Psalm 45 Publications

Part Five: “The Lord Will Come in Fire”

1. Introduction: Living in Light of the Lord’s Return

For four weeks now, we have been walking together through the magnificent and imposing book of Isaiah. At times, it has been overwhelming; and even now, perhaps, there remains some uncertainty as to what we will do with this amazing message. There have been glimpses of the perfect person and work of Christ that are thrilling and comforting; but the sheer vastness of this inexhaustible gospel message, the tyranny of the impinging temporal matters that surround us, and the lingering uncertainty about how to fit such a big, amazing message into the practical affairs of our little, mundane lives may cause us to feel like throwing up our hands in despair. In some ways, that is how I feel; and I don’t think I am alone. Continue Reading

Part Four: “Behold the Lamb of God”

1. Introduction: Four Servant Songs

Thus far in our journey through Isaiah, we have seen many amazing prophecies that far excel all human wisdom and imagination. The Immanuel-King complex of prophecies in chapters seven through twelve is the preeminent prediction in all the Old Testament of the incarnation of Christ. It is no accident that many of our favorite Christmas passages come from this portion of Isaiah; because hundreds of years before the virgin birth, he looked ahead with crystal clarity and probed to the depths the incomprehensible mystery of the birth of the God-Man. But for all this, the climax of his Messianic expectation had still not come. Continue Reading

Part Three: “A Shoot Springs Up”

1. Introduction: A New Light Dawns

We left off last week noting that God’s promise to save his people will not be thwarted by the unbelief of apostates such as Ahaz – for “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Rom. 11:29). The promised Christ will indeed come, and he will be an immovable Rock, a sanctuary for his people where God fully and perfectly dwells with them without consuming or terrifying them. This mystery of the incarnation of the eternal Son of God is at the very heart of the Christian faith. But what of those who disbelieve and look elsewhere for security? They will be shattered against this same Rock who is certainly coming, and utterly destroyed. This testimony was bound up and sealed, and was as irrevocable as God’s own character. But would the people rejoice to embrace this testimony? No, as Ahaz their leader, they would disbelieve and seek out wisdom and revelation from any other source they could find than the very Word of God come down in history to reveal God to his people. At the end of chapter eight, we can hear the anguish in Isaiah’s voice as he looks to a time in which the people stumble in thick darkness, where there is no dawn, and lift up their voices in rage against their God and King. Continue Reading

Part Two: “The Greatest Sign of All”

1. When crisis comes to the people of God (vss. 1-2)

Last week, we spent some time unpacking Isaiah’s central message that, although difficult days are ahead, there is a greater salvation coming for the people of God – God’s own purpose and promise guarantee it, and he will not let his glory be stained by failing to accomplish his plan of redemption in Christ. This is an immensely comforting message; but when those promised difficulties arrive, will the promise of salvation yet to come be enough to sustain our faith? In some measure, that is the question, not just of the faithful in Isaiah’s day, but of the faithful in every age. We are promised eternal joy in the presence of Christ and a home in the New Jerusalem; but also affliction, persecution, and the loving but faithful chastisement of God’s own hand in this life. What will happen to us when those afflictions spring up all around us? Will they choke out the fruits of our faith, like thorns? Or will we rejoice even in our diverse tribulations, knowing that God has designed them for a greater good? Continue Reading

Part One: “When He Saw His Glory”

1. Introduction to Isaiah

Isaiah is the premier prophet of the Old Testament in several ways: (1) temporally – as one of the first, he stands at the head of the amazing tradition of writing prophets before, during, and after the great captivity of Israel and Judah; and his message is so profound and monumental that everything written by the prophets afterwards is in some ways colored and shaped by his foundational work. (2) in volume – Isaiah is the longest prophetic book in the canon; his book, like his message, is big and broad, multi-faceted and all-encompassing, a microcosm of God’s whole purpose in human history. (3) in theme, style, and scope – there is simply no one else who wrote as diversely, as powerfully, as poetically, and as broadly as Isaiah. Martin Luther famously (and with good reason!) referred to the Psalms as a “little bible,” because they contain in some fashion every aspect of God’s gracious revelation to us. Isaiah is perhaps the only other book that could bear that designation with equal appropriateness. Reading Isaiah is like reading the Cliff’s Notes version of the bible – he takes you back to the eternal, inter-triune council before the foundation of the world, moves you along through fall, promise, failure, exile – then brings you to a stunning climax of redemption, which flowers into a brilliant conclusion of eternal significance. Isaiah is a truly astonishing and wonderful book: it is Gospel, like the Evangelists; it explains the theological truths inherent in those accurately depicted gospel-scenes, like John; it shouts from beginning to end that the person and work of Christ is superior to all that had come before, like Hebrews; it concludes the whole world in sin before having free mercy for all, by grace through faith alone; and it shows how the casting off of the Jews means salvation for the whole world, both Jew and Gentile, like Romans; it soars above and beyond human history and shows the coming eschaton in brilliant imagery, like Revelation. Continue Reading

1. Introduction

Leviticus is a foundational book in the bible, showing forth in graphic representation the most central and important truths of the gospel. The dominant theme and all-inclusive goal of the book is to make a people holy to the Lord, which is likewise the goal both of creation and redemption. The twofold means of making this people holy is atonement for the guilt of sin and cleansing from the pollution of sin, which is the essence of what Christ came to accomplish. The instrumentality by which this atonement and cleansing comes about is likewise twofold, being accomplished through priest and sacrifice; this priestly and sacrificial work of the Lamb of God, our great High Priest, is the scarlet thread running through the whole bible, giving coherence to all. To understand this book, therefore, is to understand the heart of the gospel.

Key verse: Leviticus 19:2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. Continue Reading

1. Introduction

Leviticus has no formal introduction, but immediately begins describing the sacrificial system, in God’s own words to Moses. The position of this section at the beginning of the book, the elaborate detail which is employed, and the fact that God himself speaks audibly out of the tabernacle, underscores how important the sacrificial system is to the worship of God’s people. Continue Reading

1. The Consecration of the Priests (Chapter 8 )

The consecration and investiture of the priests took place before all the congregation (8:3); so we as a Church must look to Christ in his priestly office for assurance of acceptance with God through him. Continue Reading

1. The Purpose of the Laws of Ritual Cleanness

The instructive intent of the ceremonial laws of ritual cleanness

The laws depicted ascending levels of separation: “unclean” (in contact with sin, death, decay); “clean” (separated from sin, death, and decay); “holy” (separated from all else and consecrated to God). Compare the levels of separation in holy space: common ground, the Holy Place, the Holy of Holies.

Laws of clean and unclean do not pertain to actual sin, but rather showcase the effects of sin (e.g. all that sin produces, including death, decay, etc., is ceremonially unclean); and they provide “object lessons” of abstract moral sins (e.g. the outward corruption of leprosy mirrors the inward corruption of moral evil; the prohibition against mixing fabrics and seeds mirrors the calling of the Church to be separate from the world in its sinfulness). Continue Reading

1. The Outstanding Example of Uncleanness: Leprosy

Leprosy in a person

“Leprosy” was a broad term denoting one of any number of malignant diseases that spread in the skin and visibly disfigured and destroyed the body. Because of its destructive, growing, and visible nature, it was the perfect condition expressive of the abstract concept of uncleanness.

The person pronounced leprous by the priest had to live outside the camp, tear his clothes, let his hair hang loose, cover his upper lip, and cry out, “Unclean!”. Tearing one’s clothes, loose hair and a covered lip were signs of mourning over the death of a loved one (e.g. Gen. 37:33-34; Ezek. 24:17); hence, the picture is that of a person mourning his own death because of his uncleanness. This “death” is separation from the people of God and the place where God has chosen to dwell. Thus, Adam died when he was put out of the Garden of Eden, and the second death will be a place where people cry out in anguish forever because their sinful impurity has separated them from God’s presence. Continue Reading

1. The Centrality of the Day of Atonement

In response to Nadab and Abihu’s death

Israel had seen that coming to God in our way or on our terms means death and wrath. Now, God is showing his way to bring his people to himself, by providing an “atonement,” or “ransom” for them. The High Priest alone could minister in this capacity, and only on this day could he pass beyond the veil into the Most Holy Place.

Central in the Calendar and Festal Year

The Day of Atonement was on the tenth day of the seventh and most important month in the ecclesiastical year, which was inaugurated by the Feast of Trumpets (the Jewish New Year’s Day), and thus became the first month of the civil year. So Jesus’ death came in the fullness of times (Gal. 4:4), and was the climactic and most important event of human history; and it inaugurated a new year of God’s favor (Isa. 61:2). It was the only Feast in which it was commanded for the Israelites to afflict themselves (prob. with fasting, see Ps. 35:13), and yet it prepared way for the most joyful Feast (Booths). So its fulfillment, Good Friday, was a time of sorrow, but it prepared the way for the joyful ingathering of the nations. (cf. Jn 16:20). Continue Reading

1. The Sanctity of Blood (Chapter 17)

The portion of Leviticus immediately preceding its climax in the description of the Day of Atonement (chapter 16) detailed the ceremonial laws on ritual purity; the portion immediately following details the moral laws of actual purity. Therefore, there is usually a much more direct application of these following portions to us today, although we must not make the mistake of assuming that every law given in this portion of Leviticus applies to us in precisely the same way as it did to OT Israel. Continue Reading

1. Social Holiness (Chapter 19)

Lev. 19:2 is the clearest brief statement of the basic point and purpose of Leviticus. It is instructive, therefore, that immediately afterward, the most basic sin (idolatry) is warned against and the most basic purpose of the whole book (being restored to fellowship with the holy God by sacrifice) is repeated. Remember what we examined earlier about the prohibition of allowing the meat of the peace sacrifice to remain until the third day, to prevent decay and as a sign of how Christ’s body would not be allowed to see corruption (cf. Psalm 16:10). Thus we have the death and resurrection of Christ foreshadowed here, together with the results of that death and resurrection, namely, reconciliation to God. Continue Reading

1. The Priesthood and the Need for Holiness (Chapter 21)

Throughout these chapters, there is a graduated emphasis on personal holiness; the priests must be holier than the rest of the holy people of God, Israel; and the High Priest is to be holier than the priests. Note the similarities to the tabernacle: the Courtyard, into which ritually clean Israelites could enter; the Holy Place, into which only priests could enter; and the Most Holy Place, into which the High Priest alone could enter, once a year. So today, it is of utmost importance that we, who have been made a nation of priests, be markedly holier in heart and action than the world, lest we profane (make to appear unholy) the Name of our God (1 Pet. 2:9); there is an even severer standard of holiness for our elders and teachers (cf. James 3:1); but our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, is Most Holy, completely undefiled by sin (Heb. 7:26-28). Hence, the same threefold gradation is at work today. Continue Reading

1. The Festal Calendar

Two cycles of feasts

Feasts beginning on the first month of the ecclesiastical year, Nisan (Springtime festivals):

Passover (14th of Nisan)
Feast of Unleavened Bread (15th – 21st of Nisan)
Pentecost (6th of Sivan, 7 weeks [or fifty days] after beginning of Passover and waving of firstfruits)

Feasts of the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year and the first month of the civil year, Tishri (Autumn festivals):

Feast of Trumpets (1st of Tishri)
Day of Atonement (10th of Tishri)
Feast of Tabernacles (15th – 22nd of Tishri) Continue Reading

1. Tabernacle Upkeep

In the first part of the chapter, the Lord gives Moses instructions concerning two elements that will have to be supplied on a continual basis for the functioning of the tabernacle: pure olive oil for the lamp and the Bread of the Presence for the table. Throughout the book of Leviticus, instructions have already been given for the usage of every other feature of the Tabernacle (the way to use the altar was discussed in the description of the sacrifices, the way to use the laver was shown in the discussions of priestly ceremonial washings, the altar of incense was mentioned in the discussion of the Day of Atonement, etc.). These instructions here, therefore, bring to a state of completion the information that the Levitical Priests must have for the proper upkeep and functioning of the tabernacle.

The Gospel of John makes a point of revealing the Christ-centered meanings behind all the tabernacle furniture; and in chapters six and eight, he shows that Christ is the true Bread which came down from heaven, and the Light of the World, in fulfillment of these two elements. Continue Reading

1. The Sabbath Year

Everyone knows that ancient Israel observed a Sabbath day of rest one in seven days; but it is less commonly known that they were also commanded to let the land rest an entire year in every seven years. During this time, no fields were to be worked, and what they produced naturally was for the free consumption of rich and poor, landowner and slave, domesticated animal and wild.

This teaches, first of all, that the “sabbath” principle was much bigger than might be supposed by its weekly observance. Once a week, Israel rested from their labors to worship God; but ultimately, their lives were looking to a time when they could rest forever, and enjoy his presence not just one day, but long term – permanently, in fact, when the suggestive period of an entire year is equated to an entire age. The sabbath year taught the people that the rest Joshua brought them into, when he gave them the promised land, was not the final sabbath rest of the people of God; ultimately, they had to look forward to another rest, which the greater Joshua, Jesus Christ, promised to those who believed in him (see Psalm 95:7-11; Heb. 3-4). The paradise of Eden, in which the ground naturally and effortlessly produced fruits sufficient for her keepers, and in which the toilsome aspect of labor was utterly absent, was prefigured here, when the land gave fruits sufficient for everyone of every rank, man and beast alike, which they had just to pick at their leisure. Continue Reading

1. Covenant Blessings and Curses (Chapter 26)

As we have noted before, the Book of Leviticus is the centerpiece and climax of the Pentateuch; and the Book of Leviticus culminates in a list of Covenant blessings and curses. The Pentateuch itself also culminates in a similar (but lengthier) list (Deut. 27-30). This dual listing and strategic location of covenant blessings and curses underscore their importance for understanding the nature of the Pentateuch and the Mosaic Covenant as a whole. Continue Reading

The book of Ecclesiastes has always been vexing to evangelical scholars because of its overt and pervasive negativism. Its canonicity has, in fact, been called into question by reason of perceived heterodoxies, as, for instance, a supposed denial of the resurrection in 3:19-20. Furthermore, even among those expositors who accept the book’s canonicity, most are loath to embark upon a discussion of its theology without first mentioning some such disclaimer as that, having been written from the perspective of one who lived foolishly and had cause to regret the outcome, its purpose is not to give a positive Christian philosophy of life, but rather to show the sad end of an unchristian worldview. Hence, its teachings should not be applied as prescriptive for believers, but rather as prohibitive and cautionary. Similarly, some have suggested that its doctrine is appropriate for an Old Testament level of revelation, but that, were one to write in the same manner today, he would be sinning against the light of greater revelation. Which does at least have an element of truth, but essentially denies the exact agreement of Old and New Testament doctrine, which differs the one from the other only in degree of precision. Continue Reading

It is a singular circumstance that the man who walked the isle of Patmos in the Spirit of the Lord, that epoch-defining Lord’s Day, was not a broken man. Well, he was in fact broken and humble – just not in the sense that one may have expected. He was broken before Christ, his only Master; but the threats and persecution, even the strenuous exile that had been brought upon him by the fearful sway of the Roman Emperor, had left him as serenely confident in the ultimate victory of Christ, and of those who were in Christ, as if all the might of Rome had no power to touch him, or to cause him any harm. He was, perhaps, broken in body; and yet he remained untouched in spirit. He was confident that he was an overcomer, in the final analysis; and this unreasonable confidence, in place of the brokenness and servile fear that must have been expected, could not have been other than a source of amazement to all who knew him. Continue Reading

Of all of Paul’s letters to the various churches of his day, there is perhaps none that is more intimately personal, while touching upon a greater variety of practical concerns, than his letter to the Philippians. For these reasons there is probably not a more comforting, and at the same time a more practically helpful, book to study. However, there are also few, if any, of Paul’s epistles that have a less obvious and systematically-laid out organization and theme than Philippians – which can make a thematic study, which explores the development and inter-relationship of the different emphasized principles, quite difficult. Most of Paul’s writings begin with fundamental truths and move to derived principles which have a direct causal relationship with the initial truths – and hence the whole work arises from bottom to top like a meticulously planned building, brick by brick. Philippians, on the other hand, is a composite collection of autobiography, exhortation, encouragement, general news and information, and so on. It does not move definitively from doctrine to practice, as so many of his other letters. It is more occasional, and develops themes somewhat more randomly, as specific occasions give rise to doctrinal and practical observations. Continue Reading

The prophetic portions of our bible, while they contain some of the loftiest and most beautiful descriptions of God and his redemptive plan to be found anywhere in the scriptures, are yet among the most difficult portions to understand and interpret. They are gold mines that require a great deal of labor to extract and possess the vast riches hidden deep beneath the surface. Without a little guidance and reflection, one might wander aimlessly here and there, without making heads or tails of the bulk of what has been written. Even Martin Luther, whose exegetical abilities are beyond question, has said of the writing prophets, “They have a queer way of talking, like people who, instead of proceeding in an orderly manner, ramble off from one thing to the next, so that you cannot make head or tail of them or see what they are getting at.” This observation is strikingly true. So how does one begin to find a structure that would aid in understanding writings that are so obviously structured differently from the logical, point-by-point, western way of proceeding? I have come to the conviction that the following five themes are central to the message of every writing prophet; and that, like so many threads, they are interwoven throughout the prophetic corpus, binding them together in a unified whole that fills a very specific place in the unfolding of redemptive history and revelation. One might view them as so many pegs upon which to hang the variously intermingled prophecies, and so have a basis for the comparison and conflation of the whole. Or else as so many facets, many of which inhere in each individual prophecy, relative to the angle at which one views it. I am indebted for many of the following observations to O. Palmer Robertson, whose book, The Christ of the Prophets, has been invaluable in helping me to think through these issues. Continue Reading

The two outstanding characteristics of the Proverbs with which I associate my childhood, neither legitimate but both having a pervasive influence in my surrounding circles, are fragmentation and moralism. The former of which gave rise to the latter: as long as the individual proverbs were seen as disconnected and de-contextualized, that is, as long as they were seen as a series of random thoughts, it was easy to make such character qualities as honesty, industry, and diligence the foundation and fountainhead of the Christian life. When will God be pleased with me? When I am honest and industrious. How do I encounter God’s blessings? By being honest and industrious. And so the reasoning ran. The more foundational question, “How can I, a depraved sinner, hope to become honest and industrious?”, if acknowledged at all, was glibly passed off with an exhortation to try harder. I found all of this exceedingly confusing, as it appeared to contradict everything that was said when one was speaking of the gospel – but considering it a necessary and appropriate shift when dealing with a corpus of “practical” material, I managed by compartmentalizing my conception of Christianity to muddle along without serious reservations, albeit equally without any precision of thought concerning justification, sanctification, and the relationship between the two. Continue Reading

As evangelical Christians today, we should be ever grateful that, in the gracious dispensation of the sovereign God of history, when all the world lay in bondage under the grievous doctrinal errors of Roman Catholicism, the great reformers of the church arose to contend for the pure gospel that had been delivered to the saints. It is no accident that this earnest contending for the faith coincided with the recovery of a grammatical and historical hermeneutic, nor is it mere chance that the ongoing battle against the various forms of modern liberal theology continues to be waged by means of the same basic hermeneutic. If we intend to be serious about submitting our own thoughts to the word of God, it is vital that we never lose our commitment to a literal interpretation of the scriptures. Continue Reading

Outline

• Introduction [1:1-17]
• Condemnation [1:18-3:20]
• Justification (A): Summary [3:21-26]
• Justification (B): Elaboration & O.T. Support [3:27-5:11]
• Justification (C): Imputation [5:12-21]
• Sanctification [6:1-8:39]
• Orchestration [9:1-11:36]
• Exhortation [12:1-16:27] Continue Reading