures our salvation; His death achieves for us our forgiveness, and His resurrections assures us of our life eternal.
However, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is more than simply a historical event; it is more than merely a transaction between the Father and the Son. No, the logic of the Gospel is that the work of Christ in his crucifixion is the pattern for our life as well. By faith, we are united with Christ; we have died with him to sin and we have been raised with him in newness of life. (Romans 6.4-5) This is the logic of the Gospel, namely that His death becomes our death and his resurrection becomes our resurrection. In the space that follows, I would like to spend just a few brief moments reflecting on the implications of this essential principle of the Christian Gospel.
On the one hand, we participate in his death and resurrection spiritually, which means we experience it through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. This happens at the point of conversion; when someone trusts in Christ, they die with Him to the tyranny and slavery of sin, they die with Him to the old self and its fleshly desires. “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin.” (Romans 6.6) Consequently, they are, then, indwelt by the Holy Spirit who gives life. As Paul goes on to write, “Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8.10) We are renewed and transformed by the Spirit that we might walk in righteousness and holiness before God and others in this life. This is what it means to be resurrected with Him spiritually; as Paul says elsewhere, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” (2 Cor 5.17) This is the good news of the Gospel.
However, we must also affirm that we will participate in his death and resurrection physically. This is also essential to the logic of the Gospel. Death is the consequence of sin and its corruption in a fallen creation. As the author of Hebrews writes, “it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment.” Every human being, saved and unsaved, will die physically, but those who die in Christ will also be resurrected physically. The Apostle Paul writes, “the dead in Christ will rise,” (1 Thess. 4.16) or again, “the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.” (1 Cor 15.52) In the same way that he was raised in a glorified and perfected physical body, so also we will be raised in a glorified and perfected body. “We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is.” (1 John 3.2) This is the hope; this is the promise. This is the logic of the Gospel. “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.” (1 Cor 15.49)
Of course, we may be tempted to conclude that the position that I have sketched out here is hopelessly illogical. How can it be possible that we must die and be raised both spiritually and physically? This seems like a contradiction in terms. How can Paul claim that we have been raised with Christ but then claim that we will one day be raised with Christ. I believe the answer to this apparent contradiction lies in the New Testament reality of the already and the not yet. In fact, I believe that this hermeneutical principle is fundamental for understanding the New Testament in general. In Christ, the last days have already been inaugurated. The fulfillment of God’s work of salvation has begun in the person and work of Christ. Christ has been raised from the dead as the “firstfruits”, and he has given us the eschatological indwelling of the Spirit. We already live the life of the age to come, aka eternal life, and we stand redeemed under the promise of the New Covenant.
And yet, we understand that the full consequences of the redeeming work of Christ have not yet been completely realized. We await the day when he will come again in power and glory to do away with sin once and for all, and it is then that we will be raised in glorified bodies. This is how the Apostle Paul describes the order of the resurrection, “Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ.” (1 Cor 15.23) Yes, those who are in Christ by faith have already been made new; we are already regenerated by the indwelling Spirit,. But we await the day when our faith will be made sight. “We ourselves have the Spirit as the firstfruits, [yet] we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8.23) Christ is risen; he came up out of the grave – physically, bodily, gloriously, and one day we too will be raised from the dead physically, bodily, and gloriously.
The point of all this is to say that the inherent logic of Christ’s resurrection requires the physical bodily resurrection of believers. To deny this truth is to deny the gospel itself. We cannot have a gospel, we cannot have a salvation, we cannot have a redemption, that does not find its completion in the physical bodily resurrection of those who have been united with Christ by faith. One article I recently read sums up this truth by saying, “The end of the work of God, as regards man, is the glorification of his restored and sanctified nature—body and soul—in eternity. Without this, salvation and restitution would be incomplete. The adoption cannot be consummated without the redemption of the body.” Or to put it more sharply, a gospel that denies the physical resurrection of believers at the physical second coming of Christ is a false gospel, as the Apostle Paul would say, “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!” (Galatians 1.9)
TEXT 10 My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, 11 assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.
~Philippians 3.10-11
Title: On Resurrection and the Path of Glory Text: Philippians 3.10-11 Church: Redeemer Baptist Church, Jonesboro, AR Date: March 31, 2024
15 This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.
20 He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens— 21 far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.
~Ephesians 1.15-23
Title: On the Ground of Christian Hope Text: Ephesians 1.15-23 Series: The Letter to the Ephesians Church: South Caraway Baptist Church, Jonesboro, AR Date: May 28, 2023
A psalm of David when he fled from his son Absalom.
1 Lord, how my foes increase! There are many who attack me. 2 Many say about me, “There is no help for him in God.” Selah
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head. 4 I cry aloud to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. Selah
5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again because the Lord sustains me. 6 I will not be afraid of thousands of people who have taken their stand against me on every side.
7 Rise up, Lord! Save me, my God! You strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. 8 Salvation belongs to the Lord; may your blessing be on your people. Selah
~Psalm 3
Series: Praying through the Psalms Text: Psalm 3.1-8 Church: South Caraway Baptist Church, Jonesboro, AR Date: April 12, 2023
Faith seeking Understanding 