STOP WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING AND READ THIS NOW!

Ros Clarke’s thesis on the Song of Solomon.

Ros makes a robust case for the Song being a metaphor of the marriage relationship between YHWH and Israel, tracing the biblical theological themes of land and marriage before applying the metaphor to Christ and the church and the longing we experience as we await the consummation of our marriage. I find myself deeply persuaded by her demonstration of the myriad allusions in the Song to elsewhere in Scripture.

O that I had a similarly sharp eye for BT motifs running through Scripture!

Matthew Mason on the Song of Solomon

THIS is really, really good.

Interpreting the Bible

Daniel reads Matthew who reads Peter Leithart.

See HERE and HERE.

Keeping the Sabbath: When Biblical Theology Goes Too Far

The subject of Sabbath-keeping is perhaps one of my hobby-horses. The thrust of this post is to affirm the historic Reformed position that there is still a binding obligation on Christians to consecrate one day in seven for rest and the corporate worship of God against the idea that the fourth commandment has been completely fulfilled in Christ and so keeping that commandment means coming to Christ (see HERE, the only disagreeable article I have found on THIS site).

The biblical theology idea as I understand it goes something along these lines: God rested on the seventh day, a day which never ends: the goal of creation is rest in a perfect relationship with God in a perfect world. As a result of sin, the world is very much a restless world and men and women are engaged in a constant striving for rest. God gave the fourth commandment to the Jews to remind them of his rest on the seventh day and to point them forward to the rest he promised them. In Christ, that promised rest has come, so keeping the Sabbath now means coming to Christ to find rest in him (and by implication, we do not set aside one day in seven for rest and the worship of God).

However true that is, the Biblical testimony seems to me to be more than that, and actually Christians are to set apart one day in seven, not in the same way as the Jews, but with appropriate application to the gospel age.

Starting generally, as has been noted on this ‘blog previously, Christians are in some sense under God’s law (or Christ’s law – whichever you prefer) as a way of life (not a way of salvation), not with the ceremonial elaborations of the Mosaic age or the judicial application to the church-state of Israel but in its lasting moral precepts. That means we continue to obey the Ten Commandments. See Matthew 5.17ff, Matthew 22.34-40, Romans 3.31, Romans 7.12, Romans 13.8-10, 1 Corinthians 7.19, 1 Corinthians 9.21, Galatians 5.13-14, Ephesians 6.2.

The Sabbath is a creation ordinance. On the seventh day, God rested from his works and blessed the day and made it holy (Genesis 2.3). It is for that reason that the people of Israel are urged to remember the Sabbath day.

Biblical Theology fails to do justice to what the text of Matthew 12 says. Even if the thrust of vv. 9-13 is more on Jesus’ identity as the one who gives true rest, he does still say, “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath,” (v. 23) strongly indicating a continuing observance of one day’s rest in seven and reapplication of its usage.

If we are going down the Biblical Theological route, we mustn’t forget the letter to the Hebrews. Chapter 4, verse 9 tells us that “there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God”, followed by an exhortation in v. 11, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest.” There is clearly a future rest (in the New Heavens and the New Earth) so even if we do have rest in Jesus, it is still entirely consistent with the meaning of Sabbath to have one day in seven to point us back to God’s rest on the seventh day and forward to the rest which we shall enter in the future as the Sabbath under the Old Covenant pointed back to God’s seventh day rest and forward to the rest that God promised. Perhaps one could even say that failing to keep the Sabbath now is having an over-realized eschatology since it suggests that we have complete and perfect rest now and are not waiting for anything in the future.

The New Testament Church appears to have kept Sunday, the first day of the week, the day of resurrection, as a Christian Sabbath. If the seventh day rest was God’s cessation from the work of creation, can we not think of the first day as the day when God finished his work of new creation, as Christ died to make atonement for sins on Good Friday and then was raised to new life on Easter Sunday, the firstfruits from the dead. Paul and his companions gathered on the first day of the week for the Lord’s Supper and for the preaching of the word in Acts 20.7. In 1 Corinthians 16.2, Paul enjoins the Corinthians to put some money aside on the first day of every week for the collection for the saints. Revelation 1.10 speaks of the Lord’s Day. All this suggests that the first day of the week was the day for the regular assembly of the Lord’s people in the New Testament, just as the Sabbath was a day for holy convocation in the Old.

It is worth concluding by commenting that this is the historic Reformed position and that this is generally undisputed in Non-Conformist circles and among Anglican Evangelicals of a previous generation.

Reaching Post-Everythings

A very good post from a Lutheran.

Christians and Alcohol

I am aware that this may be a controversial topic. Let me state for the record that I am not opposed to alcohol in and of itself. It is a good gift of God and may be received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4.3-4).

This was something that I briefly discussed whilst on Beach Mission with other brothers in Christ and I’d like to share a few thoughts. It seems to me at the moment that in practice, a Christian probably ought not to go to public houses for the purpose of drinking or drink at mixed gatherings (e.g. a formal meal with believers and unbelievers present) or indeed at gatherings of Christians except those small gatherings where one knows everyone present well.

I think there are three reasons for this:

1. Personal holiness
2. The effect on the weak Christian
3. The effect on witness to unbelievers

Regarding the personal holiness issue, drinking alcohol does immediately open up the door to temptation. Drunkeness is a sin. Given the call on the Christian believer not to sin and to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, to put oneself in that situation is unwise. That might even be a justification for complete abstinence.

Regarding the second point, I’m thinking along the lines of 1 Corinthians 8-9 here. It is not wrong to drink alcohol in and of itself. Yet weaker brothers and sisters may see one drinking or going into or leaving a pub, assume that one is just doing what the world around one is doing (i.e drinking and getting drunk) and so do it themselves, thinking it acceptable. Or, they could have doubts, but one’s example might cause them to act in a way that wounds their conscience and make them stumble.

There is of course the issue of alcoholics who have been converted. Exposure to a culture in which Christians regularly drink alcohol, however moderately, may encourage them to drink and lead them down the road of alcoholism again.

Concerning the third point, I can see the argument that says that going into a pub and even drinking alcohol is a good witness because it shows that one is normal, that one can have a good time without falling into excess, and actually, it’s a good way of building friendships to share the gospel.

Point one notwithstanding, I would like to question that reasoning. If one goes to the pub, do non-Christians (friends or not) actually notice that one is not drinking or, if one is, that one isn’t getting drunk. In many cases, I guess not. In the eyes of the world one is just going along with the crowd and doing whet everyone else is doing, i.e. drinking and even getting slightly drunk. This can be to the serious detriment of Christian witness: where then is the distinctive Christian life, and the transformation that the gospel, however gradually, produces in one’s life. Besides which, there are plenty of other ways one can get to know non-Christians, and there are other methods of evangelism than friendship evangelism.

Just a few further comments: I think going to pubs for a meal is different, though one still has to be careful. In that instance, it is essentially a restaurant and does not carry with it the assumptions of the lounge bar.

Whatever the Biblical testimony is, we have to remember that distillation techniques haven’t remained stationary for the past two millennia or more. Our alcohol is considerably stronger than the alcohol they drank in Biblical times. I don’t want to push that as far as some Christian groups have, though.

Finally, why do we feel the need to drink alcohol now? Can’t we just wait? Amos 9.13ff, pointing forward to the New Creation, says:

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper
and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.
I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
I will plant them on their land,
and they shall never again be uprooted
out of the land that I have given them,”
says the LORD your God.

Jonah

Peter Leithart’s interpretation of Jonah in A House for My Name is compelling. After floating it somewhat unconvincingly with some brothers and sisters last night and no doubt failing to do justice to what Leithart is saying, I’ll have another go at summing up what he says.

The word of Yahweh comes to Jonah, but he is sent to Nineveh, not Samaria and promptly heads off in the other direction. Jonah is a prophet during the last days of the Northern Kingdom, an idolatrous people devoted to worshipping golden calves. Jonah himself tells us why he ran away from acting as Yahweh’s prophet. He knows that Yahweh is compasionate and merciful and will have mercy on the Assyrians if they repent and this displeases him (chapter 4, verses 1 and 2).

What is happening is what Moses warned about in Deuteronomy 32.21:

They have made me jealous with what is no god;
they have provoked me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

Israel has provoked Yahweh to jealousy, so Yahweh is provoking them to jealousy, turning his attention to another nation, actually an act of mercy as Israel is stirred up to return to her true husband Yahweh (cf. Romans 11.11).

Like Israel, Jonah is provoked to jealousy and anger when Yahweh showers his attention and blessing upon another nation. He does not want to help them repent and so he runs away, but this is unsuccessful. Though he wants to avoid his prophetic office, the first thing that happens is the conversion of pagan sailors. This points head to the convesion of Nineveh.

In spite of his sin, the Lord is kind to Jonah, appointing a fish for him, delivering him from deaht in the waters and raising him up to dry land. The fish saves Jonah rather than destroying him. This is a picture of the Lord’s promise to Israel. Israel, like Jonah, has turned from the Lord, rejected his call and refused to be a witness among the Gentiles. The sea is frequently a picture of the Gentile nations in Scripture (cf. Psalm 65.7-8). Just as Jonah is thrown into the heart of the sea, so Israel will be taken captive by Gentile nations. Jonah being thrown into the sea is a picture of exile.

Sea monsters in the Bible are sometimes pictures of Gentile rulers (Psalm 74.12-17, Jeremiah 51.34). So Jonah tells us that Gentiles powers are appointed by the Lord to save God’s people. So the Lord’s protection of Jonah is a promise of protection during Israel’s exile. Once she returns to the Lord, she will be vomited back into the land. Moreover, many Gentiles will come to know the Lord.

I appreciate that this is relying strongly on the whole-Bible context to understand the book of Jonah. What do people think? It doesn’t seem to me to be at odds with the message of the text itself. Perhaps others who have studied Jonah in more depth (and more recently) than I could correct me. Even the Lord Jesus’ application of the sign of Jonah to himself doesn’t appear to be contradictory. Jonah’s salvation from the water, spending three days and nights in the fish and then being vomited out may be a picture of Israel’s ‘death’ and ‘resurrection’ as she faces exile and then restoration. Jesus is clearly portrayed in the NT as the true Israel, so why can’t Jonah’s experience, be rightly applied to the Lord Jesus, even within this interpretative framework?