Bully's Blog

And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:4-7)

Abel was the keeper of sheep, but as his older brother, Cain was Abel’s keeper. Cain was his watchman, his Aaron, his ‘High Priest.’ In the first century, the High Priests were not faithful watchmen but spiritual Canaanites. Like Cain, their hypocritical sacrifices were rejected by God, but the firstborn of the Creation ascended to heaven in clouds. Satan was deposed from accusing at the gate (door) of the Temple in heaven and thrown down to the Land. “Cain” again failed to rule over him. Satan took up residence in Herod’s Temple, and the firstfruits church, as Abel, was massacred in the late 60’s. The Lord had said, “If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” The full arrival of the New Creation ended the mercy shown to the prophet-killers. Vengeance on them was seven-fold.

Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. (Matthew 23:31-36)

In the book of Esther we have in type the wisdom of God that had Paul in awe as he wrote the letter to the Roman Christians. By sending the gospel to the Gentiles, the enemies of God were exposed. When the new bride was persecuted, the Jews were forced to endorse either the New Covenant people or their attackers. In this process, “all Israel” was saved (Romans 11:26). The old Jerusalem was purified and redeemed. Because of Mordecai’s disobedience in failing as a witness, Esther was able to obtain mercy (Romans 11:30-32). Peter Leithart writes:

“…the book is more about Mordecai’s exalation than about Esther. Esther’s exaltation to queen is part of the means by which Mordecai and the Jews are ultimately saved, and the story climaxes with Mordecai at the right hand of the king (like Joseph and Daniel—Esther 10:2). Further, the key moral transition in the book comes when Mordecai stops urging Esther to hide her identity. A disappointment for feminist interpreters perhaps, but the book is more the book of Mordecai than the book of Esther.”

What is the condition of man apart from Christ, and what salvation is offered to us in that condition? The Word of salvation does not come to sinners who are ailing. It comes to sinners who are dead. It does not come to those who have anything to contribute to the process of resurrection. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He was not pulling while Lazarus pushed. Before the word of life comes to us, before the breath of God is breathed into us, our condition is hopeless.

We are in the grip of carnal hatred. Without Christ, what does the mind of man do? Where does it gravitate? “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (8:7). Described another way, this condition of hatred is a form of death, and it is a death that reigns. Apart from Christ, sinners are dead — not sick. “And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Again, the image here should be that of Lazarus in the tomb. How much did he contribute to his resurrection?

Doug Wilson www.dougwils.com

The modern tendency is to read the Bible only to find out what it says to men as individuals. The Scripture is consulted only to find out what the Bible says to me, about me, for me, and so forth. Clearly there is nothing wrong with this in itself, but it produces a warped view of the Bible if this is the only way it is read. The Bible, God’s written revelation, speaks not only about individual matters, but also about social and cosmic (creation-al) matters as well. This is because the Bible, while it is man-oriented, is God-centered.

James Jordan, The Law of the Covenant www.biblicalhorizons.com

Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.”

They cross Land and Sea to make one disciple for their corrupted religion, and make him twice the child of Gehenna as themselves. “Ge-Henna” is Greek for the despised Valley of Hinnom southwest of Jerusalem, the previous location of Tophet’s child sacrifices that became an open, mass grave during the Babylonian seige. It became the rubbish dump, full of maggots, with the refuse continually burning. Jesus quotes Isaiah 66:23-24 to describe it. The Roman siege would begin when Jews from all over the empire were in Jerusalem for Passover. Their “Table” was made a snare, and Gehenna was filled with the bodies of these deceived “children.”

Problems with Church History Studies

One striking aspect of the recent “Federal Vision” conflict in the various conservative micro-Reformed groups is a debate over what older theologiansreally meant and said. Examining the credentials of various people who speak with great assurance on these matters one sees repeatedly degrees in church/theology history studies. In fact, in Reformed circles, it seems that about the only advanced degrees offered are in historical studies.

I should like to offer what I regard as a considerable caveat. I do not believe that men who sing pop choruses or plodding Trinity Hymnal songs on Sunday can get very far into Luther or Calvin, or for that matter Turretin. Men whose personal opinion is that society can be left to the devil cannot really get into the outlook of the Reformers.

I submit that it is important to have some feel for what people were singing and how they were singing it at various times in history. Is it a coincidence that “Reformed scholasticism” began to develop at the same time that the fiery dance-like chorales and psalms of the Reformation began to die down into slow, plodding, even-note mush? It is a coincidence that the “Puritans” had problems with assurance of salvation, given their destruction of enthusiastic singing? I don’t think so. People who sing the psalms as real war chants, as war dances that precede battle, don’t have problems with assurance and don’t have time for scholasticism. Neither do people with strong, fully-sung liturgies.

Obviously, much can be understood by reading the writings left by various historical personages. But without understanding the songs they sang, from the inside, we will not have the Spirit that they had, and our understanding will be incomplete and flawed.

James B. Jordan, http://biblicalhorizons.wordpress.com

Matthew quotes Isaiah 53:4 to explain how Jesus removes illness and uncleanness (Matthew 8:17). Jesus radiates life, and that life heals the sick and raises the dead. Jesus also accepts death and uncleanness on Himself, to be borne away on the cross. This latter process shows Jesus as temple. Milgrom says that the tabernacle is Israel’s “picture of Dorian Gray,” the magnet where the uncleanness and sin of Israel registers. Jesus the new temple is the new picture of Dorian Gray.

You will remember that St. Paul is another Jonah and he takes the Gospel to the Gentiles. He forsakes the Jews and, in fact, at the end of Acts 28, he really casts them off and says judgment has come upon them to the uttermost. Of course, a few years later it does—in the destruction of Jerusalem. Yet Paul says, if it were possible, I wish that I could be damned for my brethren in Israel.

Paul had the same attitude as Jonah had, of wanting to see his own people saved. But unlike Jonah, Paul is willing to obey God… he sees that God has compassion on the Gentiles in and of themselves. Jonah, however, has to be persuaded of this. Jonah is so concerned about his own congregation back home that he doesn’t want to take the Gospel elsewhere for fear that it will have bad results in Israel.

James B. Jordan, The Book of Jonah lectures www.wordmp3.com

The prime mover in history is always God. God creates the world and tells men what to do, and men do it, and then God comes and judges them, and tells them to do something else. History moves when God speaks. That is the reason preaching is so important. When the word of God is sounded out into a culture, history begins to move. People can no longer remain neutral, or pretend to be neutral.

James B. Jordan, The Book of Jonah lectures www.wordmp3.com

Nebuchadnezzar fought hard against historical Tyre, but was not able to plunder it. Was Ezekiel wrong? Or does Ezekiel’s prediction of Tyre’s total destruction support the identification of the subject of this prophesy as Judah? It was Judah whose (bronze) pillars were brought down and her foundations made a bare rock. The Lord would instead pay his faithful Babylonian “servant” with the riches of Egypt (29:19-20).

The imagery of Pharaoh’s descent to Sheol in chapter 32 has the Exodus in mind. Egypt’s armies would be swallowed by Babylon in the way Pharaoh’s armies drowned in the Red Sea. All the uncircumcised nations would welcome him to hell, and Egypt is the last army to be drowned and made unable to cross over into the new world the Lord was creating.

Of the imagery reprised in Revelation, the foremost is that of a dragon of the Nile, most likely a crocodile. Pharaoh thought he was secure in the fertility of the river, but the Lord would put hooks in his jaws and throw him into the wilderness. The crocodile would be food for birds and beasts, a Covenant curse. Ezekiel is once again making a veiled insult against the king of Israel, using Pharaoh’s behaviour as an object lesson. Israel’s mission was to bring the river of life to the nations but she had instead brought them harm. Like the real Egypt, the nations had leaned on Israel as a crutch, and she had only brought them injury. For this, Egypt/Israel would be made desolate, then restored from captivity. But because she had usurped the Lord’s throne, she would forever be a vassal kingdom.

As Tyre, Solomon’s gold was stolen by foreigners. As Sidon, his oppressive taxation was cut off. And as Egypt, his many wives were taken captive and the horses he had imported from Egypt were finally drowned in the sea. The word of the Lord is sure.