Covenant Hearts’ Blog

For those interested in Covenant Theology Read:
THE MARROW OF MODERN DIVINITY
by Edward Fisher

Ezekiel 37:11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’ 12 “Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 “Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. 14 “I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,” declares the LORD.’” (Emphasis mine.)

Matthew 27:52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. (Emphasis mine.)

I don’t recall anyone ever pointing this out, I’m sure it has been in some commentary somewhere…It seems to me that the graves were opened in fulfillment of this prophecy. I have wondered for a long time, the significance of the dead saints being raised and walking through Jerusalem. But it seems that the prophecy was for those in whom God would put His spirit and that He would make them to walk upon the land of Israel. This prophecy is characteristic of many Ezekiel passages which refer to the New Covenant. In this case the only “saints” that could be raised were O.T. believers/saints. But in other passages where promises are given to the living, it appears that they are to the Jewish Christians and “Gentile” Christians; given our N.T. understanding of the mystery which is Christ in us…Every Christian truly is a “Jewish” Christian…This goes against our modernistic thinking, though; but Paul said it:

Romans 2:28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

If I could summarize; there is only one sense to the prophetic passages but there can be many applications. Thus, either the specifically Jewish orientation of the prophecy contains the real sense with the fact that all Christians are “true Jews” as an application or else the sense is really going for a promise aimed at all believers in the N.T. era with an application specifically directed at the Jews. Divorcing non-Jewish Christians from the promises in the O.T. Prophets seems to result in misapplication of the texts or maybe even missing the real sense of the passages; I withhold any conclusions either way on my part as of yet.

Jeremiah 20:17 Because he did not kill me before birth, So that my mother would have been my grave, And her womb ever pregnant.

I really think this provides some grotesque imagery in consideration of one of America’s favorite past-time: abortion. Abortion is “killing before birth.” No denying that. Even if it isn’t murder, it is killing something that was alive…

But it is murder and that’s what makes it worse. You have turned an instrument of life into a chamber of death. God gave sexual intercourse, a wonderful thing, between a man and his wife. This act serves a two-fold purpose: bonding the couple and producing offspring. Lord knows that if sex wasn’t how children were made and they were made in some neutral fashion as to be a chore, then we as a human race would’ve died out long ago by disobeying His command to be fruitful and multiply.

The womb ought to be a haven not a hades, safe not sheol, help not hell, peaceful not purgatory, life not death…

http://www.christianciv.com/eschatology_bs_TOC.htm#TOC

The bible study I was going to write…someday. If you are nervous about the future of Christianity or the future in general go through this study.

Pre-Exilic Prophets ( Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah)

Exilic/Post-Exilic Prophets ( Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi)

Note which Propets are which. This will aid in the study of the action-packed tomes.

Revelation 14:3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth.

I hope you do. If you do not, ask me and I will tell it to you. I hope by then you will discover what it takes to really learn the song.

Exekial 5:9 ‘And because of all your
abominations, I will do among you what I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again. 10 ‘Therefore, fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.

What we see here is an example of God’s pronouncement of judgment. In other passages we see the same curse mentioned…but why was this curse added to the Deuteronomy curses in the first place? If nothing else, because God knew the future. Note that He says that He has not actually brought this curse to bear before and that He will do so in a very specific capacity and that He will never do so again (which could be figurative, in order to emphasize the gravity of the situation). It is an earthly judgment reserved for the severest of offenses: rejecting God and whoring after other gods. The next question is, when was/will this fulfilled?

What is the Law-Word of God? Is it the KJV, NASB, or NIV? Is it the manuscripts in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, et al.? Are all of them the Law-Word of God or none of them?

For one who holds to the inerrancy and infallibility of the Law-Word of God, these questions may seem disconcerting.

I am currently studying this issue to have my conscience settled and for a paper I will write on the topic (makes my work light since I want to know the information). Here I will lay out some of my thoughts on the subject.

I heard first the arguments for the priority of the Greek from which the KJV was written. I was led to believe that the Greek manuscripts which were translated from until the last century were the pure text and that the more recently discovered manuscripts had been edited, for instance, by gnostic sects which had hidden them away and had incidentally preserved them.

The first books that I picked up on the subject of text versions were both arguing against modern translations. Their method was to compare the English KJV translation to other modern English translations. They argued that other versions significantly reduced verses in support of, most notably the doctrine of Christ’s deity. They argued for a majority text tradition and invoked the theory of providential preservation.

More recently I have read a book by D.A. Carson on textual criticism. I took him to be Reformed Presbyterian initially but I don’t know how he could have some very liberal leanings as far as altering Scripture is concerned and still be “Reformed.” I thought he made many good points and nearly convinced me to be a textual critic…compelling anyways. But the more I look into it, the approach of textual criticism seems be atheistic as if somehow you can approach the issue neutrally…Oh sweet autonomy!

KJO proponents are on an extreme position. Proponents of the critical-text are on an extreme position. Proponents of the priority of the Majority/Byzantine text-type take external science into account as well as internal theological evidence. They seem to moderate the two extremes in a healthy way. It would place one much closer to KJO to side for the Majority text, but these are generally God-fearing evangelical Christians, than the textual-critics side, which is the side of intellectualizing to a fault the issue in question. Apparently, as one was wont to say, simple issues like evolution have been settled by science but are not accepted by some religious types. Well, I’m a religious type that will never accept an unproven theory as equivalent to experimental science.

Other issues I had with the Alexandrian prioritists were the use of statistical analysis, evolutionary concept of memes, mathematical analysis, etc as intellectual arguments. Sure, that is what is used in science but the Law-Word of God is not a scientific derivative and should not be treated as such.

I think the issues of theology, psychology, geography, history/tradition etc play a role as well as scientific modes of inquiry. Let us not use one to the exclusion of the other, but let us take both when they can both be of assistance and see where they lead us.

Dan,

I was thinking of Deut 17:14-17;

14 “When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ 15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. 16 “Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ 17 “He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself. (NASB)

But, there was no mention of a census! I was wrong. Obviously there were principles laid out here that may be taken to cover the way in which David carried out his census.

The passage you spoke of was II Sam. 24 and its parallel is in in I Chron. 21.

My footnotes (Geneva) make some good points:

II Sam. 24:2 For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which [was] with him, Go speedily now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the (c) number of the people.

(c) Because he did this to try his power and so to trust therein, it offended God, else it was lawful to number the people, Exod. 30:12; Num. 1:2.

I Chron. 21:1 And (a) Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

(a) He tempted David, in setting before his eyes his excellency and glory, his power and victories, read 2 Sam. 24:1.

21:3 And Joab answered, The LORD increased his people an hundred times so many as they [be], O my lord the king: [are] they not all my lord’s servants? wherefore doeth my lord require this thing? why should he be a cause of (c) trespass to Israel?

(c) It was a thing indifferent and usual to number the people, but because he did it of an ambitious mind, as though his strength stood in his people, God punished him.

Conclusion: Numbering the people was not itself a sin. But, it could be a sin if done for the wrong reasons as evidenced by the scriptural account with David, Joab, et al.

John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

Interesting, C.S. Lewis makes use of this picture of Christ with his character of Aslan. God breathing is an amazing thing. Oh, what wonders wrought by the very breath of God!

Whether He meant for them then to receive or later to receive, it would seem very awkward if it was Jesus returning only in a different form. Other passages would also be awkward to read if there are not three distinct persons in the Godhead.